Rhymes: service and the church

Friday, January 15, 2016
Meditation:
    For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
    —2 Corinthians 4:5 (KJV)
Quotation:
    The laity living in the world as an integral part of it is the primary body through which the reality of the phrase “the Church is service” has to be manifested in all spheres of secular life: the Church has to show in her own life and attitude towards others the evidences of the redemptive order which is in Christ an operative fact: Christ the Lord is also Christ the servant: the Church which is the lord of all life is also the servant of all life, and the lordship is shown only through the service. The world wants to see redemption: it is not interested in being talked to about it. A church which is not outward looking... has ceased to be a church as the Body of Christ and has instead become a club for the benefit of its members.
    ... Douglas Rhymes (1914-1996), “The Place of the Laity in the Parish”, in Layman’s Church, ed. John A. T. Robinson, London: Lutterworth Press, 1963, p. 28 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 4:5; Matt. 20:25-27; Luke 22:25-26; John 17:11; 1 Cor. 9:23; 2 Tim. 2:10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a willing spirit, and show me how I must serve. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah