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There is one word that scares Christians who want to make a difference: irrelevant. Connecting our faith to everyday life and culture hinges on how well we know the God we believe in.
In a culture overloaded with buzzwords like diversity, authenticity and personal empowerment, Christians want to be relevant. Sharing the Gospel has shifted from standing on a pulpit to hanging out with friends over a cup of foamy latte at Starbucks and Pete’s — as well as coffee tables in living rooms at home and social networks online.
There’s never been a more significant time to talk about the God we believe in and how He shapes our thinking, feelings and everyday experience.
Our faith has to be real and it has to connect with people at the heart level. If we share Jesus, we have to talk about Him in a voice unique to us as individuals or we lose our virtual microphone. At the same time, we also need to communicate truths about God’s ways that haven’t changed since the first word in the Torah was written.
How can we be relevant without sacrificing Biblical truth?
It’s All About Conversation
It’s a question that author and theologian Ed Cyzewski answers in his book “Coffeehouse Theology: Reflecting on God in Everyday life”. Cyzewski writes to the theologian minded, so he takes pains to explain the importance of “contextualized theology” in the first half of the book.
“contextualized theology: understanding God through the lenses of a particular culture. ~ Ed Cyzewski
It’s a seminarian’s way of saying this: it is important how we hear God’s voice and understand Him accurately in the Scriptures — first as the writers of the Bible did originally — and then, for ourselves, in our individual circumstances and culture.
What I appreciated about Cyzewski’s book is his underlying goal: to help people see theology as a conversation with God, to explore with others. Contrast this with how some wield theology: cache for the intellectual, standing at a distance to issues and people living in a secularized culture.
Even though Coffeehouse Theology was written primarily for theology enthusiasts, I found some important gems in the second half of the book that help us hear from God more biblically and personally.
Gems From Coffeehouse Theology to Help Us Hear From God
1. How we respond to what’s happening in our culture changes how we think about God and also how we practice our faith.
When it comes to cultural values and (post)modern beliefs, do you:
A) Separate from Culture – ignore the culture?
B) Co-exist with Culture – view culture as a tool to be relevant, but don’t interact or challenge the values of the culture?
C) Dialogue with Culture – broaden the conversation by allowing a diversity of opinions and create room for conversation?
I share the same affinity as Cyzewski with the third option. I learn so much more about my own questions about faith as I listen to what people are saying. In giving people the space to express their opinions and values, I exercise my own faith.
How do I know this? Every interaction raises up a flood of new topics to explore with God and blindspots in my own spiritual journey. It drives me further into Scripture, alone time with God and community time with believers (like here on our Faith Barista Jams!).
These honest conversations fuel my passion to keep faith fresh — to dig into the Bible to find answers, wrestle with God and experience the humility and thrill of prayer, community and waiting.
2. It’s critical to study the Bible for ourselves, to be confident to interpret what the Scriptures really mean.
Cyzewski says, “We’re the product of our history and culture…”, warning us of the risk of refashioning the Bible into our own image. One reason why the Bible may be rendered irrelevant is that it is incorrectly interpreted and misapplied to our situations. Of course, the Bible is not intrinsically irrelevant, but it can feel that way if we’re solely dependent on others for spiritual insight.
When we run into real life complexities, we need the real-time freedom and thrill of hearing from God directly from the Scriptures.
This is where relevancy comes in — when we see God at work in our lives and we can understand how it spiritually makes sense.
3. A personal thriving relationship with God is fueled by intimate prayer and meditation.
I was happy to find Cyzewski talk about contemplative prayer, as he shared a quote from noted Christian mystic, Jeanne Guyon.
“You do not move from one passage to another, not until you have sensed the very heart of what you have read.
You may want to take that portion of Scripture that has touched you and turn it into prayer.” ~ Jeanne Guyon
I personally did not confidently delve into this practice of contemplative prayer at depth and long stretches until I grew in my study of the Bible (point #2). I found more freedom to sink into one word or phrase in a verse, when I’ve understood the context for it. Then, I can really let my right brain run rampant and get “mystic” with the Holy Spirit — which I love.
All this talk of theology would be pointless if it didn’t change our relationship with God or with others. Although our faith isn’t driven by the need to be relevant, our devotion to God frees us to invite others into the conversation.
The next time you find yourself at the cusp of a heated debate, take a breath, smile and just listen. You may find yourself like I often do, coming away with a renewed urgency to grow closer to God, more humble with other believers and end up welcoming culture to make itself comfortable for coffee.
“Though I am free and belong to no man,
I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible...
To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.
To the weak I became weak, to win the weak.
I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.
~ The Apostle Paul
1 Cor. 9:19-22
How have you grown in how you hear from God?
How does the secular culture — work, family or church culture — affect your view of God?
Finishing my review copy of Coffeehouse Theology felt like completing a virtual class audit to an Intro To Theology. To explore everyday theology further, Ed Cyzewski’s conversational style and personal stories will make this a gentler ride, without sacrificing content.
Coffeehouse Theology is available on Amazon, along with a companion Discussion Guide.
For more of Ed Cyzewski, visit his blog In A Mirror Dimly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*** NOW, IT’S YOUR TURN — FAITH BARISTA JAM! ***
Faith Barista Jam Thursdays — I serve up a topic of faith, you write the post. Keep faith fresh with a faith prompt and add your voice to this community.
Today’s topic: How Am I Hearing From God?
Submit your post on today’s topic by clicking on the blue button below “Add Your Link”. If you don’t have a blog, share by posting a comment.
Next week’s 11/4 Topic: Shaking Off Feelings of Guilt
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29 Comments
Wow, im the first in the link up. I wonder if its because im in the UK lol. This has been a trying question this week, thank you for helping me push my boundries xx
.-= Sara´s last blog ..Escape The post I wasnt going to post. =-.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by edcyzewski, Alltop Christianity. Alltop Christianity said: Enjoying a Good Conversation Is More Spiritual Than You Think: For those joining in the Faith Barista Jam today: A… http://bit.ly/ddE833 […]
This is so challenging for me! Being raised in a VERY liberal post-modern family, and coming to Christ as a teen and facing the rejection that came with it, makes me skeptical of ‘relevance’. It’s a word I’ve seen Christians use to justify their lack of witness on key issues like sexual morality, abortion, and the primacy of Jesus, as they *become* the culture instead of *transforming* the culture.
As a Christian, I don’t want to be relevant – I want to be Jesus’ hands and feet and words and mind. That will offend some and bless others. Some will accuse me of irrelevance. Some will say I’m intolerant. We aren’t called to be afraid of buzzwords. We’re called to love, serve, and know that in the midst of it the world will hate us because it first hated Him. As Christians, we cannot expect accolades from an immoral world. 🙂
Anna,
I really appreciate your comment. You hit on the tension that is present whenever we do theology. It’s tough when certain words carry certain connotations to hit on exactly what we mean.
In Coffeehouse Theology I speak of the tension between being a prophetic voice that speaks into the culture to transform it, while remaining relevant in that we are aware of the trends in culture, speaking to them and remaining aware of how culture impacts us.
One example… A church in my former hometown hosted a revival. We’re talking big tent, evangelists in suits, and lots and lots of sweating. They tried to be a prophetic voice speaking into the culture, but guess who showed up… Just a few Christians. Ignoring the importance of understanding our culture can make us ineffective as we seek to go into our culture with the Gospel. That’s our calling after all. Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 is quite different from Paul’s message on Mar’s Hill, and we need to understand why.
So there are bad examples of relevance and good examples. I encourage you to not throw the baby out with the bath water. We can confuse a form of expressing the truth, such as a big tent revival meeting, with the content of the truth, the Gospel. I think we can agree that the big tent isn’t the only way to preach the Gospel, though it was quite effective at one time. Missionaries have led the way in teaching us that the forms must change, even if the content doesn’t necessarily change all that much. I hope that makes sense.
.-= ed cyzewski´s last blog ..A Five Minute Retreat- Peace =-.
Great point, Anna (love your testimony, btw!). We don’t want to lose our “saltiness” in the world by compromising our values! We should feel free to voice our Christian perspective and values to the conversation. And yes, we want to live holy and godly lives that reflect we belong to Jesus.
At the same time, I love the quote from the Apostle Paul in 1 Cor 9:19, where he says “he became all things to all people in order to win them to Christ.”
“To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.”
When we’re confident of the truth and living it out in our own lives, we have freedom to be creative to figure out the topics and issues that are important to people. We don’t water down our values, but we get beyond the wall that usually comes up with debating the truth — and reach out to the person’s heart and speak to their questions, feelings and concerns.
The greatest thing Jesus calls us to do is love others. The challenge for us is how to do that while holding onto the truth. That means getting close to people the way Jesus did. Jesus totally stayed true to the Himself, but he did it in a way that made it okay for people to get close and feel comfortable enough to call him a friend of sinners!
I didn’t think I’d have anything to write on this. My ears have only just begun to learn God’s voice, to sense the Spirit’s push in a particular direction… or away from it, to seek Him before opening my mouth or putting fingers to keyboard. But then He reminded me how He has surrounded me with very specific messages this year, through the words of others, all reinforcing the same things… the very things my heart needed to hear.
.-= Joy´s last blog ..God Came There =-.
Ooh, great Guyon quote. What would I do without conversation with God? As I woke this morning, I wondered what it would be like if I couldn’t be with Him anymore. Then I rejoiced all the more that He will never leave me, will never cease conversation with me.
P.S. Tried getting the badge…couldn’t find the code…
Thanks, Monica! The link’s fixed now!
https://www.thebonniegray.com/join-faith-barista-jam-thursdays/
Just recently I had a conversation with someone I had only met one time on the phone then we met in person. As I was speaking tears welled up in her eyes as I shared with her my perspective about God. Not sure I can ever say I am speaking from God’s perspective, in that it’s more of my perception of His perspective, because I am not the foremost authority on that. But what I can tell you is that I was speaking to her Eph. 4:9-16, speaking truth in love. There is nothing greater we can do than this in order for others to see Jesus when we speak and even when we don’t.
Thanks for the good word….
Kindest regards,
b†
.-= Barbara Collins´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday Worship =-.
Yikes. Yes, “irrelevant” is a word that scares me. It’s what I do not want to be.
“…see theology as a conversation with God, to explore with others”
I’m thankful, Bonnie, that you are setting up one way in which we can do this through Faith Jams. Hopefully we all come up with many ways in our lives to have the conversations we need to have, to explore.
I’m also enjoying being a new reader at Ed’s blog. So perhaps I should delve into his book as well…
.-= Lisa notes…´s last blog ..Are you scared of holy =-.
“Cyzewski says, “We’re the product of our history and culture…”, warning us of the risk of refashioning the Bible into our own image. One reason why the Bible may be rendered irrelevant is that it is incorrectly interpreted and misapplied to our situations. Of course, the Bible is not intrinsically irrelevant, but it can feel that way if we’re solely dependent on others for spiritual insight.”
Amen! There’s no better way to say it.
.-= Nikole Hahn´s last blog ..Crazy Worship =-.
Bonnie, thank you for hosting these Faith Jams each week and providing a place for us to connect with one another on a common topic. It’s always so interesting to see how each person interprets it based on what’s current in their life. Also, this review is great! When I was in bible college one of the things they stressed the most was making sure that we considered the original reader. What did the passage mean within their culture? There’s a wealth of information and depth that can be found in understanding more about the author and the people he was writing to. This sounds like a great read. 🙂 I didn’t link up this week because my post today didn’t really correlate, but I’m looking forward to reading what others wrote. Have a great week!
.-= Melissa Brotherton´s last blog ..Remission =-.
Melissa,
As we see the ways that the authors of the Bible wrote to their specific audiences, we learn two things in particular:
1. We bring our own cultural lens to the Bible. (Let’s face, if I read the Bible without awareness of my own context, God would certainly by a Philadelphia Flyers fan…)
2. We need to bring God’s message into today’s culture in the same way as the Bible’s writers.
Thanks for jamming along.
[…] Bonnie Gray hosts a community of those who answer the question: “How am I hearing from God?” Visit Bonnie’s to see more posts on Hearing from […]
I love it when I don’t read Bonnie’s post (or any others) and let God “speak to my heart” on how the topic relates to me, where I am now. Sometimes I’m in a different world (ok, place) and that’s OK.
I also love how He will confirm something in different places, not necessarily where I am looking for confirmation.
The book sounds interesting. Deep stuff. Thanks for sharing.
Another great jam session!!
.-= marina bromley´s last blog ..on hearing from God for Faith Barista Jam =-.
[…] today with Bonnie at the Faith Barista as she asks, “How Am I Hearing From God?” (Although this may better fit next […]
Indeed the sweetest and often hardest conversations of all are with our Lord.
Looking forward to reading what everyone else has to share!
.-= HisFireFly´s last blog ..Keep my eyes open Lord =-.
Excellent outline and discussion, Bonnie. I had seen Ed’s book before, but now I’m thinking it needs to move to the must-read list. Thanks for being such a blessing! 🙂
.-= jasonS´s last blog ..All about the Gift-Giver =-.
Bonnie,
Good question. And I enjoyed reading your thoughts and lots of others here.
My blog is in the middle of Psalm 40, so I didn’t join the Jam there this week,
but my offering here in the comments is simple:
How Am I Hearing from God?
I hear in the Word of God
in the family of God
in the ministry of God
I hear as I engage with the Lord in His written Word,
as I fellowship in the Body of Christ,
and as I join the Lord in his work in the world.
Thanks, Bonnie!
.-= loreen mcdonald´s last blog ..Grace & discipline 40-6 =-.
Definitely point C. Interactivity. Time with God and His word is so necessary and beautiful for that interaction. It’s not about me. It’s all about His awesome faith and boundless love rooted in Christ.
The more I find who He’s made me and who He truly is – the more I find confidence and relevance in Him. I can hear better. There’s no defense or offense.
Thank You for sharing the wisdom in this book with us.
Wisdom in my book? Thanks! Perhaps I can pull that card the next time my wife doubts me… 😉
LOL 😀 Wisdom indeed!
[…] I’m participating in the Faith Barista Jam! […]
How have I grown? Just like a newborn babe who is dependent on s ome else to feed and nurture you, to a youngster who still needs help and boundaries-limited, to grow into maturity, as a teen who needs to reject everything and question-to start erasing all they’ve been taught, to a maturing adult, how lives her life based on what has happened in the past, but mostly based on what is real now-that sums up the steps of growth in my Christian life.
Great questions and discussion here. I also resonate with Ed’s point #1 . I grew up with a much more dogmatic perspective than I subscribe to today. Now I cringe when I hear Christians literally shutting down conversations when they harp on the black/white arguments that simply don’t hold up. I heard someone say yesterday on a blog essentially that “If you don’t care about God then he doesn’t care about you.” I appreciate Ed’s interest in digging in to scriptures, listening harder to God, and working hard at figuring things out.
I have been doing contemplative meditation for the past few weeks, and have found it extremely beneficial. If nothing else, just to stop and shut up my crazy thoughts for a while and to focus on the greatness of God, or some aspect of God or something I read in scriptures. I highly recommend it!
.-= Bradley J Moore´s last blog ..Do I Sound Too Arrogant Your Feedback- Please =-.
Obviously I should have written this sooner,
BUt-
Going on writer Ed Cyzewski prompting, I have continue with his series 5 minute retreats this week.
It’s a different way to worship and collect, for some, but a really refreshing part of the day. I hope you enjoy them.
http://lifeasprayer.wordpress.com
-Lisa
.-= Lisa Colón DeLay´s last blog ..WEDNESDAY’s 5 Min retreat 3 of 5 =-.
[…] TRUTHS ABOUT CARRYING HEAVY LOADS by Mike Foster4. Got A Running Partner? by Scott Couchenour5. Enjoying a Good Conversation Is More Spiritual Than You Think by Bonnie Gray6. 9 Tips to Maturing in Christ by revtrev7. Love God. Love People. Make it Personal […]
[…] How are you hearing from God? This is the question being asked today by my friend Bonnie over at Faith Barista. It's a good question and one I think we as Christians often ask…especially if we […]
[…] How are you hearing from God? This is the question being asked today by my friend Bonnie over at Faith Barista. It's a good question and one I think we as Christians often ask…especially if we […]