Daniel Rose: The Pastor Next Door

One of my favorite movies is Garden State starring Zach Braff. There is an amazing conversation that takes place between his character, Large and Natalie Portman’s character, Sam. They talk about what home is.

>Large: You know that point in your life when you realize the house you grew up in…isn’t really your home anymore. All of a sudden, even though you have some place where you put your shit…that idea of home is gone. > >Sam: I still feel at home in my house. > >Large: You’ll see one day when you move out. Just sorta happens one day, and it’s gone. You feel like you can never get it back. It’s like you feel homesick for a place that doesn’t even exist. Maybe it’s like this rite of passage, you know? You won’t ever have that feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself. You know, for… For your kids. For the family you start. It’s like a cycle or something. I don’t know. But I miss the idea of it, you know? Maybe that’s all family really is. A group of people that miss the same imaginary place.

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The crew gathered for the first time in over a month in the Tap Room Annex this past Tuesday for the return of Tap Room Tuesday. This little gathering was once called Doubt on Tap, but over the last ten years or so it has become something more than that. It’s become a community.

So, Tuesday nights we gather around the table and discuss things that matter.

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As I look at the landscape of the American church today I see so much that leaves me sad. My social media feeds are flooded with people who are rightly criticizing the American church, it’s not hard to do. We have failed across the board in so many ways. Everywhere I look I can find examples of what not to do. If clicks and popularity in the online space is the primary factor for being online then it appears a Christian “thought leader” or “influencer” can go one of two ways. They can become political megaphones for one side or the other. The other way is to become a constant voice of critique of the Church or a non-stop defender of the Church regardless of the issue.

I confess that there was a moment when I began to be very attracted to simply critiquing everything. It’s so easy. There’s so much to critique.

I didn’t like what I was becoming.

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