Much of mainline theology over the last hundred years has been an attempt to repackage the gospel into modern categories. Lutheran theologian Rudolf Karl Bultmann wrote in 1941 that “the task of theology is to demythologize the Christian proclamation.”
We finished our liturgy with more songs accompanied by organ, trumpet and choir, led and blessed by a mitred archbishop with crozier. Meanwhile, someone walked out the back door to a cold winter street, which accepted him without order, form or seemliness: a man with a slouch, a limp and a list.
This present age between the first and second comings of Jesus Christ is where we experience the ‘already/not yet of the Kingdom of God.
Disasters and their aftermath can be an opportunity for the local church to do what it does best: care for the vulnerable, get involved and seek out those in need.
“It’s a myth that religion is dying in Canada. There remains a solid core – about one third of the country – who deeply value faith. Another one third reject it, and the final third make up the ‘ambivalent middle.’”
A wise friend of mine once said something I’ve never forgotten: “I wonder what God will do next.” I recalled her comment as I pondered how God recently led me to a unique, surprising experience – writing a drama based on the lives of women at a St. Catharines, Ontario, inner city program.
Help was coming, just not from where Reverend Bill McCutchen of Hilton Head Presbyterian (PCA), thought it would. Yet the confusion of who was offering help soon gave way to one of the greatest examples of the larger church in action.
Sometimes I am part of conversations in which the CRC is understood to be the most liberal expression of Christianity from which a believer would want to run. And indeed, people do, thinking that the CRC is “going to hell in a handbasket.” At other times, I am part of conversational circles or leadership groups in which this faith tradition stands out as a lonely bastion of conservative Christianity, and people look at me sideways because my faith is so markedly conservative, so “reformed.” Both cases can spark an identity crisis.
Orthodox convictions – and the sense that believing key doctrines matters and that this good news ought to be shared with neighbours far and near – that lead to healthy growth.
Sijpkes says the Humanitas experiment in intergenerational living has drawn “crazy” levels of international interest, with visitors and queries from all over the world. And a number of similar projects are already underway elsewhere.
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