As I said yesterday, I want to visit the edge, the 2010 of the church and mission. The “edges are the seedbeds of the future.” Not the far distance future, the near future. How do we experience Faith at the edges, and not lose it? How do we live it out and express it, and not get lost in the 1000’s of reconstructions?
There is little more threatening than change for those in the church. But without change, rigor mortis sets in and then they soon bury you. I was talking with the director of Black Forest Academy today about churches that should be closed. Rigor Mortis has set in; their ability (not to mention desire) to change is gone, has evaporated.
But those who oppose change generally seem to confuse content with expression. The Ancient text, the Ancient Story of Redemption, does not change. In fact the Holy Scriptures take a clear executionary view toward those who change the story (Rev 22:18-19). But the context of the modern world demands we find a way to exegete our world and communicate (expression) successfully within that modern world.
Taylor suggests that God is always found at the edges. He is the one who makes all the bridges between experience and Truth. Our systematical deconstruction of the Scriptures (commonly known as Systematic Theology) replaces the flow and story of the Ancient Text with an outline of bullet-point facts about God and His world. While not wrong in and of itself, it seems to reduce God to a science project. We lose all the passion, risks, drama, romance, mystery, discovery and hope of the Story while learning lots of facts. We gain content and lose the Spirit.
The edges are looking riskier and better everyday. Lets explore the future of tomorrow today at the edge.
There is little more threatening than change for those in the church. But without change, rigor mortis sets in and then they soon bury you. I was talking with the director of Black Forest Academy today about churches that should be closed. Rigor Mortis has set in; their ability (not to mention desire) to change is gone, has evaporated.
But those who oppose change generally seem to confuse content with expression. The Ancient text, the Ancient Story of Redemption, does not change. In fact the Holy Scriptures take a clear executionary view toward those who change the story (Rev 22:18-19). But the context of the modern world demands we find a way to exegete our world and communicate (expression) successfully within that modern world.
Taylor suggests that God is always found at the edges. He is the one who makes all the bridges between experience and Truth. Our systematical deconstruction of the Scriptures (commonly known as Systematic Theology) replaces the flow and story of the Ancient Text with an outline of bullet-point facts about God and His world. While not wrong in and of itself, it seems to reduce God to a science project. We lose all the passion, risks, drama, romance, mystery, discovery and hope of the Story while learning lots of facts. We gain content and lose the Spirit.
The edges are looking riskier and better everyday. Lets explore the future of tomorrow today at the edge.
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