Larry posts today about the uniqueness, and ultimately, the authenticity of the Christian comunity called the church.
Authentic Christian Community For This Age
And from this all else springs. This is at the heart of the Christian belief that God enters into our lives through the example and teaching of Jesus Christ and connects us to God and to each other, and this relationship changes us fundamentally. It changes our thinking, our hearts, and the way we live.
And a big piece of this “unique” community is that it seeks to re-attach those who have been separated; that difference is crucial to understanding our interdependence, which binds us ultimately to God.
People who had been taught that they were different should worship together! That must have been unsettling. But it was also hopeful and joyful. It expanded the horizon, rather than contracting it.
We draw from the historic practices of faith to imagine a future that is life-affirming, nurturing, healing, inclusive and just.
Then Larry connects the “possibilities” that have always been “there for the participating” in the mainline denominations:
The mainline communions are uniquely positioned to play a significant role in the healing and transforming of a global order that has crashed on the rocks of misguided politics blessed by misguided religious ideas.
The resources that are already , at various levels , “loosely gathered” and “there for the particpation on our intitiative”, are the people so gathered. But this does not minimize or ignore the vast responsibility for these gatherings to constantly seek diiscernment as to what their call is as this gathered people. And this CALL is extremely important. Earlier this week Larry mentioned an experience that left him feeling more anonymous than should be permissable in such a community as ours. It brought to my awareness once again how easy it is to “glide along” as if church is just something that happens to us, and we end up ignoring people around us in much the same way (or in exactly the same way, in amny cases) as the world does. And this is unacceptable. Such experiences in gatherings claiming the distinct title of church is unacceptable. In this case, Larry is one who won’t be giving up on church people; but how many are there who come seeking a different level of belonging, and experience the whole deal as program and “push content” without any or much of an opportunity to be known.
