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Emerging churches flourish in unlikely places

The Seattle Times recently ran a story highlighting the way in which churches are reaching out to the largely non-churchgoing younger generation in the Pacific Northwest. “They call themselves ‘emerging churches,’ dedicated to finding alternative ways of presenting the message of Christ—ways that they say are more in line with current culture,” writes reporter Janet I. Tu.

The younger generation does not seem to be drawn by either “traditional” or “contemporary” congregations. In response, they are forming their own churches that focus on developing personal relationships among members and not placing an ordained pastor above the congregation. “They value experiential, intuitive experiences of God,” reports Tu. “They often are involved in social-justice issues and tend to be theologically conservative, emphasizing the earliest days of Christianity and the root meaning of stories in the Bible.”

The Times story reports that these new congregational expressions meet in members’ homes, restaurants and cafés. “They often use creative means of conveying their message,” Tu writes. “Some combine traditional practices such as Gregorian chants with modern R&B music. Others may use works of art to talk about spirituality.” 

Thirty-four year-old Jolie Lewis has explored Protestantism, Catholicism, and Buddhism. She has since settled in at the 110-member All Saints Church in Seattle. “My other church experiences have been: You go maybe out of a sense of obligation. But this, I really look forward to in my week,” she said. “A person’s relationship to God is a very personal thing. It’s unique to be able to share an intimate relationship with a large group of people. This was one of the first groups of people I’ve met—church or not—where it’s not awkward to do that.”

One of the largest of these emerging churches in the Pacific Northwest is Mars Hill Church—attracting more than 1,500 members to its church. Pastor Mark Driscoll describes his preaching style as “way more [comedian] Chris Rock than Puritan. That’s just the way I am. When it comes down to culture, a lot of it comes down to humor and rhythm and pace.”

The Rev. Karen Ward is pastor of a newly-formed Church of the Apostles. “What was it that caused the church to grow in the early days?” she asks. “I think it was the authenticity of the way of life. It wasn’t an institution at all then. It was people following in the path of Jesus’ way of life. It’s about getting back to the core of Christianity, but in a way that’s accessible to today’s post-modern world.”

 

Johnny Cash’s “radical” video rattles viewers

One of the surprising hits on Johnny Cash’s lastest album When The Man Comes Around is his rendition of “Hurt” written by the dark and brooding Trent Reznor of the hard rock band Nine Inch Nails. “I hurt myself today/ To see if I still feel/ I focus on the pain/ The only thing that’s real,” Cash sings. “The needle tears a hole/ The old familiar sting/ Try to kill it all away/ But I remember everything”—a poignant reminder of his dark years in the 1960s.

“I think ‘Hurt’ is the best anti-drug song I ever heard,” said Cash, an outspoken Christian and country music icon. “It’s a song about a man’s pain and what we’re capable of doing to ourselves and the possibility that we don’t have to do that anymore. I could relate to that from the very beginning.” He says, “I would have written something like that in the ‘60s, if I had been that good.”

When the video for the song was released it became a fascinating cross-over hit, being played on MTV, VH-1, and CMT. Director Mark Romanek spliced together one of the most vivid and moving visual portraits of Cash’s illustrative career. Footage was gleaned from his early years, prison concerts, walking through the Holy Land, and hopping a boxcar. Cash is shown sitting behind a piano as well as strumming his guitar in his all-so-familiar black apparel. Interspersed throughout the video is the backdrop of the famous House of Cash museum in Tennessee—sitting in disrepair, having never fully recuperated from flood damage. The museum serves as a metaphor for Cash’s physical condition—which is weak and in pain. Johnny is seated behind a grand table spread with a generous feast of meat and fish. With trembling hand, he pours a glass of red wine over the food as he sings, “You could have it all/ My empire of dirt/ I will let you down/ I will make you hurt.”

The face of Jesus appears; first, in a portrait and later in footage taken from Gospel Road, a movie on the life of Christ that Cash produced with his own finances in the 1970s. The graphic crucifixion scene is interspliced with concert footage and cheering prison crowds in order to poignantly emphasize that all of humanity carries the responsibility of Christ’s crucifixion.

Never before in the history of music videos has there been such a rattling reminder of youth, aging, and the sometimes agonizing trek through the twilight years. “Mortality is a very unusual topic for this medium,” says Romanek. “But I ascribe most of the power to the Johnny Cash-ness of it all.” Trent Reznor was in the studio with Zach de la Rocha, the former lead singer of Rage Against the Machine, when he received the video. “By the end I was really on the verge of tears,” said Reznor. “At the end of it, there was just dead silence. There was, like, this moist clearing of our throats and then, ‘Uh, OK, let’s get some coffee.’”

Cash’s producer Rick Rubin cried when he saw it for the first time. “I spoke to (U2 singer) Bono and he compared what Johnny is doing now to what Elvis Presley did in the 1950s,” said Rubin. “Then, Elvis represented a new youth culture and it shocked and terrified everyone because culture wasn’t about youth before him. Now we live in a youth culture and Johnny Cash is showing the experience of a much older generation. It’s just as radical.”

Life, death, drugs, Jesus, pain, joy, disappointment, and success were all wrapped together in that video—the essential elements of Johnny Cash’s career and life’s work. “Life isn’t just for living, it’s for singing about,” he wrote in the liner notes for his 1977 album The Rambler. “Loneliness is real, the pain of loss is real, the fulfillment of love is real, the thrill of adventure is real, and to put it in the song lyrics and sing about it—after all, isn’t that what a country singer/writer is supposed to do, write and sing of reality?”

Steve Beard is the editor of Good News.



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