Conversations of Faith at Common Ground

For the past few months, I’ve pretty much gotten sick and tired of a goofy, kid’s story, Your Personal Penguin.  It’s one of Caleb’s favorites (more because it’s small, “his” book, has pictures and is familiar).  Anyhow, the habit for the two of us is, I’ll say to Caleb, “Want to read a book?”  Caleb then goes to his book box and pulls one out to read.  Obviously, with a limited library, you read some books too many times to count.  Your Personal Penguin is one such book.

The story is about a penguin who invites himself to be a personal assistant or concierge to a hippo.  Throughout the book, we see a penguin who frequently underfoot, a perpetual shadow.  In my head, I pictured a socially dysfunctional penguin who’s life revolves around that of the hippo.  (Did you ever see the movie, “What About Bob?” — Bob is an obsessive-compulsive, clingy psychiatry patient.  Sort of like that…)  While not as crazy, the penguin seemed, to me, to be just as needy.

Yesterday, I discovered something different about the penguin.  It started with an unusual attribute of the book — it’s also a song (you can hear it here: http://www.workman.com/boynton/).  In addition, there is a “making of the song” video at the web site.

Watching the video with the kids and hearing the song for the first time, I saw the penguin in a different light.

Rather than being a parasite, the penguin offers the hippo genuine friendship.  But what’s more, it struck me that Jesus is this type of earnest friend.  In this “new” light, and depending on how you understand the reference to other penguins, you get a fairly solid description of Christ.

I don’t think the author, Boynton, had any intentions to make something more than a good kid’s story.  At the end of the day, it’s just a story about unconditional friendship.  That the story has an uncanny parallel to the Gospel is a blessing in disguise.

A few days ago, I heard an interesting radio discussion.  In the course of the broadcast, someone observed that the response of the US government during the energy crisis in the 70s was different from the government’s response now.  In the previous crisis 30 years ago, the government called on its citizens to “tighten their belts” and cut back on their energy consumption.  The speaker went on to comment that in the present, the government seems less concerned about consumption, and more about finding relief from the high prices.

What’s changed between now and then, that makes the message of cutting personal consumption less palatable to our modern-day audience?  Have things changed that much in 30 years?  If so, what do you has changed?

it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that SUVs are falling into disfavor with the rise of gas prices — http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i5GMRZhgfpgOsjQ1g1Z_QKRkIoAQD9183JDG1 and http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/04/business/04motors.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

what seems more surprising is that major manufacturers of SUVs didn’t see it coming. it’s easy to bash the lack of foresight, but is the church any different?

in some respects, the Christian church in the United States has a lemming mentality. case in point, what are or have been the hot items/topics within the Christian community? many of them are “how-to” books and seminars — “Purpose Driven Life”, “Purpose Driven Church”, “Multi-site churches”, “Joel Osteen”, “Joyce Meyers”, etc… essentially it boils down to, “how do i get something better than what i’ve got now?” a better church, a better small group, a better marriage, a better family, a better career, etc… what’s more, we look to the “experts” to get us this perceived “better” life. what is the expertise based on? my observation is numbers in the church, backsides in the pews.

on the other hand, there is a growing hunger for a different type of assistance/encouragement (mainly books) that seem to be “reflections that resonate”. they don’t describe paths to success, but rather talk about how one person’s journey toward Christ — “The Shack”, “Searching for God Knows What”, “Blue Like Jazz”, “The Practice of the Presence of God”, Philip Yancey and the like…

it’s funny, yet sad to watch the Church emulating the world when it attempts to replicate “winning” formulas. in reality, copying what others do treats Christ and the Church as a commodity, a packaged product for consumption by the masses. church-attenders become clients, spectators and consumers rather than co-laborers and participants.

is the Church (in the U.S.) really being sensitive to culture and seeking to meet folks where they’re at, OR is it attempting to compete against culture in an arena where culture has already dictated the rules of the event?

churches don’t want to “lose” their people to bigger or “better” congregations or youth groups, but the Church’s use of a consumerist template and approach has already caused it to lose much more.

the companies making SUVs thought they were doing the right thing. their short-term gain was market share and profits. now, they’re paying for their short-sightedness. how might (can?) we, Common Ground, fall into the same trap?

Here’s a new movie that is sure to get some conversation going about Christ — http://www.lordsaveusthemovie.com/home.html

Tim tells me that the proceeds from this Saturday’s showing in Portland (at the Hollywood Theater) are going to supporting the “Season of Service” that the Palau team is rallying churches around prior to the Portland Festival in August.