What does it mean to be redeemed? As I have been tying thoughts together lately it seems that the church is full of people who are in the process of restoration. The word redemption is a good one, but for this blog's purpose I like the word restoration. It fits what Christ has done and is doing on the cross. Please, let me ease your furled brow.
Redemption carries the definition of delivering or purchasing. However, I think there is another picture of the cross happening, and it is not a matter of deliverance. What if the atonement was better defined as restoration - restoring humanity back to its original identity in and with God. I can't help but think of the history of God since the Fall having a mission of restoring humanity back to the way it originally was. I can't help but to look at Christ and think that this is the part of God that He thought; "This is the part of my image that I will put into humanity." I can't help but think that we are not trying to "be like Christ" as much as we are "being restored to the image of Christ." (All the Eastern Orthodox in the room just said "AMEN!")
As I ponder about the atonement, I think western Christians are terrifyingly afraid of the premise of deification, but I think there is something amazing in it when we can connect it to restoration. I am willing to fight about this if anyone wants to shout a little.
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
A thought for the new year
So how does one begin blogging after a huge downtime filled with nauseating guilt bereft of an original thought? By taking advantage of the year passing and offering an encapsulating thought of course. However, what thought shall I offer? Ponder...
I want to mention the thought upon which I have struggled through spiritually all year long and will probably continue to take with me into this new year. This is truly the encompassing question that leaves me seeking understanding in my faith as a Christian hoping that I will come to new conclusions and insights.
"What is love?"
If we are called above all else to love our God and love our neighbor, I am finding that this has difficult and compromising actions. However, I want to offer something of a culmination of thoughts that have come as a result to pondering through this question.
1. I have to listen. God deserves my ear. People deserve my ear.
2. I have to speak. God deserves my voice. People deserve my voice.
3. I have to want to love. This sounds basic, but I often find myself asking me in an inter-monologue fashion, "Did I really take the opportunity to love there?"
4. I need to be willing to listen to the people of today gifted as prophets - the people who are trying to speak truth into the Church. I for one recognize that it is human nature to complain, (I love doing it myself) but I also no that many times truth, if it is truth, often comes out of love.
5. In light of number four, I have to surround myself with people who love well and are capable of helping me love well also.
6. I have to ALWAYS wrestle with the thought, "What does it mean to give my life away for the sake of Christ?"
This is a working list, but I hope it gives you an inspirational moment, if nothing more a happy thought.
I want to mention the thought upon which I have struggled through spiritually all year long and will probably continue to take with me into this new year. This is truly the encompassing question that leaves me seeking understanding in my faith as a Christian hoping that I will come to new conclusions and insights.
"What is love?"
If we are called above all else to love our God and love our neighbor, I am finding that this has difficult and compromising actions. However, I want to offer something of a culmination of thoughts that have come as a result to pondering through this question.
1. I have to listen. God deserves my ear. People deserve my ear.
2. I have to speak. God deserves my voice. People deserve my voice.
3. I have to want to love. This sounds basic, but I often find myself asking me in an inter-monologue fashion, "Did I really take the opportunity to love there?"
4. I need to be willing to listen to the people of today gifted as prophets - the people who are trying to speak truth into the Church. I for one recognize that it is human nature to complain, (I love doing it myself) but I also no that many times truth, if it is truth, often comes out of love.
5. In light of number four, I have to surround myself with people who love well and are capable of helping me love well also.
6. I have to ALWAYS wrestle with the thought, "What does it mean to give my life away for the sake of Christ?"
This is a working list, but I hope it gives you an inspirational moment, if nothing more a happy thought.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Book Review: The Ministry of the Missional Church
A while back I had mentioned a book I read called "The Ministry of the Missional Church: A Community Led By the Spirit" by Craig Van Gelder. This has by far been one of the more influential books for me this year and also just one of the better books on the missional church that I have read.
With so many books on the missional church out, I really have to see something in a book that would bring me to my "blogging knees" to discuss it with you. This book assumes that the reader has a bit of knowledge on the missional church as it goes directly into connecting missiology with ecclesiology with little-to-no explanation. It is asking how the missional church functions without grasping onto and bleeding to death some sort of program to make them "missional." For Van Gelder, the answer is simply the presence and participation in and of the Holy Spirit. He says that "...a missional ecclesiology understands congregations as being creations of the Spirit." (107) However, he goes on to discuss that each church has its own identity within the Spirit which it must be in constant discernment about. And though Van Gelder offers structures and suggestions on what missional church looks like within the context of following the Holy Spirit, he says that too needs to be capable of being thrown out in light of following the Spirit's lead.
This is a great book for people who are wondering if the missional church is just another program or structure that will turn into some trend after a decade or so. Van Gelder shows that with the Holy Spirit, the missional church simply lives out what it is set to do. I actually find myself understanding the Church and the Holy Spirit better through Van Gelder's explanations and have a difficult time seeing the Church move in any other direction with much success of bringing forth the Kingdom of God without some acknowledgment of Van Gelder's message.
With so many books on the missional church out, I really have to see something in a book that would bring me to my "blogging knees" to discuss it with you. This book assumes that the reader has a bit of knowledge on the missional church as it goes directly into connecting missiology with ecclesiology with little-to-no explanation. It is asking how the missional church functions without grasping onto and bleeding to death some sort of program to make them "missional." For Van Gelder, the answer is simply the presence and participation in and of the Holy Spirit. He says that "...a missional ecclesiology understands congregations as being creations of the Spirit." (107) However, he goes on to discuss that each church has its own identity within the Spirit which it must be in constant discernment about. And though Van Gelder offers structures and suggestions on what missional church looks like within the context of following the Holy Spirit, he says that too needs to be capable of being thrown out in light of following the Spirit's lead.
This is a great book for people who are wondering if the missional church is just another program or structure that will turn into some trend after a decade or so. Van Gelder shows that with the Holy Spirit, the missional church simply lives out what it is set to do. I actually find myself understanding the Church and the Holy Spirit better through Van Gelder's explanations and have a difficult time seeing the Church move in any other direction with much success of bringing forth the Kingdom of God without some acknowledgment of Van Gelder's message.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Book Review: Will Our Children Have Faith
The Christian Church, Protestant and Catholic alike are failing in their attempts to conduct proper Christian education. This statement is what John H. Westerhoff III would say in his book Will Our Children Have Faith? In observing the Church’s movement towards a brand of Christian education that begins and ends with a small Sunday morning class outside of worship, Westerhoff notes that this form of Christian education is weak and outdated. The author tries to move people into an understanding of Christian education as something that does not educate on the basis of facts and definitions. He wants the Church to leave its current paradigm in which he calls the schooling-instructional model. Westerhoff sees God calling people into a community that acts as a transforming agent to bring forth the community of Jesus Christ. He wants to see the Church as the body that helps people to live out their lives above and beyond the institutions and societal barriers that they face in the world. This is done through communal participation and discipleship that form faith.
Personally I find the book accurate in its depiction of the current trends of Christian education. It speaks to a vital component of the Church that must be constantly evaluated while seeking contextual relevance. Where I think he lacks in his book as often many theoretical books do, is in offering practical examples to springboard from for those moved by his argument. It is however a very good read and I would definitely recommend it.
Personally I find the book accurate in its depiction of the current trends of Christian education. It speaks to a vital component of the Church that must be constantly evaluated while seeking contextual relevance. Where I think he lacks in his book as often many theoretical books do, is in offering practical examples to springboard from for those moved by his argument. It is however a very good read and I would definitely recommend it.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Are We There Yet?
I love progress. I would venture to say that as a western thinker I view my past, present and future in terms of progress. My success is typically defined by progress as well as my failures. I enjoy music in a progessional fashion, I play video games with the sole purpose of progressing, and I go to school that I may progress in my education. Sound familiar? Westerners love progress; it is an innate part of our culture and mindset. We see it in our culture through marketing and advertising. (I think marketing and advertising is one of the most applicable arenas to observe our culture.) With messages of "be better at this", "look more like her", or "be more successful like him" we are bombarded by progress. This does not evade the Christian Church either.
In Craig Van Gelder's book The Ministry of the Missional Church: A Community Led By the Spirit, he makes a statement that the missional church will never "arrive." (On a side note: I am at some point going to talk more about Craig's book, but this is not that post. I would recommend it though whole-heartedly.) It is a great deal easier to understand this statement when we understand what missional church means to Craig. To make things short he would say that the missional church is a church that combines missiology (the study of missions) with ecclesiology (the study of church) and then puts the results into practice within its own immediate community.
When Craig says that this church will never "arrive" he is dissuading people who are giving their lives to discipleship and following the discernment of the Holy Spirit within their communities to the facade of progress being complete. Doing church is not about progress and then arriving, it is about participating in what God is doing in one's community daily. This will never cease. Change is inevitable in God's Church. This means that we can never "arrive" and become comfortable. There is no such thing as a final vision for a Church. As people who are seeking to lead the Church we have to assume that God is always at work confirming what we are doing and also changing the direction as well. It is so easy to get caught up in a vision that we are not quick to let go when it is time, or to even listen to the Holy Spirit to see where we should be moving, be it towards or away from an original goal. To close with a statement from pg. 179 of Craig's book he says: "Planned change is typically a process that is ongoing. For a congregation that is being led by the Spirit to engage its context with meaningful ministry, the process of guiding change is usually a continuous responsibility of those who provide leadership for a congregation."
Any thoughts?
In Craig Van Gelder's book The Ministry of the Missional Church: A Community Led By the Spirit, he makes a statement that the missional church will never "arrive." (On a side note: I am at some point going to talk more about Craig's book, but this is not that post. I would recommend it though whole-heartedly.) It is a great deal easier to understand this statement when we understand what missional church means to Craig. To make things short he would say that the missional church is a church that combines missiology (the study of missions) with ecclesiology (the study of church) and then puts the results into practice within its own immediate community.
When Craig says that this church will never "arrive" he is dissuading people who are giving their lives to discipleship and following the discernment of the Holy Spirit within their communities to the facade of progress being complete. Doing church is not about progress and then arriving, it is about participating in what God is doing in one's community daily. This will never cease. Change is inevitable in God's Church. This means that we can never "arrive" and become comfortable. There is no such thing as a final vision for a Church. As people who are seeking to lead the Church we have to assume that God is always at work confirming what we are doing and also changing the direction as well. It is so easy to get caught up in a vision that we are not quick to let go when it is time, or to even listen to the Holy Spirit to see where we should be moving, be it towards or away from an original goal. To close with a statement from pg. 179 of Craig's book he says: "Planned change is typically a process that is ongoing. For a congregation that is being led by the Spirit to engage its context with meaningful ministry, the process of guiding change is usually a continuous responsibility of those who provide leadership for a congregation."
Any thoughts?
Friday, February 29, 2008
What is the Church?
What is the Church? I ponder this question at least once a week and sometimes more. I will probably speak to this many times to come, but for today's blogging purposes I want to use a hymn that has been going through my head a lot lately. It is long but completely worth your reading of every word.
The Church’s One Foundation
©1996 Parson John Publishing (ASCAP). Words: Samuel Stone. Music: Brian Moss.
1. The church’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ her Lord,
She is His new creation
By water and the Word.
From heaven He came and sought her
To be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her,
And for her life He died.
2. Elect from every nation,
Yet one over all the earth;
Her charter of salvation,
One Lord, one faith, one birth;
One holy Name she blesses,
Partakes one holy food,
And to one hope she presses,
With every grace endued.
3. Though with a scornful wonder
Men see her sore oppressed,
By schisms rent asunder,
By heresies distressed,
Yet saints their watch are keeping;
Their cry goes up, “How long?”
And soon the night of weeping
Shall be the morn of song.
4. The church shall never perish,
Her dear Lord to defend
To guide, sustain and cherish,
Is with her to the end
Though there be those that hate her,
And false sons in her pale
Against a foe or traitor,
She ever shall prevail
5. Mid toil and tribulation,
And tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation
Of peace forevermore;
’Til, with the vision glorious,
Her longing eyes are blessed,
And the great church victorious
Shall be the church at rest.
6. Yet she on earth hath union
With God the Three in One,
And mystic sweet communion
With those whose rest is won.
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we
Like them, the meek and lowly,
On high may dwell with Thee.
foundation, her Lord, He came and sought her, for her life He died, One holy Name she blesses, And to one hope she presses, The church shall never perish, Her dear Lord to defend, To guide, sustain and cherish, Her longing eyes are blessed, mystic sweet communion, O happy ones and holy!
This entire hymn is amazing, however; these are just a few key portions that really resonate with things that Christians today could appreciate hearing. I hope this blesses you and begins to shape your view of the Church.
The Church’s One Foundation
©1996 Parson John Publishing (ASCAP). Words: Samuel Stone. Music: Brian Moss.
1. The church’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ her Lord,
She is His new creation
By water and the Word.
From heaven He came and sought her
To be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her,
And for her life He died.
2. Elect from every nation,
Yet one over all the earth;
Her charter of salvation,
One Lord, one faith, one birth;
One holy Name she blesses,
Partakes one holy food,
And to one hope she presses,
With every grace endued.
3. Though with a scornful wonder
Men see her sore oppressed,
By schisms rent asunder,
By heresies distressed,
Yet saints their watch are keeping;
Their cry goes up, “How long?”
And soon the night of weeping
Shall be the morn of song.
4. The church shall never perish,
Her dear Lord to defend
To guide, sustain and cherish,
Is with her to the end
Though there be those that hate her,
And false sons in her pale
Against a foe or traitor,
She ever shall prevail
5. Mid toil and tribulation,
And tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation
Of peace forevermore;
’Til, with the vision glorious,
Her longing eyes are blessed,
And the great church victorious
Shall be the church at rest.
6. Yet she on earth hath union
With God the Three in One,
And mystic sweet communion
With those whose rest is won.
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we
Like them, the meek and lowly,
On high may dwell with Thee.
foundation, her Lord, He came and sought her, for her life He died, One holy Name she blesses, And to one hope she presses, The church shall never perish, Her dear Lord to defend, To guide, sustain and cherish, Her longing eyes are blessed, mystic sweet communion, O happy ones and holy!
This entire hymn is amazing, however; these are just a few key portions that really resonate with things that Christians today could appreciate hearing. I hope this blesses you and begins to shape your view of the Church.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Church vs. Parachurch
Here we go, this one will definitely stir up some controversy as far as a fist post goes. I have been processing the difference between church and parachurch, to only come to the conclusion that they must be one in the same for different people, or not valid.
I want to propose this by taking the view that they are the same in purpose despite what our view of "Church" is exactly. Do I think there should be sacraments served in parachurches or baptisms performed? Good questions, wrong conversation. The point is that our current model of church is not very desirable for a great deal of people and is not going to act as a place to encounter community and the Holy. So should a parachurch be able to act as a form of church for the un-churched spiritual seeking person? Yes. This is simply to say that we do not keep God in a building, but our very selves through the embodiment of the Holy Spirit. However, with this you better believe challenges arise. What is the purpose of denominational structure. One of the bigger ones is accountability. As a person who is a member of the Presbyterian Church, trust me, the organization and accountability there are amazing and holy. If a group were to start a parachurch ministry reaching out to people of various hobbies and/or lifestyles then I would say up front, how are you going to be accountable to yourselves and the Gospel? In other words, what is going to keep you in check with making sure that what you do as a Christ embodying individual keeps solid with that of the Bible? I have so many fun answers to what that could be, but for another time perhaps. In the meantime, I want to leave with a quick summary statement. God travels throughout the world via the Church (as a body). He embodies us as a capable reproducing agents of the Gospel that can disciple anyone, on the spot. We have an amazing capacity as Christians to do this and we need the growth of each other (the Church) and God. However, a building and a denomination are perks to a long line of perseverance and structure from certain individuals that does not always seem to fit other people who are foreign and/or uncomfortable with these structures.
I want to propose this by taking the view that they are the same in purpose despite what our view of "Church" is exactly. Do I think there should be sacraments served in parachurches or baptisms performed? Good questions, wrong conversation. The point is that our current model of church is not very desirable for a great deal of people and is not going to act as a place to encounter community and the Holy. So should a parachurch be able to act as a form of church for the un-churched spiritual seeking person? Yes. This is simply to say that we do not keep God in a building, but our very selves through the embodiment of the Holy Spirit. However, with this you better believe challenges arise. What is the purpose of denominational structure. One of the bigger ones is accountability. As a person who is a member of the Presbyterian Church, trust me, the organization and accountability there are amazing and holy. If a group were to start a parachurch ministry reaching out to people of various hobbies and/or lifestyles then I would say up front, how are you going to be accountable to yourselves and the Gospel? In other words, what is going to keep you in check with making sure that what you do as a Christ embodying individual keeps solid with that of the Bible? I have so many fun answers to what that could be, but for another time perhaps. In the meantime, I want to leave with a quick summary statement. God travels throughout the world via the Church (as a body). He embodies us as a capable reproducing agents of the Gospel that can disciple anyone, on the spot. We have an amazing capacity as Christians to do this and we need the growth of each other (the Church) and God. However, a building and a denomination are perks to a long line of perseverance and structure from certain individuals that does not always seem to fit other people who are foreign and/or uncomfortable with these structures.
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