Ben Sternke

Field notes on life and mission with God after Christendom

Thoughts

Advent Thought: Ordinary People

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I definitely want to continue writing about some of the things we’re learning about evangelism, but it seems best to wait until after Christmas for that. In the meantime, here’s a two-part thought that struck me this morning as I was reading the Daily Office.

God seems to bypass the elite and important and chooses to use very ordinary people to fulfill his purposes for the world, but he doesn’t just choose random ordinary people; he seems to choose ordinary people who have prepared themselves to be used.

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The Fascination of a World Changed

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I’ve probably put this quote up before, but today I saw it again on Fitch’s blog, and I love it so much I thought I’d just post it here, too. It’s from Gerhard Lohfink’s book Does God Need the Church?:

“It can only be that God begins in a small way, at one single place in the world. There must be a place, visible, tangible, where the salvation of the world can begin: that is, where the world becomes what it is supposed to be according to God’s plan. Beginning at that place, the new thing can spread abroad, but not through persuasion, not through indoctrination, not through violence. Everyone must have the opportunity to come and see. All must have the chance to behold and test this new thing. Then, if they want to, they can allow themselves to be drawn into the history of salvation that God is creating. Only in that way can their freedom be preserved. What drives them to the new thing cannot be force, not even moral pressure, but only the fascination of a world that is changed.”

The fascination of the world that is changed… communities becoming an embodied witness of the reality of the in-breaking kingdom… beautiful stuff.

Resurrection is Everything

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Missiologist Lesslie Newbigin was often asked, “Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future of the church?”

Newbigin had learned to reply like this: “I believe that Jesus rose from the dead, and therefore the question does not arise.”

When it comes to a fact, you can’t be pessimistic or optimistic, only believing or unbelieving. If we really believe in the resurrection of Jesus, it changes everything. It means God’s new world has already begun, that the final victory of love over evil is assured, and thus we are enabled to freely throw ourselves into being involved in what God is doing right now.

On Tables and Altars

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I saw this meditation on Scot McKnight’s blog. See what you think.

The Eucharist, whether you celebrate and participate daily, weekly, monthly or otherwise, needs to be seen as a Table instead of an Altar. The apostle Paul calls it the “Lord’s Table” in 1 Cor 10:1 and on the table food was served.

At the altar, blood was spilled or poured out; what was sacrificed in the Temple was then eaten at the Table. The Altar for the Christian is the Cross; the Table is for the Lord’s Supper.

At the Altar, the sinner is forgiven; at the Table the forgiven sinner communes with God.

The cross is a place of sorrow; the Table a place for joy.

So, if you today are celebrating Eucharist, ponder the difference between Altar and Table, and imagine yourself at the Lord’s Table to give thanksgiving for the joy of communing with God in the forgiveness of sins.

Do you call the Eucharist a “table” or an “altar?” Do you think it matters?