As we drove back from a long detour I made unitentionally (some call this getting lost, I called it an opportunity for conversation), me and Danielle started talking about the Kingdom of God--is the Kingdom within? do we bring the Kingdom? do we get a ticket to the Kingdom? do we wait for the Kingdom? or do we participate within the Kingdom?----yes, these are the kinds of conversations that we often have and that bounce around in seminary students heads---I think how we think about this is very significant for our lives, but I'll my opinion for later-
Later that afternoon after picking up a mattress for Hannah's new toddler bed at Ikea, I also had an interesting conversation about the Kingdom with my sister. She was talking about a potential idea for her PHD project. This idea came out a conversation with a Jewish professor that tries to connect churches to serving the community, and often gets frustrated because churches say their mission is to "worship" God and are too busy to be involved in the community. To which, my sister responded beautifully- what if we could help churches see the connection between worshipping God and serving the community in an intentonal way. To which, her new friend said, 'only if i get to be on your PHD committe.'
Did I mention I love my sister, Dr. Rowe? What a great response.
One article I read earlier this year said that most city managers hate it when new churches start because they are blackholes of money from the community. They take money from people that would be spent on other things, and the community doesn't benefit from it at all---
Why do you think so many churches see worship as detached from the life of the community around them?
How do you understand worship?
Do you see any connection between these two conversations?
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5 comments:
wow...is till think you guys can make something work with my 'promote peace' t-shirt idea...all proceds going back to the communities where they are sold..to bebefit existing programs that are doing something to 'promote peace'. i' e-mailsing you some details.
hey world
my kids (sils and dils included-And grandkids!) are awesome - don't you think?? they are HIS handiwork ofr sure!!
promote peace. mom
Ponderous thoughts, Corey. You're preaching to the choir here with Jen Green. I think it is a sad world we live in that the church is so separate from the community it dwells in. It is interesting that so many churches focus on missions trips, etc, and forget their neighbors right their under their nose. No offense to Mosaic, though, I'm not dogging their missional focus, I am actually referring to other churches...anyways, I'll get off my soap box. Bring on future ponderous thoughts, dude!! Jen
and yes, Corey's mom, your kids and grandkids are priceless! we love them dearly!
Corey, definitely some major implications involved in your blog. You are saying that the dualism of worshiping God, is more closely related to the Samaritan woman at the well, (John 4:20) where she was complaining that Jews say that Jerusalem is the place to worship God, but Jesus says that there is coming a time when people will worship God everywhere. We do not want to dwell with others, as God dwells with us, but we want to always "fix" the problems, but sometimes the only way anything can be fixed is to "live with what needs fixing." Nothing is ever succinct for me.
thanks for the comments guys---
this is a passion of mine to help ordinary people participate in what God is doing in the world--- often the church gets it confused by thinking the kingdom is built through the church; the church exists to be agents of what God is doing, to join with where He is working to bring hope, healing, and restoration to all those who need it as a community
i think we need to flat out say that getting a ticket to the kingdom misses the point and actually does Jesus' life and message a disservice (that's a free side comment)
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