From Elton Trueblood, in the Foreword to Call to Commitment by Elizabeth O’Connor, on the meaning of membership in the Church of the Saviour communities: The very conception of making membership genuine rather than nominal, and therefore difficult, is bitterly resented by some, who rightly see this an implicit criticism of their own superficial standards of membership. I’ve read a Continue Reading
The toughest thing in the world is being church-not doing what we think the work of church is, but being church, belonging to one another. “That they may be made perfectly one†was the deepest longing of Jesus, and, well, look at us. The emphasis always begins to shift to the vision, to the program, and we get away from Continue Reading
After seeing Eric’s link to Hauerwas’ talk on Bonhoeffer last night, I went and watched it I took down some notes, then realized that the talk was probably online somewhere (at least the article he wrote that he was reading from). It was. It has some rather pointed things to say to the church, especially those that find themselves in Continue Reading
Related to my previous post on “right worship”: the church and postmodern culture: conversation: Postmodernity vs. the Gospel? in the American situation, the church had followed a Constinitian model (of both trying to rule politically and rationally via strategic alliances with Enlightenment theories of the State and Reason). Because of this, the Church STOPPED being its own politic, its own Continue Reading
The matter of “what this ecclesia looks like” is the matter that drives me constantly back to the models of community and practice and embodiment that have been molded into a “tradition” in The Church of the Saviour Communities (the church tradition behind the inward/outward site). It’s “structures” with which they are constantly engaging in order to depart from the cultural patterns of relationships are the most effectively articulated “narratives” that I have ever encountered. Those stories related by the books of Elizabeth O’Connor such as Call to Commitment, Journey Inward/Journey Outward, The New Community, and Servant Leaders, Servant Structures, are all history, written out of the experiences of a people engaged in this struggle to form with each other, and in the prescence of God, an alternative mode of life which challenges the lies of consumerism, individualism, and what have you, and pays a good deal of attentions to such matters as discernment and call , mission, and gift. To this end, the Church of the Saviour communties talk of discipline and accountability, something that is a bit of an anathema to today’s cultural churches. Continue Reading
This from the start of the conversation over at The Church and Postmodern Culture We are using the postmodern authors to unveil the huge shortcomings of current church practices all because of our indebtedness to modernism and all its manifestations. The response we both offer, however, is not to contextualize a church to postmodernity, but rather to reinvigorate an ecclesiology Continue Reading
Eric pointed me to this post from Dan, which is touching in all kinds of ways, profound, and confrontive and ultimately challenging. poserorprophet: Go Forth in Peace What is interesting is the way in which Wittgenstein’s claims overlap with the claims Jim Wallis makes in his book The Call to Conversion (IMHO this book, and not God’s Politics is Wallis’ Continue Reading
Check out this post , quoting from Henri Nouwen, at inward/outward People who have come to know the joy of God do not deny the darkness, but they choose not to live in it. They claim that the light that shines in the darkness can be trusted more than the darkness itself and that a little bit of light can Continue Reading
I was just looking at an online brochure for an event on the West Coast sponsored by Sojourners. It follows a successful Call To Renewal event in Washington DC, Politics and Spirituality: Seeking a Public Integrity (which happened January 14-16 this year). This one is called Politics and Spirituality: Outer Witness, Inner Faith (to happen Sept.8-10 in Pasadena) My mind Continue Reading
The nationalistic litany proves to be the opposite of the sense of “to bless” as used in the New Testament: Mixed Blessing at inward/outward Of the 41 appearances of the Greek verb eulogeoo (literally “speaking a good wordâ€), only twice do we find it in the imperative mood. In neither case does it involve God. It does, however, involve us. Continue Reading
I’m not talking about evangelistic sermons on blogs, but that churches need bloggers to tell their story; to tell their story is hopefully also to tell the story of their church. And this enables the blogosphere readers to find churches that are talking about and doing things which proclaim “good news”; that here is a place and a people who Continue Reading
What an outstanding post from David Hilfiker at the inward/outward blog I just mentioned in my previous post. Below is a small portion, but read the entire post, and follow the comments as they come. Does Charity Choke Justice? at inward/outward But soup kitchens and food pantries are now our standard response to hunger; cities see shelters as adequate Continue Reading
This from Ray McGovern, via inward/outward, on the resignation of so many to say “what can we do?”. McGovern expresses and exasperation with what has become seemingly a habit of those who call themselves “Progressive”. Ray McGovern | The Courage to Face the Consequences The Courage to Face the Consequences By Ray McGovern I had the privilege of sharing speaking Continue Reading
Wonderful post from Kayla over at inward/outward, the daily meditation blog coming from the Church of the Saviour communities. I especially like the descriptions: “immersing ourselves in whatever pieces of creation-mending are the right pieces for us” and “become sane in the midst of insanity” Joining God’s Dream at inward/outward we now find ourselves standing against all that is not Continue Reading
p. 112 Without the Kingdom idea, the church loses its identity-forming hope. Without the church, the kingdom loses its concrete character. –Stanley Hauerwas, Against the Nations, p. 112 Very much a COS dogma; The Journey Inward and Journey Outward, and NEITHER can assume any independence from the other. In ANY way shape or form. There MUST be the identitiy of Continue Reading