Bricks With Wings

This week, I finished reading Buck Naked Faith: A Brutally Honest Look at Stunted Christianity(2004) by Eric Sandras. For clarification, I don't usually read books with the word "naked" in the title, but the expression "stunted Christianity" peaked my interest. (Also, to be honest, the fact that Christian Book Distributors had it on sale for 99 cents had some influence on the purchase.)

The premise of the book is that most Christians live shallow and unfruitful lives because they choose to develop their spiritual lives according to traditional and cultural expectations that restrict their growth. Sandras compares this "stunted" Christianity to the restricted environment in which miniature Bonsai Trees are placed.

Another characteristic Sandras finds in "Bonsai Believers" is a tendency to practice a "fake it until you make" mentality that many believers employ. This undermines the scriptural mandate for Christians to "bear one another's burdens." He contends very few Christians feel free to be transparent with their fellow believers, which is a major obstacle to developing the sense of community that Jesus desires for his church (John 17:20-21). Also, failing to be honest with others breads a complacency.

In addressing the power of community, Sandras states:

For some, coffee is coffee, but for the committed. Starbucks is not Folgers. The same seems true for this emerging generation and its attitude toward community. Something new is brewing. This generation seems to have an uncanny ability to seek God in traditional brick-and-mortar houses of God without falling into their associated bureaucracies. Couple that trend with the view that spirituality is a journey and not necessarily a destination, and we have something that looks like bricks with wings...

Is it possible to have bricks with wings? Yes, if you call it community. Neither mortar and stone nor bylaws and bureaucracy can bind this new community. It's a place where people can fine stability, tradition, and permanence while maintaining freedom to explore and follow the guidance of Jesus.

Many have shunned the manufactured, bylaw-driven, cookie cutter model of church life that turned out to be like a Hollywood stage prop--very real until someone leaned on it too hard for support. We long for stable community, not a bonsai community of bonsai believers. Healthy community breads healthy follows of Christ.

For me, an important question I must ask myself is "Am I committed more to Jesus or to an institution?" May I always resist the tendency to default to supporting the status quo and seek to continue on a journey of faith following Jesus wherever he leaders.