I wrote a post a few days ago about possibly changing the domain name of nakedpastor because of porn and accountability filters, and filters at work, schools and libraries, etc., that prevent my readers from accessing my site. I had a good amount of response on that post, and I appreciate them all. Basically, this is what it comes down to in my opinion: the regular reader, the “people”, want me to stick with nakedpastor; the professionals (internet, publishing, branding, image, etc.) all say to switch to davidhayward.net. I must be honest: since nakedpastor has already established a kind of reputation and is already a brand, but because I’m still getting strong advice from the pros, I still haven’t decided. I’m leaning, honestly, toward sticking with nakedpastor and damn the torpedoes! So here’s my advice to you:

1. When you go to this site, click on “subscribe & get nakedpastor in your email” button. That way you can access my daily content no matter where you are. This will bypass all filters. There are ways to overthrow the powers.
2. Tell everyone around you at work and school and at home that nakedpastor is not a porn site, but a spiritual/religious one. Show them how innocuous it is. When I meet people and am introduced as “the nakedpastor”, most of them know immediately what it means: “Here’s a pastor who bares his soul!”
3. Tell your pastors, family and friends about nakedpastor. Evangelize for me. Get them reading it. This way you are no longer a minority. Someone contacted me last night from Toronto and informed me that she is printing some of my cartoons and posting them on the bulletin board in the offices at the school where she works. People are starting to get it that nakedpastor ain’t naughty. I mean, I am naughty, but not in that way.
4. Please forgive the ads. The blog takes time and energy and work, and the slight income they might provide is helpful. I’d love to do everything for free but I can’t. If a business wants to put ads on my site, I welcome them since many won’t because of the word “naked”. If there are any businesses or business people reading this, consider posting ads on my site.
5. You can contact your filtering software to inform them that nakedpastor is friendly and not evil. I mean, there is the Naked Chef, the Naked Archeologist, the Naked Ape, The Naked Lunch, etc. In my opinion, naked ain’t a bad thing. My wife agrees.

Chime in. What do you think?

All institutions belong to the category of principalities and powers. They are not inherently evil. The principalities and powers are, like all things, created. We are to have dominion over them, not them over us. They are to serve us. Not us them. This includes the institution we call the church.

A few weeks ago I attended what we might call a house church of young adults (here and here). I was asked to come and share with them some of my thoughts. We met in a living room. There was food and wine. It was fun. And we had communion, had a theological discussion, and there was prayer. What was missing was this sense of expectation that an institution imposes on people. There was no overriding agenda that had to be met. And these young people were free of the constant surveillance that the church often exercises over its members. Their spiritual condition was their own personal responsibility, and they gathered occasionally to encourage one another. They didn’t come hoping that this would fill a void in their own lives. We just gathered as friends. And even though there was a recognition of commitment and even love, I came free and left free. I realize that it is easier to achieve this without a building, staff, budgets and charters, etc. But it was refreshing.

This isn’t easy to accomplish. It means constantly challenging the principalities and powers, the institution, to humble itself, relinquish its vision and agenda that is often dehumanizing, and serve us.

Every day I converse with people who have left the organized church. They are very spiritual people interested in living authentic lives of integrity, justice, love and vocation. But they are turned off of the institution we call church. I understand.

I had squirrels in my house once. Do you know how impossible it is to catch a squirrel? If they smell anything human on the bait, you won’t catch them. Same with my children and so many, many of my friends: if there is any sense of a trap, they won’t even come close. They can smell control and manipulation from a mile away. Even if the control is minor and sincere, they won’t take it. Not even a nibble.

Let’s look at the difference between a family and an institution. The problem with an institution is that it requires the sublimation of individual freedom to some degree. I think a healthy family is otherwise: it promotes individual freedom, nurtures it, encourages it and allows its expression. (Now, when it comes to hurting other people or themselves, then it needs to be addressed. Of course.)

Many of my friends and my own children want to be free. They don’t wish to sublimate their own freedom for the sake of an institution’s security or success. How is the church today different than Molech in the Old Testament that required the sacrifice of our own children for its existence? Can we be a collective, a community, a church, without requiring people to sacrifice themselves for it? Can individually free people gather together without allowing the principalities and powers to subtly take precedence and erode their own freedom for the sake of its own life?

My readers, these are serious questions for serious times.

One of the greatest enemies of the church is fantasy.

Just like fantasy is one of the greatest enemies of a marriage.

Dissatisfied with reality, we create a fantasy of what we desire. The greater the fantasy, the greater the gulf between reality and the fantasy, the greater the dissatisfaction. It eventually ends in fracture, divorce, neurosis, spiritual death, all wrapped in a candy coating of quick recovery and delicious denial.

This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work on our reality. Last night our church had an Open Round Table where we discussed how we are doing. Lisa and I, at times, need to sit down and ask ourselves if our marriage is healthy. Are we spending enough time together? Are we communicating? Is there anything we are overlooking? Are we being truthful to who we are, with ourselves and with one another? And these are questions we really do ask ourselves. But the worst thing I could do is to say to her something like, “Can you be more sexy, like Rachel McAdams?”

Fantasy is common fare. It is the air we breathe. And I find the church the perfect breeding ground for its propagation. We are aswim in fantasy and don’t even know it.

Prayer, bible study, worship, fellowship. It doesn’t get any better than that.*

But we wish it would.

(*Some might wonder where “mission” is. In my opinion, if we did these four things, our mission is accomplished. Being is doing.)