Post... vulnerability

A great staff meeting this morning. Ended up talking about our vulnerability and humanity in terms of how we respond and engage with others. It made me think of a post on Facebook that I had read this morning written by a friend of mine,

'...Everything is ‘post’ these days. Or it was.

When I was studying theology back in the 90’s things post-modern were all the rage. That was at the same time that post-Evangelical Christians arrived on the scene. Then everyone got in on the act, from post-feminists to post-punks. There is even a post-modern theorist called Neil Postman. New Labour were very ‘post’, but not any more. Post was new. Post was trendy. Post was cool. Just about everybody was ‘post’ something. Because ‘post’ simply means ‘after’ or ‘later than’. And its true, just about everbody is after or later than someone else.

I am feeling a bit ‘post’ right now to be honest. Maybe I have finally got round to becoming a post-Evangelical. I’ve been fighting it for years. I like labels – they make me feel safe. But then ‘post-Evangelical’ is just another label. A label I don’t want. I am certainly post-Christendom, because I don’t like religious empires of any hue or description. ’Post-Christian’ appeals to me because most people I meet outside the Christian community don’t like ‘Christians’ or ‘Christianity’. They don’t like what they see, because what they see is labels and a bunch of people who want to stick a lable (sic) on them.

I like labels. Correction: I used to like labels. The trouble with labels is that they stick. People were constantly trying to stick a label on Jesus, but he was having none of it. You can’t pin Jesus down this way. You can try, but he has this habit of shaking free.

The thing about labels is that once labelled (sic) we can be safely categorised and filed away.

I am no longer post anything. In this sense I am post-post.

I don’t want any more labels.

So lets reclaim the…

Evangel from Evangelical

Charisma from Charismatic

Protest from Protestant

Pentecost from Pentecostal

Baptism from Baptist

Method from Methodist

Congregation from Congregationalist

Unity before United Reformed

Salvation from Salvationist

and Christ from Christianity...'

(With thanks to Keith Hitchman)