Wednesday, December 26, 2007
New Vision
Kruse Kronicle is one of the best blogs out there if you like to "go deep." He recently concluded a series on the image of family in scripture. I loved his conclusion:
You know it is easy to disengage. The decisions are too hard, the failures too many, but there is much at stake. We must take our strength from the source - the source we wish to introduce other to.
Step one is to remember the goal. Our goal is not a society that works right, our goal is a society that we can bring God into. That might mean we have to do some less obvious things from time-to-time. Worth considering.
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The Household of God and the notion of fictive family were metaphors used by Jesus and the apostles to form alternative plausibility structures for the people of God. Identities were redefined and the nature of interaction with others was changed by these images. The metaphors created a sense of unity, solidarity, and belonging. They focused the mission of the group and gave their work eschatological meaning. It also generated a support network as each pursued their own walk with God. As people were in community with each other, the reality of the coming Kingdom took on a tangible quality.This brings up a striking thought. As society degrades, we are robbed of tools that we use to understand our relationship to God, creation, and each other. Can you think of a better justification to fight for the cultural relevance of our faith? The culture wars matter in a very real sense, not because we want society to function better, although it will, but because it is a part of spreading the gospel.
It seems to me that we have lost our plausibility structures. We offer no compelling narrative that can reshape individual narratives in our present context. Our identities are left largely untouched, we do not experience unity, we are clueless about the mission of God in the world, and we wonder if anything we do has eternal significance. Through it all we frequently feel alone and without adequate support.
You know it is easy to disengage. The decisions are too hard, the failures too many, but there is much at stake. We must take our strength from the source - the source we wish to introduce other to.
Step one is to remember the goal. Our goal is not a society that works right, our goal is a society that we can bring God into. That might mean we have to do some less obvious things from time-to-time. Worth considering.
Technorati Tags:society, culture, insight, family, metaphors, gospel
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