An Attempt to Explain: An Inefficient Kingdom Part I

Instructions Before Reading

I stand by the right to publish incomplete snippets. The point of this blog is to share life. If there is a unity in my life, it will become apparent what that unity is. No post is a complete thought, theology, worldview, or poem within itself, it must be taken within the context of the entirety of this blog, considerations of who I am in public as well as who I am in extreme situations like when I am forced to wake up at 4:30 in the morning to help my wife jump start her car in 20 degree weather.

I recognize my right as a flawed human being to do the following: 1) be wrong, 2) change my mind, 3) be inconsistent, 4) have improper grammar and spelling conventions. You are just as flawed, wrong, capricious, and prone to theological alteration as I am... so get over it.

"Evil looks like business!"

-Mike Yacconnelli

That would be business in terms of time, not corporation. Why is efficiency and productivity equated with Godliness? Why is effective use of our time involvment with consistent committments? Why is business praised as 'hard work,' while leaning on your shovel to talk with someone is deemed 'lazy'?

"If you go along with the culture, the culture will love you. If you hate the culture, the culture may even respect your opinion. If you ignore the culture, it will drive it crazy"

-Brennan Manning (my paraphrase)

Our culture is obsessed with efficiency. We are associational; which basically means we only talk with people because they are associated with our tasks, like saying hi to someone who is serving us our grease pile at Micky D's. I'm sure there has been some study done on which greeting will extract the largest possible number of dead presidents from the sewed cowhide of said customer. Our culture is obsessed with efficiency.

This obsession has permeated the church. Loyalty to the kingdom means being in at the church five times a week. Between church, work, family, more work, play, working to pay for all the toys. Things get hectic. We have no time because we always work, and we have no money because we spend spend spend.

What if we cut spending like there was no tomorrow? Drop the satellite tv, get a car that has lower payments; or dare I say, one that is over five years old. Eat out less, spend less on presents at Christmas. Live within, maybe even below your means. Now there is more money available. Now you don't have to work as much. Now there is more time available. Cut spending, gain time.

Of course there is always the problem of those who can barely put food on the table, let alone cut spending. I believe it is the responsibility of the body of Christ to be able to provide their brother's and sisters a life in which they can give time to be able to live out the kingdom of God. "What? That's communism, they need to be more efficient and work harder." Oh get over your obsession with individualism. We're the body of Christ, not the united organic materials of the Son of God. So what if some parts are dependent on the others for survival. The heart keeps the whole body alive, I never hear it whining to the hand, "Oh geeze maybe you should pump some more blood, and be a responsible individual."Association with the Lamb of God kills autonomy. We are no longer individuals we are a part of the body of the Slain Lamb.

If we are followers of the Christ, members of His kingdom, then "How did Jesus use his time?" is a pertinent question. The ushering in of a kingdom was not a publicized scheduled event. Rather, it seems that Jesus neandered around Israel for three years, talking to whoever would listen. How is that for efficiency? A slower paced life, one that turns down opportunity for advancement for the sake of kingdom availability is counter cultural. One whose heart is fixed on God's is unurried. One who is unhurried by the world around them turns heads.