Becoming Real ...or Betraying Real?
- Livinginbetweenall-Terry
- Sep 18
- 16 min read
Updated: Sep 21
The Trouble with Tribbles (in the Church)
Who doesn't like the Star Trek (Original) espisode with the Tribbles; those fuzzy, warm little teddy bear style animals which
intoxicated humans with love and drove Klingons mad in anxious rejection.
The Enterprise was at a deep space station that welcomed all, including enemies like the Federation and Klingon Empire. Some entrepreneur was selling these seemingly harmless cuddling creatures who evidently needed hardly a thing in terms of care.
What could possibly go wrong?
The capitalist salesperson (they evidently still had those in the outer reaches of the Federation spatial frontier) forgot to tell them that the Tribbles a-sexual birth rate meant that one them could become thousands in just days, leaving no space for anyone or anything esle, like warp drive engines.
"The Trouble with Tribbles" is a humorous, light hearted romp through the dangers of 'too much' of anything, especially if an apparent good thing belies underlying conflicts over purposes driven by cultural or world view differences. These otherwise managable conflicts and differences can blow up between us, leading to catastrophic outcomes if our attention is divereted as we blindly increase our pleasures with Tribbles. No wonder its one of the best loved of all the original series episodes.
Welcome to the Roman Church of the late 1st century A.D., more like the later 20th and early 21st century American Church than one might think. Its all in the Tribbles.
The Tribbles
The Church of Rome, 65 A.D.
The early church would have needed an Apostle/Bishop of Peter's stature to have come through the transitions from 1st to 2nd generation Christians living within the heart of the empire.
I and II Peter are letters written in the early to mid 60's A.D. by Peter, Romes Bishop, with a central question looming. Will the Chruch of the Apostles become the cross-generational Church of Christ? In I Peter the Apostle lays out his
purpose to a church that could easily fall beneath the weight of their Tribbles, including the:
Almost complete rift between the Jewish and Christian communities, and;
Rising anti-semitism and anti-Christian prejudice among the peoples of Rome, and;
Growing numbers of slaves and women deeply ingrained in the numbers and even leadership of the Church, together with Roman citizens and slave owners at the heart of the empire.
That early Church is increasingly rejected by its parenting faith, Judaism. Children who claim Jesus as their Messiah are shamed and disowned by their parents and extended family. For many, the early shared worship and respectful dialogues—sometimes within the local synogogue—are now being torn by disfellowship.
Among its newest members are Roman citizens, proud of their heritage in Pax-Romana, the one world empire that has successfully done what no other before has; Creating a world wide peace, with its integrated roads, economic trade and postal communications.
In these same churches the spear of the empire is increasingly felt in the market places, educational and entertainment centers as both the Jewish peoples and their off-shoot, 'The Way' (Christians) are at legal risk, persecuted, and by Emperor Nero outlawed (Christians in 65 A.D.), the Jewish nation not far behind, as it will soon be destroyed and scattered throughout the empire in 70 A.D.
Given these external pressures necessarily internalized, the miracle would be if 'The Way' didn't split into a hundered different ways, each extinguished like embers of a fire seperated—when those who were with Jesus passed. Hence Peter affirms in his opening letter:
"In all this you greatly rejoice,
though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith
—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—
may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Though you have not seen him, you love him;
and even though you do not see him now,
you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
(I Peter 1: 6-9 NIV)
In Peter's 2nd letter, likely written within days or months of his crucifixion, upside down, Peter reaffirms his Story and desire to impart it with his every breath in the hope that after his departure these 2nd generation believers will confirm in their efforts the calling and election of God that Peter has given to them. He writes:
"Therefore, my brothers and sisters,[a] make every effort
to confirm your calling and election.
For if you do these things, you will never stumble,
and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
So I will always remind you of these things,
even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.
I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body,
because I know that I will soon put it aside,
as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.
And I will make every effort to see that after my departure
you will always be able to remember these things.
(II Peter 1: 10-15 NIV)
Given the cultural, world view and divergent members of this early church it is a wonder they held together.
It continues to be our challaenge today.
The American Church, 2025 A.D.
The assassination of Charlie Cook is a wound across the American landscape and may well prove to be the shot that reveals the unraveling of the American Spirit or perhaps, its re-birth. It will be the church's response that may well determine if our Tribbles have at last fractured us as a people or is the occasion of a renewed American covenant.
The American Church is troubled with many a Tribble, arising from within:
A massive and continuous change in the underlying world view of our society, and;
An American ascendancy as the "essential" world power, weaving its policies between a globalist and nationalist tension, and;
An equally significant deconstruction and reconstruction of faith across generations, and;
Confusion over our essential mission.
At this writing the American Church (Evangelical, Charismatic, Mainline and Catholic) of the late 20th and early 21st centuries has Tribbles enough to overwhelm our ability to hear our Lord or see with clarity our mission. Our Tribbles infest the relative wealth, liesure, addictions to the chat rooms, games and sensuality of social media, leaving a fractured sense of deep personal isolation inflamed by pornography and sexual play turned on ourselves. We are a church and national people increasingly cut off from human intimacy in friendships, marriages, churches, schools, familial gatherings. To be sure, this descriptive is not the whole or even, perhaps, the majority experience of most Amercians. It is, however, representative of a very large plurality, right and left.
The diverse seperation of powers given by our American forbearers between
local, state and federal governance forms binding constitutional tensions of maximum freedom, allowing the creativity, entrepreneurial spirit to rise ever new up and through our Tribbles;
If only:
We were not so completely divided in the Church between:
An almost complete rift between the Conservative, God fearing Christians committed to The Word of God and God's loving offer of salvation (Jesus) verses the Liberal, socially consious Christian (Living Jesus) communities, and;
A rising no-fault support for Israel united with America 1st commitment among Christians of Pax-Americana (The essential Nation-like Rome) verses rising anti-semitism and anti-nation state prejudice among many Christians on the left, and;
Growing numbers of immigrants (legal and undocumented) and young women deeply ingrained in the numbers and leadership of the Church on the right and left, together with American citizens of privilege at the heart of the emergentAmerican empire.
The Troubles
Thus two competing visions permeate both the Church and Nation and forms a
dividing line seemingly un-cross-able without Divine intervention. It will be The Church that, in repentance and renewal, either finds the ability to love across and within each America or the Church will be part of our nations collapse.
In modern western societies the outer edges of the right and left exhibit similiar exclusivity and frame the 'other' as dangerous in apocalyptic terms; an enemy that must be done away with if 'we' are to emerge from the current cultural tensions in tact.
On the right—broadly—belief is focused in God's creation of human individuals as sacred; the character and affections of the heart, rooted in faith, love of country and family or tribe securing our humanity. Appreciation of ethnic diversity and emphasis upon equality of opportunity is emphasized as good, if institutions and government remain neutral, calling balls and strikes, favoring neither the historically priveleged or under-priveleged. Tolerance of individual alternative gender and sexual life-styles or choices for adults is valued as essential to 'freedom,' provided that acceptance and inclusion of these same alternative life-styles is not forced upon the larger culture as normative; especially upon the young or parents of the young. Love is an issue of intention, openess of spirit, willingness to help those less priveleged and the humility to face prejudices acquired from our cultural upbringing. Systemic racism can only exist where those in power purposely limit access to economic, political or social advancement, inconsistent with current law.
On the left—broadly—belief is focused upon a hopeful, emergent new world with justice, defined in terms of equality of outcomes being far more just than simply equal opportunity. This new left is a humanist comunal paradigm. Acceptance and inclusion of previously under-priveleged communities of color or economic status or alternative gender and sexual life-styles is the goal, the stuff of love and mutual respect. Power relationships and privelege, (far more than political-social-religious freedom), determine outcomes in economic, legal, housing and health care access. Language—the way we think about and practice science or math or law or rhetoric or entertainment or faith—shapes the social-cultural ethos and is central to our world becoming a true democracy reflecting nearly equal outcomes in housing, participatory education or employment. True democracy is assurred when everyone who has historically been excluded from the table, now sit and vote as a co-equal partner in matters of jobs, housing, law and art.
To assure this kind of 'democratic' governance over all our social places of work, housing, health care, food access, and education, the government—ultimately chosen by the people—will need to:
Actively affirm previously powerless communities by using 'safe speech' or language that values every community, and;
Work toward removing systemic racism. defined as the language, educational perspectives and heirarchical nature of human spaces which use gender, sexual, ethnic, and religious bias to keep priveleged persons in power, and;
Create a new kind of economic system that makes social conscience an economically preferred way of doing business.
Trouble: These two visions largely seperate our own American experience along urban-rural, modern-post modern, college-high school, active religious community-passive spirituality, chasms. 1a
Tribble: Our social media world reinforces these divisions with its inherently isolating proprietary search bars, algorithmic discovery and visually appealing landscapes that almost guarentee that each of the true believers of either camp remain inside their prejudices, even as we suspect we are the victims of the 'other' sides judgments. 1b
If these were not enough, the Christian world view suggests we are also caught up in a spiritual war as big as the cosmos, which predates our own individual lives. This unseen war operates much like pre-programed bots whose interest in our arguments is limited to widening the chasm, increasing the prejudices of each to the other.
The Wisdom of the 1960's
I grew up wrestling with the implications of the religious right and its absolute assurance of being right. I had and still have doubts aplenty and any confession to these—hoping for open dialogue—sometimes had the effect of shutting down the conversation. In these conversations there was no engagement and I was left with the feeling of being one 'un-born' or 'under-born', simply needing a real dose of the Spirit to get in line, agree with the paradigms handed down and find acceptance. More often than not, however, my questions were listened to and the very dialogue gave assurance that I was in, part of the body of Jesus. It was the love of the body that made room for this little boy trying to create more room in the narrative for others like myself.
In the mid 20th century the progressive left looked appealing, known as the 'free speech' movement. Except for those on the fringe it felt like a welcoming community whose purposes often mirrored those of Jesus, at least as I understood him to be.
All that slowly changed as those who drove the agenda became infatuated with Malcolm X more than Dr. Martin Luther King, where:
Free Speech was traded in for 'acceptable speech,' and;
'Equal Outcomes' traded places with equality of opportunity'.
Systemic racism was no longer a legal or enforced heirarchical economic, legal or political system designed to retain the "separate but equal' premise of Jim-Crow's America. It was re-defined as the language, math, cultural perspectives of those who were perceived to have enjoyed historical privelege.
The forced limitation of the majority's property, language, ideas, speech and religion was essential to over-coming these newly understood 'systems' full of racism, irredeemably so. The solution in such a world is to establish a political and economic elite who can define and enforce the new paradigms, math, language, or world-view that alone sustains true democracy where "no one owns anything" so that the shared new world would level all playing fields.
I've seen that boat sail; classical Marxist materialism of the early 20th century. The outcomes, divorced from the humility of Christ, always result in death and greater privation for the vast majority of a society.
And so we come to the God secret.
The God Secret
On Power and Sin
Power simply cannot, of itself redeem the human condition. It can, in moments of time restrain evil that runs rampant and unchecked. Power, however will never build the utopian society because:
1) It lacks the humility necessary to loving, sacred relationships, and;
2) Its central tennant is—in a fundamental sense—incorrect. The world's identity and character, its creativity and love, its privations and desperate poverty is not the result—primarily—of haves and have nots, or of power structures. Privation is the result of the human spirit cut off from The Divine Spirit of grace and love, of a life unaware or unwilling to value the sanctity of all life.
The human spirit, in search of meaning, and gifted by God's holy and loving Presence can experience love and sanctity in great wealth or privation. It is the result of communion with The Divine and the human family or isolation from both.
Now, to be sure, privation and/or power structures such as practiced in the "manifest Destiny' on the American continet with the extermination and chosen policy of seperating the indigineous peoples of North america from their land are both the result of human wounds/sin and the context in which other systemic evils find soil cultivated for perpetuating additional evils.
The Secret of The Church
It is the Church, whose history is full of both saintly vocation and the worst of human evil that remains the single living organism and institution that God has given the task of living into and communicating the wholistic Communal Presence of God in the earth. The Church is uniquely gifted because:
It is entirely dependent upon the very Trinity of God as Father-Eternal Son-Spirit for it's actualization; as the Body of Christ, and:
The Church is the membership of 'unlikes' necessary to human listening and spiritual-relational development.
Modernity thinks of membership as a community of likes, of common interests, experiences which like any friendship is the basis of this kind of love. C.S. Lewis reminds us that the 'word' membership has its roots in the Kononia of the early church; as a gathering of 'unlikes' who are family. Lewis illustrates the idea in reference to a family of unlikes. He writes:
“In any book… you may see the expression ‘members of a class.’ ...the items or particulars included in any homogeneous class are almost the reverse of what St. Paul meant by members.
By members...he (Paul) meant…things essentially different from, and complementary to, one another, things differing not only in structure and function but also in dignity… (and) may be seen in the structure of a family.
The grandfather, the parents, the grownup son, the child, the dog, and the cat are true members (in the organic sense), precisely because they are not members or units of a homogeneous class. They are not interchangeable. Each person is almost a species in himself. The mother is not simply a different person from the daughter; she is a different kind of person. The grownup brother is not simply one unit in the class children; he is a separate estate of the realm. The father and grandfather are almost as different as the cat and the dog. If you subtract any one member, you have not simply reduced the family in number; you have inflicted an injury on its structure. Its unity is a unity of unlikes.”
Selections from “Welcome to the Family” in “A Year with C.S. Lewis”, page #127 & re-quoted on pages #27 of my book "7 Faces of Jesus", Chapter 1 "Dark Lightening... on Seeing Together", Tuesday's reading on "A Community of Individuals"
We then come full circle and in it, God's Secret. Given the multiple and deep inter-personal divisions, wounds, oppositional needs, with Settler's and Colonized, Empire builders and the slaves who made the empire work, Jewish and Christian schism, the high cost and risk of Living Jesus this Roman Church should have not lasted past the crucifixion of its most famous Jesus follower, Peter. But it did. When Rome collapsed of its own weight the only institution left standing was the Church. So began, for better and worse, the rise of the Holy Roman Church from Romes ashes.
Today's American 21st century church is very much like that Roman church with many of the same or very alike tensions in power and relations.
Though much of the American political left cannot mourn or appreciate the life impact of Charlie Cook, those on America's right do; having witnessed his heart, intelligence, intention to be respectful even as he would freely share his own perspective, unfiltered, but inviting and listening to those who disagreed with him.
His single greatest contribution was inspiriting the young of 'faith' to not be afaid in the midst of the push-back of the college campus 'safe speech' cancel culture. With clarity Charlie communicated the mystical nature of 'faith in Christ', even as persons like myself winced at some of his theological interpretations.
For America to cross the divide we now face the Church is the one place and together with both sacred and secular college campuses that honest conversation can and needs to happen between the left and right, beginning with those who identify as Christian.
If we are to make room and understand the mutual benefits of both modernity, enlightenment Christianity and the Post Modern justice centered Christianity we need to discover a dialogue with ourselves. The evangelical spirit that emphasizes God's love in and with us and the wholistic faith that finds its roots in the Bible Narrative of the Old and New Testaments require both.
Critical race theory is a disaster psychologically for several reasons but can be helpful as a social-justice and social science perspective. Power, can in a measure open up legal and even economic opportunities. In part that is the fruit of the mid to late 20th century movement and significant improvement away from Jim Crow's America to a more open and free access.
What power can't accomplish but persuasion can is to apply a world of creative, fresh ideas that will emerge from within the social sciences (including the critical race insights) and that are freely applied by and in the Church and in society as part of a creative social-capitalism. 2
Spirit and Incarnation
God is moving across the entire world in these very troubled times. It is time for us, who call ourselves Christian, to awaken to the insights, needs, and giftings that emerge from both the left and right. How? We simply fellowship, talk and listen.
If the American Church entered a decade of listening and repenting of our mutual defensive arrogance and judgments of one another we would see more clearly that we, in the early 21st century are being bot'd out—meaning the social media bots and algorythms keep taking us down rabit holes when God woud lead us to new spaces of the cross.
Our politicians, right and left, will not lead us there because they are too power-centric to move us beyond our tag ends of the wrestling arenas of political/social life.
Whatever else 'repentance' looks like it will begin:
In the Spirit, and;
Re-centering our hearts on Jesus love and our culture's many needs, and;
Re-centering our minds on understanding the power-trips inside our different world-views and narratives, finding God's heart in each, and;
Seperating from a faith desirgned to 'heal our land' in favor of a faith focused on "looking for God's Kingdom already present and coming."
On Lessor Loves drivng God's Agenda
An important caveate: I'm writing, in these moments, as if my deepest concern is America's survival and place in the world. While it is of real interest and concern to me, I want to underline that an American Spiritual renewal cannot be rooted in national pride or even love of country. The moment our motive is out of love for our nation the gospel of Christ is captured by a lessor love (no matter how good) and can no longer serve God's highest glory, which is the renewal of all things in the earth, centered around the Goodness of God given in Jesus Christ, poured out freely upon those who seek God's heart, left and right.
Peter—for example—was willing to die for Jesus and Israel's sake on the night of Jesus betrayal, as evidenced by his taking up the sword and cutting off the ear of a temple guard. (Matthew 26: 47-56 ) What he could not do is lay down his life and pride with Jesus for the healing, cleansing of these same temple guards, the Romans or Judas. Hence his denial. A lesser love for Jesus and his nation were insufficient to the mission of Jesus, as it will be for us. Lesser loves distort the gospel in any age.
May God keep God's Church in these times of national and world chaos and uncertainty. May you and i, as the body of Christ, listen well to one another and in Christ's presence.
Blessngs! Terry
09/19/2025
Teaching Lesson#9
..on II Peter 1: 18-21 & 2: 1-2, 4-13a, 14-16 "Becoming Real or Betraying Real?"
Focus: On the Real Purpose of The Church: Making Disciples, Not Converts
Charlie Kirk's Last full University Egagement; Please watch if you'd like a sinse of who he is and his mission:
1a- Demographic groups such as Persons of Color coming from the America's to our south increasingly respond to left centered ideas focused on outccomes rather than oportunity in negative terms. It is a function of :
Their faith traditions, emphasizing Creation of humans as sacred, tolerance but not acceptance of alternative life-styles as normative and;
Familial ethos that priorizes faith and family over economics or social expiraments, and;
Experience with socialist/communist governments whose policies promise a leveling of the economic field only to discover that there is significantly less for everyone, as under-investment in research and develpment and in-efficiencies take hold in favor of politically convenient decisions to take the money and run.
1b Social Media Platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook are increasingly used as search engines, especially by younger demographics, for finding products, information, and experiences, according to Eyekiller and Search Engine Land.
How social media platforms function as search engines
Native Search Bars: Major platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok have built-in search bars that allow users to find content, users, hashtags, and products directly within the app.
Algorithmic Discovery: Platforms use sophisticated algorithms to provide relevant, personalized results based on user queries and past behavior, similar to traditional search engines but with a focus on engaging content.
Visually Engaging Content: TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube offer quick, easily digestible, and visually appealing video and image content that makes them attractive for research and discovery. Note: This notation is AI provided information.
2 For example, most Protestant Churches in America are islands of self-sustaining efforts needing significant membership and cash to keep them alive.
A great many smaller communities are doing the hard work of community involvement but lack the support and resources to maximize their impact. If the American Protestant churches significantly re-oriented their inter-denominational relations toward creative inter-dependent and non-profit and for profit missions meeting needs in their communities new possibilities would emerge that could then apply, freely and by invitation, the selling, dedication of church and familial inheritances toward sustainable futures for impoverished inner cities.
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