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Learning to Be

Albert Bogle May 06, 2016 0 0
Learning to Be

Yesterday in my blog post I was suggesting in many parts of the Church of Christ there is a spiritual apathy. The weariness among church members exists regardless of denomination. Sometimes the most active Christian communities have the most weary members. We have forgotten what it means to "be".
Too often our theology doesn’t match up with our practice.  We proclaim we are saved by grace not works, yet the body language of too many Christian community suggests that every member is expected to attend meetings and participate in the latest church programme. We interpret “to be” as “to be busy”
Of course it’s no good condemning or judging one another.  Nevertheless, God’s people require to be re-energised, (not in order to be saved), but in order to express their gratitude and thankfulness to God for all we have received at his hand.  All this is  easier said than done.
Yet we know that the key to the renewal of the church begins with the renewal of individuals.
We may not be able to do anything immediately about the wider issues that face the Church but we can  invite God to help us with our own spiritual growth and development. We can begin that development and growth by listening to the Jesus conversations that are recorded throughout the scriptures.
The prayer that Jesus makes to God for the church in John 17 is one of the most empowering and challenging conversations ever to have been overheard.  It is worth taking time to try and engage with its content. See below Eugene Peterson's translation of a section of the passage from John 17.

Now I’m returning to you.
I’m saying these things in the world’s hearing
So my people can experience
My joy completed in them.

In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world,
I give them a mission in the world.
I’m consecrating myself for their sakes
So they’ll be truth-consecrated in their mission.

Our mission in the world as Christians is to be people living out the joy that comes from the encounter with the presence of Christ in the place of prayer. From this place flows all we need to be the Church.