The Church is Everywhere (Even In Churches) – Fr. Kenneth Tanner
It is true that the church is universal and so everywhere, enveloping all creation. The church does not have borders or rails or walls.
I had a friend whose church was the massive entourage of workers that accompanied the global tours of a rock group. Marriages. Baptisms. Loitering. Listening. Word. Presence. Communion. He was their shepherd.
He was grateful for a friend who called his flock a church. He told me so.
My wisest friends in the Eastern churches tell me we can never say where the church is not, only where it is.
Lately, it’s become fashionable to say that the church is not in buildings with pews and altars and pulpits. And I understand the inexcusable beliefs and the practices, abuses, and harms that lead to such convictions.
I still see the church in unusual and unexpected places, like AA meetings and bars, and I celebrate its presence everywhere two or more are drawn by the human God.
And, God forgive me, I still see the church in its institutions. The Spirit of God is not limited by our judgments against one another or our experiences or our bad theology.
The Spirit falls and moves in places we judge as dead or broken or irredeemable.
Humility teaches us to love every gathering of God’s people for God loves them.
This is not a counsel to settle for anything less that the goodness and mercy, the beauty and justice, of Jesus Christ.
We welcome the fire of his restorative works that will eventually make of us gods, beginning with our own house, but we do not say where the church is not.
Massacres in the Name of Religion – Monte Wolverton
It had been some twenty years since I visited France, so when I was invited to the 33rd annual St. Just le Martel Cartoon Festival, I had to find a way to go. St. Just le Martel is a village east of Limoges, about four hours south of Paris by train. I traveled with...
Book Review of Brad Jersak’s ‘Her Gates Will Never Be Shut’ – by Rob Grayson
Today I’m delighted to be reviewing Her Gates Will Never Be Shut: Hope, Hell, and the New Jerusalem by Brad Jersak, published in 2009 by Wipf & Stock. Hell is a subject which, in my experience at least, is not often openly spoken about in churches and...
Blessed are Those Who Mourn – Steve Stewart
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”I have been thinking about this second beatitude a lot over the past couple of months. It is about both identification and promise. Jesus, after all, mourned¬¬-––He mourned over Jerusalem that rejected Him; He...
“It was evil” – Reflections on the Dresden bombings – Victor Gregg
A MUST SEE: "The most powerful interview I've witnessed" "The best television I have ever seen," "Incredibly moving story. What a hero," "The moments of silence were the loudest," Some of the reaction to an interview with Victor Gregg on BBC Breakfast. The 95 year old...
Radical Hospitality in Ordinary Churches – Elizabeth Turman-Bryant.
Elizabeth Turman-Bryant asks, "What does it look like for ordinary churches to live out radical hospitality?" This video introduces her findings on what is common to all such works. Click here to visit the full website.
The Last Battle and Emeth: Adieu – Ron Dart
There are few who are not aware of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia. Many have read the delightful and charming seven missives a few times, others but once and many more, probably, have seen the first three books turned films: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,...
Bear Arms or Bared Arm – Bob Ekblad
Acts of vengeance to vindicate honor have been in the press on a near daily basis this past month, causing me to think seriously about how Jesus exposes and deals with human violence and reveals God’s radical, shame-disarming power. In the immediate aftermath of...
Us Versus Them: The Myth that Underlies Our Violence Against the Other — Andrew Klager
This is the myth that underlies our violence against the Other—our so-called “enemies”: One of the motivations of violence against the Other is portraying oneself—or “our side”—as completely “good” and one’s enemies—or “their side”—as completely “evil.” We do it all...
‘Why share the gospel if there is no hell?’ Brad Jersak
I am frequently asked why anyone (including Jesus, the apostles and countless martyrs throughout the ages) would bother sharing the gospel if there is no hell. Before we even go there, I would hasten to ask, "Who told you there's no hell?" Of course...
DARE WE HOPE for the SALVATION of ALL? – Kallistos Ware
DARE WE HOPE for the SALVATION of ALL? Origen, St Gregory of Nyssa and St Isaac the Syrian Bishop Kallistos Ware The Collected Works Volume I The Inner Kingdom, St Vladimir’s Seminary Press Crestwood, New York 2001, 193-215. Prev. publ. in Theology Digest 45:4 (1998),...