Field notes on life and mission with God after Christendom
Quick thought. I saw this quote on Dallas Willard’s page today and thought I’d post it here to provoke some thought and conversation.
The purpose of church is to form a community of love
where the bad habits of life are broken.
So my question is this:
If you could find a church like this, what kinds of things do you think they would do when they got together?
Just a quick thought today.
I was reading the other day in 1 Corinthians, and in response to the divisions and strife that are taking place in the Corinthian church, Paul says he can’t exclaims “Since there is jealousy and quarreling among you… Are you not acting like mere human beings?” (3:3).
If Paul could accuse the Corinthians of acting like “mere human beings,” then apparently his assumption was that they were, in actuality, not mere human beings. For Paul, a Christian is something more than a “mere human being.” And this is what Jesus seems to have had in mind, too. He talks to Nicodemus in John 3 about being “born from above,” and it’s is not a clever euphemism for becoming an adherent to the Christian religion or believing a few interesting facts about God. It means that we have been born into a new kind of life that goes beyond “mere” human life, in Paul’s words. It means that something about our nature has changed on a fundamental level.
So the challenge is to learn to become what we are. Now that we have received life “from above” we ought to learn how to “walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4), to actually live out this “more-than-human” life. I am believing more and more that this is to be our primary witness to and evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. The question people ask is, “Does becoming a Christian actually do anything good for a human being?” If our lives aren’t displaying that, our message is hollow.
This is a great definition of “art” from Seth Godin:
My definition of art contains three elements:
- Art is made by a human being.
- Art is created to have an impact, to change someone else.
- Art is a gift. You can sell the souvenir, the canvas, the recording… but the idea itself is free, and the generosity is a critical part of making art.
By my definition, most art has nothing to do with oil paint or marble. Art is what we’re doing when we do our best work.
So you’re an artist. What are you making? Are you doing your best work?
One of the resolutions I made coming back from my time at a church planters’ round table in New York (#6 on my “personal challenge” list) was to re-ignite the gifts of the Spirit in my life and ministry.
Many of those at the round table had come from charismatic backgrounds, and a common thread that weaved its way through many conversations was a two-fold truth:
I’ve had “Write a Blog Post” in my task manager for a week now. I have a few ideas brewing, but nothing substantial enough to post today. Instead I’ll offer a few things that other people have written!
Andrew Jones (aka Tall Skinny Kiwi) re-posts a snippet from a series he did in 2003 called Postmodern Truth:
“if you can change
the way you process information
then we have a message
from God
for you
for
apparently
either God is not able
to speak to you in
your language
or
we
the church
need to go back
to the drawing board
and yet if we are honest
we have too much investment
in our drawing board
to rethink it
in todays
world.”
Geoff Holsclaw, one of the pastors at Life on the Vine in Chicago, has some challenging advice for those of us who want to make a difference, change the world, etc: When Pushing the Envelope, Don’t Destroy the Letter. Here’s an excerpt:
“Because letters written on hearts are from Christ, the ministries and individual which pushes the envelop in the name of Christ must take care not to destroy those letters in the process. Our zeal is no excuse for running over people and communities. So, when you are pushing the envelope, be sure you don’t destroy the letter.”
You know that “Serenity Prayer?” Yeah, that one. Well, Michael has posted a much more theologically robust version of it that I quite like (ht: Halden):
Triune God of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, grant me:
the serenity to know that all will be reconciled in Jesus Christ,
the courage to participate in the change you are bringing,
and the wisdom to remember that ‘be realistic’ is not one of your commandments.
I found the video below really insightful. What do you think? (ht: Jonathan Brink)
