How Being Old is Cool to the Young

I don't know if there are too many things that aren't more pathetic than a bald-headed old guy driving a Mazda Miata while sporting a ponytail. There is just something about getting older and denying it that just isn't cool. But there is a time when being old is cool.

Over at Reformation21, one of my many favorite blogs, you'll find this little essay reminding us that old isn't necessarily old-fashioned. Interspersed with some humorous observations are some timeless spiritual insights.

I recently visited a church where the average age was 25. It's a booming church, growing by leaps and bounds. It is listed as one of the top 100 fastest growing churches in the U.S. I felt antiquated as I took in the sound (loud), the music (edgy), the use of video (I think I had a seizure in the middle of the service), and the preacher's vocabulary (there were words there that had the opposite meaning of what they meant a generation ago).

But then I caught myself. I had something that most of the audience didn't have. Experience. And good experience to boot. My faith had been forged by the crucible of life and my understanding of grace, mercy, justice and redemption were as deep as the ocean. I could make my home in this church and offer a valuable service.

I loved the energy in that church. I would recommend that church to anyone. Their vision and passion is second to none. Many churches grow in intellectual understanding of the will and plan of God, but lose their excitement of serving the Savior. I hope they maintain their zeal as they mature so that they won't be spiritual bald-headed men, sporting pony-tails and driving Mazda Miatas.

Regeneration Without Transformation

I found this great post at Out of Ur, one of my favorite blogs and thought I'd pass it on to you:

No Transformation Necessary

Why do churches have such low expectations?
Dallas Willard has said, “We fail to be disciples only because we do not decide to be. We do not intend to be disciples.” But which is the greater problem, the person who does not intend to be a disciple or the church that never expects him to be one? Dave Johnson, senior pastor of Church of the Open Door in Maple Grove, Minnesota, shares about a man from his childhood church. Ray was an elder who showed no evidence of transformation, and the church never seemed disturbed by that fact. Johnson asks the obvious question: What’s up with that?

His name was Ray. He sat in the 3rd row on the aisle seat of the church I grew up in. Every Sunday, there he was—watching, critiquing, making sure my father said it right. Ray’s Bible was a thing to behold. Words underlined and circled with arrows pointing to other words—notes in the margin of almost every page. I think he knew the Bible better than God.

Ray was a church guy. When I was 10, he scared me. When I was 20, after my father had begun to share with me the inside story of life in ministry, I came to realize that Ray scared him too. My dad was the pastor of our church. Ray was one of his elders—at least for a time—and he wasn’t a happy guy. The Spirit’s fruit, like love and joy, rarely showed up in him in any discernable way, and he didn’t much like it if showed up in yours.

Sometimes I wonder if I’ve been too hard on Ray. He’s somehow become the composite of every rigid, narrow minded person I’ve ever met in church. No matter—Ray’s dead now—long gone—in heaven, no doubt. At least that’s what we all thought, because Ray prayed the prayer. He believed all the right things about Jesus (His death, resurrection, 2nd coming, all that), and would fight you if you didn’t. Like I said, Ray was a church guy. He just wasn’t a good guy.

So here’s my question: “What’s up with that?” In all his years in church and in “the Word”, Ray never became a different kind of person. He never changed. He never became more loving, gentle, peaceful, or patient. Indeed, he only seemed to become more angry and rigid as time went on. He became harder to be around. What’s more, no one seemed to be bothered by that, as though something were out of the ordinary. No one wondered if maybe Ray had somehow missed the point.

In other words, not only did Ray never change but no one seemed to expect him to. Ray was just being Ray. He prayed the prayer, he believed the right stuff about Jesus, he was irritated with people who didn’t, and he went to heaven when he died. So again the question: “What’s up with that?”

So, what do you think? Why do we tolerate unchristian behavior by those who claim to have been saved 15, 20 or more years? What can be done to encourage and challenge believers to understand that being stagnant is no better than being backslidden?

HT: Out of Ur