In the past week I have been treated to the hospitality of
some of our younger Jesus' followers in their homes. Watching how their parents
encourage them to engage with their guests while also reminding them of
appropriate polite boundaries is a reminder of how we learn by doing.
We have been
working on learning not only how to welcome guests into our "home"
space but also into the space that exists between us and others we encounter in
the world. More rapidly than many of us are able to comprehend, what was familiar
and therefore comfortable has become alien and discomfiting. Tried and true
methods have become hit or miss, and honestly mostly miss. The old
truism--build it and they will come--afflicts the church as much or more than
many of our social institutions. And yet, the message of God's overwhelming
grace is needed even more today than when we relied on having a certain place
of respect in our culture. More than anything else the awareness of this need
is what is driving Christ Crossman to reach out into the community.
Elaine Heath, in her book God Unbound: Wisdom from Galatians for the Anxious Church, confirms
the desire and wisdom of our teams as she writes about living as Jesus'
followers in this world where everything is changing so rapidly:
Emergence Christians, as a rule, desire
to practice hospitality and humility toward their neighbors as primary forms of
Christian witness, eschewing any form of exploitative or gimmicky evangelism.
They tend toward a kingdom of God orientation based on Luke 10 and other texts,
working to discover God’s activity in the neighborhood and to join in. While
they believe that they are bringing Jesus to the neighborhood, they are also
meeting Jesus in the neighborhood. This posture differs from the insider/
outsider mind-set that is common in the inherited church. And while they
welcome people into their gatherings, they do not believe that the goal of
loving neighbor is to colonize them culturally. They take seriously the simple
words of Jesus about God loving both the just and the unjust and sending rain
on both the just and the unjust. They choose to give up all forms of control,
manipulation, and colonization in the name of evangelism and mission.[i]
So the question for each of us, and for all of us together,
is where can I (we) be God’s grace in the midst of people who face anxious days
and nights?
Galatians 3:27-28
Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a
fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ's
life, the fulfillment of God's original promise.
In Christ's family there can be no division into Jew and
non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is,
we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ.
[i]
Heath, Elaine. God Unbound: Wisdom from
Galatians for the Anxious Church (Kindle Locations 548-555). Upper Room
Books. Kindle Edition.
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