When we say Via Christus is probably like no other church you’ve visited before, we’re not kidding. Imagine a church where it doesn’t matter how you dress, what you look like, how you talk, whether you know the right beliefs or even how to “behave” in church. Imagine a church where you get to be part of creating the “sermon” – asking questions and sharing stories. Imagine a church where “worship” involves way more than just singing – it involves art, and imagination, and contemplation, and movement, and creativity, and much more. Imagine a church where you don’t just sit and absorb, you are invited into the experience.

And most importantly, imagine a church that cares more about how it is going out into the world to serve others on a daily basis, than about how to draw people into a once-a-week religious service.

We are very experiential and participatory as a church. However, as a new visitor, we will never put you on the spot or make you feel uncomfortable. You are welcome to simply come and observe – there’s never any pressure to participate beyond what you’re comfortable with. We want you to get to know us at your own pace.

For those who wonder if we are “traditional” or “contemporary” – the answer is yes… and so much more as well. We try to appreciate and incorporate good elements from the whole buffet of spiritual practices that have been handed down through the centuries of the Christian faith. Whether it’s ancient or postmodern, contemplative or charismatic, hymns or praise songs – we will embrace whatever is helpful for drawing us closer to God and each other.

So what should you expect? Expect a church that is open to trying new things (and old things). Expect a church where you have the opportunity to not just sit and listen but to actively engage. Expect a church that is friendly, fun (even silly at times), and laid-back, and yet challenging at the same time. Our goal is to transform lives and the whole world with God’s love, so expect to be changed (for the better we hope) by your time with us.

Labels: personal, Via Christus

I think for a while we forgot what was possible. Our way of life damaged our ability to imagine anything different. Maybe we are rarely good at imagining that things could be different...

"Through new uses of corporations, banks and securities, new machinery of industry, of labor and capital - all undreamed of by the Fathers - the whole structure of modern life was impressed into the service of economic royalists. It was natural and perhaps human that the privileged princes of these new economic dynasties, thirsting for power, reached out for control of government itself. They created a new despotism and wrapped it in the robes of legal sanction. In its service new mercenaries sought to regiment the people, their labor and their property. And as a result the average man once more confronts the problem that faced the Minute Man. For too many of us life was no longer free; liberty no longer real; men could no longer follow the pursuit of happiness. Against economic tyranny such as this, the American citizen could appeal only to the organized power of the Government."

That was Franklin Roosevelt, talking as president to the nation in 1936. In the same speech he said, "There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected . This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny."

But then we forgot again. We went back to imagining that things could only ever be as they were. We lived on in that strange new feudalism, in ways that were unjust and destructive and yet were presented as the only possible reality. We said "people are like that," or "human nature will never change," or "we are all guilty of original sin," or "this is democracy, this is the free market, this is reality itself." And we went along with that analysis, and it became the law of the land. The entire world was legally bound to accept this feudal injustice as law. It was global and so it looked like it was universal. The future itself was bought, in the form of debts, mortgages, contracts - all spelled out by law and enforced by police and armies. Alternatives were unthinkable. Even to say things could be otherwise would get you immediately branded as unrealistic, foolish, naive, insane, utopian.

But that was all delusion. Every few years things change completely, even though we can't quite remember how it happened or what it means. Change is real and unavoidable. And we can organize our affairs any way we please. There is no physical restraint on us. We are free to act. It's a fearsome thing, this freedom, so much so that people talk about a "flight from freedom" - that we fly into cages and hide, because freedom is so profound it's a kind of abyss. To actually choose in each moment how to live is too scary to endure.

So we lived like sleepwalkers. But the world is not asleep, and outside our dream things continued to change. Trying to shape that change is not a bad thing. Some pretend that making a plan is instant communism and the devil's work, but it isn't so. We always have a plan. Free market economics is a plan - it plans to give over all decisions to the blind hand of the market. But the blind hand never picks up the check. And, you know - it's blind. To deal with the global environmental crisis we now face without making any more plan than to trust the market would be like saying, We have to solve this problem so first let's put out our eyes. Why? Why not use our eyes? Why not use our brain?

Because we're going to have to imagine our way out of this one.

Labels: politics

Labels: fun, politics

Labels: book reviews, politics, Shane Claiborne, theology

With Aidan we went with another Lord of the Rings middle name. If you didn't know, Elessar is Aragorn's elvish name (he was raised by the elves) and the name he assumes once he becomes King. The term elessar actually refers to a green jewel (in a ring of course) that contains a bit of a star (making it apropos to pair with Aidan). But the person who has the right to wear the stone is also referred to as the elessar - a person who is a healer. In LOTR Aragorn shows that he is a healer as well as a leader and King. But the idea behind this type of healer is not just one who can heal physical wounds, but one who can look at any person or situation and see the good underneath. The healing occurs by the elessar being able to bring forth the inherent good in people and in the world. I loved that concept and pray that my child can be one of those who see that "there's good in this world and it's worth fighting for." (and yes, we are complete nerds as well...).

Labels: Aidan, personal

Labels: Aidan

Labels: Aidan, personal

Labels: personal

Labels: fun

The other night a soldier called us on the phone (not that unusual these days). He said that he and his friend had just gotten back from Iraq, where a bunch of folks were passing around a copy of the book The Irresistible Revolution. His friend had been in a shooting conflict with some Iraqis, and he shot an older man. Now this twenty-year-old American soldier was having a hard time sleeping. But it wasn't the fact that he had killed the man that was keeping him up at night. It was the face of the man's son, a twelve-year-old boy, who had run out of the house, grabbed his dead father's gun, and started shooting at the US soldiers. So the soldier's friend shot the boy too.

What else could he have done? The soldier said it's absolutely maddening; people feel like they are turning into animals. And every time they point a gun in some young kid's face, they feel they're creating a terrorist. He said that our guns and wars are not making the world safer.

Labels: politics, Shane Claiborne, social justice

Labels: politics

• Portraying the Pevensies as bitter and slightly angry about being back in their world after their time in Narnia. Let's face it, if you had lived your half a life in a place where you were kings and queens and had friends and a home, and then suddenly, without warning, it was all taken away and you had to do adolescence all over again, wouldn't you be just a tad upset?
• Spending more time on the behind-the-scenes politics and intrigues of Miraz's court.
• Intensifying the clash of authority between Peter and Caspian (too many kings in the kitchen) and adding a sequence about a failed raid on Miraz's castle planned by Peter. I thought it was a believable twist, added to the drama of the story, and heightened the sense of desperation among Caspian's followers.
• Showing, rather than merely telling about summoning the White Witch. You really get a sense of the seductive power of evil.
  
• Adding a bit of romance between Caspian & Susan. Even though Lewis would have never gone there, in the context of the movie it's totally believable (especially since Caspian is played by tall, dark and handsome actor with a Spanish accent).
  
• Leaving out Aslan's romp through Narnia with Bacchus. It's fun in the book, but would have made no sense at all in the movie.

Labels: movies/tv, Narnia