2012 MAR

Greetings to all on 10 MAR 2012


Word for the Day
Nicene Creed
The Nicene Creed was written by the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 325 C.E., with additions by the first Council of Constantinople in 381. [1]

Quote for the Day
For too long, we’ve called unbelievers to “invite Jesus into your life.” Jesus doesn’t want to be in your life. Your life’s a wreck. Jesus calls you into his life. [2]

Website for the Day
http://www.disciples.org/ccu/programs/stonecampbell
This is a great resource for all of us with roots in the Stone-Campbell movement.

Thought for the Day
Several weeks ago, our small group was reflecting on this text: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” [PRO 1.7] Our tradition has been to interpret “knowledge” or “knowing” in such verses as intellectual constructs gained by rational analysis of the text. Our leaders of the Restoration Movement, such as Thomas Campbell, believed that everyone could come to the same conclusions (beliefs) by logically examining the written word. Time has proven that this degree of agreement is neither possible nor healthy. To his credit, Campbell did not make uniformity a test of fellowship.

What if we have overlooked a different view - one that fits everyone, not just those with a scholarly bent? Consider the use the word “know” in the Tanakh (OT). Adam knew is wife. [GEN 4.1] He didn’t just introduce himself and then read a book about Eve! (Men are from God - Women are from Ribs?) An intimate relationship is implied by this verb. One of our Sunday songs says: “I Want to Know Christ and the Power of His Rising.” The words are from Philippians 3.10 “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” When we sing that song, don’t we feel a yearning for more than just facts about Jesus?

Leonard Sweet recognizes this see change that is occurring across the various tribes of Christendom; he interprets it as a re-booting of the church. He uses the acronym MRI where M is Missional, R is Relational and I is Incarnational. [3] We find the same trio in the Nicene Creed: “And I believe in one holy, catholic and apostolic Church.” Apostolic refers to the sending out on a mission. A holy people are set aside for a relationship with God. Catholic refers to the church universal with unique incarnations around the world. Sweet posits that if this is valid, then it must be found in scripture also. And, of course, it was there all along: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” [JOH 14.6] The way is the mission. The truth is the person - Jesus, who calls us into a relationship with him. The life is the incarnation of Jesus living in us communally as each church family.

How can we know God? We are familiar with the usual dichotomy: meditation, prayer and reading as avenues for the vertical relationship and the horizontal relationship with others. What if there is really no distinction? Sweet suggests that we’ve created a false divide between the sacred and the secular. Maybe Jesus was warning against that tendency when he said “For as much as you have done this to one of the least of these, you have done it unto me.” [MAT 25.40] Is this one of those verses that we read correctly but interpret backwards? We imagine ourselves as the little Jesuses helping the poor and mistreated, but it actually says that Jesus is in these people!

The Christian Chronicle just published an article about the decade of declining membership within Churches of Christ. I was flabbergasted to read one of the comments that said “We are too focused on converting a stranger or feeding the poor and not on strengthening the people who sit on the pews.” [4] Huh? Could we possibly be less focused on the lost and the poor who do not first come to us?

We can all “grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” [2PET 3.18] It doesn’t matter about your formal education, whether or not you like to read, if you are left or right-brained. Jesus calls you into his life - because your life’s a wreck.

May God Bless
Mike Toole
Adrienne Owen, ed.

1. Found at: http://sacred-texts.com/chr/nicene.htm

2. Russell D. Moore, A Purpose Driven Cosmos, Christianity Today, February 2012, p.32

3. Leonard Sweet, Zoe Group Conference, Midland TX, March 2, 2007

4. Found at: http://www.christianchronicle.org/blog/2012/02/102000-fewer-people-in-the-pews-since-03-churches-of-christ-in-decline/