We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
When Tradition is a Too Small Cage…and a Fence
fusion-of-horizons via Compfight
Jonathan Storment wrote a fabulous article on the functions of tradition and the ways it can sometimes lead to senseless division among us. We’re really tired of division over things that don’t really matter. Aren’t you? Let’s keep the center the center, and offer grace where we differ.
From Jonathan’s blog post:
We church people don’t change well. And this, In fact, can be one of our strengths. I get that we don’t need to marry ourselves to the spirit of the day, but I do think we need to pay deeper attention to our tradition. And we must learn how to bring it to bear on the culture and time that we are living in.
Because every tradition, at one point, was a break with the status quo. Every tradition started off with trying to do something new and fresh and compelling. And over time, what was once revolutionary becomes static and codified.
Related Reading
At the Start of This New Year
Anthony Easton via Compfight Wishing all of you a year filled with an increasing awareness of God’s presence and a willingness to go where he leads you. May you be challenged every day to love outrageously as we are loved by God. May we be one as Jesus and the Father are one. Peace and…
Ana-What?
In this sermon clip from last weekend, Greg discusses how throughout Scripture, we see a strong emphasis on positive traditions in the Church. In both the Old and New Testament, God repeatedly calls his people to be anchored with a sense of history. In this sermon, Greg explains why the Anabaptist tradition is closest to…
Tribalism
Sandra Unger spoke for Greg while he was on vacation the week after the 4th. In this clip, Sandra explains whats tribes are and how that creates unintended separation between people. In the full sermon, she speaks about what it means to be part of the Jesus Tribe. She discusses the reasons people are prone to…
We’re in This Together: Unity and Disunity
Hartwig HKD via Compfight Christena Cleveland has been doing a series called Beyond Multiethnic on her blog for the last several weeks. It’s superb. In her introductory post, she states: I’m excited about the booming interest in multiethnic/multiracial church, I really am. But racial/ethnic divisions are really just the tip of the iceberg; they’re often the most glaring…
Why Racial Reconciliation Matters
In Psalm 72, the author prays for a day when “all kings” would “bow down” to God’s anointed and when “all nations” would “serve him” (vs. 11). At this time, the Psalmist continues, God’s king will deliver “the needy who cry out” and save “the afflicted who have no one to help.” He will “take…
Conservatives and Liberals in the Same Kingdom
Jesus did not allow the world to set the terms for what he did. For instance, he called Matthew, a tax collector, as well as Simon, a zealot, to be his disciples. Tax collectors were on the farthest right wing of Jewish politics, zealots on the farthest left. In fact, zealots despised tax collectors even…