When Jesus was asked, "What is the greatest commandment?", he said:
"‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” [Mark 12:29-31]
Scot McKnight calls that "The Jesus Creed." One of activities for the first week was to recite the Jesus Creed each day throughout the day and take note on whether this has made a difference in the way you go through your day. Last week's questions focused on whether following Jesus makes a difference in our lives and ways we can come closer to Jesus. I hope you've found these questions not only helpful in starting conversations with your family and friends but also helpful in growing in your faith.
This week the youth will talk about the Lord's Prayer and add that to the Jesus Creed as part of their daily routine. Those who are following in the 40 Days book will find a discussion about praying as part of spiritual disciplines on the devotion for Day 19.
Here are this week’s Questions for Discussion:
(Things to talk about with your family)
- Why do we pray?
- Do you see the Lord’s prayer as a daily opportunity or as a routine?
- Pray each line slowly. What does it mean to you?
- How does each line express either love for God or love for others?
And here are this Week’s Suggested Follow-up Activities:
(Additional actions you can try if you feel led… or adventuresome)
- Continue reciting the Jesus Creed each day.
- Add the Lord’s Prayer to your daily routine.
- Find a time to pray it together as a family.
- Pray for someone who has wronged you.
Feel free to share your experiences in the comments below.
This is inspired by the discussion in the adult's class this past Sunday. In the Day 13 reflection on Loving God's People, I was busy finding reasons to disagree with Scot McKnight's defense of those in the church who project a less then favorable view of being a Christian when somebody else zoomed in on the key point in that reflection:
ReplyDelete"We can love Jesus' family as a hospital for the wounded and not a haven for the perfected."
It reminded me of a review of a book called "Mud and the Masterpiece" on McKnight's Jesus Creed blog about a month ago (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2013/02/05/mud-and-the-masterpiece/). Well, it took a couple of days to remind me since I obviously missed the point the first time around.
McKnight asked the question "Why is it so hard to make a church a healing center instead of a center for the healthy?" The book uses the example of finding a lost Rembrandt painting that was covered in mud. We wouldn't focus so much on the mud but on the masterpiece beneath. That's what Jesus did/does, and what we should be doing as Jesus' followers.
McKnight includes this quote from the book: “Is it possible that many Christians today who desire moral reform, love the Word of God, and pride themselves on teaching truth could be missional on the wrong mission — failing to demonstrate the heart of God to a broken world?”
There's a masterpiece under our muddy mess.
Didn't finish the last sentence:
DeleteThere's a masterpiece under our muddy messes, but we have to be willing to embrace the mud to get to the beauty underneath.
Your quote on the church as a hospital comes from McKnight's Day 13's "Facing This Day" on page 69. On page 66 McKnight draws on the hospital analogy saying, "Now, lest I be misunderstood, let's not forget that Jesus summons us to his table, so we can be transformed into people who love God and love others. Let us also not forget that the church is a hospital for sinners, not a haven for the already perfected."
ReplyDeleteHaving encountered the hospital for the first time in a long time back in December, the images and experience of "hospital" remain quite vivid. These are NOT the images and experiences I have of being in church. I wonder how we might rethink the church if we used the hospital as an analogy:
Who are the sick? What diseases do they have? Who are the doctors, the nurses, the chaplains, the administrators, the other supporting staff, the visitors? Where is the ER? Where are the surgical theaters? How does the healing process work? How do we gauge/measure the extent of disease and the recovery? How long does it take? What happens to the patients in the end? Where do they go?
I've had to think about this for a bit. I'd say the sick are all of us who sin (which means, all of us)... or, perhaps, all of us who realize we are sinners in need of help. I'm not completely satisfied with that because I suspect that those who think they're sinless probably need healing as well.
DeleteI don't know about the staff breakdown, but I'll suggest this: the ultimate healer (doctor/surgeon) is God. The hospital has been opened for all by Jesus and, perhaps, the surgery (or healing) happens through the holy spirit.
Maybe we as part of that body of Christ are called both to be healed and to provide comfort and support for those in need of healing. I like that part because it fits with my understanding of Jesus' call to be a part of the kingdom of God at work now.
What do you think?
Nelson,
DeleteI like how you started here. But I'd like to add the people of the church too. I think much healing I've experienced comes through the caring contact and wisdom provided by other "healing healers" as eikons of God, as Scot McKnight has written.
I think it would be very instructive and enlightening to continue examining this church/hospital analogy. McKnight's comment about church not being "a haven for the already perfected" might be a good place to start. Maybe he's overstated the problem though. I don't think I've run into anyone in the church who thinks they're perfect. But I do think, based largely on knowing myself, that many of us in the church suffer from the "I'm OK. You're not OK" syndrome.
"Healing healers" is a very apt term. I like it. God doesn't wait for us to be perfect, holy, and whole to use us.
DeleteI've thought about McKnight's comments in relation to my own experiences. I've encountered many folks at Grace who have been caring, encouraging, and loving. I also remember folks in the church where I grew up who were the same. But I've also encountered folks in churches who reminded more of what I read about the pharisees and hypocrites in the Gospels than of disciples of Jesus. While they may not have vocally claimed to be perfect, they made it quite clear in the way they said things and the way they acted toward me that they thought they were much better than I was. Maybe that's the "I'm OK, you're not" syndrome you mention?
I also think that someone who is struggling may also be comparing the worst they know about themselves with the best they see in others. I've done that before. That can be quite intimidating. Maybe as "healing healers" we need to be sensitive to that and be open with our own struggles so others won't feel they worse about where they are.