I've recently started teaching the youth Sunday School class some weeks at the church we're attending. It's very interesting to hear these young people express their faith and try, on my part, to both affirm what they have understood so far and challenge them to broaden their perspectives.
In every expression of the Christian faith there is something lacking. The truth and grace of Jesus is so elaborate it can't be properly expressed in any one paradigm. That's probably why even Jesus could only explain it a variety of images, stories, and actions. It's big, complex, and wondrous.
I find myself tending towards criticism of the way other people express their faith far too often. I catch myself nitpicking and looking for the flaws instead of appreciating the admittedly incomplete portrayals of what God is really up to in all this mess.
Al Hsu from InterVarsity Press wrote an excellent article on this that I read today. It's well worth the few minutes to read and much longer to consider implications.
Al also wrote one of my favourite recent books; The Suburban Christian, and has an interesting blog. I'd gladly buy him dinner...
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2 comments:
Glad you liked the article and the book; thanks for plugging them! And if you're ever in the Chicago area (or if I'm ever in your neck of the woods), I'd be happy to do dinner! :-)
Wow, the man himself!
Thanks for chiming in Al. I have to addmit that as glad as I was to find your book and blog I also wished I'd come up with them first. I'm fascinated by the issues of the suburban church in North America and enjoy any discussions I can find on how to improve things. I used your book heavily for a major paper when I was finishing my MTS recently. It's good to see a small but growing sense of desire to see God revitalise the mission to the 'burbs as He seems to be doing in the inner cities.
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