Imagine the church unrestrained
I was reading some comments by contemporary theologian Walter Brueggemann regarding the season of Pentecost. He makes these comments firstly of the church ….
“It is not an institution, but rather a community of folk who are propelled by God’s own spirit, situated in Jesus’ own narrative, and alive in the world in alternative ways.”
In making these comments Brueggemann is not only making comment on the nature of the early church situated around Jesus human incarnation some 2020 years ago but also and as importantly he is making comment on the nature of the church we need to live in today. Where we are a community that stands over against institution – where we are propelled not by regulation or fear but by God’s own Spirit. Continue reading “Imagine the church unrestrained”
What did Jesus come to do?
I invite you to sit down for a minute or two and make a list of the things that Jesus came to do. I did this recently and I found it breath-taking. All of us have in some way or another decided for ourselves the answer to the question and boxed in Jesus and therefore limited to our view-point the mission of God expressed in and through Jesus let alone the Holy Spirit.
Of course the answer we trot out is ‘He came to save us and set us free – to pay the price so that we might “get to heaven”’. But what else? What do our scriptures tell us? What do His words and actions, his prayers reveal as too God’s intent in and through Jesus. You will need a bigger piece of paper than you think and more time. You may have to let go of some well entrenched beliefs so that you might gain a fuller understanding Continue reading “What did Jesus come to do?”