0

Category: Church

Home / blog / Church
Oct52008

The Common Life

The more I walk, the more I realise that the Christian faith is about communion.  Not necessarily in the sense of bread and wine but rather in the sense of relationship.  What that means has been amplified for me by my current situation.  I realise that we are not just in communion with those we choose but rather those God chooses.  When we gather around the table we don’t do it as individuals but rather as the Body of Christ.  I commune with God whilst I commune with you… and you commune with God whilst you commune with me.

Now that doesn’t mean we always agree.  It doesn’t even mean we have to like each other.  What it does mean is that we have to love each other.  Not in a smoochy type manner.  Now in the manner of “I love…” meaning “I think X is a sinner and going to hell so therefore I love him/her…”  To love is not something that a condition can be placed upon.  To love is ‘as is’.

So here I am as a guy with an evangelical heritage asking questions about what it means to be catholic.  For the answer I have to agree with a wiser older man who comes from a much more catholic background than I who defined the term as this:

Catholic doesn’t mean being ‘high church’ it means something much more fundamental – I believe that Jesus is alive and working through the whole of the church and I need to be attentive to and listen to the whole of it! You can’t do this if you are sectarian!

Being sectarian doesn’t value those with whom we are in communion.  It elevates our own opinion to a station above others who are in communion with God.  This is not conducive to the common life as a corporate “Body of Christ”.

He also went on to say something about how this plays out in the common life as we relate to each other in community.  Something highly important.  Something fundamental to loving those in whom you are in communion!

Common life is putting a new loo roll on and pulling it ready for the next person.

Sep82008

Greenbelt

I have taken some of my films in to be developed and sorted through some of my Greenbelt photos.  This is taken using a vivitar wide and slim and cross processed.

Jun272008

A Generous Orthodoxy

Following the weighty tomes I had to read for my dissertation, I have decided to read something for my own pleasure.  To that end, I have finished with Brian McLarens manifesto on Christian unity, A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am A Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed – Yet Hopeful, Emergent, Unfinished Christian.  I have to say it has been an inspirational book.  I have always been hopeful for Christian unity within a church that is more often seen to be ripping itself apart.  I always find that this can become a primary focus for Christians that detracts from what we are actually supposed to be called to. 

It has been necessary for McLaren to focus solely on the positives of each tradtion within Christianity and see the distinctive nature of each denomination or movement as adding something constructive and creative to the body of Christ.  This means that he does not give the criticisms that we have come to expect as the focus for many.

McLaren has a great humility within his writing style and this is a refreshing change.  He argues to move post-division.  His aim is post-protestant convergence through a real dialogue that is post-liberal and post-conservative.  A ‘generous orthodoxy’ sees a real movement forward for the church through fostering a love for one another and a missional outlook.  But don’t listen to what I have to say about it, go and read it for yourself!