The End of the Road

By Matt Horan

I’m not sure how often a blog ends.  There seems to be plenty of blogs left on the shoulder of the information superhighway, as if the owner walked off to get gas a never returned.  Well, not so here.

ReEmergent Church retires today.

I started this blog a few years ago, seeing the value that the new “Emergent Church” could have as a force for reformation in the mainline church.  Indeed it has helped to reform it.

I feel that the lessons that the Emergent Church has to teach have been learned by the mainline church.  Either the hard way, as churches have permanently closed their doors for failure to listen; or by becoming more local, more brokenheated about those who are suffering, more understanding of those who are different.

The mainline churches owe a word of thanks to folks like Tim Keel or Brian McLaren for highlighting the areas where the church had ceased to be a movement and fallen into the rut of “institution.”

The lessons continue to be learned, and the church continues to be challenged to be significant enough to be worth people’s time.  God is still at work, inviting people to be a part of the Kingdom of God that transforms this world into a place of justice and peace.  God has used the Emergent Church as an instrument to shape the mainline church, to which I am called, and push it forward.  For that, I am thankful, and hopeful.

May Jesus Christ be glorified in His church now and forever.  Amen.

Truth Doesn’t Matter

By Matt Horan

This week on the Sojourners website, Jim Wallis wrote about a movement of over 100 former politicians from both sides of the aisle who have come forward with a statement urging reform in the way our current politicians go about their work.  I’m not always very eager to jump on the Jim Wallis bandwagon, as I feel like he’s too easily dragged into the mud himself, especially in his recent feud with Glenn Beck.

However, this is welcome news.  Sojourners is urging the adoption of a “Civility Covenant,” and it is long overdue.

We act as if facts matter.  We act as if gaining supporters to my position is based on convincing people of what is true and what is false.  Once they see that the facts support my side, they’ll be won over.  But facts don’t matter.  Truth doesn’t matter.  What motivates us is not our facts, but our commitments.

Welcome to the Foxhole

By Matt Horan

Perhaps you’ve heard the old saying, “There are no atheists in a foxhole.”  I’ve never been an atheist or in a foxhole, but from what I’ve learned about foxholes, I can see how such a saying might arise.  A foxhole is a hole in the ground that soldiers would hide in to avoid enemy gunfire.  I assure you that I would pray fervently and frequently while in a hole designed to help me avoid enemy gunfire.

Most of the world’s religions recruit poorly during good times.  You never see someone after reaping a financial windfall exclaim, “The first thing I’m going to do is go worship and thank God!”  No, it seems that foxholes are better evangelists than winning lottery tickets are.  

An Open Letter to the News Media Covering the Quran Burning Church and the TV Owners Who Watch Them

By Matt Horan

Let’s be really honest for a moment.  We all know that this Saturday is the ninth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, which resulted in war in Afghanistan and Iraq, which resulted in bombings in Spain and Britain, and so on.  Estimates put the total resulting loss of life from the events of that date at over 100,000 people from dozens of nations.  There have been economic, social, and spiritual repercussions for the entire world.  No nation has been spared.

But it has been good TV.