Do you really want a rocket pop?
...An essay on biblical calling
By j. Churchill Morris
It is a sunny day in the middle of June and from your bench you hear the sounds of pop goes the weasel in a rendition that is unmistakably that of an ice cream truck. Almost immediately like Pavlov’s salivating dog you start thinking “mmm… a rocket pop might be nice…or maybe a fudge icicle?” You may have had no prior desire for ice cream or even be that partial to the frozen delights. For most, however, the fear of missing out drives them to chase the truck down, dollar in hand, to gratify the urge, to not miss out.
The traditional view of calling is much like chasing an ice cream truck. “You better get it now or it might not come around again” is the train of thought. This leaves you spiritually deprived with your head hanging down because you’re empty handed. Everyone else has a cold, creamy push-pop.
Terry Cross proposes two levels of calling; I would add a third level. The primary call of every Christian is to simply know God. Occupation and gifting are over-flows out of this knowing, or a “secondary calling,” if you will. Cross sets up a primary relational call to God, and a secondary response with life calling. I think it would be better broken down as 1. a personal call of all man kind to know God (all three persons included in this definition of God) deeply. 2. A call to leadership and 3. A call to community.
What does it mean to know all three persons of the God head? I will briefly discuss what theologians call the communicable attributes of God. Which are wisdom, truthfulness/faithfulness, goodness, love, mercy, holiness, peace, righteousness, justice, jealousy, and wrath. Grudem defines them as follows;
Wisdom; choosing the best goals and the best means for accomplishing those goals
Truthfulness; all of his knowledge and words are true and he is the final standard of truth
Faithfulness; He will always do what he has said and fulfill what He has promised
Goodness; the final statement of good is God all that he is and does is worthy of approval
Love; eternally giving Himself for others
Mercy; goodness toward those in misery and distress
Grace; …who deserve only punishment
Patience; withholding punishment form those who sin over a period of time
Holiness; separation from sin and dedication to His own honor
Peace; in His being and action, separate from confusion and disorder, yet He is continually active in innumerable well ordered, fully controlled, simultaneous situations
Righteous; Doing what is right and Justice; … in the treatment of his own creation.
Jealousy; continually seeking to protect his own honor
Wrath; intense hatred for sin
As we get to know God the father on a personal level we will understand these attributes in a deeper way. Then be able to apply them, in a devotional sense, to the walking out of believer hood. Reread the above list and think how those attributes could apply to our lives as we seek our calling. It is the spirit of these attributes we are called to.
What about the other two persons of the God head? To know God fully we must know His voice. His voice comes through written word (scripture), the testimony of Christ and him crucified and the glory of his resurrection (the word made flesh), the paternal word of the father (love and correction), and the inspiration of the holy spirit through the word of the profit (profit is used loosely in this definition).
Let me briefly flesh out what this relationship looks like. Picture a trust fall, like the one’s they do at summer camps and leadership retreats. Where someone stands on a chair or a stump, leans back, and falls into the arms of fellow campers or co-workers. Faith, belief and trust are the three parts of the Greek word Pistis. Going back to the trust fall illustration belief comes to mind. It is when you step up on the stump or chair and think they will catch me. Faith comes with action. Its when you lean back. Trust can only come once you are caught and are safely on the ground. This illustration only stands to illustrate the nuances of this term, and to create a sense of unity in those three concepts so that when they are read in scripture all three are deeply connected.
The concept is that relationship with God is more than any one of those three parts. It takes knowledge, action, and acceptance. It also puts some weight on God to catch us, which He does. But we have a responsibility to step up and then lean back.
This ties into calling because it seems that scripture suggests a balance of responsibility to be faithful with gifts and abilities, and flexibility to have God lead you in a different direction.
The second part of calling I agree with cross that it is people related. It seems as though it would be better divided into peers and leaders. Frost and Hirsch talk in their book shaping of things to come about the different church models. Incarnational, missional, contextualized etc. are suggested and their a certainly some strong ideas in the piece. My question is what will come when the x, y, and m generations are done with the church. I heard author Donald Miller speak once and he said something about how the early church (catholic) took its form from the hierarchy. After the industrial revolution the church became a business, with logos and ad campaigns and CEO style pulpiteers. Now it seems the pastorate has been lifted up to rock star status. (Miller) Modern churches are filled with smoke and lights and projectors topped off with professional bands to really accent the flash of the seeker sensitive generation.
I suggest here what I call the p2 generation (post-post modern) theory. Based on my discussions with progressive young people who lean to the side of free thought, a pendulum shift is coming. It seems that as the 40 and 50 something’s are walking away from the second and third generation holiness (often warped into fundamentalism) and toward the CEO-Rock star churches. They appear to be drawn to the freedom and openness. Adversely pocket groups of xym’s are drawing away from the mega-church, multi-media, modern architecture churches. We are seeing a greater affinity for small group, “book of Acts” style home meetings. A longing to be connected to something ancient and traditional balanced with grace and the Holy Spirit. Paul Brown ABD of Trinity Theological Seminary suggest over the next 20 years or so we will se a draw toward the ancients such as the apostles creed and Lords prayer.
So I propose that the p2 generation of churches will look low tech, high relation, and appear to be a hybrid of the Anglican style liturgy and third wave charimaticism. Less Sonic Flood and more stained glass with heavy pull for relationships with God and people. Traditional evangelism will likely be taken to the streets armed with rakes and cleaning supplies (service oriented) than with tracts and soap boxes (street evangelism). Crusades will not focus on who comes forward during the invitation but who is being added to the church, and being baptized. Believers will understand the value of not-vain repetition and the emphasis of the warning is on vanity not repetition. In 20 or 30 years will this ideal really come to pass? The thing about speculation is that’s all it is, an educated guess. As the world gets worse many will leave the church, but those who stay will be bearers of good fruit.
One place the missional model seems to be extremely relevant is in the area of arts. But before I tie this up with a arts discussion let me introduce the third level of calling. The call to community is especially among believers, but the words of Christ in his “who is your neighbor” shows us the global community. The great commission is not an evangelistic call but rather a call to discipleship. Discipleship requires relationship with not-yet believers. Community is the key to walking in the spirit; it teaches us the nature of God through others. It creates an atmosphere of accountability. I require a call to submission of leadership, which teaches us to respect God. It shows us how to live outside of ourselves and to realize that the kingdom has named us brothers and sisters for a reason. It makes sense out of the analogy of being a body and working together for the common goal of kingdom expansion.
The future of arts in the church community is headed for a renewal of appreciation. As the p2 generation hybrid forms, a connection with art as spiritual will rise. This was a struggle in the Victorian era and seems to be historically cyclical. The difference is the p2 generation will likely be more accepting of non-religious art as still spiritually relevant. An example of this is the secular music label Integrity is funding under the Columbia Records umbrella. It is set up as an industry Trojan horse, giving non-religious believers a place that won’t force them into the CCM mold.
So if our primary call is to God and “God showed his love for the world in this way, that he gave away the single thing that was closest and dearest to Him, knowing it would be destroyed. And while we were yet sinners Jesus the Christ died for us showing the greatest love, greater love has no man than this”(Morris). Is it then possible our primary call is to lay down our most prized possession (our own lives) for others? Just God sent his “word made flesh” to die, should we send our flesh to be crucified with Christ?
Laying down of life, not in death necessarily, but life as it is lived and walked out in the day to day, minute by minute. This is submission to authority. Laying down for others “the world” is discipleship. This also sets up the principals of submission as Paul and Timothy, and Paul to the church leaders. Repentance, Relation/Community, and Submission/willing obedience seem to be the major themes of true faith. A call to God, a call to others (disciplers and disciples), and a call to ourselves (faithfulness with gifts and abilities) seem to be the trinity of Biblical calling. Which leaves chasing ice-cream trucks to children and calling back on the bench in a conversation between us and God.
j.
By j. Churchill Morris
It is a sunny day in the middle of June and from your bench you hear the sounds of pop goes the weasel in a rendition that is unmistakably that of an ice cream truck. Almost immediately like Pavlov’s salivating dog you start thinking “mmm… a rocket pop might be nice…or maybe a fudge icicle?” You may have had no prior desire for ice cream or even be that partial to the frozen delights. For most, however, the fear of missing out drives them to chase the truck down, dollar in hand, to gratify the urge, to not miss out.
The traditional view of calling is much like chasing an ice cream truck. “You better get it now or it might not come around again” is the train of thought. This leaves you spiritually deprived with your head hanging down because you’re empty handed. Everyone else has a cold, creamy push-pop.
Terry Cross proposes two levels of calling; I would add a third level. The primary call of every Christian is to simply know God. Occupation and gifting are over-flows out of this knowing, or a “secondary calling,” if you will. Cross sets up a primary relational call to God, and a secondary response with life calling. I think it would be better broken down as 1. a personal call of all man kind to know God (all three persons included in this definition of God) deeply. 2. A call to leadership and 3. A call to community.
What does it mean to know all three persons of the God head? I will briefly discuss what theologians call the communicable attributes of God. Which are wisdom, truthfulness/faithfulness, goodness, love, mercy, holiness, peace, righteousness, justice, jealousy, and wrath. Grudem defines them as follows;
Wisdom; choosing the best goals and the best means for accomplishing those goals
Truthfulness; all of his knowledge and words are true and he is the final standard of truth
Faithfulness; He will always do what he has said and fulfill what He has promised
Goodness; the final statement of good is God all that he is and does is worthy of approval
Love; eternally giving Himself for others
Mercy; goodness toward those in misery and distress
Grace; …who deserve only punishment
Patience; withholding punishment form those who sin over a period of time
Holiness; separation from sin and dedication to His own honor
Peace; in His being and action, separate from confusion and disorder, yet He is continually active in innumerable well ordered, fully controlled, simultaneous situations
Righteous; Doing what is right and Justice; … in the treatment of his own creation.
Jealousy; continually seeking to protect his own honor
Wrath; intense hatred for sin
As we get to know God the father on a personal level we will understand these attributes in a deeper way. Then be able to apply them, in a devotional sense, to the walking out of believer hood. Reread the above list and think how those attributes could apply to our lives as we seek our calling. It is the spirit of these attributes we are called to.
What about the other two persons of the God head? To know God fully we must know His voice. His voice comes through written word (scripture), the testimony of Christ and him crucified and the glory of his resurrection (the word made flesh), the paternal word of the father (love and correction), and the inspiration of the holy spirit through the word of the profit (profit is used loosely in this definition).
Let me briefly flesh out what this relationship looks like. Picture a trust fall, like the one’s they do at summer camps and leadership retreats. Where someone stands on a chair or a stump, leans back, and falls into the arms of fellow campers or co-workers. Faith, belief and trust are the three parts of the Greek word Pistis. Going back to the trust fall illustration belief comes to mind. It is when you step up on the stump or chair and think they will catch me. Faith comes with action. Its when you lean back. Trust can only come once you are caught and are safely on the ground. This illustration only stands to illustrate the nuances of this term, and to create a sense of unity in those three concepts so that when they are read in scripture all three are deeply connected.
The concept is that relationship with God is more than any one of those three parts. It takes knowledge, action, and acceptance. It also puts some weight on God to catch us, which He does. But we have a responsibility to step up and then lean back.
This ties into calling because it seems that scripture suggests a balance of responsibility to be faithful with gifts and abilities, and flexibility to have God lead you in a different direction.
The second part of calling I agree with cross that it is people related. It seems as though it would be better divided into peers and leaders. Frost and Hirsch talk in their book shaping of things to come about the different church models. Incarnational, missional, contextualized etc. are suggested and their a certainly some strong ideas in the piece. My question is what will come when the x, y, and m generations are done with the church. I heard author Donald Miller speak once and he said something about how the early church (catholic) took its form from the hierarchy. After the industrial revolution the church became a business, with logos and ad campaigns and CEO style pulpiteers. Now it seems the pastorate has been lifted up to rock star status. (Miller) Modern churches are filled with smoke and lights and projectors topped off with professional bands to really accent the flash of the seeker sensitive generation.
I suggest here what I call the p2 generation (post-post modern) theory. Based on my discussions with progressive young people who lean to the side of free thought, a pendulum shift is coming. It seems that as the 40 and 50 something’s are walking away from the second and third generation holiness (often warped into fundamentalism) and toward the CEO-Rock star churches. They appear to be drawn to the freedom and openness. Adversely pocket groups of xym’s are drawing away from the mega-church, multi-media, modern architecture churches. We are seeing a greater affinity for small group, “book of Acts” style home meetings. A longing to be connected to something ancient and traditional balanced with grace and the Holy Spirit. Paul Brown ABD of Trinity Theological Seminary suggest over the next 20 years or so we will se a draw toward the ancients such as the apostles creed and Lords prayer.
So I propose that the p2 generation of churches will look low tech, high relation, and appear to be a hybrid of the Anglican style liturgy and third wave charimaticism. Less Sonic Flood and more stained glass with heavy pull for relationships with God and people. Traditional evangelism will likely be taken to the streets armed with rakes and cleaning supplies (service oriented) than with tracts and soap boxes (street evangelism). Crusades will not focus on who comes forward during the invitation but who is being added to the church, and being baptized. Believers will understand the value of not-vain repetition and the emphasis of the warning is on vanity not repetition. In 20 or 30 years will this ideal really come to pass? The thing about speculation is that’s all it is, an educated guess. As the world gets worse many will leave the church, but those who stay will be bearers of good fruit.
One place the missional model seems to be extremely relevant is in the area of arts. But before I tie this up with a arts discussion let me introduce the third level of calling. The call to community is especially among believers, but the words of Christ in his “who is your neighbor” shows us the global community. The great commission is not an evangelistic call but rather a call to discipleship. Discipleship requires relationship with not-yet believers. Community is the key to walking in the spirit; it teaches us the nature of God through others. It creates an atmosphere of accountability. I require a call to submission of leadership, which teaches us to respect God. It shows us how to live outside of ourselves and to realize that the kingdom has named us brothers and sisters for a reason. It makes sense out of the analogy of being a body and working together for the common goal of kingdom expansion.
The future of arts in the church community is headed for a renewal of appreciation. As the p2 generation hybrid forms, a connection with art as spiritual will rise. This was a struggle in the Victorian era and seems to be historically cyclical. The difference is the p2 generation will likely be more accepting of non-religious art as still spiritually relevant. An example of this is the secular music label Integrity is funding under the Columbia Records umbrella. It is set up as an industry Trojan horse, giving non-religious believers a place that won’t force them into the CCM mold.
So if our primary call is to God and “God showed his love for the world in this way, that he gave away the single thing that was closest and dearest to Him, knowing it would be destroyed. And while we were yet sinners Jesus the Christ died for us showing the greatest love, greater love has no man than this”(Morris). Is it then possible our primary call is to lay down our most prized possession (our own lives) for others? Just God sent his “word made flesh” to die, should we send our flesh to be crucified with Christ?
Laying down of life, not in death necessarily, but life as it is lived and walked out in the day to day, minute by minute. This is submission to authority. Laying down for others “the world” is discipleship. This also sets up the principals of submission as Paul and Timothy, and Paul to the church leaders. Repentance, Relation/Community, and Submission/willing obedience seem to be the major themes of true faith. A call to God, a call to others (disciplers and disciples), and a call to ourselves (faithfulness with gifts and abilities) seem to be the trinity of Biblical calling. Which leaves chasing ice-cream trucks to children and calling back on the bench in a conversation between us and God.
j.
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