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GOT TRANSCENDENCE?

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A PREZ RELEASEfrom AGTS(Monthly commentary from the President of the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary)April 2001GOT TRANSCENDENCE?Sometimes small children have insights beyond their years. I recently read about some 8-year-olds that were giving their explanation of God. One child offered the following observations:“Jesus is God’s Son. He used to do all the hard work like walking on water and performingmiracles and trying to teach the people who didn’t want to learn about God.They finally got tired of Him preaching to them and they crucified Him. But He was good andkind like His Father and He told His Father they didn’t know what they were doing and toforgive them and God said O.K.! His Dad (God) appreciated all His hard work on earth so nowHe could stay in heaven.Now Jesus helps His Dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important forGod to take care of and which ones He can take care of Himself without having to bother God.Now you can pray anytime you want and they’re sure to help you because they got it worked outso one of them is on duty all the time.”This young child had a simple assumption. God’s out there and in charge of what happenshere on earth. Yet a problem occurs someplace along our life’s experience… we can lose thesense of God’s being in charge… the sense of what we grown-ups call transcendence.I’m not a big fan of National Public Radio, but I do listen regularly to the Prairie HomeCompanion. The creator of this wonderful excursion into Midwest small-town life is GarrisonKeillor. He has a knack of capturing my childhood remembrances of small-town life in NorthDakota as he tells stories of the fictitious (though very real) Lake Wobegon. Keillor is not just acountry bumpkin, he is a brilliant storyteller. He has a knack for capturing essential realities inword-pictures.Keillor recently noted that if you can’t go to church and, for at least for a moment, be giventranscendence …if you can’t go to church and briefly move from this life to the next: then whyshould anyone go to church. Just a brief moment of transcendence causes you to leave thatchurch changed person.Whether you are in Lake Wobegon or some huge metropolis like New York or Dallas-Ft.Worth… Keillor’s observation is challenging because our world does not lack for a hunger ofvibrant spirituality. If it is true that contemporary spirituality may be described as being seekeroriented, then we who care deeply about our Christian faith need to take heed.Be careful though - seeking comes in many forms. You’ll see seeking in a shopping mall wherecrystals sell for big bucks and guarantee the alignment of energy fields that impact your life.You’ll see a search for transcendence at rave parties where technomusic, bright lights and thedrug Ecstasy try to (for a moment) “move beyond this life to the next.”If you think the current wave of X-treme sports are just the result of too much leisure time andtoo many Miller Lites you’re mistaken. X-treme sports not only speak of addiction to adrenaline,but a quest to push beyond the mundane into the “Zone.”The search to move beyond ourselves increases as the world presses into our lives. In this currentstruggle, Keillor’s call for that refreshing transcendent moment is bone chilling!What spiritual realities do people encounter when they step into your church? Do theyexperience a Christian sub-culture only understandable to those who learned the secret language?Do they encounter an exercise in the current wave of attempts to avoid offending the “non-believing seeker?” The reality is, we live in a spiritually starved age and that hunger is onlyincreased when our churches offer weak substitutes for the transforming power of Jesus Christ.Whether people are builders, boomers, busters, Gen. X, Gen. Y, Millenials or any other “tribal”designation we would like to fit them into… people are not going to be satisfied with anythingless than transcendence. So when people enter your church next Sunday will they encounterslick professionalism, tradition masquerading as the “old-time Gospel” or will theyencounter a powerful response to Keillor’s quest for a brief moment of transcendence thatcauses you to leave that church a changed person.The spiritual quest of our age does not require a greater understanding of relevant methodology;it requires Christians whose hunger for God matches that of those who have not yet been foundby the Shepherd of our souls! The lyrics of the worship group Sonic Flood typifies this hungerfor God.“I want to know You, I want to see Your face, I want to know You more! I want to touch You, I want to hear Your voice, I want to know You more!Byron D. [email protected] it out. . .I recently did a Prez Report on St. Patrick. A new book on St. Patrick and Celtic evangelism isworth checking out. The Celtic Way of Evangelism: How Christianity can reach the West…Again by George G. Hunter III Abingdon Press ISBN # 0-687-08585-3A great web-site on researching current ethical issues is sponsored by the Center for AppliedEthics located at Wheaton Collegewww.christianethics.orgMark your calendar!PRE-COUNCIL EVENTAugust 6 & 7, 2001Westin Crown Center HotelKansas City, MOTransforming Church Ministry for the 21st Century"Doing Ministry in the Postmodern Matrix"A seminar offered in partnership between the AGTS and the Division of Home Missions Church PlantingfeaturingBrian McLaren, founding pastor,Cedar Ridge Community Church, Washington, D.C. areaFor more information contact AGTS Continuing Education at 1435 N. Glenstone, Springfield, MO 65802 or call(800) 467-2487, ext. 1044, Fax (417) 268-1009, or E-mail:


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