As we REALLY should be.

Surely the role of a church leader must be to orchestrate, to guide, to lovingly lead a people who as a whole reflect the life and love of Jesus -simple hey? NOT! It is obviously lifelong, perhaps even unattainable in this life, but, that said, it is our goal. It is certainly my goal.
There are obviously a myriad of things that hinder such 'reflection' (this is a pivotal idea/word for the Theological Aesthetics that I believe is becoming the essential Theological stance I am drawn to take - Led there primarily by Jonathan Edwards and Hans Urs von Balthasar).
One major hindrance is what I will term 'absorption'. It is really a term to denote the osmotic process of Christian people adapting to and living by the values and ethics of the culture in which they live. There is no malevolent ambition behind this it is simply an adapting or a giving over of the radical ethical values of New Testament Christianity to those which are far easier to live by.
One small section of scripture is perhaps sufficient to expose the ease with which 'absorption' redefines our essence as the people of God and stains or muddies our reflection of Christ.

It is from Ephesians Chapter 5 and is the third & fourth verse:

"...sexual immorality, and all uncleanness, or greediness, must not even be named among you (as is fitting for saints), and obscenity, and foolish talk, or coarse jesting..."

What Paul is here impressing upon us as a model of living would, I absolutely assure you, be laughed down and cast out as a model of life for the majority of believers whom I lead and with whom I interact. Hey let me say it more effectively: it is a model of life I, yes 'Pastor' me, would say is not REALLY one by which we are meant to live today. I've said from our pulpit that I am stunned at some of the DVDs in the collections of X1ers; John Piper, speaking to aspiring Pastors, highlights that he could never ever watch many of the films those listening to him speak would consider entertainment.

Challenging?
I know!

Absorption has certainly drawn me away from the biblical model of life. It is the power of the Spirit, not renewed striving that will draw me - any of us - back to that lifestyle which Paul intimates here.

Simon

Wedding Quotes

Many of the members of Christ First (and a veritable plethora of other churches to tell the truth) were involved in a truly special day this past Saturday. Two of the young 'golden nuggets' of our church became one in marriage. It was a truly special day for all, and it was very much a truly special day for me as I had the honour of sharing the wedding homily.
I quoted repeatedly from the spectacular Catholic Theologian that has been 'lifting my gaze' of late, Hans Urs von Balthasar (be prepared to see this name and the output of his voluminous & remarkable writings often here) and thought I would place those quotes in full here for any to take in or to re-take in - they're more than worth the effort!

"What is a person without a life-form, that is to say, without a form which he has chosen for his life, a form into which and through which to pour out his life, so that his life becomes the soul of the form and the form becomes the expression of his soul?"

"What could be stronger than marriage or what shapes any particular life-form more profoundly then does marriage? Marriage is only true to itself if it is a kind of bracket that both transcends and contains all an individual's cravings to 'break out' of its bonds and to assert himself. Marriage is that indissoluble reality which confronts with an iron hand all existence's tendencies to disintegrate, and it compels the faltering person to grow, beyond himself, into real love by modelling his life on the form enjoined. When they make their promises, the spouses are not relying on themselves - the shifting songs of their own freedom - but rather on the form that chooses them because they have chosen it, the form to which they have committed themselves in their act as persons."

"If beauty is conceived of transcendentally, then its definition must be derived from God himself. Furthermore, what we know to be most proper to God -- his self-revelation in history & in the Incarnation --- must now become for us the very apex of & archetype of beauty in the world, whether men see it or not."

Chew, ruminate, be joyfully confronted that you do not understand all he's saying - he is talking about mysterious wonderful things is he not?

Simon