Sacramental Living

This is the first in an ongoing, occasional post where I’ll include some interesting reading I’ve found in recent days.

1. Here’s a Barna Group article on the trend of people finding non-church worship to be biblical.
2. About a quarter of Americans are faith-hopping these days.
3. Roughly 70 percent of churches in US America are offering some sort of health care or service to their communities.
4. How would like your pastor to issue a challenge to couples to have sex every day for 30 days?
5. Here’s 19 practical ways to build better website buzz.
6. David Fitch sees some similarities between Barack Obama and the Emerging Church movement.
7. N.T.  Wright has a new book that might shake up our conception of heaven.
8. NextReformation consults Eugene Peterson on some interesting notes concerning spirituality.

——

Brian Niece
www.brianniece.com
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This is a continuation of Sin and Facial Hair 1.

Martin Luther once wrote:

“Original sin is in us, like the beard. We are shaved today and look clean, and have a smooth chin; tomorrow our beard has grown again, nor does it cease growing while we remain on earth.”

It’s been just over 2 weeks since this little Lenten exercise began. I’ve become oddly comfortable with the unevenness of my facial hair. It doesn’t yet itch. I’m sure that’s to come soon.

I’m amazed at how quickly I’ve grown (pun intended) accustomed to this emerging beard. I get surprised looks from people who know me but haven’t seen me in a few weeks. Then I remember, “Oh yeah, I look like an unshaven, unkempt, fill-in-the-blank to this person.”

Such situations have opened up great conversations.

“Why the, ummm, beard?”

“Well, you see, I and some other guys in my church have given up shaving for Lent to remind us of our sin.”

“Uh-huh. And you want to be reminded of your sin?”

“Yes, so that I don’t let it have power over me …”

And so on.

My “beard” is by no means attractive at this point. Although, my wife tells me she likes it … Not sure what to make of that.

Sin is not attractive either. But it can easily become something that no longer surprises us. We can quickly grow accustomed to sin and the power it has over us.

I’m praying for the strength of Christ’s Spirit to remind me of how easily I can be lulled into the lie … and for the perseverance to run as fast as I can away from that lie.

SO TELL ME SOMETHING:
What’s something that you’ve learned about the nature of sin?

——

Brian Niece
www.brianniece.com
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This is the final part of an ongoing post. Part 5 is here. Part 4 is here. Part 3 is here. Part 2 is here. Part 1 is here.

What then are the responses to exile that speak into the church today? Where do appropriate responses begin?

The acknowledgement of exile must begin with local church leaders. The local church exists as a remnant as it were; the good figs that can be the conduits for the future of God’s will. The local church desperately needs to end denial and cover-up of the exilic situation. Stark awareness of the parallels between Biblical exile and the contemporary church must be accepted.

The local church, allowing for brokenness as reality, will find pain and hardship. Yet, out of this pain will flow grief. Local leaders must allow their congregations to grieve the loss of old ideologies and deluded notions of security. From grief grows the possibility for newness.

Hope in the midst of seeming hopelessness can be found again in God alone. The holiness of our holy God has proven time after time to be the wellspring of hope fulfilled. A true perspective of our heritage of faith in light of God’s holiness clearly shows that authentic faith is in direct opposition to the dominant values and perspectives of contemporary US American culture that by-pass grief, holiness, and memory in favor of the fleeting present.

The Christian community living in exile in US America must investigate the lessons from our past. Delving into the former traditions, retelling the working of a holy God in our community, leads to a new narration incorporating the memory of tradition and heritage in faith. Such a re-narration opens the way for new possibility.

What forms this new possibility will take, who can say? The Biblical perspective of exile teaches the contemporary Christian community that God alone works out something new.

With the prospect of such hope and possibility, the church can return to the business of simply being the church–being the people of God. The church is in the empire and cannot separate itself. Nor can it assimilate into the empire without losing theological identity. The community of faith must re-tradition itself to being the people of God while living in the empire. This learning process will evolve as the church moves through grief to hope and possibility.

The church can re-establish its own identity, its own culture, in the midst of an opposing system. The church, by simply being people of God, will become a social and spiritual voice. The voice may not be accepted by the world, nor even considered authoritative by the majority, but the voice must be heard. The leaders of the Us American church must speak the words of God into their communities of faith so that the church in turn can speak the words of God into the dominant cultural perspectives. Absolute devotion to God’s holiness as our only source of life becomes the method for re-narrating our present while remembering our past and looking creatively toward a future dreamed by God.

SO TELL ME SOMETHING:
What other possibilities do you see?

——

Brian Niece
www.brianniece.com
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.