Christ taking form in us, living in the way of Christ, and giving ‘birth’ to Christ anew in lives of others and in the places we inhabit and where we work. Is this how you view our calling a Christians? Or how would you express our calling? Recovering the Grand Narrative The well-known Gandhian saying ‘be the change you want to see’ is appropriate as we look towards a re-vitalization of Western Christianity. And one of the ways forward is to recover the grand narrative of the biblical story. Not only are most Christians in the West biblically and theologically illiterate, but most have bought into another grand narrative. That in the words of Francis Fukuyama has been the narrative of Western economic and democratic power. We have believed in our own ability to make and change the world and have assumed that the more powerful we become the more effective we will be. This is not to say that we should not be responsible ‘stewards’ in our world or make major contributions in every sphere of life, but we have the wrong narrative. The biblical narrative has a very different theme to that of Western pragmatism and utilitarianism. Kraybill is right when he speaks of ‘the upside down nature of the Kingdom of God.’ And Brueggemann in his The Prophetic Imagination suggests that we should not follow the way of ‘royal consciousness and power’ but the way of the prophets in seeking the shalom and justice and mercy of God. The grand narrative of the Bible with its theme of the goodness of creation, the tragedy of the fall, and the grace of the new creation in Christ, calls us to a way of life not based on power over but power for. It reminds us that reconciliation, healing and forgiveness is a way of life, not exploitation, marginalization and oppression. Having come home to the grace of God in Christ, we are called to come ‘home’ to each other and to the world we inhabit. Home-coming involves ‘Christification.’ This means Christ taking form in us, living in the way of Christ, and giving ‘birth’ to Christ anew in lives of others and in the places we inhabit and where we work. Thus the grand narrative of scripture is the Christification of our world. Another extract from: ethos.org.au/Online-Articles/Engage-Mail/the-challenge-of-first-world-reevangelization
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 04:58:33 +0000
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