December 2005 Archives

Immediately after the previous post, I encountered this as I read on:

Healing desire of the wounds inflicted by capitalist discipline, the gift of forgiveness renews the possibility of a true mutuality and reciprocity of desire through nonpossessive participation in the other. In this way, the gift of forgiveness is the true form of absolute deterritorialization whereby desire is released from every captivity (including the bondage of anarchic self assertion) in order to flow freely as it was created to do, in the sociality of love that is the Trinity. Thus, by refusing the logic and not only by refusing violence as a means of enactment, forgiveness interrupts the cycle of violence in which justice as the guarantor of rights remains trapped.

This "nonpossessive participation in the other" is a key concept in what I believe I am talking about and experiencing in this "warping" or "distortion" of desire in regards to the effects of capitalism and its accompanying liberal democracy features: the "funding" neccessary for the resistance of Chriastians to this skewing of God-given desire is tucked away in this idea of "nonpossessive participation in the other". When we treat each other as strangers (this is what we effectively do in negelecting even that intial "discovery of the other" in the persons of those to whom we have supposedly agreed to "bind ourselves"). Of course, this "binding" is severely "loose" in our modernistic church; in our "individualistic" , "therapy-emphasizing" theological reflections. But when we are deficient in even this task, what is to become of the more challenging and confronting mission of reaching out to the "radically other" in our culture (and in OTHER cultures)? What are we to make of our refusal to encounter each other, even those of us withy whom we well may find numerous instances of similar experiences and closely related struggles with our social standing and its accompnmying responsibilities as to what we are to then offer up as our role in the body of Christ? The intentional seeking out of "the least of these" appears as "far off" ; BEYOND the space of separation from those very much like us, in which we complicitly persist. But I do not accept the premise that seeing this inability to "take care of our own", we should then postpone until "we are ready" the encounter with the radically other; the "least of these". I've heard that rationalization before. We are never ready, or finsihed, or have things sufficiently "resolved". I suspect that much of what remains to be discovered about church and God's calling is waiting for us in encounters with the unknown.

As I head in to Bell's final chapter in Liberation Theology After the End of History, which is entitled "The Refusal to Cease Suffering", I read this:

Forgiveness entails not just a renunciation (of the "right" to insist, often by violence, on what is one's "due") ; there is a substitution or replacement as well. Specifically, the agonistic logic of rights is replaced with the peaceable logic of reconciliation. The end of forgiveness is the return to God, reconciliation. God in Christ extends the gift of forgiveness to humanity for the sake of reconciling humanity to God, and Christians are empowered to receive and return the gift through its interhuman extension for the sake of reconciliation with God and one another.

Immediately my mind goes back to the major thesis of Charles Marsh's book, The Beloved Community, which he introduces with an observation about MLK:

Although a boycott was neccessary in Montgomery to bring an end to discriminatory laws, King urged the church people in the movement to keep in mind that a boycott and its achievments do not in themselves represent the goal. "The end is reconciliation, the end is redemption, " he said, "the end is the creation of the beloved community".

Bell goes on to describe the REAL SIN of capitalism:

The sin of which capitalism is guilty in the final analysis, is not that of the gross violation of basic rights, especially the rights of the poor to life. Rather capitalism is sin becuase it fractures the friendship of humanity in God. It disrupts the original, peaceable flow of desire that is charity; it ruptures the sociality of desire, which by nature seeks out new relations in the joyous conviviality that is love. Capitalism is sin becuase it harnesses the productive power of desire in its original mode, which is donation or giving, to the market. IN so doing it corrupts it, rendering it propritary, with the result that desire no longer flows in the harmonic symphony of joy that is the fruit of the creation and extension of the non-proprietary (that is, participatory) relations of desire, but is submerged in the agonistic struggle that is contemporary life under savage capitalism, where even the excluded poor, who can hardly be characterized as driven by a passion to acquire and consume, are nevertheless forced to compete with their brothers and sisters for life.

I would elaborate and suggest that this corruption of desire also pollutes the community of the church such that the beloved community is obstructed; the drive of corrupted desire steers us away from the reconciliing community and shapes us, conditions us, compels us, to tend to our own desires first; and thus "discourage" us from pursuing the desires which compel us toward community. Even the most "justice-emphasizing" and "justice-activist" churches do this. The neccessary structures upon which this "work" depends are set aside , since the implication seems to be that to tend to the inward journey and the disciplines of giving attention to the journeys of one another is to take time and energy from the already dfifficult task of "working for justice".

I myself am glad to have groups that do this and to which I can contribute, but I also recognize and long for the accompanying attention and disciplines (the alternative "technologies of desire" needed to "fund resistance to capitalism"). I continue to give money becuase I know that in a sense, I am "holding out" a fuller giving of my personal energies because I sense that there is a neglect of attention to discerning call, and discovering gifts, and listening to God for new and needed structures of resistance and mercy and alternative emodiments.

This throws our consideration of this into the classic struggle between the Journey Inward and the Journey Outward, of which the writings of Elizabeth O'Connor attest and give testimony, and of which we desperately need more and ongoing narratives to bring to the light of day the dark inner struggles we have in bringing to ministry the wholeness of dimension it requires in order for us be faithful.

APPENDIX 2

THE CHURCH OF THE SAVIOUR MEMBERSHIP COMMITMENT

The following statement of commitment has been used for many years in The Church of the Savior churches. It is a standard that we still strive to embrace and practice in community.

• I come today to join a local expression of the church, which is the body of those on whom the call of God rests to witness to the grace and truth of God.
• I recognize that the function of the church is to glorify God in adoration and sacrificial service, and to be God's missionary to the world, bearing witness to God's redeeming grace in Jesus Christ.
• I believe as did Peter that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
• I unreservedly and with abandon commit my life and destiny to Christ, promising to give him a practical priority in all the affairs of life. I will seek first the kingdom of God and God's righteousness.
• I commit myself, regardless of the expenditures of time, energy and money to becoming an informed, mature Christian.
• I believe that God is the total owner of my life and resources. I give God the throne in relation to the material aspect of my life. God is the owner. I am the ower. Because God is a lavish giver, I too shall be lavish and cheerful in my regular gifts.
• Realizing that Jesus taught and exemplified a life of love, I will seek to be loving in all relations with other individuals, groups, classes, races and nations, and will seek to be a reconciler, living in a manner which will end all war, personal and public.
• I will seek to bring every phase of my life under the lordship of Christ.
• When I move from this place I will join some other expression of the Christian church.
  

APPENDIX I- THE CHALLENGE AND THE HOPE

Some of the groups use the following as a litany to open each meeting.

THE CHALLENGE

Our lives are filled with so many challenges, struggles and hurts. They make it hard to be the free people God longs for us to be. What makes it even harder is that we are isolated we feel disconnected from others and find it hard to trust each other.

THE HOPE

We believe that new ways are possible. We know that when people come together, new things can happen. One amazing example is Alcoholics Anonymous, which 70 years ago no one knew about. Now the 12 step program is practiced around the world and has saved millions of lives. This gives us hope. Maybe there can be a group that meets for support and prayer that can help all of us deal with what life brings our way, a group that helps us all to grow more free to become the people God wants us to be. Maybe this can save our lives.

Our desire is to be a group that claims our birthright as children of God. We will take into our hearts a deeper understanding that each of our lives is a blessing needed by the community and the world.

OUR HIGHER POWER IS JESUS CHRIST

Jesus loves all people. He challenged the oppressive systems of his time. Our desire is to follow his way of love in our time, in our lives. Our world says that we are not supposed to care about and love people who are different from us. Our world tells us not to be friends with or to love people of different races and backgrounds. Our world says our worth is measured by what we own, how much money we have, who our friends are and what we look like. We believe these worldly assumptions are lies, and we desire to break down these walls of hatred, mistrust and isolation, and to become the free people God created us to be.

AN AFFIRMATION or BELONGING

Having been called out of the world's systems into God's system:

• we recognize the injustice of the world's systems; we recognize our addiction to these systems
• we recognize our helplessness to break our addiction and to heal ourselves
• we cry out for a Saviour and a community of support
• we commit ourselves to becoming recovering cultural addicts
• we will give pioneering servant leadership in every dimension of Christ's call on our lives.

Pastor John Wright with a Christmas Eve sermon on the LIGHT which shines from the advent of the Christ; a light which illuminates what amounts to nothingness; a "revealing" of what is true that overcomes what is absence of light.

Pastor John Wright

Amidst the poverty, at the very margins of the land of darkness in which people dwell, God becomes human and dwells among us, and we have seen His glory, the glory of the only begotten Child. The Light shines in the darkness. Unto us a child is born. God has sent God’s own Self into the land of darkness in which we dwell as this poor Jewish child, born of a displaced, poor Jewish woman. As Benedict XVIth said yesterday, “God our Lord did not use the outer trappings of power against the threats of History as we men do in keeping with the norms of our world and might have expected from Him. God wields the weapon of kindness; revealed Himself as a babe in a manger; and so uses His power against the destructive might of violence. Thus, God saves us and shows us what He saves.” Amidst the darkness God has sent the Light, God's very Self, the Word made flesh that has dwelt among us.

Pastor John quotes from Daniel Bell's paper: What is Wrong with Capitalism: The Problem with the Problem With Capitalism

Pastor John Wright

The ages are not juxtaposed; they overlap (1 Cor. 10:11). God has given and continues to give here and now more than capitalism’s Christian proponents can see.

What is it that they fail to see? For one thing, the way that God has and continues to gather persons together into a body called the church where, by means of the divine things in our midst – Word and sacrament, catechesis, orders, and discipline, human desire is being healed of its capitalist distortions and set free to partake of a different economic ordering, one ruled not by scarcity and struggle, debt and death, but by a charitable logic of donation, gift, and perpetual generosity. They fail to discern the divine economy that is already taking form in our midst as persons enter into new economic relations, giving and receiving, exchanging, not according to the rhythm of capital’s axiomatic of production for the market but animated by the Spirit of faith, hope, and love. In more recognizably political and economic terms, this divine economy takes the form of what the Christian tradition identifies as the Works of Mercy.

I am aware that I cannot resist the forces of capitalism on my own. (Some will scoff at calling capitalism a "force", since that is an automatic association with "America bashing", which is all lumped into the "liberal conspiracy". While I can assent to there being a "liberal conspiracy", it is of an entirely different shape than that perceived by the reactionary and aggressive forces installed in our government right now.) The "conspiracy" envelops the whole apparatus, subsuming liberal and conservative thought alike. The "resisting" requires a larger questioning; a further and more radical envisionment of what it is God has in mind when the Kingdom Of God is brought to bear on our predicament. "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light".

Even if capitalism succeeds in reducing poverty, it is still wrong on account of its distortion of human desiring and human relations. As Alasdair MacIntyre has noted, “although Christian indictments of capitalism have justly focused attention upon the wrongs done to the poor and the exploited, Christianity has to view any social and economic order that treats being or becoming rich as highly desirable as doing wrong to those who must not only accept its goals, but succeed in achieving them. . . .Capitalism is bad for those who succeed by its standards as well as for those who fail by them, something that many preachers and theologians have failed to recognize.” Capitalism is wrong not simply because it fails to succor the impoverished, but also because where it succeeds it deforms and corrupts human desire into an insatiable drive for more.

This "distortion" of desire from its God-given home/goal, that of "the heart that is restless until it finds it rest in thee" , is only for the gathered people of God. This light can shine forth from that people, and illuminate the darkness that surrounds it, but the light is nurtured in continued, disciplined, intentional discipline AWAY from that which is offered by the world as "the way it is" and TOWARD that which is truth. I have a conviction that this MUST of neccessity include a radical attention to the reformation of our own desires; which is much like, as Gordon Cosby told me, a very real addiction that must be overcome, and is that which we are taught by various forces that puound these distortions of desire into us.

What has always attracted me to the LIfe Together as told by the history of the Church of ther Saviour is that their concept and claim for the church is equally determined to be a community of "recoverers" who need constant care and feeding to fund their efforts at resisting the "darkness" and naming it, and confronting our own inner resistances and arguments and rections to why we consent to remain separated from one another. As important is the end result and the constant attention to how this community of recovering cultural addicts are called to be a force for reconciliing the two sides of various divides whch separate us from "the least of these" and bring to us the recognition and discovery of difference which is a key source of God's gift of reconciliation announced to us by the coming of the Christ into the world.

Not because they are , as we often conceive of it, "technological", but as "technologies" in the sense of how Daniel Bell* speaks of "technologies"; as "systems, structures, economies, politics, buildings, education, etc. " which work together as a package to some ends. What "piece" of this "technology set" do blogs represent for the church? What can they be rightfully said to enable or accomplish, or "transmit"?

To review the question in the previous post, courtesy David Weinberger:

Jesus was God's blog. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Hmm, then I suppose the Talmud would be God's blog for the Jews.

Anyway, I know I'm off base and off track here. Nevertheless: A Merry Christmas to you and your families.

Not so much (as in: not so far "off base"), since considering Jesus, the Talmud, etc. as God's blog for Christians, Jews, etc. is a good vehicle for conversation on who Jesus is, what the Talmud is, etc. As I have been reading Daniel Bell's book today, and the theme continues with the need for "technologies of desire" that exist as a challenge and and alternative to the capitalist order, with its "technologies of desire", it occurs to me that here is one such technology or "mechanism" that arises amongst almost any community which embodies itself as an alternative. Not that it's because of its being a "technology" (since that is in the contemporary sense of "modern electronic/computer-based technollogy), but because of its role as an enabler of a system of shared narrative and conversation around that narrative.

I believe that blogs enable a dfistributed sense of community that in at least some sense, brings us into communion with that piece of ours and others' humanity and faith that is able to be "transmitted" in this way. It seems that what happens is that the "communion" experienced is not itself transmitted, but the use of language transmitted as text , re-assembled on the receiver's end, reminds us of a community which is beyond and NOT technology. IN oter words, as a servant to a larger system of desire, directed at helping us to find and experience face to face community more fully, to the extent that this can be said to happen at all. For me, enough of it happens to make me hopeful that we Christians on the Web can learn to employ the TOOLS we have here to further the church as the "City of God"; as the "Community of Character" ; as the "recovery group where we pool our collective resources to resist the deformation of desire.

* as in Bell's Liberation Theology at the End of History: The Refusal to Cease Suffering

From David Weinberger:

Joho the Blog: A thought for my Christian friends as Christmas approaches

Jesus was God's blog. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Hmm, then I suppose the Talmud would be God's blog for the Jews.

Anyway, I know I'm off base and off track here. Nevertheless: A Merry Christmas to you and your families.

This has me thinking. Although there will be numerous qualifications and "no, it's more like....." and "The Kingdom of God is more like ...." it is an interesting idea to float. It would be interesting to hear what Radical Orthodoxer's would think.

Most of the comments on DW's post didn't seem too serious (most, but not all). For myself, I see more ways to talk about the Bible as blog rather than Jesus. There's too much "engagement" and "relationship" involved in the "meaning of Jesus" as incarnation to be captured in blog/text. Of course, there are dimensions of the Advent that are "message" and "proclamation" in the sense of what "content" they explicate. But even these considerations hang off of; or proceed from the original question or postulate: Jesus was God's blog. (I wonder how long it will take for AKMA to chime in on that one.......as of Dec. 23 920am CST, it seems to be down)

Anyway, I may work with this one for a while. Thanks David for the idea.

WHAT WE CAN'T DO ALONE, WE CAN DO TOGETHER

If you care about the church and long for something more ...

if you want to be a part of God's restorative movement where you live ...

If you want to stay in touch so that we can learn together ...

> Indicate your interest by returning the information below. We look forward to what God has in store.

STAYING IN TOUCH

If you are called to be part of a movement toward building more authentic expressions of church, we would like to hear from you. We hope to be in touch occasionally and offer some companion essays (on topics such as cultural addiction, racism, reconciliation, money, the call to systemic justice, prayer, etc.) as well as pass on what we learn from each of YOU. Let's share our resources and ideas, struggles and joys.

YES! I am ready to begin and want to stay in touch.

Name:

Address:

Telephone:

E mail¬

Tell us something about yourself. What is your sense of having been prepared for this movement? How do you see yourself participating at this point?

Be in touch in one of these ways
Return this page to:

Becoming Authentic Church
2025 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington DC 20036

Or e mail us at office@surfglobal.net with "Authentic Church" in the subject line.
(this is the email for Church of the Saviour, not the keeper of this blog. If you want to converse with me, Dale Lature, email me at dlature-at-comcast.net---replace the '-at-' with the email '@' symbol)

My Dad just called me and asked if I had heard. I had not. 58 is too young. I enjoyed his role as Leo, and years ago, his role as Tommy Delaney on LA Law. From the article, he seems to have been a good guy to have around.

AP Wire | 12/17/2005 | Actor John Spencer of 'West Wing' dies of heart attack in LA

Actor John Spencer of 'West Wing' dies of heart attack in LA LYNN ELBER Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - John Spencer had much in common with the character he played on "The West Wing": both men were driven, recovering alcoholics who seemed to have rebounded from their health problems.

Spencer's death by heart attack Friday stunned fellow cast members, who said his health had appeared better recently. The actor, who would have turned 59 Tuesday, died at Olympia Medical Center in Los Angeles after being admitted during the night, said his publicist, Ron Hofmann.

Radical Preaching: Dan Bell's Response to Our Reflections

Too much of modern theology and contemporary Christian life seems to take not the good news of God’s gift, but sin as the starting point for talking about the Christian life. We talk with sin having already set limits on what God and we can do in this world. And then the Christian life becomes just a matter of managing sin, of a utilitarian calculus of making sure sin works out for the greatest good that always includes me.

What bridges the gap between these two realities? Between the possibility of victory in Christ and the (im)possibility of sin persisting in our life? Confession. Lamentation. The spiritual disciplines. The Means of Grace that make us better than we otherwise would be, that help us grow on the way of salvation, the way of holiness.

As I move through the Advent season and the "entering in" which Jesus embodied; the "God with us"; the "Means of Grace" is such a valuable thing and a needed thing for all who seek after God. This "way of holiness" is not possible without the formative structures of Godf's people seeking to immerse themselves ever more fully in the Jesus story. The vision of church being forwarded in the little publication from Gordon Cosby and Kayla McLung of the Church of the Saviour communities ("little in terms of lenght but hefty in vision) has heightened the sense that tthere is something on the horizon. But I must say that I have been a bit disapoointed lately that things are not moving as quickly as I had hoped. I have to find some more ways, other than my blog here, and a couple of efforts to reach out and find some audience or reception for the things going on inside of me. There seems to be no outlets for me at the present that are local. That's not to say that I'm giving up on this. I can't.

I know that I need this "Means of Grace that make me-us better than I-we otherwise would be". I can't imagine what life must be like for people who long for something that they can't envision or articulate or even know that it is the source of some undefined un-ease. I have the gift of awareness of the call of God into some expression of church. But as it says in many different ways in "Becoming the Authentic Church", we are called to share this journey. But the structures in existence don't seem to have room , or "opening" for this. I am seeing more clearly what Hauerwas may have been thinking when he spoke of "the cracks" where the church might find a way to break through and be the beloved community that it is meant to be. So much of what is trying to burst forth from the Spirit's moving is needing to be let through.

If the church is not rightly gathered, then the only kingdom Christians end up preaching and proclaiming is that of whatever nation state or market they happen to be living in.

The Kingdom of God encompasses such riches, and opens the door to the ways of becoming freed. Our culture and its supporting and assumed "neccessary supports" is NOT be our guide. Dan Bell's words in his comments I read tonight brought these thoughts to mind. I haven't had too many words lately.

(Oh, BTW, thanks for pointing those comments out , Eric. I had read his first comment on Radical Preaching, and was not aware that he had posted again. )

If you sense that you are called to this way of being with others, please know this: you are not alone. And the way is not without complication. Seeking to build a Christ centered group, with diversity, reconciliation and justice at its core, is one of the most difficult and counter-cultural things any of us will ever do. Knowing this from the start can free us to take it seriously and hold it lightly. Here are some pointers that might be of help:

• Don't go it alone. Begin with two or three others who are internalizing the principles and practices described here and are ready to commit for the long haul. Support and encourage each other; listen for God's guidance; take risks. This is high adventure.
• Claim your own inner authority as a servant leader called by God. While all members will share group facilitation, you and others who are called will provide ongoing foundational guidance.
• Keep returning to the central vision. Are you honestly facing your cultural addictions and sharing yourselves vulnerably with each other? Are you seeking radical diversity? Are you moving toward greater depths of reconciliation? Are you pursuing justice for the oppressed and excluded?
• Focus again and again on the call to justice. Resistance to this call often is deeply ingrained. We wonder, who are we to think we can reform the systems of the world? But of course, the true question is, with God's call to do so, who are we not to?
• Don't be afraid of failure. Don't be afraid of success. Only be aware of the common tendency to think too much about either one. Stay quietly faithful to the process, whatever comes. And if you sense that you either are sabotaging or relishing the possibility of success, confess and seek guidance.
• These processes are both simple and complex To manage this reality, keep everything as concreie as possible. Hold to the disciplines of the beginning commitment; follow a consistent meeting format; provide everyone with a membership roll and encourage people to stay in touch and be intentional about their choice to belong; find meaningful ways to celebrate this choice. (In other words, have fun!)
• If you think you're beginning to "get it," go deeper. The most common failure is the failure to internalize the basics and to stop going deeper. Pray, read, listen, learn, reach out. Prepare to lose your life for the sake of finding Life.
• Remember that no one knows ALL that it means to follow Jesus in community. Live to the limit of your understanding. Let's learn from each other.
  

Movable Theoblogical

We continually will seek meaningful ways to bring together whatever has been broken apart and to learn how to love and be loved, even before we are lovable.

This goes for relationships across the board. Our separation from one another due to our being sucked into the hole that is the consumer lifestyle. It grieves me to see and to experience the separation that we have allowed to rule. We need to look and see the "cracks" in that "fake reality" and see ourselves and our fellow humans as gifts meant for each other. It is shameful the neglect that we have allowed to dominate our "church structures" that bear little difference from the ways of the world which , far from "fulfilling" us or making us "successful", have driven a deep gulf between us. In Christ, this division is declared over and done, and we are called to experience and recive this gift.

We identify those cultural systems that obstruct the flow of love and strive to create new structures that enhance it. We practice charity as well as justice, reaching out to those who are down and lending the strength of our voices to those who cry out for change.

Sadly, the church has all too often participated in this obstruction, which blinds us to the dire need for reconciliation that only God through his people can conquer. This "Peace on Earth" is more than a sentiment, as Bonhoeffer said, but is a COMMAND.

for instance, this one from "Grasty"

Outchurched » Blog Archive » Outchurched Podcast 2.004 - “Is the ‘Outchurched’ Thing Just Movement Away from Political Conservatism?”

I really think that the Americhurch is asking for a lot of problems some day by getting into a “Republican” mode because it only serves them while they have power. But, what happens to christians when the government has the kind of control that it has, but the Americhurch and churchianism loses its popularity? If they were the ones in political and economic disfavor, they’d be signing up at the ACLU in a heartbeat.

Grasty's Blog:

We must be in community. In small cells of belonging, we are challenged to know and be known intimately. We are not able to hide out any longer, pretending to be other than who we are. As we learn to receive and give God's love in practical, life changing ways, we begin to embody that love on behalf of the world.

This community must have extreme diversity. Being together with the poor and the privileged, men and women of all races and life experiences, we learn to respect and honor the whole family of Christ, The authentic church seeks particularly to be with those whom Jesus was with, who were outside the religious and social systems. We will work to build a diverse membership where differences become gifts.

We must be about reconciliation. The primary work of Jesus Christ is to heal us of our sin ---our separation from God and each other--- and this will be the primary work of the authentic church as well. We continually will seek meaningful ways to bring together whatever has been broken apart and to learn how to love and be loved, even before we are lovable.

We must seek justice. The authentic church finds creative, proactive ways to "love one another as we have been loved." We identify those cultural systems that obstruct the flow of love and strive to create new structures that enhance it. We practice charity as well as justice, reaching out to those who are down and lending the strength of our voices to those who cry out for change.

Freedom, liberty. Fox News Middle East. via Informed Comment

KR Washington Bureau | 11/30/2005 | U.S. military pays Iraqis for positive news stories on war

U.S. Army officers have been secretly paying Iraqi journalists to produce upbeat newspaper, radio and television reports about American military operations and the conduct of the war in Iraq.

U.S. officials in Washington said the payments were made through the Baghdad Press Club, an organization they said was created more than a year ago by U.S. Army officers. They are part of an extensive American military-run information campaign -- including psychological warfare experts -- intended to build popular support for U.S.-led stabilization efforts and erode support for Sunni Muslim insurgents.

What an absolutely "spot on" affirmation of the life of the church. Living the story, "joining" that story, and discovering the depths of our addiction does not immediately change us, but we are forever changed in that we are "freed" to be in an in-depth, intense working together on our "captivity" to the culture. As I wondered about the mall last night as my Janet and Kelli looked for gifts, I was struck with the commercial captivity of "Christmas" in the world. This is most assuredly NOT Christmas. When I hear people talk about the "War on Christmas", they are almost always complaining about what the retailers are doing. This seems to me to be entirely irrelevant. This "exchange of gifts" thing is also ENTIRELY irrelevant to the birth of Christ unless it is in the context of BEING the church in the first place; being a church where the gift that is each of us learns to know what GIFT is. Of course the gift that is Jesus from God is our template and guide and power to do so. And this REQUIRES that we immerse ourselves in the alternative life that Jesus lived and partake of the Kingdom that Jesus announced, and take up the cross that Jesus said we must.

Movable Theoblogical

In saying yes to the church's story, we say no to the world's story of power and violence and greed. Saying yes to the church's story doesn't end our addiction to the world, but it ends our denial. And once we move out of denial, God is set loose in us in a way that wasn't possible before. We are freed at last to become the gift of love that is our deepest nature, who we truly are.

When we enter the authentic church, we enter a recovering community rooted in honesty and accountability whose healing is found in reaching out to help heal the world. Like any addict, we'll be there for the rest of our lives.

To be the church means we are living the unfolding story of God in the world. We open ourselves to God's continuing newness, to unexpected twists and turns of the plot, to all the drama and comedy and suspense that God wants to write. Our small story is part of a much larger story, the ongoing story of God's little struggling band of followers, and we are either a part of that narrative or a part of the world's narrative.

God willing, our story continues. The next chapters are being written and lived into even now. In our willingness to let God do a new thing through us, we are not rejecting our past, but more fully claiming it, more fully harnessing its energy and vision. We are seeking to return to bur first love, a love thaf calls us to become more authentically the presence of Jesus in our neighborhood, our city, our world.

God's vision for the church doesn't change, but the structures of the church must change to speak that vision in authentic ways to each new era. We must be ready at all times to transcend all our loyalties to religious traditions in order to find the new ways that will reach people now. No one knows what any church, genuinely seeking to be Christ's body on behalf of the world, should look like. There is no single right way, only the willingness to move into the new, not knowing with certainty where we are going but with the Holy Spirit's companionship going anyway.

One thing is clear: all of us are desperate for meaningful existence. We are desperate for a place of belonging and trust, desperate for a life free of addiction and compulsion, desperate for meaningful work and a way to contribute to society with dignity, desperate to know people who care. Does the church have a message worth hearing when we feel desperate? If we have nothing to say in the presence of our desperation, we have nothing to say at all.

In saying yes to the church's story, we say no to the world's story of power and violence and greed. Saying yes to the church's story doesn't end our addiction to the world, but it ends our denial. And once we move out of denial, God is set loose in us in a way that wasn't possible before. We are freed at last to become the gift of love that is our deepest nature, who we truly are.

When we enter the authentic church, we enter a recovering community rooted in honesty and accountability whose healing is found in reaching out to help heal the world. Like any addict, we'll be there for the rest of our lives.

This post, affirming "the fuller gift of who we are" is what I consider to be a deeply important theological principle: that in finding out the truths about "gift of who we are", we are on that road of the "therapy of desire". We are in a miraculous community which is re-froming; reshaping our very being, healing it of the scars and disfigurements it has endured in its addiction to culture and its folllowing after inappropriate desires and assumptions about life.

Movable Theoblogical

As we are guided ... to face what has not yet been healed in our lives, all the residual damage of our years of cultural addiction, and as we are given help in working with these damaged parts of ourselves, we can begin to express the fuller gift of who we are.

Freed to love and serve and dream new dreams, our true selves emerge and we find a fuller belonging to the local community and the world community, These are the foundational life skills of the Christian faith and what it means to go deeper.

To find this "fuller belonging" is not a path to be taken lightly, or to be expected that it will be easy. When we are "freed to love and dream new dreams", we are on a path of radical reshaping. The Alternative Seminary is an intensive, in-depth and disciplined attention to the fullness of life, and a calling for us to explore together where the world's "shaping of desires" needs challenge, and then to incorporate these "alternative ways of being" into our life together.

The authentic church takes seriously that we are called to be committed servant leaders in the world and will provide an "alternative seminary" for the training of such leaders. Utilizing a serious, in depth, "whole life curriculum," we will stretch our minds and our souls as we read, respond to, research and put into practice both classic and new theological, psychological and social/political themes. We will explore what it means to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength, striving to live the Christ life as consciously and Intentionally as we can.

This seminary experience will include classes in theology and scripture, prayer, community, etc., much as our School of Christian Living did in the past. In addition, the seminary will offer life management curricula, guiding us in such issues as money management, addictions, emotional trauma, domestic abuse anything that keeps us from becoming the free and loving people that God intends.

Working with a sponsor over a period of time---possibly as long as a year or two an array of spiritual and theological themes will be explored, as well as themes tailored to particular life circumstances. For example, if we have financial debt that is creating anxiety, our sponsor might go with us to a financial counselor or Debtors Anonymous or a jobs or economic program, where we can begin to make more informed choices about our financial life.

Perhaps our sponsor will suggest that we see a professional counselor to work with the emotional issues of abandonment or incest or violence that keep us in despair. Whatever blocks us, whether material, emotional or spiritual, from receiving God's intimate love and from being available to be used as a catalyst for redemption in our world, will be addressed in this relationship with a sponsor.

Eventually, when we who have been "working our program" discern with our sponsor's guidance that we are prepared and called, we will present to the group a culminating project; an integrated life spiritual autobiography of sorts. We then will become available to serve as sponsors for others. Or perhaps, together with two or three other members who are ready, we will form a new group, welcoming people who are our "opposites" and who hunger for personal and cultural transformation.

And so, like a stone tossed into the water, the ripples of our deepening life together expand and extend to others. The relationship between a sponsor and the one being sponsored is not about an "insider" instructing and preparing an "outsider." It is not for the purpose of fulfilling a list of requirements in order to become a real member of the church.

The relationship between sponsor and sponsored allows both to experience the fullness of what it means to belong to each other. As we are guided by the sponsor to face what has not yet been healed in our lives, all the residual damage of our years of cultural addiction, and as we are given help in working with these damaged parts of ourselves, we can begin to express the fuller gift of who we are.

Freed to love and serve and dream new dreams, our true selves emerge and we find a fuller belonging to the local community and the world community, These are the foundational life skills of the Christian faith and what it means to go deeper.

Money certainly is not the only practice of discipleship that will challenge us to grow as a community. There are unimaginable depths to be explored, and the authentic church will encourage continual growth and learning. As we go deeper into a serious journey with Christ, and as we seek to be healed from our addictions and be reconciled to one another, we will want to find additional practices.

We might read together a "book of the month," increase the time we spend alone and together in prayer and silence, prepare spiritual reports and keep a journal of our inner discoveries, go on retreats together, have social gatherings, take a class, go to the movies or do charitable acts together and so on. We will never exhaust all there is to learn and discover and enjoy about building a common life in Christ.

Responding to an inner hunger, some undoubtedly will want to embark on a path of even more focused study and growth in order to make a more informed commitment to Christ and his call on our lives. When any of us who have been a member of the group for a period of at least some months sense that God is calling us to go deeper, we will request a sponsor, someone who has been working with the principles and practices of the faith for a number of years, who will meet with us one on one to start a process of discernment about what next steps might be right.

At this point we will enter what in the past we have called "intern membership," a time of directed exploration to listen for God's deeper callings in the particular circumstances of our life. This exploration will happen within the church's seminary.

The following segment from my previous "Authentic Church" post causes me to ask this question: If this is the way the early church dealt with the issue of money, and we are light years away from this reality because of our society's structuring of itself almost exclusively around issues of money, this is a pretty clear indicator to me of just how unwilling American Christians are to really take seriously the radical contrast the early church set forth to live. The "power" issues here are seriously and completely confrontational with our mode of existence in the "developed", "civilized" world. To "depend upon the market" to keep things flowing in a manner which "takes care of needs" is simply to give in. It is to ignore what Daniel Bell calls the malformation of desire. To recognize a deeply ingrained "sin" that is not only IN us, but that which permeates the entire structures, and that "capitalism", hailed as the "best system", ends up being the shape of our relationships with others, particularly those of "the other" from whom we isolate ourselves and "steer clear"

Movable Theoblogical

So we are asking, what did it mean for the early church to share all things in common and to sell their goods and distribute the proceeds to whoever had need? What structure might allow us to live as freely as that? We know that being the authentic church will call us to face the power issues inherent in having and not having money, not because it's a rule we will try to follow, but because it's a result of loving and being loved.

In American Christianity, we "spiritualize" this issue into oblivion. It's not "having money" that separates us from God, but whether we "love money" more than God. Then we say, "of course I don't love MONEY nmopre than God", so we are off the hook. But the separation; the "absence of reconciliation", endures. It goes on.

The Church of the Saviour has, from the beginning, returned time and time again to the issue of money. Maybe that's not an accurate description. They constantly ask these questions, so that it's not really a "revisiting" , but an ongoing issue. An ever-present enduring question and warning and point of identification for the ways in which we remain separated from one another.

One of the primary questions in most efforts to be church is what to do about money. We consider Alcoholics Anonymous, which decided against owning property or keeping a corporate treasury and instead let each local group be self supporting. We think of how churches often receive an offering and ask members to tithe or pledge to support the church's budget.

We want the Spirit to guide us to practices which might bring greater abandon with our giving. We have much to learn about what these practices are. Like the early Christians, we want to surrender everything to Christ, including our various kinds of wealth. In this new community, with some who have much material wealth and some who have little, we cannot ignore how money and other kinds of privilege have been at the root of our separation. We do not want to cause further harm.

So we are asking, what did it mean for the early church to share all things in common and to sell their goods and distribute the proceeds to whoever had need? What structure might allow us to live as freely as that? We know that being the authentic church will call us to face the power issues inherent in having and not having money, not because it's a rule we will try to follow, but because it's a result of loving and being loved.

Those of us who have more than we need and those of us who have less than we need often suffer silently, ashamed and afraid to acknowledge this shadow between us. In this new experience of community we want to look openly at the specter of money and the ways it has isolated and hurt us. We want the lordship of Christ over all parts of our lives.

In that desire, we are committed to "hilarious generosity" [2 Corinthians 9:71 and to the fundamentals of redistribution. Some of what we have done so far is to give assistance with rent and medical bills and child care expenses. We have helped arrange financial courseling when it's been sought and have responded to needs outside our group as we have been made aware.

The bottom line question for all aspects of the group's life together is, "How is my freedom tied to your freedom?" The creative use of our money is included in that question. Undoubtedly we will make mistakes as we work with these issues. We hope to make as many as possible on the side of generosity.

via Jesus Politics

Abortion issue & Schaeffer influence pushed evangelicals to engagement, Land says - (BP)

“I think that Southern Baptists are the most pro-life denomination at the rank-and-file level,” Land said.

HOGWASH. Bullshit. How do they get off limiting LIFE to this one issue. I am NOT pro-abortion, and not "Pro-Choice". That's because human life is sacred. It's more than a career move, or a matter of convenience. Which is exactly why war is wrong. It is a justification based on political, economic, power-grabbing issues, and justified through a "contextual revision" of history to suit the ones making the declaration of what "history" has taught us, and WHAT that history is. When it all comes down to it, nations, and particularly OUR nation, has made this kind of a cold, calculated decision for the lives of others as if they are basically NULL in value (because in a basically self-centered, ethnocentric, economic class-centric worldview, this is what constitutes 'morality'. And so the nation's people succumb to the mythology of what the state shapes its institutions to advance, and respond to theat shaping of desires in severely distorted ways. And so we often hear "That's war". "Nothing else really works". Use that same lens on Jesus, and guess what? Jesus' way "didn't work"

"Pro-life". Not on your life, Land. The Southern Baptists actually tip the scales in the direction of Pro-death; pro-war, pro-capital punishment, pro-gun, pro-USA (the leading practicioner of "savage capitalism" (another "Bell-ism" which he drew from Franz Hinkelammert).....the lines of "oppostion" seem drawn not on the measure of LIFE, but of what opponents are NOT (liberals supportr women's rights, whcih gets associated with "a woman's right to choose, and then liberals oppose war and capital punishment and criticize America at a rate far higher than do "conservatives", so they defer to the death-dealing options on those counts. The Religious Right praised John Paul II on his Pro-life stance, but they describe ONLY his stance against abortion, and omit how his pro-life sense encompassed ALL of life. (I am interested to see the treatment of this on the second episode of the TV movie that commences tomorrow night ---I'll have to see to gettting that recorded so I can see it)

Pro-life is becoming a phrase that I am growing tired of hearing abused and distorted so blindly. NOt only is pro-life a matter of NON-death, but is also geared toward "abundant life"; of a vision for life and community as God intends for his creation, and to which the church is called to advance and BE in the eyes of the world.

This is wierd. I created an ifCategory MT tag statement that creates an image tage that is left aligned whenever the category is Authentic Church. IE will not show my image of the Authentic Church cover like Firefox and Netscape will. It is the image to the left of the post in all my "Authentic Church posts, which also have the light green background. But the Category archive pages do not have the background color in the post area, and yet the image does not show there either. I have tried the suggestion of adding a style attrbute of style="z-index:9;" to the image tag, and also to a div surrounding the image using a class defined in my stylesheet like thus:
.IEimageFront {
z-index:1;
}
I am out of ideas.

Each group differs regarding the use of various aspects of worship. We pray together. We use scripture and a thematic teaching to guide our sharing. Two of the groups celebrate Eucharist and one uses mu sic.

We are trying to recapture the essence of the New Testament church, if not its particular forms. We find much to inspire us in the descriptions of that first ecclesia [see especially Acts 2 4 and the epistles]. We hope to discover fresh corporate practices that will draw us deeper into communion with God and each other and will aid our primary intention of loving each other toward wholeness,so as to be reconciled and freed to serve.

We are going back to visit a church we used to attend when we first moved to Nashville. It's been a while, and there is a new pastor there now. The church has identified itself as a church that is solidarity with the poor, and is a Reconciling Congregation of the United Methodist Church, and they surely do valuable ministry. My prior problem there was feeling that my gifts were not being encouraged; even looked upon with suspicion by not only the former pastor, but by some of the members. (The gift: figuring out and implementing ways for the church to implement Web technology to enhance the communication and sharing in the membership, and to "tell the story" of the church.

One of the other tensions I experienced there is a classic one: the activism of the members existed almost as an island; the structures for the Inward Journey were insufficient; I did not feel known there. I often felt that the membership (most of them are about that age) was a "60s culture" group who do the liturgies of the Progressive camp, and are involved in the Civic Organizations who do advocacy, but that the supporting structures were not there (the building of a spiritual journey together).

It was as if the affirmation and participati on of activist and advocacy programs were all that needed to be done, and then given a theological tint and a "sendoff" (ie "We're with ya') and that's the only thing there is: the worship where we say "Go" and then we go, and come back and say "We Went". All of this is to point out the absence of intentional structures of seeing to it that noone is in this journey without a support group. We all say we are FOR support groups, but then our structures forge ahead without them. I believe that The Church of the Saviour communities have this part right. And I can't help but feel that in MOST places, they totally miss it. There is NO SENSE that this people of God is WHERE our lives are centered. It does not approach "family" the way many chruches name themselves (not unlike how many secular corporations call themselves the "Corporate community"; it's not unlike them in that the life of that church in no way funct ons as the CENTER of concern and substinance and energy. Most of all, rare is the church where a majority of its members can honestly say that they really feel known there.

I still admire the social ministries of this church, and its message, but , as I 've said before, and Gordon confirmed, "I''ve been runied". I cannot help but notice the Inward Journey piece; the piece that pays attention to and supports and emphasizes the journey in depth with one another; and which seeks to enable the discernment of gifts. The advocacy and the various works of mercy are not be abandoned or minimized; they need to be maintained. But the way to maintain them and continue to be open to the movement of God's spirit in other directions to which that spirit calls us, is to tap into the unlimited resources available to the People of God to participate in that which God is doing in the world. And we acnnot do this without the resources of the Inward Journey.

I cannot say whether or not I gave up on this church too easily or too soon. I expect that this morning I might find myself looking for signs of change in that direction. There's a lot more to it, such as the aforementioned lack of encouragement/apprreciation for my "calling" to help build and enable the ways in which the Web can be used as an extension to community; to help offer detail to the stories told in public; to offer online stories to broaden the appeal and attract "seekers" with whom the narrative and the ministries of this church resonate. And to aggregate resources for both the Inward and the Outward Journeys of this church.

This from the section I just posted is something that is SO TRUE, and SO maddening about the propensity for churches to STEER CLEAR of the "risK" of evn attempting to tackle issues which will bring harsh disagreement. It seems next to impossible for churches in this politicized environment to be willing to "encircle" these issues; to "hold" them ; to provide a PLACE for these crucial issues to be examined. It seems to be a matter of ultimate division.

Movable Theoblogical: The Practice Of Justice

The church rarely has been bold enough or organized enough to be a threat to systemic oppression. Generally we have not been willing to hold the anxiety and tension that can come from addressing the issues at all, let alone working to change the systems.

It seems that churches that have decided to be nationalistic in their inclinations will NOT allow for it. Then there are churches that have leadership who WANT to move their churches in this direction but cannot address the present climate, for fear of fracturing the present membership.

Simply by being with others in this kind of group, with people who are different from each other yet are committed to knowing each other intimately and healing the differences between us, we become a countercultural presence in the world. And yet there is more. We also seek to apply concretely the principles of Jesus on a broader scale, becoming "evangelists" for reconciliation and justice within the culture. We expect our life together to impact the world, even if that means becoming a threat in the same way that Jesus was a threat to the culture of his day.

We do this primarily by making Jesus central. Not the Jesus who has been made a national icon but the authentic Jesus, who said, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you" (Luke 6:27 28); "Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye but do not notice the log in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:3); and "This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me" (Mark 7:6). This is the Jesus who provoked the religious and national authorities of his time by his extravagant acts of mercy and justice. Such extravagant acts will be the hallmark of our life together.

As our burden of separateness is lifted and the Holy Spirit is allowed to reconcile us to one another, we will question what has kept us apart, what has trapped us in a system of "haves" and "have nots," "insiders" and "outsiders," and we will begin to consider how we might impact those systems.

The church rarely has been bold enough or organized enough to be a threat to systemic oppression. Generally we have not been willing to hold the anxiety and tension that can come from addressing the issues at all, let alone working to change the systems. As we seek to be a more authentic expression of Jesus' life, we might look at such things as:

• a national minimum wage that is not a living wage, and does not pay people what they need to sustain a decent lifestyle
• 45 million people, some working full time, who lack health care
• companies outsourcing industry, sometimes to "sweat shops" in the third world where they can offer low wages and give decreased attentionor none at all to environmental concerns
• a penal system that punishes more than reforms and in which a disproportionate number of inmates are minority race persons
• half the world's population (about 3 billion people) barely surviving on less than $2 a day, while 3 people report assets greater than the combined GNP of more than 30 poor countries
• the use of legalized violence, in whatever forms, as a reasonable way to handle social problems

These are only a few examples of how we seem to be living disconnected from God's dream for us as a global family. We want more faithfully to be God's partner in establishing restorative and nonviolent systems of justice and love for the entire creation.

The battle against Christmas

Christmas has become a treasured and beloved American icon. At this time of the year, how many of you fondly think back to your childhood and recall many precious memories of those times? I know I do. I still look forward to it: the true meaning of Christmas, the decorations, the aroma of Christmas cookies, the presents, the delicious feast, and the getting together with family--some of whom we may have argued with in the past, but at this time of the year, we seem to put it all behind us. We even become friendlier with strangers, don't we? It's a wondrous time of year.

Now isn't that special? This person speaks of the "True Meaning of Christmas" without actually talking about Christ. He talks about "celebrating the birth of Christ" stripped of the life of that Jesus. The 'meaning' of Christmas one would assume goes beyond the the literal roots of the word ---which is what much of this hoopla is about. What is worth some HOOPLA is the "celebration" of the birth.

The above quote reveals the depth to which these surface, empty attacks at the "secular liberal menace" which is but an echo of the hollow ring the utterance of the name "Jesus" has when it is combined with an uncritical acceptance of the forces of nationalism, war, and "capitalist euphoria" of this "Season". The quotation identifies Jesus with the trappings of a culture. What makes this whole thing complicated is that here and there, families and Christmas do intersect with church, and actual acts of kindness and mercy, and that all of this is mixed together in memories from our childhood, and numerous experiences with those gatherings where people were genuinely happy to be with one another.

But to see this "fight over Christmas" without so much of an appeal to the actual person or teachings of Jesus, a nd see signs in yards that say "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" (yes, it's back again this year, this time without the accompanying Bush/Cheney sign--- and I shudder when I see it, knowing that there are only certain selected "attributes" of "Christmas" (just occurred to me that there's not a lot of attention to the other part of the literal word: Mass. the Celbration which is uniquely the observance of the church, which is a trans-national, attached-to-no-other-Kingdom community--- and a recognition of the announcement of the birth of Christ "Peace on Earth". As Daniel Bell affirms in Liberation Theology at the End of History: The Refusal to Cease Suffering", the announcement is not to be an easy "assent" to the "importance" of Jesus, but a giving of our very lives to the realities which he announced with his coming: The Kingdom of God has come.

Bell's major thesis in his book, according to thepage at the front is the title of this post , plus:

"Christian resistance must take the form of a counter discipline".

In other words, a "detox" to unlearn the assumptons of the capitalist discipline; as in the "addiction groups" we need in the church to help us through our overcoming our addiction tof culture, as Gordon Cosby has been saying in Becoming The Authentic Church

I'll read on and flesh out some of my understandings of this. Now, I have someplace to go.

Radical Preaching

Never forget that power, the ability to resist, etc, does not depend finally on what capital etc controls or lets escape, but on God's faithful giving to God's people. This is but another way of stating the hopefulness attendent upon the ubiquity of power. Because capital, sin in any of its forms, cannot possibly capture all power, because it finally cannot capture God even as it tries to by marketing God and faith and spirituality, there is always already present the [divinely given] power of resistance that may appear anywhere anytime -- what Yoder refers to as the brushfire reading of history.

Our power to live the Christian life does not depend on what the state or corporation will permit. It depends solely on God's fidelity and our willingness to trust God. As Yoder wrote, all the state, etc. can do is make discipleship more costly. Capital finally does not provide or deny the conditions of possibility for faithfulness.

The cost which is here defined is the cost to us for resistance; whether that resistance be a non-participation or an activity which says NO by positing, or BEING an alternative. Those NOs and those ALTERNATIVES will bring an exclusion, which disadvantages us in terms of our "value" and "economy" as it concerns the powers.

These "powers" have been so mythologized in the form of ancient archetypal devils and "satanic rites" that the POWERS can operate in our society without detections as such. This is what so turned my stomach about the "Revelations" series; with its goofy dark villian who kept cutting off his fingers and liking it; and who laughed the evil laugh and glorified death. Not excatly your "angel of light". The "angels of light" operate as "saviours" as much as they succeed in furthering the assumptions that the "success" of our system of Capitalism/Democracy/IndividualSpirituality (the latter of which fits nicely with capitalism) is "working". Of course, to further that notion is to keep people separated from the realities that dominate the lives of those on the "disadvantaged" side of the mechanism. Gordon Cosby spoke to me of the shift they are advocating for their "structure of fellowship" for their churches: that they intentionally seek out difference, and see it as a means of salvation for both sides of that difference equation; both sides of the relationship. The opppressed can meet and know and "live with" the oppressor, and vice versa. It is a seeking out of the areas of our lives and our world where reconciliation still needs to be done, and to let that reconciliation feed the response to move back into that world where reconciliation is needed at some point of misison.

The following segment from Servant Leaders, Servant Structures describes the early process of discerning call in COS:
Movable Theoblogical: SLSS: Chapter 1- The Laying of Foundations

Waiting for Call

To help us through our impasse we formed classes in Christian Vocation. In these classes we were taking a deeper and longer look at the whole matter of call as having to do with the transcendent-the being grasped by that which is greater than we. We began with the basic assumption of the New Testament that there was no way to be the church except by the call of Christ, and that there were a number of dimensions to this call:

First, to a relationship with the Father as intimate as the one which Christ knew.

Second, to be persons in community with others responding to the same call, surrendering something of our authority that we might have a shared life and bring into existence a new community where the nature of the relationships would be such that each person would be called fully into being.

Third, to an inward developments call to change. We were to overcome those obstacles in ourselves which held us back and kept us from growing into the full stature of Christ. The call of Christ was a call to die to the old self in order to become the new creation.