Monday, November 27, 2006

Journal
Week 1


A discussion in class between a student and John gave me the “revelation” of the context that we live in. There is a tension between what is happening in our world and what is happening to our world. God has been proving faithful in the personal orientation of my faith and the way that God is functioning in my world view and the world around me. The book “Constants in Context” by Beveans and Schroeder is showing how the six constants of Theology are understood through out history. The three types of Theology are A, B, and C. This is the way the three types of Theology are understood in the book. I can all ready see how the people in my class are going to struggle with the Idea of Theology as a discipline of human perspective in different contexts. So often we approach God as though we can think about God from an Objective perspective. I am learning how understanding self is understanding God and visa versa. It is important for me to reflect on my context in which my world view was formed. Than I can understand why I view God in the way I do.

I grew up in Souderton. My foundation is based on a missional view of living. My father and mother raised me with the understanding that I am responsible not only for my life but the lives of those on the fringe of society. This was proven to me in the way they treated my friends. Growing up most of my friends where not raised in the “Christian” context. Now I find myself once again surrounded by people that do not fit into the “Christian” context in a community which is holding onto the bubble of faith as an image. There are so many people that hold onto their “Christian” perspectives as though they are objective and not influenced through their context. The language used in the Christian culture is so full of clichés it is hard for me to listen with out judging some of the people in my class.

When John talks in the language of the emergent church, my mind is tracking and my heart is warmed. I have spent the last 5 years trying to get into the world of the emergent church and I find myself in a place that has invited me in through “biblical”. God has proven himself faithful when I sit and listen to the words of John and hear what causes great tension in others. I have lived in the tension of “what is the point?” Why are we doing this?

2 comments:

NPE said...

Scott

John Calvin said over 450 years ago that You have got to understand self to understand God; and you have to understand God inorder to understand self.

What a beautiful tension.

As for Christian cliches: All people groups form a language that is familiar to them. The problem is that they assume people outside of their group also understand their terminology- that is where the Christian-ese becomes a problem.

I have noticed in my many dealings with friends, loved ones, and co-workers who are a part of the emergent church that they also have words that have becomes buzz words. To those of us who are not emergent these terms are quite annoying to hear over and over- and have proven to become emergent-cliches of their own. (I could list a dozen or so if you want).

Communication is a difficult thing- and has been since Babel and will be until the Parousia (a Christian-ese term!).

NPE said...
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