Places I've Been Lately

Here some places I have been lately....

Trevor Lee wrote a post about Being The Faithful Church no matter what movement or denomination you claim. An excerpt from Trevor's post reads:

"What’s really important is following the way and teaching of Jesus and being a part of the redemption of people and this world.  That starts with our salvation from our sin and from death.  And that salvation leads to transformation if it’s real.  The Church needs to start being faithful–whether it’s missional, attractional, Lutheran, Baptist, mega, mini, urban, suburban, coffee bar or not.  And being faithful to Christ is hard.  That whole taking up our cross, dying to self, loving our enemies, becoming perfect as God is perfect.  Not exactly a walk in the park.  But as we are able to approach it through the power of Christ, that’s when our witness will start to make sense and Christ’s mission will be advanced."

Mike Brantley recalls a very real, hard truth about our unfailing allegiance to our country in contrast to our reluctance to our true King and Kingdom in his post Crossed Wires. An excerpt from Mike's post reads:

"American Evangelical Christians are proud to send their sons and daughters to Iraq and Afghanistan where they might well "die for their country". They [we] celebrate their serving, their sacrifice, and we parade them before friends, family and church.

"Yet... I know very few who would be so proud, so excited, well, to send their sons and daughters to live sacrificial lives where, if sent to the Middle East, SW Asia, Africa, places in Asia, they might well die for the Kingdom.

By the way, this Kingdom is eternal and the King actually worthy to die for.

Lord, may we, your church, awaken from political religion, from national faith and theology and rediscover the radical, scandalous Messiah, who calls us to lives lived shrewd as wolves, gentle as lambs, and living sacrifices."

Alan Hirsch pulls a passage from his book, The Forgotten Ways, on Liminality and Communitas. He talks about moving from a context of security to a context of liminality in order to create true community among a group of people, specifically Christians. An excerpt from Alan's post reads:

"So the related ideas of liminality and communitas describe the dynamics of the Christian community inspired to overcome their instincts to ‘huddle and cuddle’, and form themselves around a common mission that calls them onto a dangerous journey to unknown places. A mission which calls the church to shake off its collective securities and to plunge into the world of action where they will experience disorientation and marginalization but also where they encounter God and each other in a new way. Communitas is therefore always linked with the experience of liminality. It involves adventure and movement, and it describes that unique experience of togetherness that only really happens among a group of people inspired by the vision of a better world actually attempting to do something about it. (Remember the response to the tsunami.) And it is here where the safe, middle-class, consumerist, captivity of the church is so very problematic. And it is here where the adaptive challenge of the 21st Century could be God’s invitation to the church to rediscover itself as a missional Communitas."

Where have you been lately? What good posts have you read?