He
writes about film-narratives, and whale-watching, and people with
odd feet, and the need for the church for be missiologically-driven,
and the crazy distinction Christians make between the sacred and
the profane. And grace. And lots more.

Michael is provocative, and irreverent, but, in my view, mostly
right about most things. But you don’t have to agree with him: he’s
not asking you to. He wants you to think about faith, hope, love
and life, and if thinking hurts, well, so be it.

The following are my responses to his tantalisations with some
suggested discussion-starters. Michael gave me a green light to
do this, but the following are my own responses to his excellent
work. They’re meant to provoke you to go and buy half a dozen copies
of his book, and talk about it all in your group.

For non-Australians who haven’t heard him or heard of him, Michael Frost is,
sort-of, the Oz version of America’s Tony Campolo. He’s one of the
very few people in our country who can hold 1,000 high school students
spell-bound for an hour.

The book’s just 63 pages, but read it in 26 sittings, not one!

Rowland Croucher

February 2003

~~~

A is for Architecture.

Samuel Mockbee built houses – very good houses – for the poor. (So why aren’ t there more like him? Who are the poor in your area and what can you do for/with them – without patronising them?).

B is for Breathtaking

‘The world will never starve for wonders but only for the lack of wonder’ (G. K. Chesterton). (‘It usually takes something bigger than ourselves to draw us together’. Why?)

C is for Crap

You can’t use words like ‘crap’ in respectable churches. (What
else can’t you do in church that you can do in other everyday situations?
‘ [God] prefers honesty to respectability any old day’. Agree?)

D is for Delicious

Eating and drinking are truly ‘religious’ activities. (Jews and Christians – and others – have ‘food laws’. What’s forbidden in terms of eating and drinking in your group. Why?)

E is for Erotic

‘Sexual relations between committed, mutual individuals ought to be wild, erotic and passionate’. (Would you or your church have included the erotic love-song Song of Solomon in the Scriptures if you were compiling a Holy Book? Now be honest!)

F is for Fool

Erasmus said Christianity is close to a kind of natural foolishness. (Do you agree with Erasmus? ‘Jesus the Fool’ – how do you react to that?)

G is for Grace

Grace includes ‘the wildly sensual and wonderful feeling of being seduced by God’. (We might preach about grace, believe theoretically in grace, but still define our worth by what we do well. Why is that?)

H is for Heroes

‘We are restless until we find our rest in the heroic work of Jesus on the cross’. (Where does ‘hero hunger’ come from?)

I is for Interpathy

‘Interpathy describes the depth of relationship when an outsider develops a burden in their heart for that community.’ (Why do zealous churchpeople have difficulty relating easily and naturally to those they call ‘unchurched’?).

J is for Jesus

The Nazarenes knew Jesus from childhood, but still rejected/shunned/humiliated him. (If Jesus came to your town/suburb, what would he be like, who’d he be with, what would he say to your townsfolk, and how would they respond?)

K is for Kingdom

The ‘kingdom of God’ is not separate from the world, or something removed from our experience. It’s everywhere. (God’s ‘making a pass at us’ every day in many ways. Why do we miss it?)

L is for Lager

Some churches meet in pubs. (But not many. Why?)

M is for Maleness

We think maleness is about drivenness, but it’s really about expectancy and hope. (So why is the complaint of the male ‘mid-life crisis’ ‘Is that all there is?’)

N is for Nets

‘The kind of thinking that will solve the world’s problems will be of a different order to the kind of thinking that created those problems in the first place’. (Michael cites UNOH – Urban Neighbours of Hope – in street in Springvale, Kelvin Grove, now has a ‘street church’. Can you beat that?)

O is for Odd Feet

Two women with opposite odd feet found each other! (Those who are searching for God have already been found by him. Agree?)

P is for Photography

Wal Richards was a ‘less-than-ordinary’ guy who took photos at weddings. Thousands of them! (So why do we give so much space and print to the ‘rich and famous’?)

Q is for Quidditch

Some fantasy is less-than-helpful (eg. Tim La Haye’s books about the second coming); others – like the Harry Potter series – might ‘contain truth’. (Now, why would some Christians have trouble with that?)

R is for Reel

‘Cinema may now be the most powerful secular religion.’ (How then can movie-going help us tap into the collective mythologies of our age?)

S is for Storytelling

‘Somewhere in our neuro-physiology we’ve been hard-wired for story’. (Why is the Christian community more story-formed than dogma-formed?)

T is for Tobacco

God can be found in unlikely places. (They talk about slowing down and smelling the roses. But that’s very hard for workaholics. Why is that?)

U is for Underground

‘The future church will be adventurous, playful, and surprising’. (Really?)

V is for Vincent

‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,’ – that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.’ (John Keats). (So how can art, for example, preach the gospel better than words?)

W is for Wings

‘In Scripture the visitation of an angel is always alarming’. (Do you believe in the reality of angels?)

X is for Xenophilia

Xenophilia – friendship with strangers – is less common than xenophobia. (Why?)

Y is for Yahoodotcom

‘Many people find a greater sense of community, acceptance, honesty and care over the Internet than they ever have belonging to a local church.’ (True?)

Z is for Zones

There’s a church in Seattle that has divided its building into zones for its worship services – hot to cool, and coolest. (Is it possible to affirm the different ways people worship God in the same physical context?)

Michael Frost, Freedom to Explore: A Provocative A – Z for the Church, Melbourne: 36 Media Ltd, 2002.