Last week I ran across this article, an interview with Tim Keller, in Christianity Today. This week in my blog I decided to look at the questions he was asked, pull a quote from his answers, and share some thoughts.

Q: Are the doubts that believers face the same as the doubts that unbelievers face?

A: I do think a lot of Christians — because they don't understand the grace narrative — get out into the world and find it very tough to navigate. I think it's because they don't understand the gospel, not because they can't answer all the theological questions.

This comment really summarizes two of my posts last week on the first and second levels of religions, and how at a certain level, all religions are the same (which is what most Americans see according to the recent Pew study), but, at a second level, Christianity is radically different. That second level is the gospel and if people don't get they Gospel, then the uniqueness of Christianity is lost and, honestly, we're no different than anyone else.

Of course, the real challenge with this is that the Gospel is completely contrary to our sinful human nature, because our natural desire is to contribute something to the faith equation, be it good works, choosing God, or whatever else. In the end, because we add these pieces on to what God does, we end up with an understanding of the Gospel that is lacking and, as a result, we regularly find ourselves in places of doubt.

For the Christian then, the key to overcoming doubt and finding ourselves capable of navigating the world, is to come to understand the fullness of the Gospel. For me, the book that really helped in this struggle was Martin Luther's, "Bondage of the Will" (you can read it for free here).

So, how much Gospel is in your understanding of the Gospel?

In the Spring of 2006, a guy from Genesis suggested that I write a book about the basics of the Christian faith and how Christians view the world around us. It seemed like a good enough of an idea, and now, a couple of years later, the elemental life is in print. Here's the book description:

Life, the decisions and challenges we face concerning work, recreation, money, relationships, and the future can become complex and overwhelming. But they don't have to be.

The elemental life uses the four ancient elements of earth, water, fire, and wind to take a fresh look at historic biblical Christianity. In the process, the elemental life offers a different way of looking at the world around you ... a way that provides clarity in the midst of chaos, speaks words of forgiveness when confronted by failure, makes the most of the struggles of life, and gives meaning to the mundane moments of your everyday experience.

It's not easy, but it is elemental. Find a friend and talk, challenge, encourage, and discover together. Get back to the elemental life.

Because the whole thing was written with the goal of getting people to ask questions and explore deeper, I've also developed a website to go with the site where readers can ask questions and I'll dig deeper into the ideas behind the book through the eLife podcast.

Through most of Seminary I was told that pastors, at least from a spiritual vantage point, generally prefer funerals over weddings. The basic reasoning is that, with funerals, you have sin sitting right there before people and it really can't be avoided ... you know, that whole, "wages of sin is death" thing. So, at a funeral, you have an audience who is captive, aware of their own mortality, and trying to figure things out (this is especially true when somebody young has died). So, for a pastor, a funeral is a wonderful setup to the message we try and convey all the time.

At a wedding however, sin is the farthest thing from people's minds. Everybody is looking their best, love is in the air, and life is generally good (or at least whitewashed so it looks great on the surface). While the wedding vows and words like "for worse", "for poorer", and "sickness" provide a handle to talk about the Law, it's just not on people's minds (and when couples write their own vows and they're all sappy and lovey, it's even harder).

But, in our world today, I'm not sure if I buy this thinking. Certainly in a time and place where you're thinking, "I have one chance." the funeral is the preferred route. However, if you're in a culture where once isn't going to be enough, a wedding becomes a wonderful opportunity to initiate ongoing relationships and cast a new vision of Christianity in the minds of those who attend.

For example, I did a wedding on Saturday and I didn't meet the groom until the couple was already planning to wed. However, over the past few months, I had the chance to get to know him very well through the pre-marital counseling process. I'd even say that I new consider him a friend and look forward to socializing with him in the coming years. Beyond that, he's wanting to attend a Bible study I'm leading on Hebrews and is now listening to the Super Average Podcast.

Moving beyond that, because of the groom, the best man is also going to be a SAP subscriber and wants to talk faith from a distance (he lives in Iowa). Then of course you have those who attended the wedding who really enjoyed the way I blended reverence with fun. A number of people commented that they'd never found themselves having that much fun at the actual wedding. Me hanging around through the reception, enjoying a few beers, talking sports with the guys, and dancing (or maybe it was more convulsing on the dance floor) also prompted people to rethink what Christianity might be all about.

What do you think, in an age where connecting to a community will most likely precede conversion, will pastors begin to see weddings as more powerful (or at least equal) ministry opportunities than funerals?

Okay, if this was done by someone as a joke, I'd be laughing at what the Green Day song calls, "The Jesus of Suburbia". I'd put it in the same category of "Saved" and "Dogma" which are beautiful critiques of modern Christianity. But this was put together by a congregation ... and, to make it even worse for me, a Lutheran one.

Just curious, does the red glow of my embarrassment radiate out from your computer screen?

I recently started reading the book, "Telling God's Story: Narrative Preaching for Christian Formation" and, after a little more than a chapter, it's rocking my world.

The basic premise of the book is that too much of preaching tries to conform Christianity to people's existing worldview. To address this issue, the majority of the book offers a new rhetorical approach for homiletics (aka preaching strategy) that seeks to challenge existing worldviews and replace them with one shaped by the biblical narrative. Here's a great quote:

"American Christianity" ... arose at a time when a fundamental shift occurred within the underlying narrative horizon of the church's life and practice. Whereas the church had historically lived out of the biblical story of God's promise to Abraham and Sarah fulfilled in Jesus and made manifest in the life of the Church, this new narrative placed the individual's movement from sin to salvation to service at its center. As the traditional Christian typology between Israel and the church collapsed, a new type of Israel arose - the modern American nation-state. These two distinct narratives ... have become deeply embedded within the cultural horizons of North America.

So, what does this mean? As an analogy I offer the Firefox web browser and it's collection of plug-ins. In this analogy, the browser functions as the foundational worldview. In the case of America, this includes our love of the autonomous individual, concepts like manifest destiny that drove our early history, and of course consumerism and capitalism.

Now, with Firefox, you customize your web browsing experience by downloading a variety of plug-ins, each of which adds something to the browser, but, in the end, has to work within the browsers limitations. This is essentially what has happened to Christianity in America. Rather than being the browser and having a biblical worldview, we've plugged Christianity into the American experience and forced it to live within that worldviews limitations. To put it crassly, most American Christians are Americans who have Jesus serve as an added perk in their life and, when the Biblical narrative doesn't seem to work within our American worldview, it's Scripture that's expected to give.

To continue the analogy, there are various Christianity plug-ins you can add in. You have the democratic form of governance where every member has an equal say in the workings of the congregation so you have to have boards and voters meetings if you're going to do anything. You also have the Christian nation plug-in that always seems to be downloaded with a fanatic devotion to Israel. If you're more into politics you can grab the Republican plug-in where, until '08, it's all about the issue of abortion, or maybe you're more progressive and want the new Democrat plug-in where you talk about loving poor people.

The fundamental problem with all of these is that Christians are still Americans first and Christians later. The American worldview remains the browser and Jesus a plug-in. The emerging church formed out of a longing to let Christianity be the browser, but it too seems to be going the way of the plug-in. Maybe this book will help me in my longing to form faith communities where Christianity is the browser and America can become the plug-in.