Gateway: A Church for the emerging generation

Flemish Vineyard Day 2008

Psalm 119

This famous photo, taken on 5 June 1989 by photographer Jeff Widener, depicts an unknown man trying to stop the PLA's advancing tanks.

The first time i saw the previous picture was on the newspaper. It was impressive to see one man standing against the powers of this age, the powers who only know ruling by force and oppression.

When I was adolescent, several testimonies of radical Christian men and women coupled with definitely sound Kingdom teaching, also inspired me to live my Christian life in a radical way, standing firm on the Scripture. It was a challenge particularly in an environment where the Bible wasn't really appreciated. But it was also a challenge in the midst of a Church that was growing exponentially in numbers, but not even arithmetically in Bible knowledge, and in the doctrine of the Apostles. All winds of doctrine came further as hurricanes to the Body: "prosperity" and "faith" gospels, neo-gnosticism with escapist theories, biased Calvinism mixed with biased Arminianism and Pelagianism, or the recently discovered "Gehena" doctrine (which is the equivalent of purgatory for some Evangelicals), revivals with lots of external manifestations ... Wonder why it was so difficult for many, including myself, to have a safe haven, a safe port. When I look this small list, I can see many of my old days friends having taken one or the other or all roads at different times. The only safe place has been for generations and generations the Bible.

But during my life, I discovered that compromising the Bible and the teachings of Gods Kingdom normally had a negative effect in my life. Each time i not only had the intention to live according to the "majority", following the current of the thought of this world, but actively did so, found myself in places where I now wish I would have never been. My youth friends went all also to explore different spiritualities, religion, places and philosophies. And we all learned, each time followed by the next, that the only safe place to go back was and remains the Bible.

Of course, I would not have ever dreamed those days that once in the far future (almost 20y later) I would be living in Europe, in the intellectual environment of Darwinian science, neo-liberal economy and flexible orthodoxy. Since nothing is new under the sun, I found in the Bible (of course), that other men in the past experienced with similar challenges.

Psalm 119
g Gimel
17 Do good to your servant, and I will live;
I will obey your word.

18 Open my eyes that I may see
wonderful things in your law.

19 I am a stranger on earth;
do not hide your commands from me.

20 My soul is consumed with longing
for your laws at all times.

21 You rebuke the arrogant, who are cursed
and who stray from your commands.

22 Remove from me scorn and contempt,
for I keep your statutes.

23 Though rulers sit together and slander me,
your servant will meditate on your decrees.

24 Your statutes are my delight;
they are my counselors.

So from this humble blog, a single voice lifted to encourage those like Greg Venables or Tom Wright who stand firm in the faith! Your example is followed by many, and your testimonies are an encouragement to believers all over the world.

Wonderings of the Anglican Communion

As most of my friends know, I came to the Christian (bible based faith) in the setting of a small Anglican Church in La Paz. As consequence, I always had a special heart for the Anglican Communion. It was normally refreshing to know that despite the hurricanes of doctrine that whipped Bolivia (e.g.Liberation Theology, Prosperity & Faith 'gospels', Dispensationalism, and lots of other mixtures), one could always count on the Bible based faith of the Anglicans. Even if the appointed leader were once "too liberal" (low Church) or the next "too backwards" (high Church), they normally kept the principle of honoring the Bible as final source of authority: the simple saying "Show me what is in the Bible and I will teach it. Show me that what I teach isn't in the Bible, and I will stop teaching it."

I recently found a post from the Unofficial Lambeth 2008 Website. They are already suggesting that Archbishop Rowan Williams should resign in order to keep the unity of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Anglicans are the largest non RC Christian denomination in the world, and in many places they are "the" reference of what Christianity is all about. Therefore, the unity of the Anglicans is a matter not only for the member but for the whole Body of Christ on the Earth.

And Michael Daly, boldly suggests that the well respected scholar, the Lord Bishop of Durham, may be the successor and the only move that could keep the Anglican Communion as a Unity. Hereunder his words:

“But, who will replace him?” you ask. I thought about that, too. While +Rochester would make a fine candidate (at least I think so), he would never fly with the rest of the Communion and it is doubtful that most British people (apart from the Evangelicals) would think much of it, either. Step back a bit, then and think about who in the English Church has been most outspoken recently about maintaining the structural integrity of the Lambeth Conference and the Anglican Communion? I’ll give you a hint: he’s another eminent scholar and has a seat in the House of Lords.

Putting this all together may seem a bit of a stretch, but it makes sense to my supper-addled mind, this evening. Could +Tom Wright be making a play for something the present Archbishop of Canterbury has already given up on? And would it necessarily be a bad thing?

Apparently all odds are pointing to NT Wright as the successor. As for me, I will simply keep praying for the Anglicans in the pain where they are now.

Holy Week 2008

At the end of this week, specifically on Friday, our Church has organised a small gathering for the celebration of the Communion. I've gotten the responsibility to prepare some thoughts, maybe a meditation on the Last Supper (or maybe the First Kingdom Celebration). I guess that there are many places where it has been done already, so it would not be anything new. However, I'm not planning to simply surf on internet and cut-and-paste some nice thoughts, even if it is really tempting.

King Jesus is amazing. He left us a simple meal, bread and wine to celebrate his Kingdom, and to announce out loud that he is indeed coming back. Somehow the "already-not yet" tension is manifested in this meal. We join together with Jesus in the upper room, we join together with all those who through history have celebrated King Jesus in the same way, and we anticipate the consummation of times, when Jesus will appear for ever.

What is also more important is that as we celebrate communion, as we share the bread and the wine with each other, we declare that there's no more division between "Jews and Gentiles", for both have been inserted in Jesus, the true Vine. We proclaim that forgiveness of sins is available for all those who welcome King Jesus in their lives, and that are made co-heirs of the Kingdom.

The Supper is also a symbolic representation of the lifestyle of love. Love is not at all a simple feeling. It is a lifestyle that embraces the other, that campaigns for social righteousness, that actively engages in the preservation of our heritage (the Earth), that longs for the end of poverty and hunger. Actually, Jesus said that his disciples were going to be known because they loved each other in a way that would put the social systems upside down.

My question today and that probably will remain: how do we embody as Church this love-vocation?

I found the image here.