Sacred Vapor

The End of Sacred Vapor

What is the reason for the demise of Sacred Vapor?
A. The Domain name expires at the end of the month
B. Grown tired of the blog title
C. Starting a new blog with a slightly different perspective
D. All of the above

The answer is D. When I started the Sacred Vapor blog four years ago, the intent was really to write articles on my thoughts about theology. I still plan to do so, but within the broader scheme of lifestreaming which includes micro-blogs, photo-blogs, and review(type)-blogs. Rather than have separate writing venues, I’d prefer to have a central location which also helps me unify my thoughts.

I had also thought about moving these articles over to the new blog, but felt these posts sit well under the banner of “sacred vapor.” So when the name expires, I’ll simply park this blog in a subdomain (http://sacredvapor.pauldelsignore.com).

New Blog Site
When I was thinking about the possibility of a new blog site name, I was wearing a shirt I kinda like. On that shirt is the writing “exit 25, Utopia Parkway” which happens to be an exit on the L.I.E in Queens. I thought that was interesting, because an exit on a highway is a way of slowing down; getting out of a fast paced environment and stopping for a while. That’s kinda what blog writing does for me… helps me to stop and think. So, that’s it… the new blog site is exit 25:
http://www.exit-25.com

hope to see you there,
thanks for any comments or support throughout the Sacred Vapor blog years.

UnChristian: Too Political

In the book UnChristian, a survey asked young people to identify the best-known Christians… anyone who comes to mind first. For both outsiders and churchgoers, the Pope and Billy Graham were top contenders, but in both cases George W. Bush came out on top of Jesus himself. The research also suggested strongly, that Christians are perceived to be primarily motivated by a political agenda and to promote right-wing politics.

From my own experience, I know that if I mention I’m a christian among friends, eventually I would get asked if I am a republican, conservative, or right-wing in my policy ideas. Of course the same kind of stereotyping happens for Christians as well, because I would bet that for many evangelical Christians, anyone who voted for Clinton or Obama puts them in the liberal/relativism/secular bucket and they must not be ‘real’ Christians.

In any case, we in the modern world like to classify ideas into sections. So we have the politics side over here, and then the religious side over there (usually private), and then the entertainment side, and somehow we are asked to keep ‘beliefs’ and ideas contained within these different areas. This became apparent to me when I was attending Jury duty once, and a Christian who was being interviewed for a Jury was asked if she could suppress her religious convictions when embarking on judicial decisions. She responded correctly by saying “no.”

The reality is that each of us process our ideas and actions through our worldview, which then manifests in different areas of life — private, public, entertainment, science, politics, etc… So, I believe that as Christians, we should actually be more political then less… more socially active then less… more engaging then less. The problem occurs however, when any one agenda hijacks the essence of the Christian message… when any one figure, such as a politician, is regarded as a more influential Christian than Jesus himself.

So how then do Christians change the perception of a politically hijacked faith?
Please note the problem here. I don’t think that Christians should be less political… the problem is that Christianity should not be equally associated with any one political party. Even if one party happens to embrace Christian values more than the other, it is a mistake to tie the two together. I also don’t think Christians should converge to create a separate ‘christian’ political movement (ex: christian coalition) to promote policy. Rather, Christians should engage policies and discussions within the ranks of all parties… intelligently and respectfully influencing and shaping the ideas within. It’s an inside out approach.

As I write this, I realize that this sounds good in theory… but am fully ignorant of the particulars in making this happen. However, I confidently believe that ideas in the political realm, as well as other cultural areas take root via people’s worldviews. A transformed heart will eventually direct motives, which then shape moral values, which will be a means to proper judgment in policy issues.

This concludes my series on “unchristian.” I hope you enjoyed reading through my thoughts on these difficult topics. There are no easy solutions here… but every solution begins with a realization of the problem.

Musings on Truth

Here are some quotes to challenge your thoughts on the subject of Truth.

“On the whole, religious people fall into two basic categories. First, there are those who want to resolve the mystery of God, to teach and preach it clearly, to spell out the facts as they are believed, to be like a reporting journalist and relay information in black and white to those not in ‘the know.’ On the other hand, there are those who, instead of wanting to resolve the mystery, seek to deepen it. Such people are uneasy with words as ‘simply’ or ‘easily,’ they are willing to get tongue-tied, to say ‘I don’t know,’ to embrace the evocative languages of poetry and music in their search for God. They have come to believe that truth is not the same thing as the elimination of ambiguity.”
– Roger Bos Voorburg

“We dare not, as Christians, remain content with an epistemology wished upon us from one philosophical and cultural movement, part of which was conceived in explicit opposition to Christianity. …we should allow our knowledge of [Jesus], and still more his knowledge of us, to inform us about what true knowing really is.

I believe that we can and must as Christians within a postmodern world give an account of human knowing that will apply to music and mathematics, to biology and to history, to theology and to chemistry. We need to articulate, for the postpostmodern world, what we might call an epistemology of love.”
– N.T. Wright

UnChristian: Sheltered

In this series, I’ve been going through the major perceptions that outsiders (particularly ages 16 - 29) describe about Christianity as researched in the book “unchristian.” This isn’t a critique or a review of what the authors have to say, rather this is my point of view about the topics. In this post we look at what outsiders perceive as a Christian “bubble” — the idea that Christians seclude themselves and don’t function in the real world.

Three quarters of Mosaics and busters outside the church said that present-day Christianity could accurately be described as old-fashioned, and seven out of ten believe the faith is out of touch with reality. With the expansion of things such as christian music, christian games, christian schools, and christian movies, Christians looks as though they are creating a sub-culture of entertainment that mimics the larger cultural enterprise, yet refuses to participate in so called ‘real’ society.

As a Christian myself, I see the tension here. I like that my kids enjoy playing guitar hero with their friends, but am not particularly excited to hear them singing some of the lyrics. But is the solution to produce a christian guitar hero? I’m not so sure about that. In most cases, the christian versions are hokey in comparison, and the thought of Jesus ripping through hammer-ons in guitar solos is somewhat disturbing.

In any case what does a Christian subculture really do? Is replicating cultural settings within the banner of christian labels helping the Christian community? or is it negatively creating secluded environments? In one interview, a twenty eight year old christian describes the lifestyle as follows:

“So many christians are caught up in the christian subculture and are closed off from the world. We go to church on Wednesdays, Sundays, and sometimes on Saturdays. We attend small group on Sunday night and serve on the Sunday school advisory board, the financial committee, and the welcoming committee. We go to barbecues with our Christian friends and plan outings. Even if we wanted to reach out to nonChristians, we don’t have any time and we don’t know how. The only way we know how is to invite people to join in our Christian social circle.” –p130

Even if this is an extreme case, please note that this is how Christians are perceived by outsiders. But why should it matter if outsiders think of us as sheltered? Actually it does matter, because if outsiders do not think Christians live in real circumstances; real situations; real experiences… why would outsiders consider the opinions of Christians to be of any value? remember the generational slogan of ‘keeping it real’ — real means loyalty, engagement, and an understanding of common experiences. Real is a place of common ground.

So how then, do Christians change the perception of living disconnected and sheltered lives?
In my opinion, Christians have the unfortunate problem of needing to live in tension. They must worship in community but allow that worship to manifest in unchristian places. This may come through in the form of art, music, service, literature, film, etc… Christians must be informed and offer sophisticated responses to the issues people face… not simply quoting the bible (outsiders don’t care). Christians must participate and yet critique culture… walking that fine balance.

“If you only practice purity apart from proximity to the culture, you inevitably become separatist… if you live in close proximity to the culture without also living in a holy manner, you become indistinguishable from fallen culture”
– Mike Metzger

In my opinion the Christians who ‘get this’ are the missionaries. They learn the essence of engagement by entering into the culture riding the tension of purity and proximity. Colonialism enters in and tries to impose culture… however missional-ism enters in and adapts the culture already present. Missional-ism understands that the Gospel transcends culture.

Here and There

Looking to expand Sacred Vapor to some more lifestreaming… or some broader subjects, lets see how it goes.

When it comes to photography, I suppose my specialty has always been scenic, but lately I’ve been experimenting a bit with portrait photography.

The thing about shooting portraits for me is that I like trying to capture expressions or candid shots. I’m not good at staging or setups, which is one reason I could never do Weddings or studio portraits. I try to use natural lighting and the camera flash for some filler… that’s about it. The difficulty however is that when you walk up to somebody to shoot them, they feel like they need to pose or something.

I have a lot to learn with portrait work but one important start is to make people comfortable with a camera around. Getting people to be themselves is difficult when they know they are being shot, so it requires time and lots of throw away shots.

Tags: photography, portraits

UnChristian: Antihomosexual

Shortly after the attacks on 9/11, some popular Christian televangelists broadcasted that the attacks were a result of America’s acceptance of homosexuality. In addition, every so often you will see a ‘God hates fags’ banner at a rally or news event. in fact, it is accurate to say that the issue of homosexuality is the battle cry of the culture war.

Let’s be clear here… if you are a Christian in America, you are most likely perceived by outsiders as antihomosexual, a gay hater, or homophobic.

According to data in the UnChristian book, more than nine out of ten Mosaics and busters (91 percent) said ‘antihomosexual’ accurately describes present day Christianity. Two-thirds had very strong opinions about Christians in this regard. This generation finds itself in a different situation than their parents or grand parents. Many of their friends are open about homosexuality, and loyalty to friends will shape and influence truth more often than traditional belief systems would.

The biggest problem here, in my opinion is that homosexuality is somehow regarded as a sin above all sins. When the church finds herself with a multitude of sexual problems such as high divorce and adultery rates… not to mention pre-marital sex, pornography, and cohabitation, what is the moral ground of sexual purity that she stands on.

So how then, do Christians change the perception of gay haters?
We must start by asking ourselves one very important question… is the mission of engaging and/or redeeming the culture done so with moral correction, or with the Gospel of grace? sometimes it looks as though the agenda is to protect a lifetstyle, to create a moral society.

The objective of a church community would be to create an environment where people enter in, regardless of where they are in their life, and find Jesus; to be transformed by love. Once any one particular sin is elevated, it creates a barrier of entry. The barrier must come down… the casting of stones to any one people group or any one sin needs to stop.

UnChristian: Get Saved

To be honest, there have been times in the past where I felt that church objectives were more about numbers than people. Specific church services that I’ve attended where the whole agenda was focused on getting people to raise their hands in an emotional commitment. If the service didn’t end with enough altar calls or sinner prayer confessions, there was a sense of failure.

In some of these churches, I knew the pastors and leaders well, and I knew they were sincere… it really wasn’t about numbers. But the perception came across differently. And if that was something I experienced as a believer, what about the unbelievers; the unchristian? I can count numerous different churches where I felt this targeting approach, and I suspect there are many others. The perception that the young generation is getting is that Christians are too concerned about getting them “saved” which resembles ‘checking off’ their names in a list, or getting them to join a club.

Don’t misunderstand me, I am not saying that Christians shouldn’t focus on conversion or evangelism as a priority, I am simply saying that the method is sometimes perceived as coercion or ’salesmen-like’ rather than sincerity. The same kind of skepticism a Christian may feel when Mormons are knocking on the door.

In the book UnChristian, studies show that the majority of people in America have been exposed to the message of Christianity many times throughout their lives. In fact, one astounding study showed that two-thirds of all adult Mosaics and Busters (65%) stated that they have made a commitment to Jesus at some point in their lives. What this shows is that a get-saved approach ignores the fact that most people in America have made an emotional connection to Jesus before.

“A generation reared in a marketing-drenched world is quick to sniff out what they believe to be the underlying motivations and superficialities.” –p68

How then, do Christians change the perception of insincere sales pitching?
I would propose that the answer is less about wordsmith and more relational. In other words, Christians need to spend more time in relationship with people rather than trying to slip them a track. As mentioned in a previous post, the mosaic generation seeks Relationships, and being loyal to friends is one of their highest values.

If Christians can create the environment of openness and honesty, and allow themselves to get deep into the messiness of people’s lives, it is “in that place” where transformation takes root, rather than being pushed towards an emotional appeal. Man if I allowed my faith to be driven by my daily emotions, I would be a mess, why should conversion be any different. The UnChristians don’t need a ‘get saved’ pitch, they need root level transformation.

Of course as I am writing this, I can’t help but reflect on how bad of an example I am with this. I feel like I don’t have the patience or desire to get deep with people. It takes work, and it takes dedication, not to mention my introverted nature. But I really believe this is it… true mission… true love… true service.

UnChristian: Hyporcrisy

One of the research studies listed in the UnChristian book asked adult Christians to identify the priorities Christians pursue in terms of their personal faith. The most common response was this:

“Being good, doing the right thing. Not sinning.”

Note however that the main priority wasn’t worship; service; missions; prayer; evangelism; community, etc… it was being good. Now, that’s not a bad thing right? after all, Jesus does tell us to be holy; to strive for perfection.

The problem is that when avoiding sin is the main priority, it tends to project a got-it-together image. It’s kind of like “I’m not sinning, neither should you” attitude which also creates a persona of judgementalism; a lifestyle of superiority. The barometer of Christian faith then, is centered on ethics and morality rather than on obedience or worship.

So what does this have to do with hypocrisy? If we project the Christian life as a got-it-together enterprise, we are projecting a losing battle. Outsiders will always see us as hypocritical because they are measuring us by our own standards.

Simply put, hypocrites are people who are two-faced; who say one thing and seem to do another. When those who profess to “purity” as the ideal standard, and are then caught in a scandal, or an act or immorality, the result is failure. Even if most people do understand that everyone fails or makes mistakes, why would they be attracted to a club whose membership identity is something unattainable. The younger generation searches for authenticity. “Keepin it real” is their slogan.

How then, do Christians change the perception of hypocrisy?
Whenever a Christian friend of mine tells me about a new preacher, musician or leader that is radically cool, my first response is always ‘yea, but is he radically humble?”

We, as Christians need to portray Christianity as an enterprise of forgiveness and redemption; of a people being restored towards purity; not being grounded by purity. We are sinners who suck at what we do; and we need to show the world our struggles; not hide our struggles behind a false pretense of holiness.

As Christians we must separate the message from the messenger. Do not put your trust in me… the messenger… for I will eventually fail you; look to the one I follow, for he will not fail you. As the nineteenth Century Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy wrote:

“Attack me, I do this myself, but attack me rather than the path I follow and which I point out to anyone who asks me where I think it lies. If I know the way and am walking along it drunkenly, is it any less the right way because I am staggering from side to side!”

Talkin’ bout your Generation

Generational differences often create communication challenges.

In the book UnChristian, the focus is on the Mosaics (1984 - 2002) and Busters (1965 - 1983), particularly the oldest Mosaics and youngest Busters, so current ages of sixteen to twenty-nine year olds. The reason it is important to understand the worldview of this age group is because these guys are the future. What they believe about the important things in life will paint the landscape for the next generation.

Although I am a bit older than this group, (okay like ten years) — I am in the early Buster group. I somewhat find myself resonating with them more so than the boomers before me.

As described in the book, this group perceives the world in very different terms than people ever have before. Here’s a snapshot of some things (my paraphrase throughout)

1. The lifestyles are more diverse than those of their parents generation, including education, career, family values, and leisure.
2. They do not want to be defined by a ‘normal’ lifestyle ;They favor a unique and personal journey.
3. Relationships are the driving force and being loyal to friends is one of their highest values.
4. They have a strong need to belong, usually to a tribe of loyal people who appreciate them. However, under their relational connectedness lies fierce individualism. I can’t help but think of social networking here… the need to create a unique identity and yet be relational (think Facebook).
5. Even though they esteem fair-mindedness and diversity, they are blunt. Finding ways to express themselves and their rage is an endless pursuit.
6. Skeptical of leaders, products, and institutions. They’ve seen their fair of corruption. They do not trust the things that seem too perfect, expecting that life comes with it’s share of messiness.
7. Largely inundated with media and entertainment, consuming more hours of media from more sources than do older generations.
8. They rely on technology to connect themselves and information- to power their self-expression and creativity. Think blogs, social networking, digital delivery, etc…
9. They engage in constant search of fresh experiences and new sources of motivation. If they are not permitted to participate in the process, they quickly move on to something that grabs them.
10. They prefer casual and comfy to stuffy and stilted. Less concern for structured lifestyles like 9-5 hrs and more flexible conditions.
11. They view life in a nonlinear, chaotic way, which means they don’t mind contradiction and ambiguity.
12. Spirituality is important, but many consider it just one element of a successful, eclectic life.

Unchristian

Unchristian: Introduction
A year ago, I posted a blog series that dealt with some common arguments I’ve heard about Christianity. But these were mainly philosophical in nature. There is a separate list of problems that are perceptual or pertain to how people view Christianity, which is equally as important.

The point of course is not that Christianity needs to be attractive to the masses like a marketing campaign to gain members. Rather, the concern is whether the image that Christianity presents itself, is in fact authentic to the Jesus message? That’s what led me to read this book titled “UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity… and Why It Matters.” Commissioned to do research on what young Americans think about Christianity, David Kinnaman from the Barna group, and Gabe Lyons from the Fermi Project documented their three year findings.

As I read through the introduction, I found I agreed with the author’s six main threads of perceptions people have, which include judgmental, antihomosexual, hypocritical, too political and sheltered.

What I would like to do in the upcoming posts is offer my own reflections on each of these topics. Of course the intent is not to slam Christians for misguided portrayals, nor is it to slam those critical of Christianity as simply faith bashing. These issues are complex and require honest assessments. Just a note if you happen to be following me through these… the posts will not be sequential as I’ll be taking my time with this in the next several months.

Tags: unchristian