Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Hope
Milt Stanley links to a Will Willimon post on the qualities of a church leader. It is the end of the post that I find most interesting:
Consider how that calls into question the entire model of how churches are happening today, all the alternatives, all the break-aways, the emergings, all of it that seeks to build anew that which should be remade. Suddenly being a stodgy old, dead and dying PC(USA)er doesn't look so bad.
Why do we run to start anew when we could redeem? Mostly because it is easy I think, but also because we have a cheap gospel. We too easily divide the world into "saved" and "not saved." But God only has one category, really - "On the road."
Think about it, God WILL judge, but He withholds judgment until He decides it is the time. The day will come when we will be judged, but until that time we are all on the road to salvation, and that includes our churches.
We need the patience to wait on our judgments, and while we are waiting we need to be hopeful. Love demands that we hope.
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“I’ll tell the Bishop but let me warn you, this guy really believes that Easter is true. To tell him a pastor or a church is dead means nothing to him. He just sees death as an opportunity to see what Jesus can do.”What fascinates me is the idea that the response to a "dying" church is not to run away but to believe in the resurrection.
Consider how that calls into question the entire model of how churches are happening today, all the alternatives, all the break-aways, the emergings, all of it that seeks to build anew that which should be remade. Suddenly being a stodgy old, dead and dying PC(USA)er doesn't look so bad.
Why do we run to start anew when we could redeem? Mostly because it is easy I think, but also because we have a cheap gospel. We too easily divide the world into "saved" and "not saved." But God only has one category, really - "On the road."
Think about it, God WILL judge, but He withholds judgment until He decides it is the time. The day will come when we will be judged, but until that time we are all on the road to salvation, and that includes our churches.
We need the patience to wait on our judgments, and while we are waiting we need to be hopeful. Love demands that we hope.
Technorati Tags:hope, judgment, resurrection
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