Swinging from the Vine / 786 posts / 2,685 comments / feed / comments feed

the prophets are speaking

Jake Bouma on Reuters
Bob at the Corner
Ed Cyzewski

I’m telling you, a new wave of prophetic voices are picking up the bull horns and they are SPOT ON. Either catch on that we’re living in a different world or step aside because most of us are tired of beating the proverbial old dead horse. In fact, most of us are just tired. This fatigue is leading to very different questions and very different actions.

What are you seeing, hearing, feeling, experiencing that rings true with a fundamental (dare I said it, deep) shift?

Technorati Tags: church culture, cultural trends, jake bouma, reuters, bob carlton

9 Comments

  1. jovial_cynic — June 25, 2008 #

    Hey Mac -

    Question: while the notion of a necessary deep shift rings true… I have an instinctive aversion to the idea of commercializing this shift. It seems like that whole idea that the new masters become just like the old masters, using the same tactics to get people to behave in a particular way.

  2. jovial_cynic — June 25, 2008 #

    Ah - forgot my question. How do *you* feel about the commercialization?

  3. Ed Cyzewski — June 25, 2008 #

    Thanks Mak!

    Jovial Cynic, if I could jump in with my own two cents… One question to ask is how these now organizations are used. Are they used to rally the base toward an agenda or are they a platform for disseminating ideas? I’m not big on organizations and the like, but I do think the Deep Shift thing thus far has focused on bringing people together for discussion, collaboration, and friendships centered on some commonalities. Perhaps it will one day become “Deep Shift on the Family,” but for now it seems pretty far from a political movement with one agenda to push.

  4. Mak — June 25, 2008 #

    First of all, my reference to Brian’s site was sort of me being silly, recognizing in mid sentence that what I was about to type had already been used.

    But, the question of commercialization is a good one. A few months ago I would probably have just said “commercialization - BAH!” but now I’m not so sure the answer is so simple. I think Ed had some good thoughts.

    i also would agree that the new “masters” can become as the old and that’s bad for sure.

  5. jovial_cynic — June 25, 2008 #

    Ed - I see what you’re saying, but it sounds like an ends-justify-the-means sort of thing. I debate with a friend at work over his pursuits of wealth, which I find to be an area of weakness and insecurity for him (not generally speaking, but in the case of his life in particular), and his response is often, “but think of how I could use this money to further the gospel!” And that just feels like justification…

    I don’t think you’re -wrong- Ed, and my concern isn’t really focused on the deepshift site, but rather on the whole idea of commercialization of the truth as a whole.

    Mak - yeah… and that’s really all I’m saying. It’s not simple. It’s precarious, and I think we should always tread lightly. We’re in the service of showing people freedom; doing it for money seems like the antithesis of free.

  6. Mak — June 25, 2008 #

    I’m not opposed to making money WHILE doing it, but yes, doing it for money would be bad. I have to say though that I don’t think Brian does what he does “for money”. He’s a pastor through and through from what I’ve seen so far. But I don’t presume to know his heart.

    But anyway, I feel we’re getting derailed here, my post had NOTHING to do with brian. I was more interested in highlighting prophetic voices who seem to understand that things are not as they once were and that we need to look at everything differently and proceed differently. We’re in a deep shift in the truest and most generic sense of the term.

    And this depth also needs to draw from the well of our past and present of course - but it cannot rely on those things - it cannot lean on them too heavily

  7. Stephen — June 26, 2008 #

    Mak,
    I, too, see this shift as being a step in the right direction, however I feel as though we aren’t stepping away from the issues, rather using a straw man to distract. Obama might be drawing from a pool of evangelicals, but I don’t believe that he is the uniter that he is portraying.

    I am reminded of an ice breaker I used to use while teaching Outdoor Ed. I would shout out a question with two options. If you like A go to this side, if B go the opposite. I would ask question after question and then start directing kids to go to different sides of the room. For instance, the first 6 question might divide the kids towards the east and west sides of the room, but then I might switch it up and make them split to the north and south sides. The first time the kids made the north/south transition was messy because the kids were so used to traveling east/west.

    I guess my point is, directions are changing, but we are still divided. Will we be better off divided in this new direction? I don’t know.

  8. Mak — June 26, 2008 #

    I’m not necessarily sure these changes (in politics, religion, etc) will serve to unite across the board but I’m also not sure I’m too concerned about that…but I’m not a ‘feeler’ ;)

    Also, for the record, this isn’t really just about obama. My point of the post was more to point to these people who I think are seeing things differently and recognizing the changes and I really highly value that.

    I do not see obama as a savior figure LOL And I couldn’t care less if evangelicals embrace him, that’s all sort of more narrow than what I’m looking at right now

    thanks for stopping by Stephen :)

  9. Pingback - Swinging from the Vine » Blog Archive » into the river we go - rapids and all — July 1, 2008 #

    [...] I wrote awhile back about the changes that are afoot in all domains of society. Since then, I have read several articles and statistical reports discussing this very shift. So I thought I’d take some space to share (only) some of my observations. [...]

Leave a comment