I haven't entered anything for a long time and I'm actually considering doing a short commentary on each chapter of Acts sometime soon but for now here's a quote.
"Kingdom people seek first the Kingdom of God and its justice; church people often put church work above concerns of justice, mercy and truth. Church people often think about how to get people into church; Kingdom people think about how to get the church into the world. Church people worry that the world might change the church; Kingdom people work to see the church change the world."
H. Snyder
How does this statement resonate with you?
What might it look like for us to be most concerned with getting the church into the world?
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3 comments:
That quote says it all. If we really beleived it, we'd sell-off these ugly buildings that we've invested so much in and start being the church. I think the 1st century Christians were obsessed with being the church, with following God's Spirit and being changed/changing the world because of that. Now we just want to know we have heaven after we die, and we're all good. Or, you know, whatever...
but the new testament does make it clear that the christians met as a group in their communities a lot, in Hebrews there is even an exhortation not to quit meeting together. Our problem as evangelical protestants is that we have convinced ourselves the Christianity is not a religion, but it is. The question is can we be members of this tradition and not become institutional, not create our own agendas. Is it possible to truly serve Christ without our agendas getting in the way? even if they are good agendas? Israel asked for a king, and they got one with what seems like the blessing of God. Jesus broke the nationalist institution of second temple Judaism and brought it all back to true faith in the creator God, and immediately people began to form into a political type organization. Are we really willing to give all our the purposes that drive us and accomplish nothing so that God might accomplish something? It is scary to wander the desert of faith, and easier to sit in the disgusting oasis of the modern church.
I think part of what is being implied is that some understandings of church mean we create certain "God Zones" where God is somehow specially there and then the rest of our lives become this dualistic existence.
Example: A church building, christian books, christian music, etc...
Is our goal to drag people into our buildings, our books and our music? Or do we truly believe that God is a missionary God present everywhere. That he is calling us to join with him in the redemption of any space, book or song.
Things become different then. The church then goes out to redeem instead of wait statically for the world to come to it. Many would argue that the nature of God (the incarnation) is to be a sending God into all aspects of the world and we are called to do the same.
Then the community still does meet but it looks different and isn't primarily about one meeting a week.
The disciples stopped making regular "temple" duties the center of their faith. They met together in their communities, shared everything with each other and were devoted to the teachings of the disciples.
I think the first question is: Is the church some regular gathering or is it primarily a web of relationships or a network of relationships to which one belongs.
It seems that the first Christians were connecting regularly to live as the visible community of Christ.
Well, that's unfinished but that this is too long at this point to write anymore.
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