GENERATIVE CHRISTIANITY

 

The snow is quickly melting away and with the rain it will soon be all gone.

Dad's cough came back again last night so he is resting again today.  He needs to have a full check-up so I hope he will phone to-morrow.  So either he or I will do it.  I am trying to make our diet better and do all I can to keep us healthy; but this cold seems to hang on so I hear from others too.

We enjoyed a visit from Randy and Sandy checking up on us I am sure.  I tried to put the curtains up; which I have been meaning to do and fell off the ladder.  I have always been a little clumsy and I think as I get a little older my balance is not as good.  I was not hurt at all but made a big noise.  So that will be on hold for awhile.  Dad will be making me wear a hard hat soon.

Skyped Carol and Panteli.  Carol had had a swim and a bit walk around the beach for over an hour and a half with Kim.  Panteli was working on a project.  Carol and Panteli are going to New York around Feb.17 until the 27th.  Very exciting news.

I did make it to church and it was nice to see everyone and I always enjoy what our minister has to say.
He points out that the most important thing about the story of Jonah is to remind us that prophets are humans and do make mistakes.

The term generative Christianity is a term used in the book "A People's History of Christianity. 
the writer  suggests being a Christian should involve memory, history, and story.   There was a time when Christianity was very militant and there were wars and inquisitions.  She says that it should not be a militant story; rather a story of generative Christianity, a kind of faith that births new possibilities of God's love into the world.

  For this rebirth to be sustained, progressive Christians must not fear tradition.  Rather they should fear ignorance of history because ignorance allows others to use static interpretation of tradition against renewing forms of faith,

Tradition is essentially the process of making connections through time, a reflective practice that makes history speak in New settings.

Generative forms of Christianity must be grounded in history and claim their rightful place in a long story of faith.  Generative Christians do not shun the past but maintain that present, past and future-the living and the dead-and the yet to be born- are intimately related to God.

Tradition can be a lifeline to hope.

Jesus was and is a radical

To go back and tell the stories of generative Christianity is to find a way forward in a confusing and painful world.   Spirituality and social justice are two important aspects of this way of viewing scripture.

Hope is the very dynamic of history and the engine of change.
Hope is the energy of transformation, and the door to one reality to another.

Spiritual visionaries of all ages have been the first to walk through that door, because in order to walk through it, first you have to see it, and then you have to believe that something lies on the other side.

The great medieval church structure faith as an in beween-ness.  Faith in between heaven and hell and the mysterious in between,  Faith embraced the mundane and the transcendental making little distinction between the spheres acting as a "thin place" a kind of permeable spiritual membrane.

We see the beauty of these ancient buildings and for me it awakens a longing for the sacred that for me somehow gives meaning to life.  Human nature never seems to change.
It is okay like Daniel said to disagree but I think that as we continue to search for truth we will be able to catch glimpses of it.  At these times there is an awareness that the God we long to know is one who response, one who forgives and heals, and lifts our guilt from us through prayer.

As we prayed today "release us Lord from all that keeps us from seeing and living in the light."
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