Carnival Mirrors, Protesting Protestantism and our Infatuation with being Correct

You see it all around you
Good lovin' gone bad
And usually it's too late when you, realize what you had
And my mind goes back to a girl I left some years ago,
Who told me,
Just Hold On Loosely, but don't let go
If you cling to tightly,
you're gonna lose control.
.38 special

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.
BLAISE PASCAL

“You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”
Ann Lamott


I’ve written some stuff about people who copy Rick Warren and it’s certainly fun to go Andy Rooney on someone’s butt. I mean I really was interested in doing a nation wide program for the church called “325 days of Purposelessness”… I wouldn’t have charged anything… and I had a few sponsors lined up, including the United Methodists and the Roman Catholics. I almost had the Southern Baptist, but they had already begun a program called “365 days of Narrowmindedness, Bigotry and rightness” I learned quickly that most other churches had identified a program for their liking as well. Non-Denom’s had “365 days of Doing things my way without those damn controlling people.”

The Episcopal church were deciding between slogans, first,“Whiskypalian’s and really short hair cuts” and “Episc Your Pal” I’m not sure what that means…

Reformed Church of America “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you mean.” This took the place of , “It’s ONLY about Scripture! No wait! It’s only about Faith! No wait! It’s only about Grace! Not wait…”

The Weslyans, “Our church is our world”.

The Vineyard church has announced it’s new slogan, “What’s 2,000 years of history when you have the POWER!”

The Pentacostal church has announced, “God provided because I told him he had too.”

The Church of Christ new church growth initiative, “Homeschool acapella choirs touring Church of Christ family reunions will change the world.”

The Emerging church had deconstructed all of the above programs and were now paralyzed by their inability to actually do something, for fear of being deconstructed. This resulted in an inclusive amalgam of all of the previously mentioned programs put together in one ugly idea.

Then there is the Reactionary Church- (which many Emerging churches might look like) This is the church that starts because someone else has gotten it wrong. It is almost always led by a pastor who disagrees on some point or issue or another with his or her predecessor and wants to get it right. It might only be a small issue, that has become big, for whatever reason, say whether Adam had a navel? Or the color of the hymnals, or it might be an issue some might consider larger, should you have to pay money to be forgiven by God for your sins. Most of the divergences in early Protestantism were around the understanding of the Lord’s supper.

Fortress mentality. Doctrinal precision. Once we establish a position, whether it be Calvinism, Arminian we must defend it.

Then we start to give advice based on our position.

Advice is a form a nostalgia.
Dispensing is a way of fishing the past from the disposal wiping it off painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth."
- Baz luhrman

Our advice then becomes absolute.

Look it says now we see dimly. DIMLY. It’s not totally clear. Think Carnival Mirror. Yeah that’s you in the reflection, but you head is not really that big, your waist is not that narrow and your legs are not that short.

From our absolutes comes systemic estrangement.

Systematic estrangement:
It’s important to note that this is a form of systematic estrangement. Part of ones own identity is found in the person or institution a person is leaving. More importantly, part of the motivation for “new things” new churches, new ministries etc are often born from a desire to no longer be the what was just left behind.

In other words, we don’t want to be like them, so we start something else.
Or
We don’t agree in this fine point, so we start something else.

There is something to be said here for our understandings of unity and diversity as we move from mostly homogenious institutions.

This isn’t always wrong, justice for instance.

Like standing in front of a carnival mirror and using the reflection to

Humility at it’s heart is allowing yourself to be wrong sometimes.


Things are not always as they seem. Mystery is omnipresent.

So maybe confession and forgiveness is a good place to start.
Here’s an emergent confession I wrote a year ago or so.

I am historical snob. I love history, but not the last 50 years. For some reason, it’s cool to know about history right now. It gives us context. It brings clarity. But for some reason I get all more infuriated than Jerry Falwell at Tellitubby land or James Dobson listening to the Spongebob Squarepants theme songs while trapped in Carnival Funhouse and maze called the “Wild Wild world of the American Judicial system” …
Regardless… when I’m with my friends I mention Rick Warren and Bill Hybels and I see their skin crawl like a South American missionary with parasites. Why can’t I be respectful (in some way) and honor what our modern “friends” have done?

I’ve sought to understand Jesus in his context, but failed to re-engage him in my own.

Leaving the gospel bland and tasteless…

I’ve read NT Wright and sought to understand Jesus’ context, however I’ve often fallen in the same trap as every other modernist thinker in trying to find a universally pure gospel that has not been dirtyd by cultures, trends, specific geography and context.

In addition we fail to actually act on what we discover about God.

I am often insecure. I used to argue a lot. I loved debate. Calvinism, Arminianism, Openness… are you on a line or above it? We appear confident… but our need to argue gives away our insecurity. We argue because we don’t really know if we are right. IF we can just convince someone else to see it my way, then (ironically) maybe I’ll believe it a little more myself. This leads a lot of problems for the rest of us.
If your insecurity is driving how you engage people then you are not only hurting yourself, but you are hurting others. Like the people in this room.

We are arrogant.
On a hunch, often with great risk to reputation we began to do the unthinkable in our homogenious context, we began to think… in new ways. Some for the newness of a trend, others because the “good news” didn’t seems as good as it once did. Things weren’t right. With our new found perspective came a new reason for arrogance. Many of us are always subconsciously seeking a new and creative way to be proud… it is then that we find ourselves a wonderful new perspective and being a modern pharasee.

Matthew 20

The first will be last and the last will be first? Is it like some kind of cosmic musical chairs? Because when your are last you find yourself first in the story… which changes your thinking… and then you have to move seats?

The mobius Strip – We often get separate ourselves from a side we think is very different from ours… but in the end… we may find we are on the same side and our judgement on the otherside is now judgement on ourselves.

That the tricky thing about Jesus and his parables. Humility and gratitude is where you we must find ourselves.

So. I’m sorry if I’ve screwed things up for you. If there is anything we must learn about this journey we are on… it’s that we must be finding ways of agreement to engage the world… humbly… and with gratefulness.


The key issues for the Emergent conversation as we move forward is a deep sense of humility. I’m as guilty as anyone, and we need to stop picking fights with people, or being inticed into them. Act on your convictions, but hold them loosely.