An Open Letter from a Post-Loving Emerger (of course it’s an open letter, I’m post-foreclosed!)
Written by Daniel Tidwell : June 15, 2008
Dear Modern Church,
Well, it comes to this. I’ve been reading a bit of emerg(ing, ent, ish) stuff lately, and I’ve come to embrace myself as a post-modern, post-evangelical, post-protestant, post-propositional language, post-Christian, post-backwards, post-irrelevant, post-anything-I-think-has-to-do-with-you, person of faith. It’s not that you are meaningless to me anymore. I mean, you served your purpose, transmitting the gospel to me (though I have to say, it’s been pretty difficult sifting it out of the completely outdated packaging that you put it in when you thought you had to speak to a modern world! Good thing I can go back and cherry pick from the ancient church—those dead guys don’t complain about us emergent types nearly as much as you do.), but it’s time for me to move on. I’m just not like you anymore. I’ve outgrown your outmoded notions of truth, simplistic understandings of the gospel, and unwillingness to openly dialogue. I just want to talk and create room at the table for people to come around and converse in the love of Jesus. This isn’t about putting up borders, it’s about inclusion. But you don’t seem to get that. You just want to tell me what I need to believe about the atonement in order to make sure I get into heaven. How unloving. Just stop trying to save my soul, already.
I just want to be open to different perspectives and ways of knowing. Can’t you see that? This whole post-modern thing must be going right over your head. I have the ability to hold onto to very different positions, letting the tension bring me into real dialogue where I can learn from others. I just wish you would be more like me and learn how to do this, maybe then we could talk things out.
I would tell you these things in person, but I really can’t stand to be around you anymore. If you could just open yourself up to those who aren’t like you and learn to really talk with other people (people who happen to be trying to follow the same Jesus you are!), then maybe I could just sit down with you instead of having to write this letter.
As it is, you’re just too pissed off for me to deal with. I mean, what is the deal? Just because I define myself as having moved past all of your categories doesn’t mean I think I’m better than you. In my post-everything state, I’m really humble and open to everybody. That’s how I can see that you really need to change because you are so irrelevant and unable to show the love of God to other people like I can.
Finally, about your complaints about how we use language. This deconstruction thing is so great. You should really try it out. You just have to put “post-” in front of anything you don’t like anymore, and you are instantly more accepting, loving, and open to hearing from others.
Striving to walk in the love and humility of Jesus,
Your Emergent Brother.
Daniel lives with his wife Jocelyn in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle. He is an occasional blogger, poet, artist, baker, and student. He hopes to have a few kids, plant a few gardens, teach a few students, live in a few countries, and learn how to live hospitably before he reaches his 75th birthday (a lot to do in the next 52 years).
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