Smith & Lynn: the end or the means?
Friday, June 17, 2011
Commemoration of Samuel & Henrietta Barnett, Social Reformers, 1913 & 1936
Meditation:
A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
—Mark 4:37-41 (NIV)
Quotation:
Doubt, rather than faith, is high among the causes of the religious boom. And the church’s response to this current situation will reveal, better than anything else, our faith in God—or our faithlessness. If we churchmen interpret such pervasive doubt as a threat, then we will do as the church has done so often in the past: we will substitute the church for God, and make our church-centered activities into an ersatz kingdom of God. Our faithlessness will be evident in the easy paraphrase of the hard truth of the gospel, and in the lapse from the critical loyalty that God requires of us, into the vague and corrupting sentimentalism that has so marred American Protestantism.
Or the church can interpret the present religious situation as a promise, as God’s recall of His people to a new reformation. Our faithfulness to God-in-Christ will be manifest in the willingness to be honest with ourselves and with the gospel. Then we may view the church, not as an end in itself, but as the point of departure into the world for which the Son of God died.
Which will it be?
... Carl R. Smith & Robert W. Lynn, “Experiment in Suburbia”, in Spiritual Renewal through Personal Groups, John L. Casteel, ed., NY: Association Press, 1957, p. 165-166 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
Lord, the church is Your instrument in the world.CQOD Blog email RSS
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Commemoration of Samuel & Henrietta Barnett, Social Reformers, 1913 & 1936
Meditation:
A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
—Mark 4:37-41 (NIV)
Quotation:
Doubt, rather than faith, is high among the causes of the religious boom. And the church’s response to this current situation will reveal, better than anything else, our faith in God—or our faithlessness. If we churchmen interpret such pervasive doubt as a threat, then we will do as the church has done so often in the past: we will substitute the church for God, and make our church-centered activities into an ersatz kingdom of God. Our faithlessness will be evident in the easy paraphrase of the hard truth of the gospel, and in the lapse from the critical loyalty that God requires of us, into the vague and corrupting sentimentalism that has so marred American Protestantism.
Or the church can interpret the present religious situation as a promise, as God’s recall of His people to a new reformation. Our faithfulness to God-in-Christ will be manifest in the willingness to be honest with ourselves and with the gospel. Then we may view the church, not as an end in itself, but as the point of departure into the world for which the Son of God died.
Which will it be?
... Carl R. Smith & Robert W. Lynn, “Experiment in Suburbia”, in Spiritual Renewal through Personal Groups, John L. Casteel, ed., NY: Association Press, 1957, p. 165-166 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
Lord, the church is Your instrument in the world.
BDTC search script mobile
sub fb twt
posted by Robert McAnally Adams at 6/17/2011 02:00:00 AM
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