tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31480208208279671192024-03-19T04:28:54.326-07:00Ongoing Reflection on the Purpose of the ChurchCommunio Sanctorum;
Community, not construction; people, not programs;
belonging, not possessing.
The true church is a Christ-formed community of people. Connected people -- connected by God the Father, through God the Son, in God the Spirit with each other.The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-55201483043207233712015-05-21T15:55:00.000-07:002015-05-23T13:52:26.832-07:00Church and the need for diversity<br />
“Somebody who only reads newspapers and at best books of contemporary authors looks to me like an extremely near-sighted person who scorns eyeglasses. He is completely dependent on the prejudices and fashions of his times, since he never gets to see or hear anything else.” Albert Einstein<br />
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"The man who thinks he knows something does yet not know as he ought to know." 1 Cor 8:2 <br />
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Research in the fields of psychology and sociology point out: people connect through similarities and dislike differences. Organizations such as churches are and teams, like leadership teams are, always tend to become more homogeneous over time, because we just don’t like ‘other things’. They disturb us. But as comforting homogeneity is homogeneity is the enemy of creativity and necessary innovation. Homogeneity is an enemy to the stranger as he challenges the established group thinking, the ‘majority rules’ atmosphere and puts light to individual and congregational blind spots. <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>“When you think yours is the only true path you forever chain yourself to judging others and narrow the vision of God. The road to righteousness and arrogance is a parallel road that can intersect each other several times throughout a person's life. It’s often hard to recognize one road from another. What makes them different is the road to righteousness is paved with the love of humanity. The road to arrogance is paved with the love of self.”</i> Shannon L. Alder </blockquote>
That’s the reason why leadership is necessary and needs to foster diversity and protect minority voices. Leadership in the church can't be satisfied with the status quo. Leadership in the church is more than personal leadership but deals with real, difficult issues, tensions, resistance and has to strike the right balance between ‘connection’ in sameness and ‘provoking distress’ in differences. Both is needed.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>“If man is to survive, he will have learned to take a delight in the essential differences between men and between cultures. He will learn that differences in ideas and attitudes are a delight, part of life's exciting variety, not something to fear.”</i> Gene Roddenberry</blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: #ffe599;"><span style="color: #990000;"><i><b>Bonds through common experiences</b></i></span></span> <br />
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We all see the world differently, and we all notice different things—and yet we are being profoundly bound to others by shared experiences. Shared experiences often lead to forming strong bonds with people who share their very specific experiences and keep even slightly different others at bay. <br />
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Emerson and Smith write, "People are comfortable with different worship styles, want to be with familiar people, and have different expectations about congregations. For this reason, if congregations end up being . . . homogenous, it is acceptable, if not preferable."<br />
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But since we spend most of our time with people who are demographically, attitudinally, and who have similar experiences, our new experiences continues to be with people who look, think, act, and experience the world like us already. This not only strengthens the existing bond but also creates barriers for outsiders. <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>“Keep your language. Love its sounds, its modulation, its rhythm. But try to march together with men of different languages, remote from your own, who wish like you for a more just and human world.” </i>Helder Camara </blockquote>
As a result, our overall experience of live and truth is further restricted and we fall deeper into homogeneity to the point of segregation, the church becomes about us. <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"However, the numerous Christians who gravitate toward churches that are filled with people who look, talk, worship, think and experience life like them are unaware of the dark side of division. In fact, most people don't see homogeneity as a problem as long as it's not motivated by explicit prejudice."</i> Christena Cleveland </blockquote>
I think this to be a common blind spot in the life of many churches as this kind of thinking overlooks the bidirectional relationship between separation (homogeneity) and prejudice. Division between groups leads to prejudice and prejudice leads to division between groups. Further humans naturally create group thinking and categories that makes us, us, and them, them. Our church becomes about us.<br />
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Yet there is the question; "Is the church about meeting my need or is the church about helping me to grow, helping me to move to where I need to be? <br />
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One of my favourite theologians Miroslov Wolf challenges our natural tendency, a tendency we are too easily content with by pointing out, "When God sets out to embrace the enemy, the result is the cross. . . . Having been embraced by God, we must make space for others in ourselves and invite them in -- even our enemies."<br />
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In short, Christ's work on the cross does not eradicates our natural inclination for deprecatory distinctions between cultures, denominations, between us and them. Rather, we are being together a new household of love and ongoing reconciliation. The commands "Love your neighbour as yourself" and "love your enemy" challenges our natural distinctions such as culture, race, gender, theology, and appearance. Distinction that gave us identity and comfort. But we have now a new identity in and through Christ. Our common experience of being forgiven, being made part of the new family through the coming of the Holy Spirit must be the new bond maker. Jesus while in the midst of enormous pain, thought of the need and pain of others. forming new forms of bonds, "'Dear woman, here is your son.' and to the new son he said, "'Here is your mother.And yet, if we are truly honest with each other, we apply these commands to love almost exclusively to those who are first family, who are near, familiar and like us --- people with whom it is natural and easy to be neighbours and at peace with. <br />
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It is true, much has been accomplished since Martin Luther King stated an obvious fact, “The most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o'clock on Sunday morning,” and yet much is getting lost as sameness rules more and more. Not just sameness in culture, colour and clothing but in thinking. And there are reasons for that. For both emotional and cognitive reasons, the process of forming and maintaining groups with people who are similar to us is logical, powerful, requires less work and is all too natural. <br />
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Research has shown that social diversity in a group can cause discomfort, rougher interaction, a lack of trust, greater perceived interpersonal conflict, lower communication, less cohesion, more concern about disrespect, and other problems. Still further, familiarity is the most powerful predictor to friendship. The more we interact with the person, the more familiar we become with them. The more familiar we become, the less guarded we are, the more we tend to trust them, the more we like them. "One research study revealed that people rate individuals they hazily recall seeing somewhere but don't fully recognize as more honest, intelligent, and physically attractive than individuals who are completely unfamiliar" (CC, emphasis mine). <br />
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Certainly, from an emotional point of view it makes sense to spend time with those who are familiar to us and similar to us, but did Jesus? <br />
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It is a cycle, we are drawn to people who are just like us -- and they are commonly the only ones around us long enough to influence us. Our homogeneity within our circle, is like a cage. On one hand it provides comfort and prevents dissension. On the other side, however, it hinders us to become familiar with culturally different people and to open up to new experiences and challenges. Hence if people come to our church, we expect them to become like us fast. <br />
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This can even lead to an artificial theological homogeneity which makes the process of spiritual growth and therefore of discipleship seam to be almost undesirable from the perspective of comfort and harmony. Something the author of the book of Hebrew lamented and laments today. <br />
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<b><i><span style="background-color: #ffe599;"><span style="color: #990000;">The role of leadership </span></span></i></b><br />
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And here is indeed the dilemma, the conundrum for the local church and particularly its local leadership: reaching out is hard, inviting strangers is unnatural and it is much easier to work with like-minded people. After all, if people who seem familiar are more likeable and people who are completely unfamiliar are less likeable, and we are going to befriend the people who are familiar more readily. And so within leadership, how open are we to new people, new needs, new experiences, new thoughts, and new friends? The people who seem familiar are the ones that are around us -- our neighbours, classmates, colleagues, the people in our church we are comfortable with. Therefore leadership need to challenge the natural inclination to hang out with like-minded people, precisely Jesus did not do it either.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>“If contemporary Christians took seriously the possibility that those outside the boundaries of the church might hold the promise of renewal, if we ceased regarding ourselves as the source of salvation and the secular world as a potential threat, and if we emulated Jesus' example in accepting the faith and the courage of those who live beyond conventional standards of purity, well, I can hardly imagine how things would look.”</i> Greg Cary</blockquote>
Unfortunately, many are either utterly unaware of these natural blind spots and biases, or they simply justify it as natural. Consequently, the people around us, in our churches, happens to be a lot like us, and the stranger, the sinner who could challenge us are beyond us.<br />
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<span style="background-color: #ffe599;"><span style="color: #990000;"><i><b>Harmony can only be found in diversity </b></i></span></span> <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<i>I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better." </i>Plutrach</blockquote>
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One of my favoured music is from Haydn, Creation. Different instruments, notes, voices and different parts, but my experience was that of harmony, a beautiful blend of differences. Through the diversity and then unity of their arrangement, great beauty came forth. Stunning beauty not through uniformity but through arranged, ordered diversity.<br />
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The church is not dissimilar to an orchestrate. God takes very different people, with very different experiences, skills, backgrounds and lives and gives them one new common experience ... forgiveness to which the Holy Spirit testifies. He made something new, a new beautiful arrangement of our lives. But only as we die to our old, to ourselves, we live, love and serve Him and the world he has sent us to.<br />
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God's very own nature, Three-in-One, in perfect harmony to one another points to the true and intended nature of our humanness, being made in His image. Humans, male and female are created in His image as persons-in-relationship, forever confronted with differences among them and towards God, yet called to harmony. Diversity is at the core of a relational creation that reflects God nature. Differences expressed in mutual love not only honour God, not only reflect God's image in us, but is witnessing to the very nature of love and therefore of God.<br />
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But instead learning to appreciate eternal diversity, humans sought after sameness with God, sought after homogeneity in the wrong way. We wanted to do away with natural differences, instead worshiping the sameness of self. But the robust diversity in kind and gender in creation is natural, it calls for dying to self in an ongoing and profound way.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="background-color: #ffe599;"><i>Therefore, in the sameness of our experience of forgiveness as witnessed by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we connect, whereas in the differences of our personalities, cultures, theologies, traditions, thinking and likes we grow!</i> </span></span></h3>
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<br />The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-31838537269735835002015-05-06T13:15:00.000-07:002015-05-06T13:15:40.089-07:00Christs' Twitt Pitch to people<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Come, follow me, and I will make you instruments through which I will change the world -- </span></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I will make you fishers of men.</span></i></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhilxIW42LteN8K9vKgpdQx9Eyhr1kW8YxPacyj0Yai6ajqthU4IIblmrvAFC9dG979O9QKBU2K6IUHFgtmi3AaPOV8jx0BdMPZHmuGxQd4T7lIZoKNn8ndJ1SXkETmJ1CB_EK3mbPJheM/s400/St.+Peter+and+St.+Andrew+fishing.png" width="400" /> </div>
Jesus had a clarity of purpose, he came to change the world by saving it. His pitch, if you want is about invited ordinary people who basically lived like most people today from day to day to have suddenly an answer to their nagging question -- "Is this life with all its struggle all there is?" Suddenly, they became part of something bigger than they had dreamed off, and all they had to do was following.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 1.2em;"><span style="font-size: small;">We are living in a society that increasingly lets go of a somewhat
cohesive Christian world view, and so imagine;</span> </span>You've just bumped into a former classmate at the airport, perhaps a former colleague or neighbour. After
exchanging some pleasantries, he asks you what your life looks like these days. You
open your mouth, and then pause. Where on earth do you start?<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: orange;"><i>A little tip, how we perceive ourselves is of some but little consequences, how others perceive us is far more im</i></span><span style="background-color: orange;"><i>portant</i>.</span></div>
<br />
Then, as you try to organize your thoughts, the flight is called for the first time, and he is on his way. If you'd been better prepared, you're sure that he'd
have seen a different you from what he knew.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://deeredeemed.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/fishers-of-men1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="https://deeredeemed.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/fishers-of-men1.jpg" border="0" height="150" src="https://deeredeemed.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/fishers-of-men1.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We catch them and God cleans them.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This is one situation where it helps to have an "elevator pitch."
This is a short, pre-prepared speech sentence that encapsulates what your
life is all about clearly and succinctly. It is so compelling that it ignites action, produces questions and wonders.<br />
<br />
A vision statement of a church is suppose to be equally brief, and persuasive speech that you use to spark interest in what your church does, its core purpose. It is the sole of presenting and summarizing the purpose of Christ and hence of the church to the one who is listening for but a brief moment. Every church, and every person in the church should have a purpose and everything the church embarks on should emanate from that core purpose. It is the foundation platform, a sharp articulation what the church was born to change. Every ministry the church produces should be measured against this benchmark, because otherwise good ministry endeavors can make the core purpose get lost at least to the intended audience.<br />
<br />
By always referring back to the core purpose the church will not stray away from its vision to change the world. It is like a lighthouse when we being tempted by good ideas but that do not bring us closer to the purpose. <br />
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A good pitch should last no longer than very short 10 seconds or so. A vision equally should be clear and succinct and should paint a quick distilled picture of the core message of the church. The vision should be interesting, memorable, and succinct. They also need to
explain what makes you – or your organization, product, or idea –
unique and worth pursuing.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: orange;"><i>A little tip, your focus must be intentionally someone who has no or only very little understanding of your church, take great pain to have a proper content in the vision statement. </i></span> </div>
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If you cannot short form the message and purpose of the church, hence your self-understanding your ministry lacks clarity.It also helps us to be preoccupied with the core rather than the peripherals; are you fishing or are you preoccupied with the lure, the net, the boat, location, time, clothing, ambiance or feelings?<br />
<img alt="http://rosemarieberger.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/rd_acpp_FishersOfMen_28x20_750.jpg" height="448" src="http://rosemarieberger.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/rd_acpp_FishersOfMen_28x20_750.jpg" width="640" /> <br />
<h2>
Creating a Twitt Pitch</h2>
It can take some time to get your 144 character pitch right. For one it will help you to better understand your own belief about your core purpose, and who the audience is you seek to reach! You'll likely go
through several versions of your vision statement before finding one that is compelling, and that
sounds <i>natural</i> in conversation. <br />
Follow some steps to create a great pitch, but bear in mind that
you'll need to vary your approach depending on who your audience, other than yourself, is suppose to be.<br />
<br />
<h3>
1. Identify Your Core Goal</h3>
Start by thinking about the <i>main objective</i> of your pitch. Apple for example is not in the compute business but according to their vision in the empowerment business. Niki is not in the sneaker or fitness business but in the personal goals business, Molsen is not in the beer business but is in the party business. A company can not articulate a elevator pitch/vision statement unless if fully understand in what business it is in, but neither can a church. Just as particular products do not lead to customer loyalty for businesses, a company core purpose does, and the same is true for the church.<br />
<br />
I go even so far as to suggest that most splits within the body of the family of God was the result of a lack of focus and clarity of the core purpose of the church. <br />
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Hence it is vitally important, especially during a conflict, to have a vision, purpose, or goal greater than the individual. For one, it should be clear that any unresolved inter-personal conflict is in conflict with the core purpose and value of the church. <br />
<h3>
2. Explain What You Are About</h3>
Start your pitch by describing what your organization does. Focus on
the problems that you solve and how you help people. And if time is given than add
information that shows the value in what you do.<br />
<br />
Ask yourself this question as you start: what do you want your audience to remember most about?<br />
<br />
Keep in mind that your pitch should excite you first; after all, if
you don't get excited about what you're saying, neither will the old class mate at the airport. Your pitch should bring a smile to your face and quicken your
heartbeat. People may not remember everything that you say, but they
will likely remember your enthusiasm and one vivid sentence.<br />
<br />
If you or your church cannot articulate the purpose of life in a vivid single sentence you are properly underachieving because you are not focused. <br />
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<h4>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: orange;">Tip 1:</span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: orange;"> <span style="font-weight: normal;"><i>You may want to keep small take-away items with you, which you can
give to people after you've delivered your pitch. For example, these
could be a welcome brochures that talk about your uniqueness and how the persons need is being met.</i></span></span></span></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: orange;"><br /></span></span></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: orange;">
Tip 2:</span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: orange;"> <span style="font-weight: normal;"><i>Remember to tailor your pitch for different audiences, if appropriate.</i></span></span></span></span></h4>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: orange;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: orange;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: orange;"><b>Tip 3:</b> <i>The pitch is addressed to an audience other than yourself!</i></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<b> </b> </div>
The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-75424120610579083372015-04-30T19:02:00.001-07:002015-04-30T19:02:51.547-07:00Church and the vision<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://ts2.mm.bing.net/th?id=JN.qsqwjTze00LHTjH4UO%2fNBw&w=225&h=137&c=7&rs=1&qlt=90&o=4&pid=1.1" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-bm="24" height="137" src="http://ts2.mm.bing.net/th?id=JN.qsqwjTze00LHTjH4UO%2fNBw&w=225&h=137&c=7&rs=1&qlt=90&o=4&pid=1.1" style="height: 137px; width: 225px;" width="225" /></a>We need to look beyond where we as individual and subsequently as church are to where we could and perhaps should be. Although the evaluation of established vision, values and practices within the church and her programs is important as it keeps everyone in tune with the overall direction of the church family; but neither are nearly as important as being in sync with what God desires to do with the particular local church. </div>
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Therefore, the life of leadership is a life of discerning God's will and harnessing differences for the sake of the congregation, while a continuous learning and growing together happens. Leadership is a commitment to walk together through a fog of different information, emotions, personalities and preferences for the sake of the goal that has been set out for the church. Leadership is not about developing a new vision for the church but rather the determination of what and how programs are designed, how ministry is organized, what communicators teach, identifying the "target audience" and how it is reached, and how daily decisions are made. Leadership is also a process of mentoring, teaching and challenging one another to do what they been called to do together and to do it well. It must become obvious to the congregants that the leaders see the good of the church family as more important than their own. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We need to carve out time to evaluate and plan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The ministry of the church in an ever-changing culture is far more than addressing issues, causes or programs. As important issues, causes and programs are, they do not possess a purpose on their own, they are simply practical expressions of the nature of the church, they are only the means but not the end. The nature and therefore the purpose of the church needs to provide the lens through which we evaluate current programs and any that may be considered. Self-evaluation that leads to a clearer understanding of the purpose of the church admits changes and allows us to let go of some comfortable and loved yet ineffective approaches to ministry. It also avoids burnout and helps prevent people from becoming entrenched and tunneled visioned. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b>The danger with an issue, cause and program focused church is that it can just become a way of life where activity replaces spiritual growth.</b></i></div>
<br />
The fact of the matter is, if a particular involvement in an issue, cause or program isn't taking the individual or the church where we need to go, isn't it then just wasting time? Each ministry within the church should be seen as a step toward the identified goal rather than the goal itself. We can have all the programs in the world and can be addressing every issue and cause under the heavens, but without taking steps that brings us where we need to go we simply are running the treadmill. Further, we may create a spirit of competition in an already competitive world where good ministries compete for volunteers and money available. Where does God want people to be? When we are asking this question, a second, more strategic question follows; "How are we going to help to get them there?" The result is a way of thinking in steps, steps that lead someone to somewhere. <br />
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In order to identify what is actually important at every level of the ministry we need to have a clearly worded vision.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><i><b><span style="color: black;">Our</span> whole reason for existing is to raise up people who hear God's voice and are prepared to go out into the wider world to make a difference. </b></i></span></div>
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The goal is to bring people into a vital love relationship with Christ. That reason will not change, no matter the changes in the surrounding culture, or changing context. The wording may need to change, the steps to get there might change to reflect better the targeted audience of this statement, but the goal basically stays the same; spiritual awakening and spiritual growth.</div>
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But how do we measure progress? </div>
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Our vision statement somehow gives us the answer; by the number of people who grow not intellectually in their faith but who are maturing spiritually in their faith walk. </div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
The next question is, what is the best organizational structure today to accomplish this vision? The very fact that the word today is inserted in the question hints to the fact that the New Testament is not uni-vocal in the description/prescription of the leadership structure of the church, but rather adjusts to the demands of the increasing complexity of the needs regarding the vision that needs to be addressed. True vision shapes everything about a church, organizational structure included. Every tributary within the family structure ought to be feeding into the confluence that is the vision of the local church. Hence, everything that happens emanates from the <i>central vision</i>, and the deriving <i>core values. </i></div>
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How do we measure progress rather than business?</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
I suggest a certain set of questions around the idea of core values should be asked when we try to evaluate the effectiveness of our efforts. Core values need to be communicated and simply are the means or practices of what is really important and what really matters.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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For example, do attendees feel comfortable inviting their neighbours? Are attendees recognizing the local church ministry as worthy of their giving? How many are successfully connecting to small groups? Do people understand how to apply biblical truths in their daily lives? How many more people are feeling at home in the church family? Does each attendee have close friendships within the congregation as well as outside? Do guests feel welcomed and loved? </div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Practicing these and similar questions means that the leadership is intentionally defining what is really important and what really matters, people not programs, progress not process. That helps us to see that an investment of time is going to make a difference. Everyone, from the greeter to the speaker, everyone is a communicator of some if not all the core values of the church. It is through the core values that the vision is pursued. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><b><span style="background-color: #f6b26b;"><span>People join the church with pictures of what they think church should look like. From the time they walk into the door and begin volunteering, they start trying to conform the ministry and therefore the church to the image of their own picture. The same by the way is true of leadership. It is therefore vital that especially people in leadership, pastors included, die to their particular image/vision of the church and embrace the vision and core values of the local church that came about through much prayer and discernment. </span></span><span style="color: #660000;"> </span></b></i></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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<div style="text-align: left;">
One of the core values should be benefiting of and participating in the ministry of the church. Hence the importance to take a second step from simply attending to benefiting through participating needs to be communicated. Progress is made when more people get connected or involved.</div>
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<br />When everyone clearly understands the goal, it changes how things are done. </div>
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For example, what is the goal of a congregational budget meeting? The acceptance of the financial reports and passing of the proposed budget? No, the goal needs to be greater unity, love and owning of the church vision, a greater appreciation of the volunteers and an increased excitement of what is to come. If the reports are accepted and the budget passes, great, but not at the expense of any of the values. </div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
One other core value should be to hear God's voice through the message, which means that the greeter at the door needs to be welcoming and an initial little blessing to the people that comes through the door, that means that the worship leader needs to strive farther to create an atmosphere that prepares everyone further to hear the message; the goal of worship is hearts open to the truth. Hence the speaker is positioning the message to set up small group time for the attendees to connect life lived and message heard. The goal therefore is measured by how well during the time the teaching is being discussed. Those preparing refreshments help to provide a more informal "after group time." The goal is to provide an atmosphere where more and more people stay and keep talking, making new connections and building friendships. </div>
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In the end, if people truly benefit and participate in an effective Sunday morning, we have made progress in our vision where the primary goal is not to meet someone's need, but rather to help someone get where they need to go together. </div>
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Sunday morning is perhaps most important ministry, followed by the midweek small group and youth ministry, with the common goal to create an atmosphere where God's Spirit flows freely, where love and trust flow unhindered and everyone is welcome. </div>
The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-32377292204098386062015-04-25T11:30:00.001-07:002015-04-25T11:30:21.371-07:00Eisenberg's uncertainty principle in the life of the church<div class="selectionShareable">
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<h3>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">A real church is not a lose amalgamation of interests groups.</span></span></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="Martin Luther quote" height="240" src="http://www.notable-quotes.com/l/martin_luther_quote.jpg" width="400" /> </span></span></h3>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>The whole reason for existing is to raise up people who hear God's voice and are prepared to go out into the wider world to make a difference.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i> </i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">What is the God given purpose of the local church? In modern language; What is the vision of the church? I think that the above statement comes close to the universal purpose of the church and yet is needs to be tailored to the potential audience.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Leadership of the local church is essentially saying; This is how it looks like! Leadership transforms the universal and timeless vision of the church, given by God in John 17 and Matt 28 in local terminology. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Consider the difference in wordings in the different retelling of the life of Jesus or in the letters to the different churches. At a church where the congregants know themselves to be at the razor's edge and where they didn't always feel safe, we hear; "God will take care of you." At another church where the congregants perhaps felt too secure and comfortable the message is; "You need God more than you realize." Elsewhere, we even hear; "Repent." It is not three different Gospels that the different writings promote, just different emphases within the same Gospel of Jesus Christ. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Some emphases certainly are easier presented and embraced but all are equally important as a whole. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">In some respect the particular emphasis of the preacher is the medium through which the congregants hear the gospel, just like the music or the pastor itself. In churches all over the theological spectrum, congregants frequently conflate their theological convictions with their preferences regarding medium of expression. It is therefor vitally important to preach the whole gospel of Jesus Christ. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Every person is to have his due. He who preaches
solely to saints ; he who
preaches solely and only to the sinner; and never to the saint, may miss some important truth of the whole of the gospel. In the local setting of the church we have amalgamation here. We have those who are full of assurance and strong; we have those who are weak
and low in faith; we have the young converts; we have some halting
between two opinions; we have the moral man; we have the sinner; we have
the reprobate; and we those who are at the fringe and we have the outcast. Each needs to hear the word, each needs to be moved from milk to solids, let each have a word. Let each have
a portion of meat in due season; not every Sunday perhaps, but in <i>due</i> time. Each of these will have a preference of emphasis, just like in music, ministry involvement or preacher, just as the preacher will have a particular emphasis within the gospel. But the gospel is not about preferences, comfort zones or like and dislikes but about truth and the need of the world. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I for one, don't want my comfort zone or alike dictate my future or the future of the church. </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 1.2em;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Our comfort level sometimes needs to be challenged, our assumptions need to be startled, and our privilege questioned. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><strong><span style="color: #993300;">“To comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable”</span> </strong>was certainly one of the roles of the prophets, Jesus and the church, challenging those
in power and championing those in need. This is still necessary, and it becomes vitally
important to turn those words toward ourselves the more we are engaged
in helping or challenging others. As pastors, leaders, teachers, we are also activist
for justice, something we need to not forget: <span style="color: #993300;">Thou we are foreigners, we are also in this world and therefore are included in the fabric of the very society we are being sent to.</span>
We are neither separated from the women and children needing
protection, nor are we separated from those who are being marginalized for little or no reason other than
racism, agism, and the many other isms in our society. We are not being separated from the workers in sweat shops, families needing to be fed or those who boat across the Meditarian sea in the hope of a better life.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">We can take into our arms and
hold that which needs comfort. We can take courage and challenge that
which should not be allowed to remain comfortable. The whole world lives around of us, and we are part of the whole world.
Although, we are in many ways different, we must stop thinking we are separate, or have arrived to the point that we segregate and retreat into our personal comfort zones. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">And so the ongoing proclamation of the gospel in all its aspect and emphases is about change, is about transformation and is about empowerment, </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 1.2em;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">to feel the discomfort and comfort of the gospel, to examine our reactions to it and to what we see happening around us in light of it. Then our job is to decide what to do or not to do with it. </span></span></span><br />
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The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-9622481237930585952015-03-31T11:37:00.001-07:002015-03-31T11:37:14.655-07:00What does it mean to be Church? <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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To ask "what does it mean to be church?" is similar to the
question "what binds people together in groups of all sorts?" This
binding together would include teams, gangs, clubs, mobs, families and
congregations. There is surely no simple answer to it; communities are as
different as individuals from one another. But the question is "is the
church of the same genre as other communities or is it an entirely different
kind of gathering altogether?<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4053/4281758527_b14d7b9397_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="274" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4053/4281758527_b14d7b9397_z.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
What drives communities and forms their understanding of how members should
live?<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #843c0c; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #843C0C; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=50000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent2; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 128;">Imagine there is no
heaven</span></i></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #843c0c; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #843C0C; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=50000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent2; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 128;">You may say I’m a
dreamer</span></i></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #843c0c; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #843C0C; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=50000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent2; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 128;">But I’m not the only
one</span></i></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #843c0c; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #843C0C; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=50000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent2; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 128;">I hope someday you
will join us</span></i></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #843c0c; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #843C0C; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=50000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent2; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 128;">And the world will
be as one</span></i></b></div>
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<br /></div>
An iconic ballad from the 70<sup>th </sup>in which John Lennon imagined a
better world, one without the evil of war, injustice, strife, apartheid,
inequality, violence and pain as he saw in this world. He and million others
yearned for a world that “will be as one” in peace, equality and justice, for a
“brotherhood of man,” an end of greed and hunger, for people to share all the
world in peace and harmony. A time of rest for all, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">shalom</i> in full and every divide overcome including selfish and otherworldly
religions that promote or sanction violence and degradation of the others be it
because of their gender or other<br />
<a href="http://vineyardnorthphoenix.com/images/3Clogo232.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://vineyardnorthphoenix.com/images/3Clogo232.png" height="200" width="192" /></a>differences, the end of the weapons race and a
structure of revenge. <br />
<br />
Lennon and millions of others recognized that if this dream is to become a
reality in this world, it cannot remain in mere words and ideas. In order to
become reality it must leave the lecture halls, and libraries, it must be made
reality within a community, a company of people who not only imagine but put
into reality, willing to embody and direct their lives by this “imagine,” by
this “dream.”<br />
Through his song he invited others to embrace his dream and the company of
those who lived it grow. This company of people of which John is but one is a
“come-and-join-us” group, who, by their words and lives, offer a radical but
attractive alternative to the violent, greedy, and self-centred culture around
them.<br />
<br />
But with the distance of time we realize that Lennon’s song was but a dream.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://godsbreath.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/church-of-christ.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="123" src="https://godsbreath.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/church-of-christ.png" width="200" /></a>The problem is not that we do not dream of better, or that better is not possible,
but rather that injustice, selfishness and anger are lodged so deeply in the
inner crannies of our hearts and minds. For all our good intention, brokenness
and selfishness, emotions we deeply abhor, are as deeply rooted in our hearts
as they are in the systems and structures we have surrounded us with.<br />
<br />
When Paul wrote. “Do not be conformed to this world, but continuously be
transformed by the renewing of your minds . . .” (ISV) he was probably referring
to the same system of values, allurements John Lennon dreamed of to overcome.
And while there are many similarities between the dream and the Gospel, the
gathered company of people was indifferent or ignorant toward God and His plan.
And so Paul warns his fellow Christians not to allow the subtle pressures of
the world to conform them to their utopia, an echo chamber of paradise without
God.<br />
<br />
I think that is an ever present problem we face in one form or the other.
The allure of being accepted and admired by people who surround us possesses a
powerful gravitational pull, the same is true of people we admire. We need to
watch ourselves carefully and examine why we change views. <br />
And so the question, “what causes us to conform,” is important to ask.
According to Bill Hull; “Life and even some research demonstrate that people
conform when there is more gain from conforming than from not conforming. This
is no truer than when it comes down to being a follower of Christ. The reward
for religious conformity is the acceptance by your faith community. When you
gather together, there is edification, comfort, and encouragement.”<br />
<br />
However, for many years good-hearted Christians were convinced that true
spirituality is keeping a set of rules and to separate themselves from the very
people they are called to love and to reach. The entire idea of Jesus coming
into the world and living among us, of His kingdom narrative about wheat and
weeds existing side by side, his prayer in John 17, all make the point that we
must live among those who do not believe. Others therefore, almost in protest
separated from what they saw as easy-to-mock caricature of Christianity, fueled
by the desire to be relevant moved in the very opposite direction but losing on
the way distinctive differences to make a difference. <br />
Here to be relevant meant that someone or something becomes what it needs to be
in order to meet a need. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>That need, particularly
being an obvious need may change from culture to culture, situation to
situation, person to person. The desire to be relevant is normal and pays off in
much off life. An irony, relevance itself is relative. Food is relevant to a
hungry person, cloth to a naked one, but what if food and cloth have been
distributed? Temporary relevance rides the winds of change and blows from any
direction. The only reliable relevance is finding ways of expressing how the
other person’s life is relevant to God, loved by God, and that does not change.
The only true relevance is found in the Eternal, and then we will find what we
are seeking <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">shalom.</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i> <br />
The dogma, the very purpose of the church, therefore, is to go into the
world, just as Jesus did, to show love to the unlovable, the rejected, the misused,
the suffering. In reality, however, our practice has been to separate where
sharing life actually would matter. The irony is, that we have separated
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjllceK_PheyC6yuY5Aita0Fkg14yVmhba-gSbCWhyUZIrn3kkH2z04R6TNy6bkkek430hHozFU9Zy3wFtDY69EBVe2q1CzMmTRHjpPz_5hpdjnN2z47IOes2VI9_UzmSt6qovYm4lXWZs/s1600/1150851_472514312855781_1948133288_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjllceK_PheyC6yuY5Aita0Fkg14yVmhba-gSbCWhyUZIrn3kkH2z04R6TNy6bkkek430hHozFU9Zy3wFtDY69EBVe2q1CzMmTRHjpPz_5hpdjnN2z47IOes2VI9_UzmSt6qovYm4lXWZs/s1600/1150851_472514312855781_1948133288_n.jpg" height="231" width="320" /></a></div>
ourselves, having our own buildings like schools, camps, churches, even senior
homes and our own church friends while being void of “normal” friends, all the
while we share the worlds drive for success and for running our own lives.<br />
<br />
What I am trying to say is this; We all conform somewhere except in ways
that cost us less. We all face the daily reality that non-Christians don’t, it
usually has to do with making a living. It comes down to what is the best deal
right now. Therefore, let us make sure that our conformity is to the person of
Christ, and not to some form of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">culturalized</i>
Christian living. We all are being called to be transformed to Christ, not some
form of religious subculture. That transformation will bring with it some form
of stigma and sacrifice we tend to avoid, but can’t. The transformation we are
called to is different to the conforming to a particular cultural Christianity,
which might just be another form of ending up being conformed to the ways and
values of the world, gaining in this life more from conforming to godly people
than from not conforming. Being conformed into Christ is not about behaviour
modification, conformity to Christ is not separation nor is it moralism.<br />
<br />
What or better who drives communities and forms their understanding of how
members should live?<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="be the church" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1035 aligncenter" height="224" src="https://lessonsfromkoza.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/be-the-church.jpg?w=584&h=328" width="400" /> </div>
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<![endif]-->The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-5950981969338756282015-03-26T06:35:00.001-07:002015-03-26T06:35:13.738-07:00The term of office of the Church<!--[if !mso]>
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<br />
<h2 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="color: #660000;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">The term of office of the Church is to love
God with all its heart, strength and mind and to love others like herself.</span></span></i></span></b></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><h3 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">It is the mission of the Church to be
a healthy church within the reach of all people,</span></i></span></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span></span><div style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">• </span></i></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>b</b></span>y <strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">way of</span></strong></span><span lang="EN-US"> i</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">nterpreting life through intentional reflection on the life of Christ,</span></i></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"></span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span></span><div style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">•<span> </span></span></i></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"><b>i</b></span></i></span></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">n the
course of deliberate living a life of hospitality and reconciliation,</span></i></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"></span></i></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"></span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"></span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span></span><div style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">•<span> <span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>t</b></span>hrough <strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">m</span></strong>aturing
congregations from first to last,</span></i></span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">discipleship through intentional mentoring and teaching </span></i></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span></span><div style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">• <span style="font-size: large;"><strong>c</strong></span>ommissioning
prepared people to purposeful service,</span></i></span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">within </span></i></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">outside </span></i></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">• <span style="font-size: large;"> <strong>i</strong></span>nvesting
human and financial resources </span>purposefully,</i></span></span><ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>remembering that the church exist for the sake of others </i></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span></span><div style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">• <span style="font-size: large;"><strong>c</strong></span>ommunicate
and celebrate through listening to and loving one another, and</span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span></span><div style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"><span></span>• <span style="font-size: large;"> <strong>f</strong></span>inding
continuously <span> </span>new ways to connect unreached
people with the gospel and us.</span></i></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">__________________________________________________________________________________ </span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #e15e06;">Persons</span></b><span lang="EN-US"></span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span></span><ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">All
persons are made uniquely in the image of God and possess intrinsic worth.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">All
persons have a need to know Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">All
persons can be saved and begin a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">All
persons have unique gifts to contribute to the kingdom.</span></i></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<i><span lang="EN-US">
<hr align="center" size="2" width="100%" />
</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #e15e06;">Church</span></b><span lang="EN-US"></span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span></span><ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">The
Church family is the foundation for the growth of the Kingdom of God on
earth.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">The
Church family is the primary context for developing believers.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">The
Church family is to minister in Jesus' name to all people.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">The
Church family is to worship and serve God.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">The Church is God’s primary instrument used to showcase His character of love and distribute His free grace
to a dying world. </span></i></span></span></li>
<ul>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">You and I are living in that dying world while at the
same time living in the kingdom of God. </span></i></span></span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<i><span lang="EN-US">
<hr align="center" size="2" width="100%" />
</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #e15e06;">Team</span></b><span lang="EN-US"></span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span></span><ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Teamwork
demonstrates and necessitates the diversity of spiritual gifts and personal
competencies within the family of God.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Teamwork
recognizes our dependence on God and each other. </span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Teamwork
maximizes the leadership resources of the church.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Teamwork
builds healthy inter-congregational community.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Teamwork
affirms the gift of one another.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Teamwork
appreciates diverse approaches and expression to accomplish our common
vision and mission. </span></i></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<i><span lang="EN-US">
<hr align="center" size="2" width="100%" />
</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #e15e06;">Love</span></b><span lang="EN-US"></span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span></span><ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Unconditional
love is grounded in the character of God.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Unconditional
love establishes a framework for all relationships.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Unconditional
love guides all strategies, actions and programs.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Unconditional
love ensures the appropriate understanding of the other, of time, money, and
energy.</span></i></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<i><span lang="EN-US">
<hr align="center" size="2" width="100%" />
</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #e15e06;">Learning</span></b><span lang="EN-US"></span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span></span><ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Lifelong
learning affirms the mystery of God</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Lifelong learning happens only intentionally </span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Lifelong
learning prevents judgmentalism </span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Lifelong
learning leads to growth.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Lifelong
learning leads to creativity.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Lifelong
learning leads to greater faithfulness to biblical essentials.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Lifelong
learning increases competence.</span></i></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<i><span lang="EN-US">
<hr align="center" size="2" width="100%" />
</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #e15e06;">Growth</span></b><span lang="EN-US"></span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span></span><ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Scripture
calls for every church to grow.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Scripture
calls for the evangelization of the unreached.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Scripture calls for loving others. </span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Scripture
calls for every Christian to grow in grace and knowledge of Christ.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Scripture
calls for every Christian to participate in the growth of the church.</span></i></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<i><span lang="EN-US">
<hr align="center" size="2" width="100%" />
</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #e15e06;">Generosity</span></b><span lang="EN-US"></span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span></span><ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">God
is generous to all. Becoming more like Him, we extend God's love through
generosity to others.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Generosity
is grace-enabled as we trust God in all circumstances.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Generosity
is a source of joy and blessing as we join God in His ministry.</span></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Generosity
glorifies God and affirms Him as creator of everything.</span></i></span></span></li>
</ul>
The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-15999496167361452162015-03-13T11:44:00.003-07:002015-03-14T09:44:35.181-07:00Unity of understanding to create unity of action. <div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>The basic meaning for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Philip K. Dyck</i></span></span></span></div>
<br />
An unsettling thought indeed and there are good reason for not dismissing this thought outright particularly when we look at the word tolerance. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: #660000;">The greatest hermeneutic of the gospel is a community that seeks to live by it.</span></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Lesslie Newbigin</span></span></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span> </span></i></span></div>
<a href="http://www.drawingteachers.com/image-files/make-your-own-birthday-cards-step-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.drawingteachers.com/image-files/make-your-own-birthday-cards-step-7.jpg" height="289" width="320" /></a><span style="color: black;">The headlines presented to us through media are filled with ethical, moral, and social issues. They fill a wide spectrum from employment equity to the right to choose, sexual orientation, gender identity, physician assisted suicide or abortion. And in so doing they inform our thinking about these and more issues, and the courts in recent decisions reflecting these changes in thinking. One of these changes is the believe or unbelieve for that matter in ultimate and universal truth.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black;">Society believes, or say it believes, that all people have a right to their own opinion -- and there are those who hold that some opinions are better than others. That is to be expected. For once, we have all different values, outlook of life, cultural upbringing, to name just a few components that play a role in our development of opinions. However, we have often difficulties to listen honestly and carefully to each others point of view. The reason for that is in my view that we often arrived at an understanding without really understanding the why, why we hold that particular opinion. After all, rather than being rational we are emotional beings that arrive at lives decisions, values and opinions not after a lengthy time of reflection. And therefore, on both side of a debate about anything, we tend to want our cake and eat it too.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black;">What does that all mean in practice to us today? I must say, I am not really sure all that it means to the Church in practice at this moment. However, it should be clear that the changes in media and court decisions will further highlight the clear riff between the underlying foundation of society at large and the church. To begin, however, it clearly means this: We, the followers of Christ, have been utterly foolish in our concentration on trying to segregate from one another because of different opinions in our systematic theologies. That excluding behaviour has broken down the truth in bits and pieces and has taken away from the big picture. This inadvertently pointed to a problem in the theology of love, as s</span><span style="color: black;">ome regard "Christianity" and their own denomination's name and particulars to be synonyms. This has not only taken our focus from making disciples of Christ but also to a complete failure to face the total world view that informs our daily life decisions. Rather than addressing the foundation that brings us together into conflict with the world, we have opt for the easy way out and are holding small inhouse debates, "trying" to convert one another. And in so doing we effectively failed to witness to the truth that Jesus was sent.</span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black;">We have not understood that different world views, being accountable to someone other or not, will effect the totality of all bits and pieces and inevitably brings forth totally different results in life, cf. abortions. I don't think that is nowhere more obvious than in media and law -- where a different world view with its bits and pieces is almost forced into our thinking. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black;">Unfortunately, many believe or at least act today as if rational, emotionless discussions about different opinions, resulting from a different world view, have no place in the public realm since all answers are based on personal opinions. We are increasingly taught, we are simply stuck with our different opinions and that all opinions are relative -- having no basis in any objective or unchanging moral truth. Therefore, anything which presents or argues from an absolute truth position is quite rightly seen to be a total denial of a relative position and can't be allowed. In some respect, both positions is an exclusivist one, and at least on an intellectual level intolerant when it presents itself exclusively through political or legal institutions. </span>Tolerance, once expressed as respecting others' right to hold differing
perspectives, has morphed into a pervasive insistence that no one should
hold firm convictions.But we need to be honest, the history of the church is full of intolerance.<br />
<span style="color: black;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black;">What is truth? </span><br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: #660000;">"What is truth?" retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the
Jews gathered there and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him.</span></i><span class="p"> The NIV translation, perhaps unintentionally, points to a believe of relativism of morality and truth by Pilate. And that should be expected, because the politic of Rom was if not to respect but at least to tolerate local religious believes, it kept the peace. </span><span class="p"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Perhaps skeptical that any are true, he
also observe that religions brought a sense of purpose, comfort, stability, and
security to people's lives. He too might regard religious diversity as a positive
force bringing social stability and cohesiveness within the realm of the empire. Thus, he might be
religiously tolerant.</span></span> In this sense we may want to accuse him to have a relative view of truth, a view that is so prevalent in our society today. What is truth? This today fundamental question was not meant to be answered. It was not an inquire from someone seeking after truth, but rather a rhetorical question. For Pilate was really saying, you have no basis or right to make moral judgements about individuals and their actions or about society at large. Who are you to judge? Who are you to judge me, Jesus or the procedure that will follow?</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://associationforpublicart.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Benjamin_Franklin_on_a_Bench.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://associationforpublicart.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Benjamin_Franklin_on_a_Bench.jpg" height="200" id="yui_3_5_1_4_1426271581897_1114" width="200" /></a><span class="p">The question about the foundation of life is a serious one, and is raised in one form or the other by many people in our contemporary society. It is serious because Pilate suggest relativism, and here particularly moral relativism, whereas Jesus calls attention to himself; "I am the truth,..." With whom do we side? The view when it comes to moral issues there is no universally objective right or wrong in any given situation, or with Jesus? Are we going with; What is in the interest of the majority, what is in the interest of peace for the majority? A sentiment we find in Caiaphas; "it's better one man should die for the people." That is not to say than humankind is not intrinsically unselfish, corrupted only by outward circumstances and influences. No, we are fallen and not fully what we were created to be. The question simply is; who is going to be the judge on the bench? </span><br />
<span class="p"><br /></span>
<span class="p">It is true, </span><span class="p">we are all socialized from such an early age and to such
an extend that it is very difficult to separate what is cultural from
what is personal. We cannot deny it, we are to a large degree the product of our upbringing
with its surrounding cultural influences. </span><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="p">That position is not particularly easy for
some people to take. However it is essential if religious peace is to be
maintained in Canada where religious diversity is
rapidly increasing.</span></span><span class="p"> </span><span class="p"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">In some cases, tolerance can simply be a result of a lack of religious
convictions -- i.e. lack of discipleship or a byproduct of indifference. Some Christians may have few or no strong
religious convictions of their own. They will probably be quite tolerant of other people's beliefs in the sense that hey simply don't
care what others or they themselves believe. </span></span> </span><br />
<span class="p">There, therefore</span><span class="p">, can be
neither inappropriate or appropriate judgement, and no reasonable or
rational ways to make moral judgements that would apply in every time,
in every place, in every culture, and to every person? Really? </span><br />
<span class="p">At the same time, we need to admit that today's western societies have become largely <i>areligious </i>while coming from a Christian background which nonetheless informed their values. </span><span class="p"> </span><br />
<span class="p"></span><br />
<span class="p">What is truth? This question unanswered leads to the danger of moral relativism at which end only subjective opinions and personal preferences exist, no different from one's feeling about capital punishment, female circumcision or the preferred ice-cream flavour, or hockey player. </span><br />
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
We are all socialized from such an early age and to such a great extent
that it can be very hard to separate what is cultural from what is -
See more at:
http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/headscarves-and-men-holding-hands-coming-out-as-a-cultural-relativist/#sthash.6CGkF9ho.dpuf</div>
<br />
<span class="p">When we look into the development, the unfolding of the story, relativism simply doesn't carry enough bit to save tolerance, or the individual. What we rather detect is a kind of ambiguity or different self-interests that lead to injustice. The authority of power to judge (Pilate) was no exercised because of situational self-interests, but also the want of the majority. Therefore, although Jesus was pronounced innocent according to the opinion of Pilate, he got executed in a method that was otherwise chiefly inflicted on slaves or the worst kind of criminals. On one hand </span><span class="p">the by the Jewish law required stoning for blasphemy did not take place yet consideration was given to the Sabbath law. We see and find ourselves in a climate of inconsistency, contradiction, cohesion and self-interests, little has changed. </span>And around and around we go in this regressive spiral where we find ourselves sacrificing today not Christ but tolerance in the name of exclusivity be it relativism or absolutism.<br />
<br />
The problem we face than and today is that moral relativism doesn't protect tolerance since anyone can choose to value mutual tolerance or not. After all, there can't be any reasons for preferring one set of values over another, except mine because they suite me best. But tolerance or to tolerate proper understood is nothing more than to put up with, conditionally, with a fair,
objective, and <i>permissive</i> attitude toward those whose opinions,
practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own. But that requires that we actually have strong convictions ourselves, rather than lose opinions. <br />
<br />
Tolerance, I believe is the underlying current in what the New Testament presents to us. However, neither tolerance nor permissiveness toward an action frees us from providing an alternative response in love. Tolerance is not indifference. True tolerance means taking our deeply held convictions seriously
because understanding and sharing our differences actually makes a difference.
Disagreements matter. True tolerance means engaging one another with love and respect despite our differences. We need a recovery of a biblical expression of tolerance, insisting that the existence
of disparate views even and perhaps more important among Christians is vastly different from the acceptance of all views
being equally valid. Tolerance understood in this way is not really an abstract, personified ideal, but has always been, although in a subtle way a dominant part of the early witness of the church. Intolerance, if we want to call it that way, was exercised within the small confinement of a local church addressing sin rather than differences of religious opinions and values. Tolerance in love, however, is vital to the life of the church even if only for the weaker brothers and sisters. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"I would like to speak up for the tolerance
which arises from respect for the inherent worth of people -- tolerance
which is not indifferent to the choices people make, the principles they
live by, but accepts their right to make their own choices. This tolerance
is not an easy indifference but a difficult balance between a passionate
conviction in the worth of one's own cause, a compelling necessity to
convert others, and the fearsome risk of being converted oneself. It is
sustained not by an arrogant indifference to how life is lived but by a
humble assertion of the worth and dignity of every person."</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></i></span></div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
We are all socialized from such an early age and to such a great extent
that it can be very hard to separate what is cultural from what is -
See more at:
http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/headscarves-and-men-holding-hands-coming-out-as-a-cultural-relativist/#sthash.6CGkF9ho.dpuf</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><i>Richard R. Rathbone</i></span></span></span> </span></div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
Moral
relativism doesn’t require any sort of policy on tolerance since anyone
can simply chose to value tolerance or not and furthermore there can’t
be any reasons for preferring one set of value claims to another (except
maybe “my value claims are better because they are mine”) - See more
at:
http://goodmenproject.com/comment-of-the-day/moral-relativism-vs-cultural-relativism/#sthash.cezak8Jk.dpuf</div>
<br />
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
Moral
relativism doesn’t require any sort of policy on tolerance since anyone
can simply chose to value tolerance or not and furthermore there can’t
be any reasons for preferring one set of value claims to another (except
maybe “my value claims are better because they are mine”). - See more
at:
http://goodmenproject.com/comment-of-the-day/moral-relativism-vs-cultural-relativism/#sthash.cezak8Jk.dpuf</div>
.<br />
<br />
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
Moral
relativism doesn’t require any sort of policy on tolerance since anyone
can simply chose to value tolerance or not and furthermore there can’t
be any reasons for preferring one set of value claims to another (except
maybe “my value claims are better because they are mine”) - See more
at:
http://goodmenproject.com/comment-of-the-day/moral-relativism-vs-cultural-relativism/#sthash.cezak8Jk.dpuf</div>
<br />The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-52747088807713343482015-03-02T13:32:00.002-08:002015-03-10T10:50:00.864-07:00Crosswalk VI -- Our trouble with seeingOne of the commonly performed miracles recorded for us in the Gospels was the restoring of sight, moving from blindness to sight. Perhaps the reason for this particular emphasis is the fact that people in their natural fallen stage are spiritually blind. Like literal blindness, seeing nothing, spiritual blindness hinders us to see God anywhere. In fact, the spiritual journey of discipleship perhaps can best be understood as moving from God seeing nowhere, to a place where we expect to see him, to seeing God everywhere. Something we had not taken into account, had not seen explained everything in a different way. When we begin to see more fully many thing will change. When we see differently, we interpret differently, we react differently, intend differently, and finally live differently. <br />
<br />
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One of the most unsettling passage for Christians is certainly found in John 9; normally described;<br />
<br />
<i>"A Man Born Blind Receives Sight</i>"<br />
<br />
But I think that to be a rather unfortunate headline. Because it helps us to overlook the otherwise obvious question; to which group of people do we belong? Is it the one that is pushing its agenda and therefore not asking the right question; to which group do I belong? After all, the story is about several groups of people and their various level and forms of blindness; first the blind man, than the very religious people [disciples as well as Pharisees], the neighbours and finally the parents of the man.<br />
<br />
As much as John 9 is about a physical blind man receiving sight, the wonder that had been done to him on the surface, on a deeper level it is about spiritual blindness, it is about the spiritual darkness he comes out of while other remain. And therefor the story is about us who address Jesus as; "Lord, Lord." David Benner to our dislike points out, even though we may desire to be more discerning,<br />
<i>"egocentricity and self-control are fundamental dynamics of the human condition. We know we are suppose to surrender to God's will </i>[and work]<i> and may genuinely want to, but most of us continue to face the almost irresistible tendency to assert our own will </i>[and work]<i>. We overhear Jesus' prayer in the garden of Gethsemane --"Not my will but thine be done"-- but have trouble making it our own." </i><br />
<br />
<b>Asking the wrong question because of a wrong foundation</b><br />
<br />
What should have been a day of celebration for the community, after all, one among them was restored, was healed, deteriorated into a day of accusation, controversy, fear, and expulsion. Unfortunately, what prevented his parents, friends, neighbours, religious leaders and disciples from recognizing and responding to God's loving nature among them is not all that different what prevents us from recognizing God's work for us today. <br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><i>As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth</i></span>. Being seen by Jesus opens up all kinds of possibilities.<br />
<i><span style="color: #660000;">His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”</span></i><br />
What an interesting theological and philosophical questions the disciples raise, worthy of much debate and many books, yet a question totally out of touch with the situation and the suffering of the man. The disciples who should have been seeing spiritually more clearly were the once who were most blind and out in touch with Jesus' heart for this man. <i><span style="color: #660000;">"...who sinned, this man or his parents"?</span></i> is certainly not a very compassionate and caring question, it does not show concern for the well-being of this man. Rather, he becomes an object lesson for their intellectual curiosity that allows them to remain passive in light of suffering. They place their questions between this man and them, between his situation and their calling as Christ followers. Instead of going to the man, seeing this as an occasion to care for this man they want to pass on blame; <i><span style="color: #660000;">"Rabbi,who sinned, this man or his parents?" Rabbi, teacher! </span></i> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2000px-Book_red_question_marks-e1310276380976-300x283.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="alignleft wp-image-2249" src="http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2000px-Book_red_question_marks-e1310276380976-300x283.png" height="188" title="2000px-Book_red;_question_marks" width="320" /></a>The disciples, for all their closeness to Jesus, had not arrived to see Jesus for who he truly was and did not understand his mission. They, like all the people around them were caught in a kind of blindness that was more hindering than the debilitating blindness of this man. It was holding them back because, unlike the blind man, they did not recognized their spiritual blindness. It was a "structural blindness" brought about through a belief system they grow up in. Their thinking and therefor the question <i><span style="color: #660000;">who sinned, this man or his parents, </span></i>was shaped by what would be called today outdated and religious superstitions. And this man made structure framed the situation so narrowly that God had almost no space in it, but the space of judgement. This was the accepted system of cause and effect and the limit of a generally shared way of thinking (cf. Job). This systemic way of thinking had eventually produced a sub-floor of sort over the foundation, leading to wrong assumptions and questions, <i><span style="color: #660000;">who sinned, this man or his parents?</span></i><br />
And this is the way the man saw himself, his blindness was caused by either his sin, a sin he would not able to name, or a sin done by his parents. Can we see the effect that must have had on his self-image, his relationship to his parents? But then the lights went on, and he saw God and he knew that God saw him in his suffering and brokenness. Healing of relationships could happen because God was in the picture. He was set free from the external world around him but also from his internal world of his own making.<br />
<br />
A better question, in fact a question that almost always is better; What does God want to do in this situation, and how can I get involved, in light of the brokenness and impossibility of the human condition but also God's goodness? But in order to ask that question we need a deep belief in the goodness of God apart form the circumstances and even our negative experiences with "the church." Many of us got hurt in life and have become "self-made people," we relay on ourselves as long as possible. Truth be told, we don't really want to trust other people with our fears, doubts, limitations, failures but ourselves. This attitude is present in the blaming and deflective question; "<i><b><span style="color: #660000;">who sinned</span></b></i>?"<br />
<br />
How can we give ourselves to someone we are not sure will be good to us? What made David a man after God's own heart was not his murderous past, sex addiction and tendencies to idolatry, but that he ultimately trusted God's judgement and His goodness. <br />
<br />
God's word is not sugarcoating the reality of failure and yet growth of the disciples. Yes, there is evil in the world, but do not be theoretical about it. Yes, there is sin in the world with all the tragic consequences, but what good comes from the blame game? Yes there is a complex web of cause-and-effect in the human experiences, but that does not excuse us from loving.<br />
<br />
And so we don't need beside a deep believe in the goodness of God that love is our ultimate destiny, and to love our ultimate calling -- love for God, love for self, love for others [including our enemies] and love for creation. I think there is no other true measure of authenticity for us as disciples of Christ than love. <br />
<br />
That we are to love God and others is the one thing we can be sure is the will of God in all circumstances and for all people. And we see that, rather than simply seeing the suffering, Jesus goes to the man and takes direct and immediate action no matter what the personal consequences.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Great Wall of China by zeushadesposeidon" class="dev-content-normal" data-embed-format="thumb" data-embed-id="70772173" data-embed-type="deviation" src="http://th02.deviantart.net/fs22/PRE/i/2007/330/0/3/Great_Wall_of_China_by_zeushadesposeidon.jpg" height="300" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; top: 0px;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td class="tr-caption">Great Wall of China by zeushadeposeidon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The structural blindness of the disciples that lead to inaction and the wrong question, in spite of their closeness to Jesus, is sobering because it demonstrates that even those who are on a spiritual journey for some time can still miss the point, -- especially if they are living and breathing the same belief system and cultural influences together. <br />
<br />
The next group are the well-minded neighbors who for some reason had difficulties to <i>see</i> the now seeing man as their neighbour. The neighbours, like we all are, were afflicted with cognitive filters. These filters help us to categorize and to make sense of what we see, of reality. The problem is that these filters have been developed over many years of interacting with life in the same way. And because these filters are something we are not fully aware of they prevent us from seeing anything new or of entering any new data into our consciousness without being filtered, viewed with a level of suspicion. Just like William Barclay in his commentary on the New Testament, we talk ourselves out of new possibilities by questioning whether that ever happened.<br />
<br />
"We only see what we are ready to see, expect to see, and even desire to see. We are even more stuck when we are with others who share the same paradigm" (Ruth H. Barton). There is the danger that we too like the people in this story are colluding and protect the comfortable status quo and to avoid to confront what is beyond the accepted knowledge and experience. In fact, the very religious and powerful group of the Pharisees were most guilty of eventually dismissing the work of God altogether. Any deviation from the status quo, any challenges, any doubts, any question, any non-conformity to the established paradigm of cause and effect, of judgement was answered with expulsion. The power to drive someone out, to dismiss, to denigrate and undermine what a person,particularly a new person, brings, in one way or the other is a power leaders have. The Pharisees had surrounded themselves with those who are blind in the same way they were. They were so caught up in the power of groupthink that they couldn't see things differently. Here, anyone who challenge what was already thought would be put out of the synagogue, and so the fear of no longer belonging, "keeping peace," kept even the parents quite. They too were not to be part of the prophetic witness.<br />
<br />
This is how paradigms, system of thoughts (structural blindness, groupthink), rigidly held categories of black and white, and unquestioning loyalty to tradition function. On the one hand, they give as a sense of security and belonging to something bigger than ourselves, they make sense of our lives so that we can function within that sphere. But on the other hand, they have the power to filter out the unexplainable, the new, the unwanted new thought. In John 9 they filtered out God himself!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.virtuallearning.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Autonomous-Learning-300x197.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-427" src="http://www.virtuallearning.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Autonomous-Learning-300x197.jpg" height="131" title="Autonomous Learning" width="200" /></a>Therefore, a better heading would be "a man on his costly journey to seeing who Jesus truly is."<br />
<br />
9:11 Jesus a man<br />
9:17 Jesus is called a prophet<br />
9:33 Jesus is called a man from God<br />
9:38 Jesus is called <i>Kupios, </i>Lord and is being worshiped. <br />
<br />
The healed man was on his own spiritual journey. While everyone around him was asking all the wrong questions, arguing and trying to trip the other person up, while holding tied to the party line, the healed man was on a journey of increased insight and understanding into who Jesus actually is.<br />
<br />
But this came at a high price. Although he can see now, he no longer has a belonging. It would have been easier to fit in a group, after all he could see now, than it is to fit in with the truth. When we encounter God in ways that do not fit the accepted paradigm, we might find ourselves at the outside. That look like bad news, and is certainly not easy, but it there that Jesus looks for him and finds him.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://ahessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/healing_of_the_blind_man.jpg?w=300&h=300" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1108" height="200" src="https://ahessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/healing_of_the_blind_man.jpg?w=300&h=300" title="healing_of_the_blind_man" width="200" /></a><span style="color: #660000;"><i>“I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.”...“If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains. </i></span></div>
<br />
The punch line! In what light do we want to be seen and see ourselves in; for only those who admit their blindness see!? Those who are convinced that they know already everything that can be known, that they see everything that can be seen, and stubbornly refuse to learn will remain stand still. This event shows that understanding has a humble beginning. It starts with an admission, with the admission that we are not all that good at seeing something new. It begins with remembering that we are capable of being short-sighted (cf. 2 Pet 1:8f), and we are ourselves are an obstacle we need to overcome. Humility begins when we acknowledge the fact that we lack the wisdom we need and that without divine intervention, without Jesus actually looking for us, finding us outside a soul-numbing clamor of a "religious" community we will know not enough.<br />
<br />
Jesus' words reveal simple beauty, God's goodness and generosity. Yet this simplicity also lays bare evil without numbers, anxiety or presumption, inferiority or superiority, manipulation or withholding, miserliness or indulgence. Jesus words should make us stop, inform our interior world of self-thought and see ourselves in the gaze of God. His words invite us to further thoughts and observation. Simple, in fifty words or less, Jesus captures truth and lies, human hope and its misery, true hope and false hope in whatever configuration or combination possible. He judges every illusory way, every pretender of truth, every claim of wisdom that eventually chokes out the very life it claims to love. Yet all the personal application, details need to be discovered and be named by us. That is what it means to pick up our cross daily and to follow the Truth.<br />
<br />
Jesus' words does nor ignore, erase or normalizes our human condition but speaks them back to us for us to hear. With hearing, seeing and accepting in humility begins growth, when we begin to get in touch with our blindness and are willing to cry out from a place of brokenness our eyes are opened. <br />
<br />
It takes humility, a great willingness to have a healthy openness to ask questions, spiritual insight, self-awareness and a helping hand to see Jesus for who he is otherwise we end up with nothing more than the god of our own small minds.The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-61965750669894821032015-02-26T05:48:00.001-08:002015-02-27T14:03:01.713-08:00Crosswalk V -- moving forward in Making Peace<br />
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</xml><![endif]--></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In a Christian Community everything depends upon whether each
individual is an indispensable part in the puzzle. Only when even the smallest piece
is securely interlocked the puzzle is complete. Awareness of the other is a good first step. Reflection, the second step. Acceptance, the third step. Confession (surely!) follows as the next step. Seeking and extending forgiveness -- right here is the sequence that can genuinely change the one another, the church, the world and us. But all that requires love, love of the other. </i></b></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><b></b></i></span></span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><b> "by this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." </b></i>(Jh 13:35)</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><b> </b></i></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/ae/ef/f5/aeeff511271b6cf0a1e77126323f5d77.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/ae/ef/f5/aeeff511271b6cf0a1e77126323f5d77.jpg" border="0" class="shrinkToFit decoded" src="http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/ae/ef/f5/aeeff511271b6cf0a1e77126323f5d77.jpg" height="200" width="148" /></a><span style="color: black;">I can't help it but to conclude from this verse, but also others, that the present wold has a right, certainly the ability, to judge whether our Christian faith is authentic, and therefore relevant. Because love, unlike everything else will have relevance even in eternity. Although we will judge the present world in the future, presently we are being judged by the world. </span><span style="color: black;">Christians have not always presented an inviting or loving your neighbour as yourself picture to the world.
Too often we have failed to show the beauty of authentic Christian love. Just like society around us, we are pervaded by the inclination to obstinate self-determination, the tendency to present what is one's own as the only thing that counts -- one's own person, one's own nation, one's own culture, tradition, church, one's own family or community -- or at least, one's own way of thinking. That does not mean that we have no convictions, but too often this has lead to self-isolation and an unawareness of the struggle of others.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black;">One of the purposes for the church is to be a kind of rendezvous point between God and the world, where God through us declares concretely His love for all the people. Through us, God meets a struggling world, congregation and individual. But his happens only when we read the Scriptures together and pray together and being church together and break bread and share wine together. It is in those moments that God affirms to us that things between Him and us are made very good. And when we live in the stage of "very good" we become attractive. Moreover, when we are being church together we are no longer under the natural delusion that keeping rules makes us more lovable to God. If we fail to be church in this spirit, we will turn even the law --good things!-- into self-salvation projects. In fact we have turned many into self-salvation projects anyway, and therefore the world of today has disregarded our message of sacrificial love as unconnected to what they witness. God does not need our good works or sacrifices, but we do and so do our neighbours. God looks for obedience, or perhaps better stated acts of love. Unless our love to one another and others is qualitatively different to what of the world, we cannot expect the world either to listen or to seek us out when in need. </span><span style="color: black;">In our era of global violence and sectarian religious intolerance, the church needs </span><span style="color: black;">to respond compassionately to a needy and understandably confused world. In this sense, our mutual and unconditional love to one another has an apologetic purpose authenticating that we have been sent, but even more that Jesus had been sent by the Father. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span style="color: black;">The only way we as community to live a life of "producing much fruit" is when we maintain a taste of God's radical, unconditional acceptance of sinners, including the brother who has sinned against us. But this is not without struggle in which the world is an independent witness. What is the world observing when it looks at us? </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Furthermore, observable love includes words like; I am sorry and than together to move on. This indeed a very difficult move. I may involve the arduous move to reestablish contact with people or groups we have hurt, or offended and seeking reconciliation. But the same is true when we have been hurt, or offended. Following the example of the incarnation, we the offended party has to seek reconciliation as well. This is the more difficult in that doctrine is not the only thing or the actual thing involved, relationships are not falling apart over technicalities. They are falling apart because of what gives us meaning. There is a scene in Arthur Miller's play <i>Incident at Vichy</i> in which an upper-middle-class man appears before an official of the Nazi-authority showing his credentials; a degree form a university, letters of references, and so on. The official asks him; "Is this everything you have?" The man affirms this only to witness that everything is being thrown into the wastebasket by the official; "Good, now you have nothing." The man is emotionally destroyed, because like so many of us his self-esteem depended on the respect of others. His achievement mattered, his opinions mattered and therefore he mattered because they gave him identity and meaning. Unfortunately, too often Christians find meaning and fulfillment in a temporal identity, rather than in the eternal belonging to God as Father. If the congregation no longer provides this eternal belonging but substitutes it through activities or tradition, "you have to conform first or again," this affects genuine community and therefore our witness. Belonging involves reconciliation, forgiveness, repentance, trust and love. Belonging is not technical in nature but is deeply personal and effect us emotionally. If Christians no longer belong deeply we will find meaning elsewhere, be it work (doing something significant), in charity (caring for others), in tradition (bigger than oneself), in pleasure (as Freud suggest and the entertainment industry certainly seams to validate his perspective on the meaning of life), or in power (climbing the cooperate ladder, cf. Alfred Adler). But than our difference to that of the world is of little value to them. </span></div>
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<a href="http://peddlerofdreams.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/make_peace.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://peddlerofdreams.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/make_peace.gif" height="277" id="yui_3_5_1_4_1424882314113_800" style="height: 277px; width: 259px;" width="259" /></a><span style="color: black;">There is no better observable difference than observable love, by "saying <i>we</i> are sorry." By continually sharing a belonging within a eternal family we are different. This at times arduous relationship is particularly important within leadership and congregation because failing to do so reduces trust and connectivity between both. Consequently the observable difference, a difference that truly matters would be fainting. But, it is a very difficult move. Pride, fear, incomprehension that something was done wrong and more could stop the necessary move toward reconciliation and therefore the restoration of belonging and witness. But there is one thing more difficult than saying; I am sorry, please forgive me, and that is to forgive. Forgiveness is a very deep matter. True forgiveness, just like love, is observable. It changes the way we interact in times of disagreements. It is an attitude the world is looking for in us. The world is looking on, and thus can make the judgement whether or not we exhibit unconditional love and therefor belonging. Church is more than sharing in common issues, which may change over time, or tradition, because each new person brings with it a new past, or even theology, because we are all in different stages in our journey. Church is about belonging. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Several practical aspects derive from the motive of love leading to belonging. </span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: black;">Each sibling should be of help to the others, regardless of nationality, race, language, culture, and so on. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: black;">Each should be of material help to one another, not so much as individual but as part of the whole. Hospitality, and by that sharing of a significant amount of time with one another, material goods, money -- all these are there to be shared with one another because of love.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: black;">Fellowship, companionship and friendship should be share within the family of God.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: black;">Love is observable and includes ongoing seeking each others best. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: black;">Seeking and extending forgiveness and working toward reconciliation</span></li>
<li><span style="color: black;">Purpose of existence </span></li>
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<span style="color: black;">All people are being made in the image of God, and being loved by God, therefore we need to love them us our neighbours. And it is natural, at least in the past, that we want to get to know them as best as possible. Yet, there is a special kind of love and understanding between Christians that unites us. In <i>Life together, </i>Bonhoeffer reminds us, "<i>Only he who lives by the forgiveness of his sin in Jesus Christ will rightly think little of himself. He will know that his own wisdom reached the end of its tether when Jesus forgave him."</i> Unfortunately, forgiveness is underrated and under-practiced. After all, we do not always get it right. And when we get it wrong, we tend to safe face or to justify our action. We revert to the mechanism of our old nature of fight or flight. We have extraordinary practice in both and often we do not even realize that we practice them. It either takes great humility, or an extraordinary friend to help us to recognize a wrong or a fault, to be repentant, to seek forgiveness, to make restitution, and to long for reconciliation. It takes time, sensibility and effort. It is much easier to be content with the time saving but worldly wisdom of "irreconcilable." </span><br />
<span style="color: black;">Christ's grace makes true community, makes belonging possible and Christ's forgiveness sustains life together. Off course, we can think glowingly of the church community, as if it is some utopian commune, like we see in Star Trek or alike. </span><br />
<span style="color: black;">The utopian view is painted something like this. The church is made up of Christian, who have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, have a new life in Christ, a new heart of flesh, and have been given grace upon grace. Consequently, naturally everybody loves everybody to the fullest extend possible. This is a gift and not of works. </span><br />
<span style="color: black;">But an ever increasing number of us realize and are honest with themselves that this is not the case, they are too clearly at the outside of the fellowship. In many churches people cope with their disillusionment, with a strategy of low expectation. Some are simply confused, others resent the reality of the human nature of the church and leave.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">Church is not a dream world,at least not if we give full weight to the witness of scripture. The sooner we allow scripture to inform us about reality, the sooner we come face-to-face with a healthy level of disillusionment of others and a realistic disillusionment with ourselves, the better off the church as a whole is. Coming to grips with all of our own limitations and weaknesses and besetting sins that so easily entangle us goes a long way in developing and sustaining true and genuine community. Unfortunately we cover up, but children grow up and will ask, "Why is that blanket there?" And if we don't tell them the truth, they will uncover it themselves. We have to be truthful so that we can pass on truth to our children. If we continue to play things down, tell lies, avoid the issue, let the past rest we will pass on a false picture of us who are the church. And our children will pass them on to our grandchildren. However, some believe that what they were doing was right, but this only shows the depth of our denial. It has gone deep into our consciences and our minds, and for that reason Paul calls for a renewal of our mind. Awareness of our complicitous nature to avoid responsibility and suffering the arduous work of reconciliation is important for moving forward. Yet denial has become an accepted way of living, and the more we cover up our guilt, the pain we caused, the more damaging it is. If they are not deal with, these repressed truth will burst forth eventually and healing will be more difficult. Accepting responsibility is a form of suffering as it calls for the removal of an unhealthy self-image and fear. It is better for us to suffer a little more now, so that we can heal the broken relationships within our body. Yet often we substitute true belonging through shared interests or ministry activities in the church or simply denial and avoidance. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">When we have also come to grips with the same struggle of shortcomings including that of denial and avoidance in others -- including our leaders and heroes like David the murder, Abraham the liar, or Peter the backslider we live in a real and not idolized community. All three needed an outside voice to fully understand their sins, and so do we. It is in this real community friends who are also brothers and sisters that real belonging happens. Church is not a honeymoon but family life. That does not mean that we settle for a mediocrity, but that we give full weight to our humanness and the witness of scripture for our constant need of a highpriest.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000;"><i><b>Peacemaking is not an evolutionary process happening through the passing of time or by looking in from the sideline. Peace is being created and recreated.</b></i></span></div>
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<i><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. </span></b></i><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(John 14:27)</span></div>
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Of course then there’s the classic statement of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount which is perhaps one of the lesser understood and hence practiced one among Christians: <br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.</span></b></i> (Matt 5:9)</blockquote>
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The questions remains, how are we being peacemakers without simply succumbing to what we consider wrong?</div>
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Schaeffer outlines five principles that I believe are indeed very helpful in us moving toward making peace.</div>
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<li>When we have significant differences we should never come to them without tears and regret. If we have tears there can be beauty in the midst of differences.</li>
<li>We must measure the seriousness of the differences and act accordingly with a concern for the holiness of God, refusing to back down, but seeking a way that shows the greatest love. We always need feel close to people, even if we do not like them (liking people is anyhow more of a self-serving emotion).</li>
<li>Real, concrete love will require at times great sacrifice, we must be able to suffer loss for the sake of keeping the relationship viable.</li>
<li>There should be a deep desire to solve the problem rather than a desire to win or the desire to avoid the arduous work.</li>
<li>Our call is to uphold both the holiness of God and the requirements of unconditional love. </li>
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It is equally wrong to compromise about what is right and our oneness in Christ, especially when what is right is more about me. Without this tension held in balance the world will not know that the Father has sent his Son.</div>
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The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-45352614461198491792015-02-14T07:11:00.002-08:002015-02-25T12:38:22.390-08:00Crosswalk IV- It is not always easy to say you are sorry; <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><a href="http://powerscreekchurch.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/TheWayOfJesus.001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://powerscreekchurch.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/TheWayOfJesus.001.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <span style="color: #660000;"><i><b>To stay silent is to be complicit, but to speak the truth in love offers freedom. It is not easy to stand against the
tide of the culture and to say things that will leave us marginalized and
possibly even persecuted, but we who follow Jesus, follow him in deeds and in words. The
Saviour who came to seek and to save the lost warned that unless we repent we too will perish, unless our righteousness precedes that of the Pharisees we will be lost!</b></i></span></span></div>
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<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
Misunderstanding happens easily, conflicts will never cease, not in this world, but how people, Christian in particular, handle them will make a difference. However these thoughts are not about giving a degree in self-recrimination but about having a degree of self-recrimination. <br />
<br />
How do we handle conflict or the absence of unconditional, unreserved love among all people of a congregation? With people we sadly know little if anything about except they differ from us. Sadly, habits of the world tend to sneak into the life of a congregations, we favor certain activities over other and the same holds true with people. I don't think there is anything we can do about it, just as I can't do anything about being tempted. But do I act on the temptation? We all have our biases, favorites, or preferences, after all we are to a certain point conditioned by our upbringing, our culture, our gender but do we act exclusively on them, sidelining and overlooking people we feel less drawn to? The family of God is being fractured into camps, like different ministries with little or no overlap or common goals. <br />
<br />
There are two common ways I have come across in my years as pastor how that fracturedness is being dealt with. The first way to deal with it is that leadership affirms the presence of a so called camp-mentality and the resulting fracturedness but calls that normal. To be fair, fracturedness in the world is indeed normal, just like irreconcilable differences, but should that also be among us, the members of God's family? Have we become victims of low expectations, augmented reality or simply the loss of the first love? Self-interest and self-preservation can easily entangle us just like any sin for that matter, but are we willing to admit that we perhaps have settled for the mediocrity of the world rather than following Jesus' example? <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6UJ8UprVwLRUQhb2wqjpIUDKLGM3mbVAhYK8QMscmZb0pI74v97gOXaw6ECl5PFjPuyfmyHKN930Q5ZjyVj6G-NanafmfJmvjI-lVDdCktMYhwBvcbMg5VvWVnxa3wJcYgUWd_9hfFIY/s1600/FATHER+FORGIVE+THEM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6UJ8UprVwLRUQhb2wqjpIUDKLGM3mbVAhYK8QMscmZb0pI74v97gOXaw6ECl5PFjPuyfmyHKN930Q5ZjyVj6G-NanafmfJmvjI-lVDdCktMYhwBvcbMg5VvWVnxa3wJcYgUWd_9hfFIY/s320/FATHER+FORGIVE+THEM.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a>I think part of the problem is that we do not understand the concept of love apart from us benefiting in some way. The same is true to some degree with the concept of relationship where often both benefit from the friendship between them. I believe we have an anemic incomplete understanding of love. We have spiritualized and ritualized church and its message of unconditional love and reconciliation and taken away the practical application of it for daily life. <br />
<br />
Relationship is not a technical part of our lives, like a broken TV we simply replace but the very purpose of our existence as the image of God in the first place. Our humanness depends on relationships. But just like a car needs maintenance and regular check-ups and oil changes and tire rotation all of which cost time and money so do relationships. They too require time and maintenance and at times repairs. How is it that in my experiences we take better care for our material possessions than for our relationships. We even insure them against loss. The purpose of the church is <span style="font-size: small;">to bring back together people or groups who have been estranged or separated. The purpose of the church is to restore and heal broken relationships between people and God in a tangible way here and now. The church purpose is to be a showcase for restored and healed relationships between people and each other, people and creation, and even the fracturedness we experience within our own self. </span><br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Living life with truth</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;">However, we often do not admit even to ourselves our brokenness, deep seated hurts and resentments. And how can we? After all we have been taught that "everything has been made new" when we for the first time met Jesus. Justification is indeed the new creation of the person, but sanctification is the development of that person util the day of Jesus Christ. Both, justification and sanctification are united in the lifelong journey of following and obeying Jesus called discipleship.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">That is our message, a gospel that calls every person to believe what Jesus believed, live as he lived, love as he loved, serve as he served, forgive as he forgave, and lead as he led. This is the power moving us to reconciliation, restoring the meaning of love to the church for growth, morality, and ability to once again influence a skeptical and needy world. </span><span style="font-family: georgia,'times new roman',serif; font-size: medium;"></span></div>
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<br />
<br />
<br />
I think that taking a step back in order to avoid an escalation of a conflict situation is necessary at time, but how do we take the step back back?<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”</span></b></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></b></span></span></i><br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<i><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">C.S. Lewis</span> </span></b></span></span></i></div>
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></b></span> </span></i></td></tr>
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I ask this question, of going back, because I realize that there are different experiences and hence expectation regarding the relationship between Jesus and his followers. It felt often to me as living in a glass house; just beside the transparent wall I saw my brother or sister but I could not really get to them. The glass represents not only church infrastructure, local customs and tradition but also personal preferences. Often we experience in our "Christian life" a guarded and institutional community based on philosophies of ministry, on roles and hierarchy and less a community based on unconditional love and trust. And so many may totally be fine with a guarded relationship, after all it is still better than what they had experienced before they became a Christian.<br />
<br />
But I believe the Great Commission is about relationships than about the transfer of information and facts about Jesus, Church and the development of doctrines. I don't think that the problem of many churches is a intellectual departure from the orthodox church but an increasing departure from the depth of the application of Jesus' call to follow. We need to remind ourselves that following Jesus, discipleship, is about believing what he believed, living the way he lived, serving the way he served, leading the way he led, and finally loving the way he loved.<br />
<br />
Too many have settled for loving those who love us, we are naturally drawn to, we have much in common with not realizing that we have been influenced in our expectation and experiences perhaps more by the world than the story of Jesus' life.<br />
<br />
Forgiveness, reconciliation; again we have settled down those who ask for forgiveness, from a position of righteousness. Or we forgive them in our heart in order to be free from anger without them ever benefiting from it. But the forgiveness Jesus gave was based on love, even acknowledging their guilt while maintaining their ignorance as well, he did not set limits on forgiveness either. Irreconcilability is not in his vocabulary and neither should it be in ours.<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6KYBB9VwWtISLEQrKk92adqTPOYP-CT_IorS-qT5Tb734U3pB7qggrZw6x_dN9K5fAYxThNYqINv1IsiCyyjHdEk4HnB7GfbBWzHw5TzYA-ZN6qjHTlGsGK3v2BeZp6NfhCQ_Tgrsl6E/s1600/jesus-wept_1946_1024x768.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6KYBB9VwWtISLEQrKk92adqTPOYP-CT_IorS-qT5Tb734U3pB7qggrZw6x_dN9K5fAYxThNYqINv1IsiCyyjHdEk4HnB7GfbBWzHw5TzYA-ZN6qjHTlGsGK3v2BeZp6NfhCQ_Tgrsl6E/s1600/jesus-wept_1946_1024x768.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a>Many churches are marginalized, exist on the waysides of society because of estranged relationships, estrangement that goes back many generations of pastors. I have experienced that, and the help I received was that the people should simply move on. But Esau and his brother did not move on as brothers, guilt and fear where constant with Jacob until the moment they reconciled. The same is true with Joseph and his brothers, even though he had forgiven them they continued in a level of fear, heightened by the dead of their father.It took a lot more work from Joseph side than just moving on with his life. To love as Christ loved is the way to break down the walls of hurt, pride, shame, and ignorance that separate us and bring healing to broken lives. It takes acknowledgement that something is not right, followed by confession of sin, repentance, extending of forgiveness and the working on reconciliation. Jesus did not hold anything back and loved until other experienced that love; "love each other as I have loved you."<br />
<br />
The need for depth must begin with the church's leader and to that end I pray, that we entrench our lives in the depths of humanity’s brokenness, while hold ourselves accountable to live to a standard worthy of desire.<br />
<br />The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-83835866307540125522015-02-07T09:39:00.003-08:002015-02-13T08:26:06.522-08:00Who forms whom?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and don't think</td></tr>
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<div class="copy-paste-block">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Each generation of the church in each
setting has the responsibility of communicating the gospel in
understandable terms, considering the language and thought-forms of that
setting.</i></span></span></span></div>
<div class="bq_fq_a" style="text-align: right;">
<a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/f/francis_schaeffer.html">
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Francis Schaeffer
</span></span></a></div>
</div>
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<br />
I am concerned for the church, and I don't think I am the only one. In part my concern is based on my basic assumption about the purpose or task of the church. Let me restate my understanding once more.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The churches task as the people of God is to provide access to truth and so opportunities for the worship and praise of God and the education and forming of His people for the life of caring for each other and others in response to God's love. I see these two task in light of the two commandments -- <i>to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to become the kind of people who will love people as ourselves. </i></span></span></span></div>
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These tasks were properly more easily undertaken in the past when many elements in the structure of our social structure and culture were formed and informed by the teaching of the church. In the time of the reformation, certainly shortly thereafter, much of the best music and art was inspired by the Christian faith and found its way in the homes and schools who were supported by Christian principles. The Christian ethos went out from the church and permeated society. But that is no longer the case. There are profound changes that have shaken the Church as our culture has moved away from its Judeo-Christian foundation.<br />
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<a href="http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/e2/3b/ad/e23badfd07877e99c32291eb2c76d68e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/e2/3b/ad/e23badfd07877e99c32291eb2c76d68e.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
We no longer can view the changes of the social fabric that surrounds us as harmless or neutral. Culture has the power to rearrange our values and lives, even when they are mediated to us through the benefits that the modern world bestows on us. The Charter of Rights is a case in point. While the Charter has greatly enhanced many of our relationships and spread its larges across Canada, it also has brought with it an almost inevitable naturalism and an ethic that equates humans as the source of truth. The Charter nor technology per se does not assault the gospel, but I see a correlation with what can be said of "human rights" apart from God. Something that can also be said of many others facets of culture that are similar laden with values. Certainly, we need to acknowledge that Church even at its best has to grow and to learn, has to push on, but loosing faith's theological core has lead to less fidelity of our faith. Perhaps we have to go so far to say that among us there is less interest for truth as truth seams to divide us. David F. Wells suggest that there is "less seriousness, less depth, and less capacity to speak the Word of God to our own generation in a way that offers an alternative to what it already thinks." The world has stop listening, in part we were not listening to them, their fears and concerns, yet we are listening to them in an even more profound way. We can see that among us of faith, who have been "emptied of their metaphysical substance" and are more "attuned to experience and to appearances, not to thought and character." In a time in which "feeling is believing." rather than "thinking is believing," we often don't ask enough hard questions or the right kind of questions about the foundation of what we are doing as denomination, as church or as individual.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://static.dpsk12.org/manilaImages/eop/clipart0020002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://static.dpsk12.org/manilaImages/eop/clipart0020002.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We need to put back together what we have in isolation from each other</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
What also concerns me is whether our local leadership or denominational leaders have thought thoroughly enough about the worship of the church and culture to be different enough in contemporary society to make a difference. But the same is true with us as parents, for all of us, including our children, are more influenced by the shifts of thinking within the fabric of our society as we like to admit. One hope, however, I have, the promise of Christ that he will built his church.<br />
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The Scripture, the history of the Church, training, my own experiences and faith convinced me that the vitality and faithfulness of our personal and cooperative Christian life and our effectiveness as witness to the world around us depends on the character that is forming in us. What do we have to do to best reach out to this society without watering it down that essential character building, called discipleship?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My major concern for the church has to do with our disengagement with school and society. On one hand we have organizations that engages the government with concerns of law and ethics, but at the same time I noticed an intellectual disengagement of churches with what goes on around them and how that may influence them. Changes in the school system and curriculum to name the most subtle but pervasive challenge for the church in their task of faith formation in the children. Part of the problem is that parents have disengaged themselves intellectually and are more concerns with behaviour and good grades at school than faith. Parents spent hours and thousands of dollars for children to attend sport events and have little time to reflect. Our society has become addicted to the sensory over-stimulation be it through TV or life events to a degree that many do not find time or even enjoyment in reading a book that forces us to think. That affects our worship in all its forms, and here I am not talking simply about Sunday morning. But worships character forming effect is so subtle and barely noticed, and although congregational worship creates a great impact on the hearts and minds and lives of the individual member, it is not enough. Faith formation is happening daily. In one way or the other, we are disciples of someone or something. Indeed, that we worship together both reveals and forms our identity as interdependent persons and should identify us as body of Christ, confirming to society what we worship individually.<br />
<br />
For Jesus, spiritual formation and aka
discipleship was not a program or a Bible study course, it was first and foremost a
relationship between him and his followers. But not just a casual relationship, but the closest
relationship possible with all its consequences. One of which is the challenge to our loyalties. When Jesus was told that his mother and
brothers were looking for him, he used that encounter to teach an
important truth about discipleship – that it is to be relational, like a
family.
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He replied to him, <i> “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”</i><span style="color: silver;"> (Matthew 12:48-50) </span></div>
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<br />
Some suggest even that these discipleship relationships were
to replace blood family, but certainly they were to function with the same level of love, respect, trust and commitment but also with a character of love not found elsewhere.<br />
What we as parents, pastors, elders need to realize that the dumbing down of morals, ethics even thinking within our society has not necessarily stopped at the door of the church and that it forces the Church to ask critical questions about its life and worship. What about our ministries to people in a world that rejects ultimate truth, our ability to remain faithful witness in post-Christendom times. In what do we, too, lack the foundation and focus necessary for forming the intellect and faith of our children and ourselves?<br />
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What I have noticed is that worship services are shorter today than ever, some pieces of music from the front, a well presented short reflection, perhaps a prayer one more song. They are tailored to the audience and the preferences of the leadership. It seams to me that even our faith formation has been disrupted by our schedule, short attention span, lack of concentration, personal preferences and we seek rather instant sensory gratification than simplicity.<br />
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So the question is, what resources does the Christian faith provide for renewing and sustaining churches in a culture that is foreign to the gospel and yet we need to reach out beyond ourselves to persons of that culture? The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-11873574626059676382015-02-05T19:39:00.002-08:002015-02-17T13:56:47.599-08:00Crosswalk III -- Gospel sometimes misunderstood "Am I the one"?<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><img alt="LastSupperDrawing" class="alignleft post_thumbnail wp-post-image" src="http://www.buildfaith.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/LastSupperDrawing-300x129.gif" height="275" width="640" /> </i></div>
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<i>95% of all preaching is directed to 6% of the Western World's population </i></div>
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<i>and yet the church is shrinking </i></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Bill Hull)</span> </div>
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If I understand Jesus correctly, faith without obedience is not real but is little more than an intellectual exercise. The faith Jesus invites us to embraces a lifelong abandonment of following <span style="font-size: small;">Him</span> whatever the cost, wherever the destiny. <br />
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Too many of us have been taught that membership to a church means to agree to a set of religious facts about Jesus and the history of the particular denomination/<br />
<a href="https://centerforparishdevelopment.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/takeupcross1.jpg?w=600" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://centerforparishdevelopment.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/takeupcross1.jpg?w=600" width="200" /></a>congregation rather than taking up their cross and follow Him. This encourages people to recite words they do not understand and have no plan to do anything about it. There is today often a separation from justification and sanctification which takes away from the authenticity of the gospel before the watching world. All this tends to create individuals and therefore congregations where faith equals verbal assent and costly commitment is the exception rather than the norm.<br />
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But what is actually the gospel? How we answer is crucial because it determines the kind of person and the kind of church we become. What we are becoming governs what we are doing. This includes the reputation we have as persons as well as congregation, the mission we are involved in, and whether the community of faith is a self-indulged crowed of individuals or a sacrificial force for the good of the world. <i> </i><br />
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<i>"Christians are not perfect, just forgiven" </i>I read here and there on bumper stickers.<i> </i>True, but this explanation can become an excuse rather than an explanation for the necessary grace. The church's drive to remain relevant and accepted in a society that no longer holds' to the idea of creation and therefore at least some level of personal accountability to the creator has diminished the distinction between the disciple and the surrounding culture. And when the distinction becomes too narrow, we fit in too nicely and comfortably we are no longer different to make a difference. This <i>casual </i>Christianity has created leaders and organizations (rather than a family) that are competing with one another rather than seeking unity. It has created congregations that live as forsaking all things to follow Jesus is optional and a separated issue from salvation altogether. Therefore, in Europa and North America, the church continues to shrink in size at an alarming rate, yet continues to preach a gospel that produces consumers of religious goods and services than disciples.<br />
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Is there a solution?<br />
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Looking at Scripture there is a solution; repentance. The very existence of Scripture is a call for repentance and the King of Nineveh a heathen picked up on that;</div>
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<i>"But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call
on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the
violence which is in his hands.</i></div>
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<i><span class="reftext"></span></i><span class="highl"><i>"Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish."</i> </span></div>
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<span class="highl">(Jonah 3:8f)</span></div>
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The prophet Joel hints at a similar solution; repentance.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD96Ive_9aBnn7DCUtmCODGc5P32CJszXXf7YSG5HfJ_datyvPZ0XHJRTiJ7SBvNyS8TZMozTSm3hgdPvQ4WTdeYKydrjMOt0N7h_4KbildkQQCXK_s8lkPu2yXU5Rpy6gKtmRYOVdId8/s1600/jesus-washes-feet-primitive-clip.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD96Ive_9aBnn7DCUtmCODGc5P32CJszXXf7YSG5HfJ_datyvPZ0XHJRTiJ7SBvNyS8TZMozTSm3hgdPvQ4WTdeYKydrjMOt0N7h_4KbildkQQCXK_s8lkPu2yXU5Rpy6gKtmRYOVdId8/s1600/jesus-washes-feet-primitive-clip.gif" height="320" width="238" /></a><i>... rend your heart and not your garments." Now return to the LORD your
God, </i></div>
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<i>for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in </i></div>
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<i>lovingkindness and relenting of evil. <span class="reftext"></span><span class="highl"> </span></i></div>
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<i><span class="highl">Who
knows whether He will not turn and relent and leave a blessing behind
Him, </span></i></div>
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<i><span class="highl">even a grain offering and a drink offering For the LORD your God?</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="highl">Joel 2:13f </span></i></div>
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<span class="highl">Repentance requires humility and a common question among us;</span><i><span class="highl"> </span></i><i><span class="highl">Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, <b>"Am I the one?" </b></span></i><span class="highl">Both, humility and self-reflection are normally not strong suits among us.</span><br />
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<span class="highl">So, what is the Gospel? Is the gospel an event or a journey? Is the gospel just for the guilty, or is it something needed daily? Is the gospel about my status alone, or how I interact with other people, different people? </span></div>
The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-83848374475347534752015-02-04T10:44:00.002-08:002015-02-17T13:57:14.499-08:00Vantage Point -- Preaching the gospel to ourselves.<div class="p1" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1458">
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span class="bqQuoteLink"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><i>Every great and deep difficulty bears in itself its own solution. </i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04;"><span class="bqQuoteLink"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><i>It forces us to change our thinking in order to find it.</i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span class="bqQuoteLink"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>Niels Bohr </i></span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span class="bqQuoteLink"><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/n/nielsbohr390862.html" title="view quote"></a></span></span><br /></div>
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<span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457">It’s not always easy to say you’re sorry. After all it takes a </span><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457">deep introspection where we take a long look at our own sins and what it
cost Christ to effect such a great reconciliation between God and me and
humanity. And than again, we see ourselves the way we truly are. One thing we need to to always we need to preach the gospel to ourselves. </span><br />
This proclamation to the self may just be the jumpstart that each of us
needs to start engaging our neighbors and our co-workers with the
message of God’s reconciling love in Jesus Christ for the first time. At the same time we may find ourselves
all the more capable of re-inviting that friend, that sister or brother that we know we lost along the way. Because the point is not to invite someone in order for him to leave a broken world into a broken family.<br />
<br />
<span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457">I recall an incident some years back where I wanted to talk about the topic of forgiveness and reconciliation. I wanted to hear four different voices and so I asked four different people to look at some Scriptures, to think, to do some soul searching and to take up the challenge to speak/preach/share what God put on their heard. One person I asked was a retired pastor who after thinking for three weeks came back to me with these words; "Manfred, thank you very much for the opportunity but after praying and thinking, I have nothing to say! That came as a surprise and so I kept on listening. In the next half an hour or so he shared with me the hurt and feelings of anger he had in his heart regarding a former daughter in law, feelings he felt powerless to control. </span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Jesus falls under the weight of the cross: I am trying to be mindful of perspective & vantage point; from whose perspective will WE be seeing the events unfold?..." class="pinImage" height="224" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/fb/91/62/fb91629e7bdeff478050cb74797be30d.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h1 class="commentDescriptionContent">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">I am trying to be mindful of perspective & vantage point; from whose perspective will WE be seen?</span></h1>
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<span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457">I think, many can sympathize with his older pastor, father, man and husband. Some may wonder how a pastor can hold on to anger, hold on to a grudge, to unforgiveness and is therefor incapable of reconciliation. I think that is a good and necessary question, if this question is turned towards us, towards me. Throughout my life I have seen people holding on to something other than grace, be it grudges, anger, pride, fear, you name it just like this old pastor. </span><br />
<br />
<span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457">God, however, never lets an opportunity be wasted. After the conversation I looked into my own life once again, searching for spots and moments in my life that were void of grace, forgiveness and most importantly of reconciliation. I found some and the older I get, I realize that all my "wisdom" does not make it easier to fill the emptiness with love. What I see other people doing, rationalizing broken relationships and even using Scripture to validate their reluctance for reconciliation it also in me. </span><br />
<br />
<span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457">One of the reasons for our reluctance for reconciliation is that we would have to die to our ourselves, our evaluation of the person, or the situation and to clime the peril road of the cross to gain a vant</span><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457">age point other than my own.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457">Maybe some will remember the movie "Vantage Point" with Dennis Quiad and Forest Whitaker, although an action movie it shows the limitations of our vantage point to see the whole truth. What I got from that movie was that I need other peoples view, and time of reflection to have a better understanding of any given situation. I need to listen and to learn. We, however, tend to reject the need to learn and to listen because of our human nature of being in love with ourselves at the expense of being in love with others. What I realized in the story with the pastor that he and his family were not schooled in the arts of empathy, forgiveness and reconciliation. He, in fact the whole family I later learned, was caught in a no-win bind of emotional and moral foolishness, unable to extricate themselves from their mutual blame and recrimination of hurtful words and actions of the past. Forgiveness is indeed more complicated within family relationships in part by the ambivalent emotions we feel toward on another, that is true in both, the biological family as well as the church family. Another reason for the failure to forgive and repent is that we underestimate the subtle but powerful effects small negative feelings have on our love relationship. </span></span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457">A grudge, a small resentment that never produces a vengeful deed. </span></span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogasc.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/art-lent-5-b.jpg?w=261&h=300" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Art Lent 5 B" border="0" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2662" height="300" src="https://blogasc.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/art-lent-5-b.jpg?w=261&h=300" width="261" /></a><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457">When we hold a grudge against someone, it adversely affects our ability to a love relationship with him or her. It is a barrier to developing deep friendship that is built on trust and mutual respect. I might not even be aware that my grudge is causing me to hold back in any given relationship, it certainly prevents the development of goodwill. Our silent reactions to even minor offenses, filled away as memories, will over time affect a relationship. The sole reason for the biblical command not to hate [to have a negative emotion] your brother or sister in your heart [being silent], but instead to rebuke, is to give the other person the chance to reflect upon the bahaviour and the hurtful effect that it had with the hope that the relationship will be fully restored. Relationship is less about how you see the quality of the relationship, or what you yourself think about the action but how it affects the relationship. You may feel fully justified in your action, just as the old son in the story of the <i>Prodigal son</i>, but what mattered to the father was relationship restored. </span></span><br />
<span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i> or your holy purposes</i></span></span><br />
<span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457">I mentioned that God never lets a teaching opportunity pass . . . he is teaching me that the worldly notion of irreconcilable differences within His relationships and therefore within His body does not exist. It also taught me that we have listened much more to the teaching of the world via movies and books than we like to admit. We live by the saying that life is too short to hold on to negative emotions and so we simply move on with life. But life is actually not too short, it is eternal and everything we move on from follows us. Life and the myriads of relationship it offers is too important to let grudges come in our way. </span> </span><br />
<span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><br /></span>
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<span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i><span style="color: #660000;">Father, you have used all types of people f</span></i></span><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i><span style="color: #660000;"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i> or your holy purposes:</i></span></span></span></i></span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i><span style="color: #660000;"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i>prostitutes, murderers, persecutors, liars, thieves, swindlers,</i></span></span></span></i></span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i><span style="color: #660000;"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i>the illiterate, the ignorant, the greedy, the blind, the lame,</i></span></span></span></i></span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i><span style="color: #660000;"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i>and even the dead.</i></span></span></span></i></span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i><span style="color: #660000;"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i>Grant me the grace to treat everyone I meet no matter what</i></span></span></span></i></span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i><span style="color: #660000;"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i>the circumstances as someone</i></span></span></span></i></span><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i><span style="color: #660000;"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i> for whom your son died and rose again. </i></span></span></span></i></span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i><span style="color: #660000;"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i>Let there be no unwholesome or unholy distinctions in my eyes</i></span></span></span></i></span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i><span style="color: #660000;"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i>and no unworthy favouritism in my actions.</i></span></span></span></i></span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i><span style="color: #660000;"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i>Rather, make me a vessel through whom your son shines.</i></span></span></span></i></span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i><span style="color: #660000;"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"><i>In Christ's name I pray. </i></span></span> </span></i></span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422403135715_1457"> </span><br />
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The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-12429689067621613722015-01-31T10:17:00.000-08:002015-02-17T13:57:27.629-08:00Crosswalk II -- Domesticated grace is too safe<div class="yom-mod yom-art-hd" id="mediaarticlehead">
<div class="bd" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422728117492_945">
<h1 class="headline" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422728117492_944">
<span style="font-size: large;">South Africa: "Prime Evil," leader of apartheid state death squad, Eugene de Kock gets parole</span></h1>
<h1 class="headline" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1422728117492_944">
<span style="font-size: small;">JOHANNESBURG -<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> The South African government Friday granted parole to
Eugene de Kock, the head of an apartheid state covert unit responsible
for dozens of deaths, saying his freedom is in the interest of national
reconciliation.</span></span><b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></b></span></h1>
<a data-rapid_p="1" href="http://www.thecanadianpress.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img alt="The Canadian Press" class="logo" src="https://s1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/iwGzN8E_KHPbXor98pBvDQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9Zml0O2g9MzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_ca/News/logo/cp/thecanadianpress_story.jpg" title="" /></a><cite class="byline vcard">By <span class="fn">Lynsey Chutel, The Associated Press</span> | <span class="provider org">The Canadian Press</span> – <abbr title="2015-01-30T17:49:03Z">Fri, 30 Jan, 2015</abbr></cite></div>
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I don't think I am wrong when I say Grace is not safe. At least not safe in the sense that it is comfortable and unchallenging to our view of justice and fairness. Grace certainly will create havoc in our current world and perhaps our worldview as well.<br />
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Grace has its own reason of which reason knows nothing. The cross of grace is one of those mysteries we have to wrestle with. On the cross we meet Love and the suffering servant at once, we meet grace and judgement, and we meet death as well as life, we meet myriads of paradoxes in the person of Jesus Christ.<br />
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Grace is birthed in a strange place, unsuitable for humans and yet millions of people live in these conditions. Grace is given in a strange way, and an even stranger place, yet as a matter of fact not as a matter of work. Although Grace was a refugee, homeless it welcomes everyone! <br />
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<br />The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-3087607877340246702015-01-28T07:15:00.000-08:002015-02-17T13:57:43.046-08:00Crosswalk -- Where life and God meet<div style="text-align: center;">
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<i><span style="color: #783f04;"> "The church is not a theological classroom. It is a conversation, confession, repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness and sanctification center, where flawed people place their faith in Christ, gather to know and love him better, and learn to love others as he designed."</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #783f04;">Paul David Tripp; Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #783f04;"> </span></i><a href="http://imgs.abduzeedo.com/files/articles/reality-must-die/silent_escape_by_reality_must_die.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://imgs.abduzeedo.com/files/articles/reality-must-die/silent_escape_by_reality_must_die.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
<i>We Christians tend to believe in the Cross; the power of the Cross, what it stands for</i></div>
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<i> -- unlimited sacrificial love, forgiveness,</i></div>
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<i>Unlimited love</i>;</div>
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<i>I don't think that any one would suggest that sin and the effects of sin exist because of a lack of love on God's side. Viewing the atonement for our sins and therefore the death of Christ on the cross as a sign of love rather than purely as a sign of judgement would, however, raise a practical dilemma for us. </i><br />
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<span class="text John-17-1"><span class="chapternum">John 17 </span>After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:</span></div>
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<span class="text John-17-1"><span class="woj">“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.</span></span> <span class="text John-17-2" id="en-NIV-26762"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">2 </sup>For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.</span></span> <span class="text John-17-3" id="en-NIV-26763"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">3 </sup>Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.</span></span> <span class="text John-17-4" id="en-NIV-26764"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">4 </sup>I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.</span></span> <span class="text John-17-5" id="en-NIV-26765"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">5 </sup>And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.</span></span></div>
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<span class="text John-17-6"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">6 </sup>“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.</span></span> <span class="text John-17-7" id="en-NIV-26767"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">7 </sup>Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.</span></span> <span class="text John-17-8" id="en-NIV-26768"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">8 </sup>For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.</span></span> <span class="text John-17-9" id="en-NIV-26769"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">9 </sup>I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.</span></span> <span class="text John-17-10" id="en-NIV-26770"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">10 </sup>All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.</span></span> <span class="text John-17-11" id="en-NIV-26771"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">11 </sup>I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.</span></span> <span class="text John-17-12" id="en-NIV-26772"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">12 </sup>While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.</span></span><br />
<span class="text John-17-13" id="en-NIV-26773"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">13 </sup>“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.</span></span> <span class="text John-17-14" id="en-NIV-26774"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">14 </sup>I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.</span></span> <span class="text John-17-15" id="en-NIV-26775"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">15 </sup>My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.</span></span> <span class="text John-17-16" id="en-NIV-26776"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">16 </sup>They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.</span></span> <span class="text John-17-17" id="en-NIV-26777"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">17 </sup>Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.</span></span> <span class="text John-17-18" id="en-NIV-26778"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">18 </sup>As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.</span></span> <span class="text John-17-19" id="en-NIV-26779"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">19 </sup>For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.</span></span></div>
<span class="text John-17-20"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">20 </sup>“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,</span></span> <span class="text John-17-21" id="en-NIV-26781"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">21 </sup>that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.</span></span> <span class="text John-17-22" id="en-NIV-26782"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">22 </sup>I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—</span></span> <span class="text John-17-23" id="en-NIV-26783"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">23 </sup>I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.</span></span><br />
<span class="text John-17-24" id="en-NIV-26784"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">24 </sup>“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.</span></span><br />
<span class="text John-17-25" id="en-NIV-26785"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">25 </sup>“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.</span></span> <span class="text John-17-26" id="en-NIV-26786"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">26 </sup>I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may.</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.artbible.net/3JC/-Mat-26,26_The%20last%20supper_La%20Cene/19th_21th_Siecle/20%20VALLOTTON%20GOOD%20NEWS%20BIBLE%20THISI%20IS%20MY%20BODY.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.artbible.net/3JC/-Mat-26,26_The%20last%20supper_La%20Cene/19th_21th_Siecle/20%20VALLOTTON%20GOOD%20NEWS%20BIBLE%20THISI%20IS%20MY%20BODY.jpg" height="202" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>A lengthy passage, but can you see it? Jesus is concerned about our relationship with one another! Jesus prays that we experiencing the same love Christ has with His Father within our relationships in the family of God. He prays that His love in us is real, is experienced, and lived out for the sake of the watching world. And if His love is in every believer, how ought that to look like in a church family? If it were present, would the world believe our message of the gospel of reconciliation? </i><br />
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<i>I witness strife in kinship families both within the family of God
and outside. I witness indifference and ignorance toward the others
need, feelings, thoughts. Somehow we have reduced forgiveness to a
social convention (as in 'Pardon me!') without practical and public content. I
witness inter-relational silence rather than entering a difficult dialog with the aim of reconciliation. I witniss a lack of commitment towards the other person. But silence and therefore avoidance of an issue is not a sign of peace between brothers and sisters but rather shows a lack of love. Our primary alliance is to the ideal of the church and not the reality of the church.</i><br />
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<i>The opposite of silence is not noise, but
listening and responding in either words or deeds. Both will lead to
challenges, tension but also eventual change in the relationship. But we fear tension and the exposure toward change,
because both somewhat have in our thinking to do with judging. But
God's creation is all about diversity and change with the paradox that
God does not change. Perhaps for that reason God enjoys change so much
that he created things to change, to grow, to be transformed just as His son grew in understanding while among us. </i><br />
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<i><a href="http://www.artbible.net/3JC/-Joh-20,19_Vision_Doubt_Apparition_Doute/20%20VALLOTTON%20LOOK%20AT%20MY%20HANDS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.artbible.net/3JC/-Joh-20,19_Vision_Doubt_Apparition_Doute/20%20VALLOTTON%20LOOK%20AT%20MY%20HANDS.jpg" height="198" width="320" /></a></i></div>
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<i>I never heard a sermon about the 30 years of silence, the time Jesus lived among a fallen people, his neigbours, his siblings. </i><br />
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<i>When the silence through fear is broken, it offers the opportunity for
new
beginnings, and new thinking, it offers the renewal of our minds. and as we reexamine the deeply
cherished assumptions of our western mindset we may very well find that they hinder us from
hearing Jesus' call freely. When we listen to the "plural you"
of God's
word to us, we will see that the gospel of Christ is more than getting
into heaven or about living a comfortable, individually pious,
middle-class life. It is certainly not about justification of one
particular way of life, but it is God's word to us, whatever, whoever,
wherever we may be. </i><br />
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<i>Some claim the church today has more consumers than committed
participants where we see church merely as an event we attend or an
organization we belong to, but no longer a calling that shapes our
entire life in every aspect. I believe the fellowship of believers, a.k.a the churches purpose is that through the faithful
ministry of every part, the whole body will grow to maturity in Christ. Each of us, including pastors or elders still
need the ministry of the body of Christ as much as we did the day we
first believed. Not only because we have a collective witness toward the world, but because growth requires fellowship not only with the people I have surrounded me with, but also, perhaps particularly with the people God has given into my life. </i><br />
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<i>And
when we realize the beautify and necessity of diversity and change, we
may realize the need for change in our relationship to one another.
Apologies between us will have the power to free the mind from
deep-seated guilt, shame, fear and blindness, and ultimately
restore broken relationships, reconciliation will happen. Telling and hearing the Truth is a major step in this direction, a direction which leads to reconciliation. Reconciliation between</i><br />
<i>God
and us is not optional, a matter of debate or opinions but the natural
extension of love and the forgiveness Jesus achieved on the cross.
Reconciliation is the restoration of creation. Reconciliation must
happen between us. Reconciliation between enemies is the ultimate result
of the gospel. After all, the gospel is more than a set of ideas,
called doctrines, to be believed, but is in fact a restored relationship
with God and others, that is our mission, cause, and issue.</i><br />
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<i>Living
the gospel consistently in real life is difficult, and none of us is
perfect. But it is better to aspire to living the gospel and fail,
experiencing and giving witness to God's wonderful grace and forgiveness
in the process, than to settle for mediocrity in any relationship. We
must come to understand that forgiveness and by extension reconciliation
is an essential, non-negotiable element of life in Christ and therefore in the church.</i><br />
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<i><a href="http://www.artbible.net/2NT/REVELATION%20-%20VALLOTTON%20S%20DRAWINGS%20....DESSINS%20D%20A%20VALLOTTON/20%20VALLOTTON%2003%2004%20FOLLOWERS%20WALKING%20IN%20WHITE%20CLOTHES.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.artbible.net/2NT/REVELATION%20-%20VALLOTTON%20S%20DRAWINGS%20....DESSINS%20D%20A%20VALLOTTON/20%20VALLOTTON%2003%2004%20FOLLOWERS%20WALKING%20IN%20WHITE%20CLOTHES.jpg" height="169" width="320" /></a></i></div>
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<i><span class="text 1Cor-13-1" id="en-NIV-28667"><span class="chapternum"></span></span></i><span class="text 1Cor-13-1" id="en-NIV-28667">1 Cor 13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.</span> <span class="text 1Cor-13-2" id="en-NIV-28668"><sup class="versenum">2 </sup>If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.</span> <span class="text 1Cor-13-3" id="en-NIV-28669"><sup class="versenum">3 </sup>If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.</span><i> </i><br />
<span class="text 1Cor-13-4" id="en-NIV-28670"><sup class="versenum">4 </sup>Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.</span> <span class="text 1Cor-13-5" id="en-NIV-28671"><sup class="versenum">5 </sup>It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.</span> <span class="text 1Cor-13-6" id="en-NIV-28672"><sup class="versenum">6 </sup>Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.</span> <span class="text 1Cor-13-7" id="en-NIV-28673"><sup class="versenum">7 </sup>It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.</span><br />
<span class="text 1Cor-13-8" id="en-NIV-28674"><sup class="versenum">8 </sup>Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.</span> <span class="text 1Cor-13-9" id="en-NIV-28675"><sup class="versenum">9 </sup>For we know in part and we prophesy in part,</span> <span class="text 1Cor-13-10" id="en-NIV-28676"><sup class="versenum">10 </sup>but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.</span> <span class="text 1Cor-13-11" id="en-NIV-28677"><sup class="versenum">11 </sup>When
I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I
reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.</span> <span class="text 1Cor-13-12" id="en-NIV-28678"><sup class="versenum">12 </sup>For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.</span><br />
<span class="text 1Cor-13-13" id="en-NIV-28679"><sup class="versenum">13 </sup>And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.</span><br />
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<span class="text 1Cor-13-13" id="en-NIV-28679"><i>Again a lengthy and deep passage, but can you see it? Jesus is concerned about our
relationship with one another! Because the quality of the inner life of the fellowship, the quality of connection that exist between all members is a witness of His presence. His presence redeems the realities of life, including the life within the fellowship. There is a necessary reason why Jesus prays in John 17 that we experiencing the same
love Christ has with His Father within our relationships in the family
of God. He prays that His love in us is real, is experienced, and lived
out for the sake of the watching world. </i></span>Jesus did not die for His people to be religious. He died so that we might
believe in Him and be transformed. We need to be engaged in a purpose and strategy
that Jesus came to Earth for. Our lives ought to be set for that divine purpose in
Jesus Christ. I was called to that--proclaiming the message of
transformation through Jesus Christ.”<span class="text 1Cor-13-13" id="en-NIV-28679"><i><b>And if His transforming love is in every
believer, how ought that to look like in a church family? If it were
present, would the world believe our message of the gospel of
reconciliation because it actually witnesses it?</b><b> </b></i> </span><br />
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The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-80012896036133709482015-01-24T06:40:00.000-08:002015-02-17T13:58:06.821-08:00I will build My church<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The more we grow in our relationship to God, as Lord, Saviour and friend, the more intimate and loving we grow in our relationships to one another. </i></div>
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According to Scripture a special relationship exist and develops even further between members of the church family. This is not only a natural response, but it also is a designed one, God planned it that way. Jesus builds His church (cf Matt 16:18). Jesus calls people out of the world to Himself and gathers them <i>together </i>into a living body in which He lives and carries out His purpose. </div>
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<a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v303/cags2/DrawingPuzzle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v303/cags2/DrawingPuzzle.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a>God has a purpose for creation and a place for every person in His family. His purpose and place, however, is never for the individual; it has a corporate dimension. Unless the corporate dimension of salvation is understood, a person will never benefit fully from the purpose and place God has for his life when He chose to save him. Some even suggest that a lack of understanding the cooperate nature of God's salvation has lead to the fragmentation of how the Church expresses herself and is experienced by the world.</div>
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Jesus established his people, the church, as a divine token of the Kingdom of God here and now in a broken world. And the people of God do that by proclaiming and living out the Kingdom values.<br />
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<span class="chapter-1"><span class="text Prov-2-1"><span class="text Prov-2-2" id="en-NKJV-16436"></span><i>My son, if you receive my words,</i></span></span><i><br /><span class="text Prov-2-1">And treasure my commands within you,</span><span class="text Prov-2-2" id="en-NKJV-16436"></span></i></div>
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<i><span class="text Prov-2-2" id="en-NKJV-16436">So that you incline your ear to wisdom,</span><br /><span class="text Prov-2-2">And apply your heart to understanding;</span><span class="text Prov-2-3" id="en-NKJV-16437"></span></i></div>
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<i><span class="text Prov-2-3" id="en-NKJV-16437">Yes, if you cry out for discernment,</span><br /><span class="text Prov-2-3">And lift up your voice for understanding,</span><span class="text Prov-2-4" id="en-NKJV-16438"></span></i></div>
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<i><span class="text Prov-2-4" id="en-NKJV-16438">If you seek her as silver,</span><br /><span class="text Prov-2-4">And search for her as for hidden treasures;</span><span class="text Prov-2-5" id="en-NKJV-16439"></span></i></div>
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<i><span class="text Prov-2-5" id="en-NKJV-16439">Then you will understand the fear of the <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span>,</span><br /><span class="text Prov-2-5">And find the knowledge of God.</span> </i></div>
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Prov 2:1-5</div>
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Almost everything I have heard in the past is not about "fear the Lord" but rather about having a good time, enjoy yourself, volunteer where you are gifted, praise, celebrate, but fearing the Lord?<br />
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To lose a healthy fear of God is to loose a healthy fear of sin, and we settle for something other than "perfect." I am not saying that we ever can be perfect on this side of creation, but I rather suggest that repentance is common among us. Because public repentance leads to knowing each other. Whereas sin leads to independence and self-contentedness, but being part of Christ, salvation leads to radical interdependence and Christ-contentedness. We are content with what Christ is content with, and he aims in His prayer in John 17 for a special <i>oneness</i> among his people. And that means that we need to encourage one another to make a transition from knowing and doing the will of God as individuals, which by itself is difficult enough, to knowing and doing the will of God within the cooperate body of believers.<br />
This obvious lack of transition in many churches is the result of a poor understanding of discipleship and lack of mentoring. It is the result of an anemic presentation of the Gospel where we do not talk about the cost.<br />
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<i>Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth </i></div>
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<i>through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, </i></div>
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<i>love one another fervently with a pure heart, ... </i></div>
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1 Pet 1:22 </div>
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If we do not understand the full purpose of God's creation and subsequently the restoration process through the salvation of the individual, a work done on the cross, we will never experience the beauty of abundance, nor will we experience God's full purpose of our lives. Purpose just as salvation is given on God's terms, and it reflects the very nature of God Himself, unity in diversity. In order to somewhat wrap our minds around that we have coined a term, Trinity, three in one. The most identifiable characteristic of belonging to God, being part of His people, is the quality of our love. First toward God and than toward His people, people who will differ from us in language, culture, preferences, education, social status, you name it. But God's intent for creation and therefore his strategy for salvation is linked with these two basic relationships; love God and love others.<br />
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How does he implement His purpose in our lives? To answer this question is to unfold a part of God's message through Jesus we somewhat forgot. Don't think that forgetting part of the Gospel, or perhaps even worse just never hearing about it cannot happen. Scripture itself is a witness to our forgetfulness<br />
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and so are the stories recorded (cf 2 Chronicles 34:8-1; 2 Kings 22:8-11). A similar story is told about Apollo who though being baptized and being involved in evangelism had not heard of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We can debate what that exactly means, but my point it that we need to take the whole of Scripture, all its truth, even the inconvenient parts and apply them to our lives.<br />
Picking up on the example Jesus uses with children, I want to point to babies. God designed the birth of a baby to happen in a family to receive love, care, protection but also instruction. And you got what you got, a baby girl or a boy, parents had no say in it. Similar the church, God provides the new believer, gender does not matter, social status does not matter, all that matters to the church is the need of the new believer to be loved, cared for, to be protected and to be instructed by them without condition.<br />
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To experience God in his diversity, his creation with its diversity, we must look at creation, both renewed and broken from God's perspective. <br />
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<span class="text Heb-2-1"><span class="chapternum"></span><i>Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.</i> </span> <span class="text Heb-2-2" id="en-NKJV-29980"></span></div>
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Heb 10:1</div>
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Rom 12:5; "We who are many are one body in Christ <i>and individually members of one another" </i>(emphasis mine). That is a powerful statement of our interdependence and our corporate submission to the authority and leadership of Christ as the head of His body. Sin magnifies self and separates us from the relationships for which we were created in the first place and now restored for. </div>
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<a href="http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/62/80/0e/62800efb55dcc833eaf8b2103d39b23d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/62/80/0e/62800efb55dcc833eaf8b2103d39b23d.jpg" height="200" width="175" /></a>Salvation brings believers into relationship with God and His people who are not by accident or by a decision from the hearts of individual believers are part of one another, but by the nature of God.<br />
<br />
I think it to be tragic for people to receive the gospel and then live lives of spiritual paupers, to accept the unconditional love of Christ and then not know or resent what would to be an expected response. <br />
<br />
Every time we are indifferent to God's intention or snicker at the latest double entendre about an ethnic
group plagued by poverty, violence, substance abuse and a society
disinclined to address these problems, we are stripping them of their
God given humanity and subconsciously justifying a church visibly stratified
along many lines. How diverse is the group of people you worship with, culturally speaking? How diverse is the group you are attending socioeconomically speaking? How many friends do we have who are obvious sinners, or differ greatly from us just as we differ from Jesus? <br />
<br />
One of the key question a disciple of Jesus can ask himself is; "Surely you don't mean me?" I know, this question came up in the context of betrayal, but I still think it is a good question to ask with respect of "forgetting" or simply not knowing. </div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
The key of touching the world, our world is for the people of God to walk in a right relationship with Him and one another. But as with any relationships, sometimes we fail one another, misunderstood, overlooked, forgot and the need for repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation becomes apparent. The point here is not a strategy for evangelism but the condition of God's people. And when the right condition is there, unconditional love, than the world will know and take notice. That is the purpose of the church, to be noticed for its unconditional love to one another that spills over into the streets. After all it is Christ's church! </div>
The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-31239282652585331942015-01-20T07:22:00.002-08:002015-01-20T08:17:55.499-08:00Our little village of Anatevka or the Kingdom of God<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Every day of our lives the Word is an imperative to rediscover the truth that, "the whole secret and centre of human life remains the person of Jesus Christ." </i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/a6/99/56/a699565c276f938cbde2bd893edac6c2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="150" id="yui_3_5_1_4_1421769952705_1049" src="http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/a6/99/56/a699565c276f938cbde2bd893edac6c2.jpg" width="200" /></a>There is a song in the musical <i>Fiddler on the Roof</i> called "Tradition." As this Jewish father sang this song, this message was immediately conveyed: Life is full of traditions. As you listen to the song "Tradition" in the film, you can
hear the frustration and weariness in the voice of the father. He too
had worn himself out trying to keep all the traditions.<br />
Traditions
can be very meaningful, at times, however, they get in the way of the
effectiveness of God's Word in our lives, and they can become very
burdensome. Keeping
traditions non-reflectively can prevent us from seeing the newness and
freshness of God's acting in our cooperative life in the otherwise forgotten past. When we forget the purpose of doing things they simply become a habit.<br />
<br />
Religions are full of traditions, and habits and Christianity is not free of them either. And we need to make a distinction between a religion and Christianity as the latter is more of a term for a relationship between God and his people. And a relationship is always fresh, changing, alive, purposeful, full of meaning even hidden meanings to an outsider. In short, not everything we do need to be understood by someone who is not in that relationship between God and man. Communion or baptism for example; given the diversity of forms and even content in both, I have to wonder, however, if I actually understand its purpose. Sadly, our cooperative history as body of Christ somewhat shows, we didn't. We persecuted each other over differences in forms and content, we took each other lives over differences of understanding the mystery and wonders of God becoming man and leaving behind His Spirit to teach us all truth.<br />
<a href="http://www.artmajeur.com/files/machaon/images/artworks/650x650/6883465_pe-2012-the-village-street-pencil-paper-42x30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" id="yui_3_5_1_4_1421770368031_1426" src="http://www.artmajeur.com/files/machaon/images/artworks/650x650/6883465_pe-2012-the-village-street-pencil-paper-42x30.jpg" width="138" /></a><br />
For that and perhaps other reasons as well, the Salvation Army has none of it, neither the celebration of communion nor of baptism. Some of us may frown upon this, but consider the tens of thousands of murdered brothers and sisters, murdered by brothers and sisters! I understand, I share their sorrow but not their tradition or habits of refraining from both. For me, personally, communion is an ongoing expression of a relationship with hidden meanings, just as baptism was a one time expression of the same relationship. But for that very reason I can't tether myself to my preference of form or time, rather as in relationship forms are flux and full of meaning, one of which is to remind us of the past and to express a hope of a future.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://p1.la-img.com/367/2825/1271807_2_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="149" id="yui_3_5_1_4_1421770368031_1044" src="http://p1.la-img.com/367/2825/1271807_2_l.jpg" width="200" /></a>There are experiences God did call us to repeat over and over again so we don't forget.
One of these is the partaking of the Lord's supper on a regular basis. Some share in this experience weekly, others monthly and still others annually. But when a tradition overshadows the life-giving Word of God, the Word of
God is not effective. How many times have you sung the doxology or
repeated the Lord's Prayer? If we are not careful, even the words we
speak and sing can be repeated so often that we miss their freshness, their invitation into a relationship take them for granted
and are no loner made new through them.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/092/4/6/sketch__village_by_oleastro-d3cy5s5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="141" id="yui_3_5_1_4_1421770368031_1777" src="http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/092/4/6/sketch__village_by_oleastro-d3cy5s5.jpg" width="200" /></a> But this is more than an casual acknowledgement that Jesus lived and
died and rose again in the past. It is this kind of knowledge that
leaves us changed, To believe that all Jesus calls us to do is to be
nice to each other is to substitute the Christ of Christian humanism for
the Christ of Scripture. It is an encounter with someone who alters the
very foundation and course of our lives<i>. </i>Scripture, is not the transmission of inert ideas. It is a
call to love, and love that does not lead to action, even sacrificial
actions is not love.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Lord, each day You have something new for me. Help me to have ears to
hear, eyes to see and a tongue to speak of the new things You want to speak to through me and show through me.
I enter this day with excitement because it is a new day, and You not only make
all things new, You give new meaning to all things new.</i></span></div>
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The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-4513720419788005122015-01-09T11:05:00.002-08:002015-01-09T16:54:07.661-08:00"Every man is a good man in a bad world -- as he himselfs knows." <div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The called out ones, were formed in order to preserve and pass on the teachings of Christ--with
the singular purpose of helping to bring people into the exact same
relationship with God that Christ himself had, leading humanity into a
space that is truly both "fully human and fully divine."</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://godsbreath.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/church-of-christ.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://godsbreath.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/church-of-christ.png" height="197" width="320" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In
other words, the church is the physical and practical representation of
Christ's life and message. It is not a group around a theoretical
debate of reality but rather the very realization of the kingdom of God
here and now and yet to come. Hence the church is not made by people
for their purpose but made up of people by God for his purpose.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">People’s
visions of church naturally differ. Topics like what leadership
structure or what other particularity of Christian teaching should be
the hallmark for fellowship is nonetheless divisive. We see a natural
tendency to "form" church according to once own concept already in the
earliest records of the church in Acts. In those day is were the issues
of circumcision, the food laws to name a few. Today it is the form of
baptism, the nature of communion, the abstaining from giving an oath, or
women in leadership, or other rather murky issues. I think we need to
allow the Holy Spirit to overcome our natural tendency to inflate
ourselves and our vision of truth. But there is also another issue, let
me suggest that behind most bragging, most conflicts is unconscious
self-doubt, and under most display of indifference, ignorance and
superiority is a nagging sense of inadequacy and fear. We know
ourselves too good but are afraid to open up. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I believe that honesty with oneself and by extension with the one we love, which by the way is everyone including those we may not like, is a central component to spiritual growth. God honours our honest questions, doubts and repentance. He is not surprised by either one of them, nor is he ashamed to be our God when we pose them. God is our God, not because of the questions and doubts, but because he has united us to the risen Christ. And being part of God's family is ultimately a gift to us, not something to be obtained by us but unpacked by our repentance. God, beside from dead in sin, has freed us from fear in Christ and made us his children. And, as all children do, we grow all the while asking a lot of questions. </span></i><br />
<br />
<a href="https://s3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/AlZYJRK4J65GEDSafGl1tw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTU1MA--/https://s.yimg.com/cd/resizer/2.0/FIT_TO_WIDTH-w500/0ac2129d54075fdd9f54cba8b870a3bd7935713e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="editorial " height="200" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1420832607181_569" src="https://s3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/AlZYJRK4J65GEDSafGl1tw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTU1MA--/https://s.yimg.com/cd/resizer/2.0/FIT_TO_WIDTH-w500/0ac2129d54075fdd9f54cba8b870a3bd7935713e.jpg" title="" width="152" /></a><i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In my experience we are either intentional in our struggle for growth and therefore unity by building each other up or we are unconsciously like the three monkeys; "don't see, don't hear and don't speak" of questions, doubts or our ongoing need for forgive- ness.
Mutual indifference or ignorance of the other persons struggle or
thoughts which by design avoids addressing my own struggle but also
differences of opinions may avoid vulnerability and open conflict but is
actually the absence of trust and therefor of love. It denies the power of the Gospel. Mutual indifference or ignorance of the struggle within us individually and as body of Christ is not a proof of spiritual maturity but of the loss of the first love, we have lost sight of the promise; "I [Jesus] will build my church." </span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In my reading of Scripture, </span></i><i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">our
vision of church must include being holy together being “Set apart” to
God together, as opposed to being set apart to our own vision of
church or set apart to our personal freedoms. That would mean that we
need to work toward a growing honesty to ourselves and others. God has a
collective
holiness at the center of his vision of his church. When we dwell on minors as I suggest we see in the sea of Christian publications, instead of majoring on Christ we act
like “Individuals Apart” not "Saints Together." We build a vision of
church around ourselves, our traditions and personal preferences and not around Jesus. We miss out on Jesus’ grand,
temple-vision of church and diminish its witness to the world by pretending utopia.</span></i><i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></i><br />
<br />The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-27940295535209509882015-01-05T13:50:00.000-08:002015-01-06T06:15:56.490-08:00A new standard of love<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We the called out ones, were formed in order to preserve and pass on the teachings of Christ--with
the singular purpose of helping to bring people into the exact same
relationship with God that Christ himself had, leading humanity into a
space that is truly both "fully human and fully divine."</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" src="http://junialeigh.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/love_one_another_.jpg" height="320" id="yui_3_5_1_4_1420491018810_765" width="260" /> </span><i></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">None of us can do what all of us are called to do together. I think words are important and the operative word for the church is <i>together; </i>love <i>one another</i>. Remember Jesus commission to the disciples? "You (all of you collectively) will be my witnesses" Acts 1:8. In our individualistic society we may overlook the fact that Jesus calls us collectively, he did not issue individual assignments. The sum of us will be his witnesses, since God is in his nature community He works in and through community. For that reason we will find no personal pronoun in the earliest description of the called out ones. Not <i>I </i>or <i>my </i>or <i>you (singular)</i>, but together we are his body, his witnesses. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And yet we have difficulties to step back </span><span style="font-size: small;">from the line in the sand we have grown up with, individualism. We can't let go of the small piece we have got hold of and we can't see the big picture, and perhaps even more annoying, we are not listening. The annoyance is not so much that another person has a different perspective on certain things, and therefore disagrees with us, but rather, that we are not listing to one another in the first place. Somehow we have bought into the idea that listening to another viewpoint is giving automatically full legitimacy and therefore giving up our own. Perspective-taking and therefore listening and learning, getting to know the other is one of the most important relationship skills we can ever develop. When we are completely absorbed by our own vision, agenda, issue, cause, interests and preference, we obviously will not benefit from the gift the other person is to me. Perspective-taking moves us away from an anemic understanding, seeing through a glass dimly, to a clearer picture of reality. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDFLmqQt1FZvsqjeA-dLmSRmoTb9IDwY6MJk6rEr7uRgdQvznImSTwjc-JZfbgXbxELp_E-Ju6iprf1uys9rtSK59hVYgua3YBmoNBWguzVTPzQJFOHrjIjfNDh7EYUHI1hF33oR_Spg/s1600/love.one.another.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDFLmqQt1FZvsqjeA-dLmSRmoTb9IDwY6MJk6rEr7uRgdQvznImSTwjc-JZfbgXbxELp_E-Ju6iprf1uys9rtSK59hVYgua3YBmoNBWguzVTPzQJFOHrjIjfNDh7EYUHI1hF33oR_Spg/s200/love.one.another.jpg" height="200" width="193" /></a>We are a collection of differences and only differences make for unity. What if we would be a collection of hands, how would we function, what would we actually been doing? We cannot say to each others differences, "I have no need of you." The visionaries (eyes?) need the prayers (knees?) We cannot base our cooperation on being alike or that we like one another for what we get out of the relationship. We are called to love one another for the sake of the world. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="text Matt-18-19" id="en-NIV-23747"><span class="woj">“Again, truly I tell you that if<i> two of you </i>on earth agree about any- thing they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.</span></span> </span></span><span class="text Matt-18-20" id="en-NIV-23748"><span class="woj"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them” Matt 18:19-20 (cf. Jh 14:13). This is an astounding promise as well as incredible challenge because we have to die to our individual ideas, hopes, dreams, and opinions. And yet we are divided by an array of differences, personal history, traditions (we seldom have actually investigated), and rather than love we have made unanimity a hallmark for unity. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="text Matt-18-20" id="en-NIV-23748"><span class="woj"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Our common ground is solely in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Our common ground can not be as flimsy as common likes like cloth, music, or even likes of one another. It may help but it is a flimsy ground to built on. In fact how can you like someone like Adolph Hitler, and yet Christ gave His life for him us well. It is not for a lack of sacrificial love on God's side for his creation, a lack of solid foundation, but because the way people have continued to built on it. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="text Matt-18-20" id="en-NIV-23748"><span class="woj"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The early followers of Jesus did chose Jesus as the foundation and continued to build on Him. In Christ they found a new belonging, a new culture, a new standard of what it means to love. And because of that they overcame an array of differences, and because they did, my life, our lives were changed. </span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="text Matt-18-20" id="en-NIV-23748"><span class="woj"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="text Matt-18-20" id="en-NIV-23748"><span class="woj"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And as you and I do, and come together in prayer, the same will happen. </span></span></span></span></div>
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The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-15841070863553527192015-01-03T08:01:00.003-08:002015-04-22T08:40:21.822-07:00God’s plan and purpose through the church is more than issues, causes and a mission<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></i></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjH2EkGB3ndfJRC-g560kWSRWLf1A19Ycobrzuc4HhF-dmYdrAb-d4ri2bx_hLvL73Rl9-a-S20epaUgvpPuoQsPLVJrRhDm97QEypXO883a4yo6pFiZER0vltKOBA-W5pMlGA04IAQ8TisQwQ=" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Unfolding the story of jesus" border="0" src="http://goodnews.ie/p7tmasters_img/quill2.gif" height="167" width="146" /></a></div>
For most of my life, I stuck with <i>my kind of people</i>. I hung out with people with similar cultural, socioeconomic and
educational backgrounds; similar religious and political views; people
with whom I thought I had the most in common. I did this before I became a Christian and afterwards as well. I think it had to do with being affirmed, supported and feeling loved. When I was around folks who saw the world too differently from me, I
would tend to feel tension a peculiar need to
proselytize, to convince others of the errors of their thinking. I’m not just talking religion, it could be anything on the
list of life events. I felt most safe, approved and loved in <i>alikeness</i>, and so I made a decision to stick with what I know without really understanding it's consequence. <br />
<br />
What changed? Nothing really and yet a lot as I begin to realize the "otherness" of God and his free flowing love towards others, others who are not <i>like me</i> in many ways.<br />
<br />
God's word intends to draw humans to a restored relationship with God, with each other, and to the fulfillment of our original purposes as humans created in God's image, including the care of creation. <br />
<br />
In the past year, perhaps because I turned 50, I began to reflect more on the bigger picture. While my conviction on certain issues, causes and the mission of the church are clear and settled , I learned that discipleship is truly about what happens on the way to our destination. Sometimes the interruption, the intrusion of doubt, and questions of a stranger is the day's purpose and is, in fact, our unscheduled destination. This meant I need to be available when the opportunities for conversations arises, which means I need to be in the position to modify my schedule to be available for such a moment.<br />
<br />
I had become some 25 years earlier a Christian, I had married, have growing children, moved around, met many people, attended different congregations, listen to different pastors and their thinking, and read books. I read a lot and I read all four Gospels, including James and Paul who deal with different tensions in the still young church. The same tensions, by the way, we face today. And with being married, and with every relocation, with every new book, with every new congregation or conversation I’ve been introduced of understanding
a well turned phrase in a brighter light. Each change has brought people into my life with
whom I’ve had seemingly little in common but oh, what they’ve taught me
by helping me see God's world broken as it is through their eyes. Some allowed me a deep insight into God working in them, healing, restoring and daily struggle. But most importantly they've taught me by helping me to read God's word through their eyes, and they provided new questions and suggested responses rather than simple answers about the big questions of life. Listening to other voices, be it in books or movies or one on one, allows me an opportunity to see myself as many others do, to see how my beliefs appear when they are seen through a different lens and to frame a response based on my love and respect for the fellow human, rather than in light of doctrine. As follower of Jesus our ability to help and influence people around the church will be in direct proportion to our understanding of the issues of the day and the gospel's response to them. <br />
<br />
And it begins with humility. Humility requires that we acknowledge that many of our beliefs and practices represent our personal understanding of Scripture and preferences in forms, and are not necessarily binding on others. It also requires that we confess that there is often an immense gp between what I belief and aspire to and how I actually live each and every day. Our ultimate humility should derive not from our failures but from our awareness that we are following ultimately God in man, Jesus, and not a set of doctrines to be believed. This does not mean that we abandon truth or the use of our renewed mind
to reach logical conclusion. It does mean, however, that we submit our
truth-telling to the test of love. We need to nuance our discussion we have so we could hear and try to understand the person for whom the issue of death, gruesome pain, infidelity, betrayal, divorce, remarriage, abortion, homosexuality, gender identity was reality and not a theoretical discussion on issues, causes and a mission. Feelings ought not to change the ethical and moral conclusions on these issues, because feeling do not change truth. People feelings, however, will affect the way we talk, teach, and respond to the person in contrast to the subject. Behind every subject in the search for applied truth, contested or not, are human beings. We can treat subjects such as euthanasia, abortion, gay rights, or the questions around infertility as issues for which we have the right answer, or perhaps worse pretend they do not exist. Indifference is the opposite of love. Or, and that is what I would suggest, as issues affecting people made in the image of God whom we love, and not because they are our children or parents. <br />
<br />
Somewhere I read; Read one thinker and you become a clone, read two and
you may be confused, read hundreds and you may become wise. It is like
the difference of taking a bath in a tub or taking a shower, the former
allows for no new thoughts and the latter for no time for self-reflection. Both lead to pettiness, abuse of power, the urge to hide
imperfection, spiritual pride covering fear, and exclusivism covering inferiority. We need to overcome
both, disillusionment and the urge to pretend.<br />
I also learned that we generally tend to avoid questions, because questions in general tend to challenge the status quo. Questions opens us up to challenges. But over the many years one question has still penetrated my defenses; How can we as the people of God uphold the ideals of holiness, the pushing forward, the proper striving for a perfect life, while avoiding mediocrity due to disillusionment? The people of God [church], should they not be both; a
people who strife toward holiness, who press on who do not settle for
mediocrity and yet relax in grace; a people who condemn themselves but
not others, a people who depend on God and not themselves?<br />
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It is a question that calls for self-reflection in light of God's love, his character, his call to follow him. <br />
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<img alt=" Winnipeg, MB R3C Canada" class="s-img" height="136" id="yui_3_10_0_1_1418914056186_272" src="https://sgws2.maps.yahoo.com/mapimage?clon=-97.14111&locale=en-US&appid=search&imf=png&mlat=49.89954&imi=location-purple-n-gws&imh=225&imw=524&radius=24200&clat=49.89954&mlon=-97.14111&mflags=ky" title=" Winnipeg, MB R3C Canada" width="320" /> </div>
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One of the things I’ve discovered through all this is that people <b>are not</b>
the same everywhere and yet they are in their own way. There are lots of common traits in people: there is goodness,
kindness, compassion, but there is also pettiness, arrogance, selfishness. Both, evil and goodness are found in us, we simply have a hard time admitting it. Partly because, by and
large, we’re <i>regional thinkers and feelers</i>. It goes way beyond food and
fashion and accents. Different places plant different kinds of thoughts
in us. Thoughts that inform our values and likes and dislikes. Thoughts that at times react violently against other thoughts.<br />
Perhaps for that reason, God gave as four accounts of Jesus' live ad death and resurrection. Different accounts that are vary in many details and yet point to the person that matters, Christ. For that reason we are called collectively to go into all the world. Evangelism is not an individual enterprise, but forces us to confront our individual differences in the lights of God's otherness, his love towards us while we were still dead in our sin. It is in this tension of different thoughts, and upbringings that the world truly can see true love. This is the reason why Jesus prayed for us, his body today in this world where we are being confronted with many different thoughts. Thoughts not just from the world, but even differences from within the body of Christ.<br />
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<div id="r1PostCPBlock" style="background-color: white; color: black; left: -99999px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
<span class="bqQuoteLink"><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/jamesrusse387203.html" title="view quote">Toward no crimes have men shown themselves so cold- bloodedly cruel as in punishing differences of belief.</a></span><br />
Read more at <a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/differences.html#5ezY7OKPMcgtqo5p.99" style="color: #003399;">http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/differences.html#5ezY7OKPMcgtqo5p.99</a></div>
I’ve learned so much from people who <i>aren’t my kind</i> of thinking and feeling. The
friends I’ve made, and the diverse groups I’ve broken bread with, have
taught me to value our differences, our diversity instead of feeling the need to
conform myself or to reform/inform others [funny as I am writing this]. In fact, I have learned to rejoice in our diversity as one. I’ve certainly learned that it takes all kinds of kinds to form the body of Christ, and it is not about <i>like </i>but about <i>love, </i>it is less about <i>me</i> as it is about <i>us</i> and it is even more about <i>Him </i>who builds His church.<br />
<br />
If it were practical and possible, I’d recommend everyone uproot even
if only for a year or two and plant themselves in an entirely different
region to live and work with people they don’t think are <i>their kind</i>. And since this is not practical and possible, perhaps it is more practical to move within the city, to make new friends, to change work and to read. We will realize we have remarkable things to learn from "strangers"! Fair, learning can be unsettling, leads to growth and abandoning perhaps the "good old ways" the roads well traveled but . . .<br />
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<i>"Teach me your way, Oh Lord that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ps 86.11</span></i> </div>
<br />
Yet still, I find myself occasionally irritated with differences, yearning for predictability, weary of being challenged and forced to grow by deviations from what I know. After every new place, new person I encountered new issues, new causes, new mission I previously was ignorant of. And each new encounter is unsettling, takes away the 'control' of my thinking I previously believed I had. <br />
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Unfortunately Christianity in North America and Europe tends to buy into the
Enlightenment ethos of "enlightened self-interest," "rational
individualism" and "self-sufficiency" and therefore of regional autonomy. The individual, and by extension the individual congregation is a free agent, the starting point for
thinking about society. I believe this reduces community to little
more than a collection of individuals who come together either out of
self-interest, out of obligation or around an issue or cause.<br />
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There’s indeed a common kind of “love” where we don’t really see the
other person at all: a love that’s based on projection and on wishful
thinking, a love where we idolize the other and so us.
<br />
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<blockquote class="pullquote">
<h3>
<img alt="" src="http://www.wildmind.org/images/openquote.gif" /> <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Love is not conditional in any way. It’s based on an empathetic resonance with the other person. </span> <img alt="" src="http://www.wildmind.org/images/closequote.gif" /></h3>
</blockquote>
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In a similar vein, there’s also a form of love that’s highly
conditional. We love the other person as long as they’re enjoyable to be
with, or as long as their desires, their thinking, their focus are in accord with ours, as long as
we get what we want, perhaps as long as the other person doesn’t change.
When conditions change — when we stop getting what we want our “love” collapses.<br />
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Often we don't engage ourselves deeply enough into each others differences. There remains a simple desire for sense-fulfillment while God's love is much more complex and does not allow for meritocracy or self. In Christ alone we can hold love in our hearts for others whether or not we like them or even know them. It’s a completely unconditional love. There is a danger of finding unity over an issue or a cause. Whenever we want something from another person, there’s a danger that
we’ll lose sight of our basic commonality. We all are being made in the image of God and being loved unconditionally by God. We loose the sense that we’re all in
it together, sharing a mode of being in which suffering of not being known and its end are
our deepest drives and our deepest connection. Love that seeks to “know completely” just as we are completely known is what I think of as real love. We can lose touch with
this understanding very easily. <br />
<br />
A congregation saturated with a conditional thinking and feeling about
the relation between persons as individual and persons as the body of Christ tends to focus on
individual salvation and individual sin and less on the Kingdom of
God as communitarian ideal, collective salvation. And that leads often to an disengagement with the big picture of love. We compensate with an engagement with a socially comfortable issues, causes or a particular personal mission which promises control and a level of autonomy and achievement but also <i>alikeness</i>. Perhaps it is a dissatisfaction with the indifference of the church as David Plett suggest. After all, "we aren't content with a church that turns a blind eye and a deaf ear to the realities of social injustice in the world. We want our lives -- and the church -- to count for social justice." After all an issue can be addressed, a cause can be simply popular, and a mission can be exclusive and can unite, whereas love calls for self-reflection.<br />
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<br />
Love seeks truth, truth which challenges myths, half-truths, denials, and lies.<br />
<br />
After all, somehow we all know that the Gospel is about being
free from the ancient, pervasive, and delightful oppression of sin, fear, even self in
order to be a very different community. We know we ought to be an alternative kingdom here and now on earth by means of living and celebrating
the way of Jesus -- the reign of joyful weakness, renunciation,
enemy-love, self-denial, sharing, foolishness, community, deliverance and love overcoming evil here and now. We can do that by identifying, facing, and resolving our own ideological fears that keeps us from moving toward the otherness of others. After all when it comes to "move" we face the problem of our human desire for the status quo "staying is easier than moving."<br />
<br />
We know we ought to be different and yet we find it difficult to embrace our differences. We want our lives to matter. We know we ought to live in such a way that our neighbours will be glad we did. God invites us by calling us into fellowship to outlive our earthly lives not just in heaven but here on earth.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Staying is easier than going. When it comes to following Jesus, we are faced with one essential problem, the common human desire for the status quo, difference of any kind is looked at with suspicion and fear. Staying where we are is easier than going out into the world. As someone with little Christian background except that I was born in Germany and as someone who came to know Christ later in life, I perhaps have a different perspective on many ''traditional'' thinking of people who have attended church most of their lives. For me, church provided a counter-narrative to what I witnessed, experienced and essentially participated in. Church helped me to go to a different vantage point and to look at the world from a different perspective. But like so many formerly oppositional institutions, the congregations I encountered over the years tend to
become more a symptom of the culture than an antidote to it, they are not living a different story. And by doing that we are giving the people of the world one less place to turn for a sober alternative to the story of basic human goodness and moral progress that is propagated everywhere.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">What are we teaching our children? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">God is love; and as evident on the cross it is self-sacrifice rather than self-preservation. Love, as the Bible defines it, is sacrificial. This, however, threatens our tendency to protect ourselves. We are afraid to give because we are afraid of being taken. Through our experiences we have come to expect that love is first something we get from others in return for something before it is something we give others for nothing. Love has become even within the church conditional and is no longer sacrificial.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Worldliness is seductive, it is a sleepiness of our thinking in which the statues, pleasures, comforts and cares of this world appear solid, stunning, and purpose giving while the truth of God's word abstractions, unable to grip us emotionally nor intellectually or guide our everyday activities. The greatest challenge for a Christian is therefore not persecution but seduction. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I used to be a missionary in the late 90th in Sierra Leone, a small country with much riches. When I returned home I experienced what is called a culture shock. It is caused when one set of cultural assumptions clashes with another, when what seams normal to people in one cultural setting seems uncomfortably strange, even questionable in another. After a while, however, the shock went away. Over time I gradually and unnoticeable to myself I settled into the old assumptions and mannerism of the culture around me, the shock gave way to submission. When the world's thinking, feeling and living seem normal and God's ways seems strange, we need to hear that we have been seduced because we are blind to that fact. In this sense, disciples of Christ are in a permanent state of shock in relation to the acceptable ways of the world; "tension with the world must never give way to comfort in the world." </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">What are we teaching our children? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">We need to remember that while Jesus never went after the crowed, never sought fame but he was seeking for disciples. And to get the disciples he wanted, he explained to the crowed of followers that anyone who wanted to truly follow him would need to count the cost, and the crowed thinned out. Daily Christian living, according to Jesus, means daily Christian dying -- dying to our goals, dreams, hopes unless they are not of this world. We need to die to our fascination to fit in and instead becoming "fools for Christ," living with an hopeful attitude. </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">Hope
is a continual looking
forward to the eternal world and is neither a form
of escapism or pessimism. Hope is not wishful thinking either, but one of those things that are second nature to a Christian. A Christian cannot but hope. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as
it is, rather the very opposite is true. Hope affirms and proclaims that however beautiful a sunset might be some more beautiful sunset is still to come but not in this life. In this sense hope is a godly discontent about the present, it is affirming that the glass is half full and more is still to come. As many before me I too refer to C.S. Lewis thoughts on this matter; </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="line-height: 19px;">"The Christian Way.-The Christian says, ‘Creatures are not born with
desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels
hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim:
well, then; is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well,
there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no
experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is
that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures
satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably
earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it,
to suggest the real thing.<b> If that is so, I must take care, on the one
hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings,
and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which
they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in
myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after
death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must
make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to
help others to do the same.’" </b></span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">How are we doing with that? Since Scripture affirms that this particular hope is somewhat outside of reach here and now many people have turned to achievable things and by that to earthly things. We only need to look at obituaries over the centuries . . . how we describe the life and identity of a loved one. In the past, God, seeking God and the life through the church were the focus of identity, it than changed to work and became more individualistic focused, and now we read much much more about entertainment and travel and enjoying life. God is hardly mentioned.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">What are we teaching our children?</span></span></div>
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The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-85224578528454657492014-12-04T06:48:00.001-08:002014-12-04T06:48:21.179-08:00Witness to God's truth, grace and generosity <blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a> </blockquote>
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<a href="http://melodyjoydeetz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Heart_Truth.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://melodyjoydeetz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Heart_Truth.png" height="400" width="356" /></a>We are a community founded on truth and formed by truth and sustained by truth. For that reason our Yes need to be a Yes and our No need to be our No. But at the same time creation itself is founded, formed, and sustained by God's generosity and grace. If we began living more truthfully, gracefully, and generously , investing all we are and have in order to make this place a better place to live in for everyone, think about the witness this would be to our neighbours. Every neigbour around us should be able to say about us; ''I might not believe what they believe, but this place would be a much
less livable community without them here, because of the way these
people invest their time, talents and money to serve us.'' Imagine the impression the Church and Christians alike would give to people if we embodied God-centred truth and generosity in this way. Instead of weary, passive accommodation and acceptance of our shortcomings, there would be an active engagement with the power and the love of Christ to discover and apply the healing correction of truth across the spectrum of our lives, including grace and generosity. </div>
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I think it is one thing to have a rational understanding of God's truth, grace, and generosity but quite another to have a sense of God all around. How does my neighbour genuinely encounter this sense of God's truth, grace, and generosity all around but through us the church, God's people. We are the presents of truth, grace, and generosity, the instruments God has equipped and blessed for that purpose. </div>
The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-65499971735094698952014-12-01T18:34:00.000-08:002014-12-01T18:34:58.690-08:00The Church must own their choice and so must we<a href="http://www.happynews.com/showImage.aspx?fn=2272008/clearing-past-issues.jpg&catid=23" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.happynews.com/showImage.aspx?fn=2272008/clearing-past-issues.jpg&catid=23" height="320" width="256" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Jesus calls each one he meets into a personal, intimate relationship with him and with those who are with him. He is also telling them to count the cost, to make a choice. If we choose one thing, it means refusing the other. If we choose to follow Jesus, we experience the gift of love and communion, but at the same time we must say "no" to the ways of the world and accept loss which will imply grieving and pain; we must own our choice and have counted the cost.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>More and more the people of God become aware that God is not just a creator of everything that is made, a powerful Lord who is telling us to obey or to be punished but rather a community that invites us to experience them. Being Church means being called into community with God and with others who are called and walking the same path. And there we encounter new challenges; we encounter disciples who quarrel among themselves, wondering who is the greatest among them. Community </i><i>is a wonderful experience, a wonderful place where we experience new life. But it is also an experience with pain because it is there that we encounter truth and experience growth -- it is among us that our pride, fear and our brokenness is revealed. Community is not an abstract idea, an ideal; it is us. Only in community we are able to love people just as we are with our wounds, fears, and our need for space and growth. Community involves giving each other a safe space where we can grow together. It is giving each other trust, encouraging one another while challenging each other. We give value and dignity to one another by the way of dying to oneself so that the other may live, and grow.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>There is a myth about community just as there is a myth about marriage, telling us; "they lived happy ever after." The reality of marriage is that both, the man and the woman are called to sacrifice their egoes as well as their individualistic dreams by the commitment to be one body. Community also means death to ones ego. It is accepting the cost of dying to "me first" and competions in order to discover a new form of values and a new freedom. But that also means that community, just like marriage, is a place of pain because it is a place of loss, a place of conflict, and a place of death to self, just as it is a place of new life. True community is the one place where all the darkness, anger, fear, jealousie and competition is exposed and reconciled. </i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>But community is also a place of conflict for another reason. In community we experience the conflict between competing values, between togetherness and individualism, between interdependence and independence. It is painful to lose one's independence and to come into togetherness and not just proximity. We have proximity with the world,, and we need to, but we have togetherness with one another. Loss of perceived freedom is painful particulalry in a world where independence is held up as something to die for, which cultivates the feeling "I don't need anyone else" as ultimate freedom. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>I have had the occasion to visit quite a number of senior homes in Canada. It can be very painful to go into certain care facilities, to see men and women crying out for love, roaming around with nothing to do, shaking their heads, talking to themselves, living in a world of dreams and of psychosis. Some places smell of urine others of disinfectant. If you had the privilege of getting a glimpse into</i><i> some of these places, a glimpse into the lives of those who live there, you will have seen unbearable pain. It is difficult to be present there for long and yet there is where I found Christ sitting beside one of the least of my brothers and sisters.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Many people in our modern society are living in unbearable situation, with unbearable pain. I don't know how many homeless people live in Winnipeg, but there are many hundreds if not thousands. Every night during the winter months they line up in order to be admitted for the night at one of the shelters. The next morning, after a cup of coffee, they are back onto the street. Then they roam all day with nothing to do until the evening. The reasons for their situation is as complex as humanity itself, but there is much anger, depression and intense pain inside many. When the pain becomes too much, then people tend to slip away into a world of dreams. Reality is just too painful, without hope. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Our church communities are also places of pain because they are formed with people who have been through a great deal of pain themselves. They had experienced the deep fear that nobody can really love them, that nobody really wants them, because they were "dirty," "evil." "not good enough." Church means family, accepting people just where they are in their journey. We may not necessary like some of their choices, or personality traits, but we love them nonetheless with all their limits and pain, but also with the capacity to see God's image inside of all that pain just as we love ourselves. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>But this communion of unity is not uniformity or fusion. Both lead to confusion. In a relationship you are you and I am I; I have my identity and you have yours. I must be myself and you must be yourself while we are called to grow together into the likeness of Christ more and more. But this is not possessiveness but belonging. A belonging where we listen to one another and helping each other to become more. And it is only in our togetherness that we make sense, but this does not come easy to us. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>When I was in the German army, I was taught to give orders to others. That came quite naturally to me. Since childhood I had been taught to climb the ladder, to seek recognition and therefore promotions, to compete, to be the best, to win prizes. This is what society is teaching us. When you have been taught from early age to compete, to be first and then suddenly you hear Jesus calling you down the success ladder and to share your life with those who are last, who are poor and marginalized, our real struggle breaks out within us while we are counting the cost. It is a conflict of allowing others space to grow rather than lording over them, here we stand back in order to help them to excersice their gifts. It is a conflict of caring only for oneself and caring for people. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Over the years I have experienced both forces within me, one pulling me to go up the ladder and then the voice of Christ teaching and healing me. He taught me that behind the need to win, to be recognized there are my own fears and anguish. The fear of being devalued and pushed aside, the fear of being vulnerable or opening up my heart to love; their is the pain, betrayal, and brokenness of my own past. And in this voice I discovered who I really had become and to realize that I may not want to admit all the garbage inside me. And then the same as today I have to decide whether I just continue to pretend to be ok and through myself into hyperactivities, involving myself into a myriad of programs and projects where I simply can cover up all the garbage. Proving to the world and others just how good I was. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Just as God is in communion within himself and is inviting us through the death of Jesus to join into the etern</span></i></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">al dance of love we too have to die to the powers of egoism and self-will in ourselves in order to join into that dance of deeper unity.</span></i></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><br /></i></span>The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-47205629770372580832014-11-30T16:52:00.000-08:002014-12-20T20:34:44.681-08:00God critiques by creating <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One of the goals of every Christian Leadership is to embody gospel-centered [grace] community, a community of unity around the common message of grace, serving as a model to the rest of the congregation. <br />
When God made us one with Christ, he also made us one with each other, removing the barriers of separation erected by our sinful nature, such as individualism, tribalism, judgmentalism, or personal preferences and biases. The message of the Church, the gospel, is to bring together people around the common table of fellowship who would have remained otherwise separated.<br />
The divisive and fundamentally sinful notions of class, race, economics however haven proven to remain painful sources of fragmentation and alienation within the churches. Things the church should strive against in establishing new expressions of family have even become means of identification and segregation. Following the lead of the surrounding cultures, many churches and worship services target specific groups to the exclusion of others.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Like the pieces of a puzzle look all different yet they belong all together</td></tr>
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Have we forgotten that we are an all . . . community, all language, all nations, all age community, though we are distinct, all different, in Christ we are no longer divided by temporal expressions of identities but are united by the eternal identity we have in Christ. We are the visual sign of the gospel in this world. God wants us to love one another and so to live our lives together in such a way that the demonstrate the presence of the Good News of reconciliation before a world in strife.<br />
When actual reconciliation, peacemaking, and unity overcomes our differences and uniqueness's we display the power of the Good News and we are the powerful witness of love to this fragmented world.<br />
<i>"Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By <b>this</b> all people will know that you are my disciples, <b>if you have love for one another</b>'' (John 13:13-34)</i>. The same message is given to the disciples and to us in John 17. Remember, Jesus created the group of disciples from different social groups, even from among women of ill reputations, like Mary Magdalen and tax collectors, like Matthew. Jesus critiqued not only the world, or Israel but also the religious elite by creating a group of people who would have remained separated in any other way.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">God will reverse the damage resulting from the fall in all and every area of life, not only to humanity but to nature itself. Nothing is unaffected by the fall, nothing is outside or beyond God's grace, and the church is the beginning.</td></tr>
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The truth is, as much as we need one another to be united in one body so does the world. The world desperately needs to see the love we have for one another within our diversity. The only way to maintain our diversity in unity is by living out our commitment to Him through our commitment to one another. The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3148020820827967119.post-87415673076877458912014-11-29T19:28:00.001-08:002014-11-29T19:28:05.325-08:00The right perspectiveOften we start out with an experienced based perspective when reading
Scripture, viewing anything that is
recorded within the pages from what we know and how it make us feel. We
are forgetting that even our best and most beautiful experiences, our
greatest expression of love are marked simply by the fact that we are
living in a broken world and we ourselves know only in part.<br />
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And so we need to allow Scripture,
God's word, speak to us from a perspective that in some way is out of
this world. Communication done well requires interaction, not just
listening and interpretation but evaluating the interpretation in light
of clarifying questions. Thing is, the “letter kills” but the Spirit
makes the letter “come
alive” beyond just printed words on a page. Reading God's word as God's
word requires a relationship of interaction and so once again we are
lead into an interdependent relationship with God; "Without me you can
do nothing"even when reading an old book. Again something we all have in common. <br />
<br />The Disruptive Word of Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05501986630058929260noreply@blogger.com0