becoming

Why a little church history is a dangerous—and necessary—thing.
Carolyn Arends

…The story of Christianity ultimately leaves me shocked at the risks God takes with humans. Even the greatest lights in church history were dishearteningly imperfect. For all his heroism, Luther attacked the Jewish faith so polemically the Nazis later misappropriated his writings for their anti-Semitic cause. Reformer Ulrich Zwingli advocated justification by faith and concern for the poor, but he also endorsed the executions of two of his brightest disciples because they became Anabaptists. Simons was an inspired Anabaptist leader, but he overzealously excommunicated many who did not live up to his pious standards.

Yet God did great things through these flawed people, much as he did with Abraham, Isaac, Peter, and Paul. As long as there is a human element in his church, it will be prone to corruption. But as long as his Spirit moves, there will be reform and renewal.

When our kids are ready, we will give them context for their religious heritage. For now, they do not understand that the church they file into on Sunday mornings is a place as dangerous as it is holy. But if God is willing to keep taking a chance on it, so are we.

[Read it all here]

You can see how dangerous it is for us not to read the Bible or to understand “a little church history” ourselves. Our projection and idea of God could never match the real one revealed in human history. We can never appreciate how gracious He really is, unless we have a deeper and fully understanding of how we are, both individually and corporately, as human beings.

我們在天上的父：

就是要謝謝你，

作我們，在天上，的，父。

子女年幼時，我也曾給他們灌輸這種信仰。兒子五歲那年，他一個朋友來我家。那孩子一把抓住了我兒子的玩具，我兒子於是跑過來，投訴他朋友是多麼的自私。我告訴他，不要小題大作，我們應該分享玩具，友善待人。

數天後，我帶兒子到這朋友家裡去，我跟他的父母聊天。這一次，那孩子不肯讓我兒子分享其中一件玩具，我兒子於是跑過來，投訴他朋友是多麼自私。我告訴他，我們作客的，應該友善待人，不應小題大作。

這故事的教訓是：對錯不要緊，最要緊的是避免衝突。忙碌的父母最不想做的，是維護正義。正視自私的行為（尤其是別人的孩子），或促請對方家長好好管教兒女。於是最好的處理方法，就是教導孩子要友善待人。

Mark Galli，咄咄逼人的耶穌，頁51。

面對所謂的「和諧」，「友善」，「中立」；我們負擔得起「公義」「真理」的消失嗎？

A Special Communiqué from the Anglican Mission in the Americas on The Anglican Mission’s Relationship with the Anglican Church in North America

More information will for sure come out in the next few months. But as the communiqué suggests, the move will “allow the Anglican Mission to maintain a level of connection to the North American Province, even though the missionary movement will remain under the spiritual and canonical authority of Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini and the Province of the Anglican Church of Rwanda. It also allows for the Anglican Mission to continue to function as a missionary movement committed to church planting as we have for the last decade.”

Please bear in mind that what is now happening for all Anglicans in North America is simply unprecedented. We are writing Anglican church history as we speak. The move should clear the inherent confusion as to how the “dual-citizenship” model can play out as previously suggested.

Update: Duncan’s ACNA Leadership Communiqué.

別人的堅強，猶如在絕對的漆黑中，為你開了一扇窗，叫你活過來。

耶穌升天去了（徒1.9），然而「道」並沒有停止，

這「道」征服世界（徒19.20）。

Bibledex is now completed. A video about every book in the Bible.

Bibledex is a project by the University of Nottingham’s Department of Theology and Religious Studies in conjunction with video journalist Brady Haran.

The videos are by no means comprehensive – rather they’re a curious assortment of academic insights into what is probably the most famous collection of books in history.

很多超級巨型教會的信眾，會在別人面前，大大聲埋怨說：「哎喲，多人到咁，識唔到人，亦無人識你…」

跟著，當人問他上甚麼教會，他又會沾沾自喜的答道：「XX教會囉，我們有20個牧師，80個傳道，一日10堂崇拜，我們有xx事工、yy部門….」

我好奇，若教會的牧者有朝一日，對他說：「好，我們聽到你的意見，請你預備時間，一一認識我們2000多的會眾，彼此交心認識」，這個人會有甚麼反應。

另外，我也好奇，若有人追問他：「那你除了主日崇拜那個半鐘出現於教會內，你支持過教會的甚麼工作？」，這個人又會怎麼回答。

這就是我所指，

大教會信眾的矛盾——

是「新造的人」朝向「新造怪人」的一種基因病變。