Conspirator
- Brian
- I went out there in search of experience To taste and to touch and to feel as much As a man can before he repents.
Read
Hear
Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, 2 of 2
/
0 Comments
 |
| Credit: Jonathon Camp http://www.flickr.com/photos/viknanda/ CC BY-SA 2.0 |
So, for example, our understanding of church is rooted in the New Testament--appropriately enough, even though I think Christians disregard the Old Testament to a great detriment. We Christians are always looking back into the past. What's in the Bible? What did the Christians in the First Century do or not do? This practice isn't bad, except that, by itself, it is limiting the arena of thought. The Bible, as it is, points us to the future; it gives us an image of what the future looks like. With that in mind, it is not simply that past that shapes our present, but it is the future that shapes our present. Or, at least, it should shape our present.
Why do we give alms? Why do we take communion? Why do we sing and pray? Because it's in the New Testament. It's commanded. Or, we see an example of the first Christians doing this. Our answers are rooted in the arena of the past. But, what if our arena is the future? We give because in doing so we reverse the sin problem rampant throughout creation. The future is made manifest in the present. In the act of communion, we see the social realities of the future--all races and ethnicities eating together--made manifest in the present.
We do things, but we can't explain what these practices have to do with salvation. That's disturbing to me. We are trapped in an arena of thought, in an understanding of church, that forces us to provide the wrong answers, and this is because we won't allow for different questions.
Why do we take communion? We have an example of it. Well, how about this one: what does taking communion have to do with salvation? How does that questions expand the arena of thought, the possible answers?
