As my parents got older they started putting away the salt from the table. It wasn’t that they didn’t like the taste it’s that they realized that too much of it was not good for them. They were realizing it was coming out all the time and that their blood pressure was steadily rising. But what I don’t think they noticed is that when they put it away they would slowly, imperceptibly miss it—and even need it back in their bodies. The rise of Calvinism and Charismatic Continuism seems to be doing the same thing.
Category: church
She could see the threatening glow gathering above the flat horizon in the East. The Hammer was rising.
Everyone else in the village had hidden themselves away- just as The Boundaries stipulated. The young mother was trying, but raising two young children alone was not easy, and getting them to move without violating the writings seemed impossible. They were always in danger of transgressing, and so, often in danger of dying. Every morning’s Heatrise was one of those times.
“Come on. Come on… but don’t hurry. Don’t….,” her voice grew loud in exasperation, but she caught herself and glanced around. Little children wanted to run. It seemed a perverse joke to give them desires that would only kill them.
Back in Junior High, I’d go to school wearing my khaki pants. Folk would snort behind open hands. Eyes would laugh. Mouths would spew names. After all, who wore khakis in the 80’s? That was the time of two tone denim jeans, of acid wash and of neon.
Stupidly enough (and probably why I got chased a lot), in my annoyance, I sometimes spoke back.
Categories
What Does The Church Look Like?
So far, I’ve assumed certain things: (1) the church is made up of People, (2) The church’s existence is based on historical prerequisites (3) The church’s leadership is divine and an unmentioned 4th. I covered some entailments of these by pointing out that the church’s purpose is linked with the work of God, the Holy Spirit, living in the church. With such underpinnings in place one wonders what the local expression of the universal church might look like. I mean, is it merely Two or Three non-speaking Christians at the local bodega/grocery store? Is it maybe a married Christian couple taking a nap? There are some things, both positive and negative that demarcates the boundary lines of a local expression of The Church Universal: what are they?
From a sermon that I delivered that I thought was stronger as a sermon than a blog post: