Tag Archives: Religion

Mark 1:14-15, 21-24; seen through the lens of change in the church

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https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%201:14-24&version=NRSV

There’s always that fraction of the congregation, I guess, that objects to something new.

«Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” …. They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”»

Ok, so it’s kind of… dramatic, I guess, of me to say this (to accuse fellow congregants of being host to unclean spirits), but, seriously, I have feels about some things.

A: “Let’s open the church to the LGBTQ community and stop telling folks they aren’t worthy and welcome!”

B: “What? Are you kidding? Are you trying to destroy the church?”

A: “Let’s do something new!”

B: “No, actually, I like things just the way they are.”

(On a side note: wow, Mark is perfect for Twitter. Short and pithy. How did he know?)

 

Matthew 7:13-14 — The narrow gate

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«“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”»

(https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mat%207%3A13-14&version=NRSV;CEB)

NOBODY wants to hear this; and we start making all kinds of excuses to slip off the hook. (Yes, me, too.)

  • “Nah, that’s not right.”
  • “He’s talking about something else.”
  • “I’m not perfect, but I’m good enough.”
  • “I’m already doing it; you just can’t tell.”
  • “Well, that other person is even worse.”
  • “Whatever I do is perfectly righteous, because I am perfectly righteous.”
  • “It’s really just allegory.”
  • “Tomorrow.”
  • “I can’t, because I’m broken.”
  • “Look over there! Our society is under attack!”

(Finally looked this up. Yay search function on e-Bible.)

Bishops propose plan for Way Forward – The United Methodist Church

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Source: http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/bishops-propose-plan-for-way-forward

Interesting. Kansas City. (My (simplified) understanding is that the One Church plan eliminates restrictive language from the Discipline and allows individual congregations to decide. (Not sure how that fits in with letting entire conferences decide.))

«He [Holland] is pastor of Trinity Community Church, a United Methodist congregation in Kansas City, Kansas. He has been blogging urbanecclesiology.com about his experience at the meeting.

For his part, Holland said, he supports the one-church model. “There is no model that is unproblematic,” he said. But he said is not fearful of the debate moving to the local-church level.»

Vitality takes many forms in German churches – The United Methodist Church

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Interesting.

http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/vitality-takes-many-forms-in-german-churches

«“I urge my church to try new things. If it fails after a year or so, so what? We try something else,” the bishop said. “In order to fulfill our mission of reaching out to make disciples for the transformation of the world, we must be very courageous and try out new things.”»