The current craze in contemporary spiritual literature is to embrace a Churchless Christianity. I realize that this is often done out of frustration. But the church that Christ loves is not a supermodel, but rather, a flawed and broken bride. Like Christ, we must regain a love for the church as it really is - warts and all - and not as we imagine it should be. »more
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The current craze in contemporary spiritual literature is to embrace a Churchless Christianity. I realize that this is often done out of frustration. But the church that Christ loves is not a supermodel, but rather, a flawed and broken bride. Like Christ, we must regain a love for the church as it really is - warts and all - and not as we imagine it should be. »more
The birth of church at Pentecost is accompanied by strange events: a violent rushing wind that produces a deafening sound, floating tongues of fire that alight on people's heads and yet do not burn their hair, and the miraculous ability to speak in different languages. Strange events indeed! "What does this mean?" and "What should we do?" »more
We dwell in a secular world, but we believe in a sacramental world - a world alive in God, created by God for God. The gospel will always clash with secularity. Reason is not the ultimate authority. Matter is not all that matters. And yet in spite of its extremes, secularity has much to commend it. We would do well to affirm its positives while critiquing its negatives. »more
A creed is a concise, formal, and authorized confession stating what a church believes and teaches. A creed attempts to summarize "the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). It expresses the conviction that "continuity with that faith is the essence of orthodoxy, and discontinuity with it the essence of heresy." »more
All without distinction are loved by God - a love that is wider, broader, deeper, and higher than we can possibly fathom. Our temptation will always be to sell it short, to whittle it down, to shrink it down to a size we can manage and control. On the contrary, we must humbly recognize that we cannot possibly comprehend the greatness of God's love. »more
Where is Jesus? The short answer: Heaven.
Unfortunately, our preconceptions of heaven get in the way of understanding what the early church meant in its confession of Jesus' ascension to heaven. Too often, we focus on the question: Where is heaven? A better question is: What is heaven? Jesus is not "somewhere in a galaxy, far, far away." »more
The metaphor of family is applied to the entire life and mission of the faith community. It speaks of a shared commitment, mutual responsibility, and common identity. In our self-absorbed, fragmented culture, we need this metaphor to expand the horizon of our care and compassion. After all, most of us would do anything for our families. »more
The church is "a people whose life together witnesses to God’s redemption of creation.” This is accomplished through the witness of worship and the work of God's kingdom in the world. No matter how much people deny it, no matter how difficult the task to create and sustain it, the church truly matters – to God and to the world. »more
Too often, our attempts to make the faith "cool" are a "sellout to show-business" or a "caricature of culture" - a mere accommodation to a rapidly changing youth culture. Baptizing culture is dangerous because "culture is not the same as Spirit." There’s a difference between "trends" and "transcendence." »more
Results tagged “Church”
The current craze in contemporary spiritual literature is to embrace a Churchless Christianity. I realize that this is often done out of frustration. But the church that Christ loves is not a supermodel, but rather, a flawed and broken bride. Like Christ, we must regain a love for the church as it really is - warts and all - and not as we imagine it should be. »more
The birth of church at Pentecost is accompanied by strange events: a violent rushing wind that produces a deafening sound, floating tongues of fire that alight on people's heads and yet do not burn their hair, and the miraculous ability to speak in different languages. Strange events indeed! "What does this mean?" and "What should we do?" »more
We dwell in a secular world, but we believe in a sacramental world - a world alive in God, created by God for God. The gospel will always clash with secularity. Reason is not the ultimate authority. Matter is not all that matters. And yet in spite of its extremes, secularity has much to commend it. We would do well to affirm its positives while critiquing its negatives. »more
A creed is a concise, formal, and authorized confession stating what a church believes and teaches. A creed attempts to summarize "the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). It expresses the conviction that "continuity with that faith is the essence of orthodoxy, and discontinuity with it the essence of heresy." »more
All without distinction are loved by God - a love that is wider, broader, deeper, and higher than we can possibly fathom. Our temptation will always be to sell it short, to whittle it down, to shrink it down to a size we can manage and control. On the contrary, we must humbly recognize that we cannot possibly comprehend the greatness of God's love. »more
Where is Jesus? The short answer: Heaven.
Unfortunately, our preconceptions of heaven get in the way of understanding what the early church meant in its confession of Jesus' ascension to heaven. Too often, we focus on the question: Where is heaven? A better question is: What is heaven? Jesus is not "somewhere in a galaxy, far, far away." »more
The metaphor of family is applied to the entire life and mission of the faith community. It speaks of a shared commitment, mutual responsibility, and common identity. In our self-absorbed, fragmented culture, we need this metaphor to expand the horizon of our care and compassion. After all, most of us would do anything for our families. »more
The church is "a people whose life together witnesses to God’s redemption of creation.” This is accomplished through the witness of worship and the work of God's kingdom in the world. No matter how much people deny it, no matter how difficult the task to create and sustain it, the church truly matters – to God and to the world. »more
Too often, our attempts to make the faith "cool" are a "sellout to show-business" or a "caricature of culture" - a mere accommodation to a rapidly changing youth culture. Baptizing culture is dangerous because "culture is not the same as Spirit." There’s a difference between "trends" and "transcendence." »more
A few profound thoughts from notes collected during a conversation with Yale theologian, Miroslav Volf. »more
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