Downward Mobility

"To mature as a follower of Jesus means to be led to the same powerless places he (Jesus) was lead. It means the road of downward mobility in the midst of an upwardly mobile world. I do not say this with sadness, but joyfully, because the downward road of God is the road on which he reveals himself to us as God with us...

Nobody wants to be on the road to downward mobility. It costs too much. If you aspire to it, you don't understand it. It runs counter to the road we desire to travel - the one that leads to upward mobility. By right, we should get to pass important mile markers that measure our success - marriage, babies, career, house, better career, bigger house. We should be on our way. So why would Jesus ask if we love him, and then, if we get the right answer, promise that we will be carried to a place we don't want to be?"

-M. Craig Barnes, When God Interrupts

I've been thinking, "How do you make church relevant in culture?" The question is tricky, and the answer is even trickier. Here's why:

Doing "relevant" church runs the very real risk of becoming "McChurch, I'd like fries with that." We can become Drive-Thru Jesus.com because we want to speak to the American Consumer. So, we are tempted to make church into a product to be consumed. Makes sense, kinda. Phenomenal messages, excellent children's ministry, hip worship done well, these things DO get butts in seats. It looks like success. The problem is that once the proverbial "butts" are in seats, they stay there - mollified by the spiritual equivalent of Krispie Creme Donuts. Our church communities become anemic, malnourished and obese all at once, and we have done it in the name of relevance.

The Good News that God is With Us,and For Us is utterly relevant. But God is on the move and if we are to be Christ-Followers then spiritual butt sitting will not do. In a place like Colorado, an invitation to join a spiritual journey/adventure appeals. It fits with the culture of this place. We ski, and hike, and mountain bike, and kayak. We do adventure.

Except...

The road of the disciple is one of downward mobility. Always. And that is not an easy sell to any culture anywhere. It's one thing to tell a people, "Get off your fat asses and join the adventure." It's quite another thing to say, "By the way, the road we're traveling will likely put to death the dream you had for your life. It will be harder, longer and more treacherous than you ever imagined. In the end, it will cost your life."

"Would you like fries with that?"

McChurch, and real discipleship don't mix.

This does not mean our messages should be lame, our worship tacky and outdated, and our children's ministry pathetic. Excellence matters. But I'm not sure we can ever be trendy. "Come and die" doesn't lend itself to trendy. A promise of downward mobility doesn't make for good copy in brochures and door hangers.

Case in point:

-God called our family to adopt.
-We did.
-It was hard.
-It will become harder.
-Hard will last forever.
-Part of that hardship was the fact that the dream I had for my life had to die.

Today, we met with the physician overseeing our daughter's multi-disciplinary evaluation. I was expecting one diagnosis. I got 4. And one more looms in the future. We have a virtual alphabet of disorders with acronyms. These acronyms spell out a future full of therapies and challenges, challenges that will never be outgrown.

In our daughter we received the gift of downward mobility. Moments of this have been excruciating. Yet, I have found the quote I began with to be true. As we have followed Christ on this path of downward mobility, I have encountered the Living God more frequently, and more potently than ever before. I have met my God here, on this road littered with the skeletons of dreams decomposed.

Put that on a brochure.