#Rethink: Church, Celebrities, and Learning to Pray
This month we are contemplating how we do church, questioning the rise of Christian celebrities, and exploring prayer.
#Rethink - August 2022
Hello friends! Can you believe we are at the end of August already? This month we are contemplating how we do church, questioning the rise of Christian celebrities, and exploring prayer.
Are We Missing Something in the Way We Do Church?
I’m finding myself really discouraged with American church these days. Just church in general. I hate that so many people are being abused and traumatized by it. I’m frustrated that we have created a place where unhealthy people can easily find a place of power to abuse. I despise the lack of accountability and how easily they seem to get away with it.
I’m discouraged by how quickly the religious far-right (like I grew up with) have become mainstream. I’m disappointed with how common it is for people who call themselves Christians to have no personal understanding of the Bible. I hate it because it makes us SO susceptible to lies and twisted Scripture (ahem, cult days).
And I wonder if a huge part of this is because of how we do church.
How we elevate a few men to places of power and influence while the rest of us gather once a week and watch them put on a show. How we expect the paid church people to make programs for the rest of us to consume. How we plan everything to perfection and death. Is there even room for the Spirit to do anything not according to our plans?
Before you write me off as bitter and cynical, something happened recently that has made me re-question and rethink all of this. I’ll tell you about it under the Something I’m Learning category. :-)
What Has Our Obsession with Celebrity Done to Us?
“Obscurity may very well be the spiritual discipline the American church needs to practice the most in the coming century.”
Katelyn Beaty, Celebrities for Jesus
I had the privilege of being on the launch team for Celebrities for Jesus by Katelyn Beaty and received an advanced digital copy. Normally I hate reading on my phone. I need paper pages to turn, dogear, and highlight. But I devoured that book on a camping trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It’s not a light beach read, but I couldn’t put it down. Katelyn put to words everything I’ve been feeling the past few years as I’ve tried to break into the publishing industry and write my book.
Beaty talked about the Christian celebrities who have spectacularly fallen over the past few years as well as the ones who have publicly walked away from their faith. She defined celebrity and distinguished it from fame.
“A celebrity is known for their well-knownness–and we feed the problem.”
Katelyn Beaty, Celebrities for Jesus
Beaty also tore apart the influencer phenomenon on social media and exposed the dangers it poses to our fragile human hearts. Then—even though she works in the publishing industry—Beaty began to honestly discuss the ways Christian publishing, along with the Christian church, has bought into earthly lies about celebrity and influence. I felt heard and validated.
This is the beginning of a blog post I wrote a few weeks ago. You can read the rest here: Celebrities for Jesus & Fred Rogers
Just over a month ago I got a text from a new acquaintance asking me if I’d like to get coffee. Nothing out of the ordinary, except that I’d met her in a rather strange way. I randomly went to a night of coffee and conversation with a group of ladies from area churches who have a heart for Christian Oneness. I didn’t know anyone there. I hadn’t even gone to the conference they’d put on earlier that year. I just felt like I needed to go. And that’s where I met Kristy.
It had been weeks since our brief night together when Kristy first texted me. We met up for coffee and she asked me if I wanted to start getting together to pray. Just pray. For unity, for oneness in the church, for whatever. We prayed together that afternoon before we left the coffee shop and I knew I was in. Two weeks later her friend Nancy joined us and the three of us prayed. Just prayer. Just the three of us and the Spirit of Jesus. I was hooked.
Last Wednesday there were eight of us. We introduced ourselves, explained why we’d come, and then prayed/sang/shared in prayer for almost an hour. Telling you that it was amazing doesn’t even come close to being big enough. As one of the women said, “This feels Biblical.”
Which brings me back to my initial question in this newsletter: Are we doing church wrong?
My organic prayer meeting at the coffee shop where we are open to whatever the Spirit of God is doing feels way more like church than anything I’ve experienced on a Sunday Morning. It’s real. It’s powerful. We are all involved. There is actual oneness with people I don’t even know in real life. And I find myself craving more. More prayer. More people. More opportunities. More connection.
I think this is church. We are the church. The body of Jesus Christ. So how do we bring this into our everyday lives? And how do we get away from the THING we have created that we call church?
Sorry this newsletter was a bit late this month! I was camping and forgot to schedule it. :-)
Thanks for taking a moment to #Rethink some of our religious traditions and beliefs. I know that it can be scary to deconstruct and reconstruct our faith, but finding the Real Jesus is absolutely worth it. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts, questions, or comments.
If you know someone who would love to #rethink, please share!
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