I don't get to many of these because I'm helping with a Christian Studies Course in Basildon on Wednesdays. The other one I attended was thought provoking and challenging, so was this one, but in very different ways. Here is my reflection after the 'event'.
Tonight we watched a talk by Shane Claiborne. He decided that his Christianity should be more authentic, so he went to work with Mother Theresa in Calcutta. The talk was obviously more detailed than that, and covered many other things, including his work with the homeless in Philadelphia, where he was arrested for breaking bad (so the judge said) laws.
At the end we were asked three questions, I have noted the answers that we came up with.
What does God want His Church to be known for?
What did tonight's talk teach us about Jesus?
How can we apply what we've heard, learnt, and already know?
Predictably there were fewer answers for the last question, which is, to me, the most interesting one. What do we have to do to respond properly to the love that Jesus has shown for us? The passage in Matthew 25:31-46 was mentioned in the talk. At the final judgement the sheep and goats are finally sorted. The sheep are those who have taken care of the poor, the goats are those who have not.
It is difficult in the light of this passage and the way Shane has apparently lived to place myself among the sheep. To be there surely I must be out there actively doing good for the needy, instead of stuck in the church trying to make disciples, or even only better disciples. If I'm not teaching them how to be among the sheep, then I am failing them as well as me.
I've followed this thought path before, quite a few times. It ends with the question 'What are you going to do?', followed by an embraced silence, because truly, I have no idea. Nothing stands out, l don't see any one thing that grabs me as a problem I can help with.
So, I stay where I am, and continue to do what I do, with a sense that time is running out.
Tonight we watched a talk by Shane Claiborne. He decided that his Christianity should be more authentic, so he went to work with Mother Theresa in Calcutta. The talk was obviously more detailed than that, and covered many other things, including his work with the homeless in Philadelphia, where he was arrested for breaking bad (so the judge said) laws.
At the end we were asked three questions, I have noted the answers that we came up with.
What does God want His Church to be known for?
- Our love for people, which shows His love for people. Everything we do should be about showing people that God loves them. This is easy to say, but hard to do.
- We should be a moral compass
- We should spread joy and laughter
What did tonight's talk teach us about Jesus?
- He was homeless
- Loves everyone
- Miracle is that he touches lepers
- Encountering Jesus means you are invited to join Him in his work.
- We see things from a human perspective, he does not, so the question is not 'What do you need?'' but 'What have you got?' For example in the feeding of the 5000.
- He makes people a priority over His beliefs, but still doesn't compromise His beliefs.
- He used Children in miracles.
How can we apply what we've heard, learnt, and already know?
- There was some discussion about how beggars should be treated
- We should take more risks
- We should be upfront about being Christian
Predictably there were fewer answers for the last question, which is, to me, the most interesting one. What do we have to do to respond properly to the love that Jesus has shown for us? The passage in Matthew 25:31-46 was mentioned in the talk. At the final judgement the sheep and goats are finally sorted. The sheep are those who have taken care of the poor, the goats are those who have not.
It is difficult in the light of this passage and the way Shane has apparently lived to place myself among the sheep. To be there surely I must be out there actively doing good for the needy, instead of stuck in the church trying to make disciples, or even only better disciples. If I'm not teaching them how to be among the sheep, then I am failing them as well as me.
I've followed this thought path before, quite a few times. It ends with the question 'What are you going to do?', followed by an embraced silence, because truly, I have no idea. Nothing stands out, l don't see any one thing that grabs me as a problem I can help with.
So, I stay where I am, and continue to do what I do, with a sense that time is running out.
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