It is perfect timing then, that our topic this week comes from Galatians 3 and says, “In Christ, there is neither male nor female, slave nor free, Jew nor Gentile … all are one.”
Usually when this topic comes up people want to focus on how Christ’s love “bridges” the divides between us.
I want to take it a step further! I want to look at how:
A) we are bound up in those categories of sex, religion, and politics
B) Christ’s love ruptures those categories and un-binds us from them
The love of God doesn’t just bridge the divisions among us – it binds us together in love and undermines the very categories themselves.
God’s love calls into question the human categories of:
Gender
Sexual Orientation
Religion
Politics
Love UnBound doesn’t just help us bridge the difference between us – it unbinds us to see the other in such a different way that our categories themselves are called into question.
Here is a short video – let me know what you think …
We did a little experiment last week with Facebook Live. The feedback was good so we will be improving the audio and visual quality.
If you want to check out a short sermon (like if you don’t make it church tomorrow), I hope that you will be encouraged. Below is the link [even though it won’t embed for some reason]
I am working on a clear way to present ‘Church 2.0’ or ‘ChurchNext’.
We will start with some history about different ways that the church has looked in different eras.
During the middle-ages it was primarily through sacrament.
500 years ago the Protestant Reformation made it more about preaching.
Lately, music has become the main focus of the church and the primary way that people connect with God.
Here are the two really interesting things about that:
First, in each new era, the previous way still hangs around – it is just not as prominent.
So in the reformation, sacraments were still present but just not primary. Preaching was the main attraction.
Now in the ‘music’ era, we still have preaching and sacraments (for the most part) but in many circles they are secondary or driven by the music.
Second, I truly believe that we are about to enter a very different expression. This future of the church is going to be in:
participation
contribution
collaboration
conversation
Eventually people are going to get tired of being spectators at a weekly spectacle. In so many other areas of life, people’s participation really matters. They get to contribute their unique insight, perspective, and experience. Then they come to church, sing the songs on the screen then sit and listen to a TEDtalk style sermon (I am being cheeky here).
If that works for people, I celebrate that and congratulate them. I mean them no harm … but for so many other people it is just not satisfying.
People are walking away from the church in record numbers – nones and dones are the fasting growing segment of religious affiliation on the most recent census data.
But there is a different way to do church that opens up the conversation to inquiry and doubt … it facilitates a thoughtful space to ask difficult questions. That is my hope for doing church this way and for becoming a conversational community.
You have a wisdom deep inside of you that you might not even know how to access.
I want to introduce (or remind) you to an amazing concept: phronesis
Here is a ‘7 min sermon’ on the idea and a short explanation below.
I love this concept so much.
An interesting way to access it is by using the famous formulation of:
known knowns (things we know that we know)
known unknowns (things we know that we don’t know)
unknown unknowns (things we don’t know that we don’t know)
Then Zizek reminds us that the 4th quadrant would be “unknown knowns”!!
There are things that we don’t even know that we know … and this is why we need to know about phronesis.
Another way of approaching the idea is to focus on the kind of knowledge that is produced:
phronesis (practical wisdom) in contrast to the modern fascination with
theoria (theoretical knowledge and thinking) or
techne (technical knowledge and thinking)
A helpful analogy can be found in learning to play a musical instrument:
“Playing the flute, Aristotle observes, has value and fulfills its purpose well before the music stops. This is especially the case with ethical conduct and political activity, an ongoing process of deliberation that requires practical wisdom (phronesis). In contrast, (he) viewed building a house as poiesis— satisfactory only when the construction process is complete.” [1]
Unfortunately, after Aristotle poiesis got subsumed into praxis and was reduced into the binary that we have inherited today in the classic split between theory and practice. The final, and perhaps most popular, of these concepts is habitus.
The habits of faith form a character in you through repetition and spiritual practice.
You have a wisdom down inside of you.
It operates on a lower register than your immediate thoughts.
It is not just head knowledge.
It is deep inside of you – down in your bones.
Learn to trust your gut and follow your heart.
[1] Cahalan and Mikoski, Opening the Field of Practical Theology, 305.
Graham’s life show us so much about the changes in our society and the church: from newspapers, TV, civil rights, evangelicals, politics, media, and so much more.
I was moving into my new office and purging some old files. I found a magazine (Promise Keepers) from 1997 that had Graham on the cover.
Here are some of my thoughts in this short video.
I would love to hear your thoughts, questions, and concerns.
Bo Sanders: Public Theology 