Having just watched Bono give an amazing interview about Live 8 on the Sunday morning news show, "Meet the Press," I'm off thinking again about the issue of "context". It was a few years ago that Pete Atkins first introduced me to the term as related to people with dreams of ministry. After listening to me express in desperate tones the passion and possibilities for new expressions of local church that were bursting forth from inside me only to swirl around in the atmosphere, he patiently offered his diagnosis: "The only thing you need is the right context." I knew what he meant. A dictionary does not finish its serivce when it has supplied simply the definition and origin of a certain word. It must go on to demonstrate that word in context--use it in a sentence--bring it to life by putting it to work in relationship to strings of other words working at the same thought! I, a single word, needed to find sentences in which I belonged!
On the most basic level, "context" is provided for individual Christian by the local church and it is here that the Bono thought pattern kicks back in. It is generally agreed by progressive thinkers that the "word" in Bono--the vision he had to change the world, make a statement, get outside the cloister--found no context at the time in the local church, so Bono creted his own. He and U2 crafted a "sentence" of their own when the church refused to surround them with their meaning. By inhabiting the priveleges that the West awards rock stars, U2 has made room for their messages, whether they be related to the AIDS or the poor, Martin Luther King, Sept. 11 or the Kingdom itself and the search for God. They went outside the church to find context, and now, ironically, they are speaking back into the church their "word", influencing many.
Throughout the past decade, as I have explored the relationship of the church to postmodern culture, my local church has indeed patiently provided me with context. They discussed, questioned, tempered, adjusted and added their words to every new spiritual discovery I made. Like a base camp for a mountain climber, they patiently waited for me to come in from the extreme and report on my most recent excursion to the summits. They have been a wonderful family to me and I thought that was as good it it could get. Though I still didn't feel I understood my position fully, I tried to be satisfied. But, I now realize, that there is another Kingdom level--beyond the local church--through which "context" must and can be provided.
Through a visit to our church by a man named Stuart Bell, my understanding of context took a quantum leap into a Kingdom dimension. One morning of having him speak into our local setting explained so much to me. And through the conversation that followed, I felt, for what seemed like the first time in my Christian life, someone really understood what to do with my "energy" (and the turbulent storm that comes as part of the package)! Stuart Bell's world of meaning was the sentence my single word needed. His view of the Kingdom calmed me down as I realized there was plenty of room for me within it! Soon, I began to notice this same phenomenon in other places. I heard Terry Virgo speak and there it was again--a sense of context--knowing how to assemble dreams and visions into a cohesive Kingdom whole. Again, the view through his eyes settled my restlessness and eased my striving. I looked back to my past and remembered hearing John Noble and Normans Barnes make statements that had the same effect. I thought of David Thatcher and Arun Community Church--a place able to cope with the incredibly huge buzz surrounding their own rock band Delirious? without losing sight of either sanity or the local church. All of these were context-providers for Kingdom dreamers who were wise enough and/or blessed enough to receive them.
And then I realized what you theologians may have already realized. What I'm really talking about is the "apostolic". CONTEXT for the artists, preachers, dreamers, and all those desperate to help break the church out of its staid ghetto rhythms will come as the voice of the apostles (whether or not they own the title) is heard. If you are a "word" without a sentence--even a strange word, an action word, a hard-to-say word--don't lose heart. God is setting up context in the earth for the things that need to be expressed. There are leaders who carry within them enough meaning to house the big picture. They are a new breed who would rather do the work than wear the title, though they will wear the title if it helps do the work. They have lived a few years and seen a few things and they are tougher than they look and wiser than you had realized. And one day they just might point to you and say, "I know where you fit."
So, here's to the context providers...long may they live and well may they see... Read Luke 5:37-39...
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