“Go back to the darkest roots of civilization and you will find them knotted round some sacred stone or encircling some sacred well. People first paid honour to a spot and afterwards gained glory for it. Men did not love Rome because she was great. She was great because they had loved her."
Trendy Neighborliness
Neighborliness is trendy, I get it. Everything from yard signs to pub names to children's shows tells us we ought to be neighborly. But why do it? What is the fuel in tank of neighborliness? What motivates neighborliness beyond a desire for social media affirmation? Can our fuel for neighborliness sustain us when loving our neighbor becomes a risky, costly activity? It must, if we are followers of Jesus:
“We should not regard what man is and what he deserves: but we should go higher- that it is God who has placed us in the world for such a purpose that we be united and joined together. He has impressed his image in us and has given us a common nature, which should incite us to providing one for the other. The man who wishes to exempt himself from providing for his neighbors should deface himself and declare that he no longer wishes to be a man, for as long as we are human creatures we must contemplate as in a mirror our face in those who are poor, despised, exhausted, who groan under their burdens... If there comes some barbarian, since he is a man, he brings a mirror in which we are able to contemplate that he is our brother and our neighbor: for we cannot abolish the order of nature which God has established as inviolable.”
Finding True Community
You can't. True community isn't found, its forged.
“This is why the Bible talks about people needing to form and make communities, not just come together as a community or “experience” community. It’s why principles are given – at length – for how to work through conflict. It’s why communication skills are articulated in the Bible and issues such as anger are instructed to be dealt with. It’s why the dynamics of successfully living with someone in the context of a marriage or family are explored in depth. As the author of Hebrews puts it so plainly:
’So don’t sit around on your hands! No more dragging your feet… run for it! Work at getting along with each other.’ (Hebrews 12:12-14, The Message)”
Dr. White's whole post is worth reading. Check it out here.
Thanksgiving in August
What to Expect Sunday (8/19/18)
"But, like, what does it have to do with me?"
When we read a map, we are looking for directions. When we read a work of philosophy, we are looking for ideas. When we read some stories, we are looking for thrills. When we read other stories, we are looking for the man or woman who wrote them. When we read the Bible, what are we looking for?
Join us Sunday at 5 pm at the Key residence (517 E. 53rd St) to discuss what exactly the Bible is, and what we ought to be looking for. Click here to register to bring food- its Thanksgiving in August!
Songs We Will Sing:
Be Thou My Vision is a meditative prayer, asking that Jesus would give us eyes to see him and his kingdom.
A modern retuning of Psalm 123 celebrates God's faithfulness to his people AND to those who bless his people.
Confident Humility
“The church must bear in mind that among her very enemies are hidden her future citizens; and when confronted with them she must not think it a fruitless task to bear with their hostility until she finds them confessing the faith…Some predestined friends, as yet unknown even to themselves, are concealed among our most open enemies.”
Midtown Beauty
I took this walking home from the last bananas game of the regular season. I'm grateful to the King for the neighborhood I live in, and whoever it was that took the risk of trying something creative in a rundown municipal stadium. You have given my sons and I a gift. If tradition is the memory of someone's past enthusiasm and presence, then may the noise from Grayson keep Parkside awake for a thousand years.
Christianity is a Boring Revolution
What to Expect Sunday (8/5)
Songs to Help Us See
When I (Soren) was in first grade, I failed a vision test. Which is sad. But not nearly as sad as the fact that I failed it on purpose. The doctor pulled my mom out of the room and said, "He failed the test on purpose. He was describing letters and signs that look like one another- but that isn't how your vision goes bad."
Do you know how your vision goes bad? Do you know what defective eyesight is? There are signs of the kingdom everywhere- but what if we don't know how to look? What if we don't want to look?
The songs we sing this week are attempts to help correct our vision. But they don't just correct our vision- they help us want to see.