this blog is getting dangerously close to a magazine review, but i have just run across some very provocative articles lately. the most recent one is from ROLLING STONE and it chronicles a Christian youth movement called BattleCry. i was unfamiliar with it myself, but i did recognize the name of its youth crusades: Acquire the Fire. [RS article]

the author, admittedly unreligious, paints a pretty slanted picture i think of this BattleCry group, as evidenced in the lead-in to the story:

“Jesus is really, really [angry] — at Hollywood, at the media, even at most Christians. But BattleCry, the nation’s largest and most radical youth crusade, is recruiting a new generation of Christian soldiers to fight back. Inside the shock troops of the religious right.”

as jaded as this guy is, there is something that strikes a chord with me too. i guess i just wonder if this article is another example of the “liberal” media’s agenda to slander Christianity [i don't really buy into that conspiracy theory by the way] or is there something to his assertion that Christian groups like BattleCry have simply replaced a “secular” culture with one that is no less harmful: fundamentalism, evangelicalism, acquire the fire, promise keepers, etc, etc.

i am not judging these group, just asking the question: what impact is the church having on our culture and society?

something Jesus said to the religious people of His day has been haunting me: “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted…. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.” [Matthew 23:12, 15]

i dont know why i am so pumped about this, but i have been watching some of the PLANET EARTH series on discovery channel and just been amazed. the photography is killer. anyway, we are starting a new series at CRC tonight and so i put a little video together with clips from that show. the talk is about reason to believe in a creator God; i think these images speak for themselves.

i subscribe to several periodicals: one of my favorites is WIRED. i have kind of turned into a techno-nerd over the last few years [a subtle, evil transformation i might add] and this magazine has been an attempt to keep myself abreast of the latest trends in technology and culture.

an article this past month caught my attention, most likely because it included the word “naked” [isn't marketing wonderful?], but it kept my attention because of what it was saying. the opening paragraph read:

“Smart companies are sharing secrets with rivals, blogging about products in their pipeline, even admitting to their failures. The name of this new game is RADICAL TRANSPARENCY, and it’s sweeping boardrooms across the nation. Even those Office drones at Dunder Mifflin get it. So strip down and learn how to have it all by baring it all.” [WIRED]

as i read about this new ideal of transparency in companies i was both shocked and, i have to admit, comforted a bit. it just seems to me that a company that can admit its mistakes, share its secrets, be honest for a change is one that i can trust; a company i might want to do business with in the future.

of course there is the issue of reputation: reveal deep, dark secrets and your rep is down the toilet. it is a double-edged sword to be sure. but even, then, how healthy would it be to get it all out. i think people respect that kind of honesty.

a few years ago i gave a talk about king David and how when he was bringing the ark of God back to Jerusalem after it had been stolen by the enemy, he danced practically naked. he kind of made a fool of himself. his wife, Michal, even told him what a fool he had been, so undistinguished, exposed in front of all the people. David really didn’t care. he lived a transparent life and he was going to dance. a little like the kids in Footloose, the movie.

i totally understand why i took some heat from people when, at the end of that talk, i suggested we all “get naked.” probably not a good choice of words. what i meant to convey was that, of all places, the church should be a place of radical transparency. the church, of all places, should allow people to reveal themselves, the ugliness, the struggles, the craziness, the idiosyncracies.

i have to admit the whole proposition of transparency scares me. i worry about my reputation. and i know what is really there, just below the surface. but maybe this fear is less that of terror and more like the seconds before a bungy jump, or a cliff dive. once you take the leap, you wonder why it took you so long.