Our Values: Intimacy with Godde

This post stems from a recent discussion we had in my spiritual community around the notion of intimacy with Godde.

To date the following three values are evident: authenticity, creativity and participation. These are all important values and deeply reflect who we are as people and what we want as part of our culture. Consequently these values shape how we do church.

I’ve recently raised questions about our value for intimacy with Godde with a view to what it may look like in our community when re-invisioned. In this post I want to briefly explore values as a springboard toward exploring the development of our value for intimacy with Godde.

The Urban Mystic

Recently I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about where I’m heading in life and what I’m doing that’s meaningful. I’ve been bored with the work I’m doing and felt the itch for something meaningful but not been ready to scratch it till now. After a good long period of thinking and reflecting I’ve realised that there are two real options: 1) take on a normal 9am to 5pm job that is more interesting and satisfying; 2) pick up on my sense of calling again and more actively put into practice what I want to do.

The Urban Mystic is my new website aimed at promoting intimacy with Godde and advertising my services and activities.

continuity, discontinuity and faithfulness

A recent synchroblog around church as missional got me thinking a bit around how both continuity and discontinuity can be faithful and unfaithful.

With Christianity there isn’t just a single point of departure or reference point. To be Christian is to point back to the historical Jesus as well as forward to the return of Jesus the Risen LORD as well as the relationship with Godde in the present through the Holy Spirit.

During the Reformation a Catholic recognised that the institution he was a part of had carefully laid a set of tracks from the historical Jesus to where they were at. He also recognised that at some point they’d gone off course. Though they were laying tracks moving away from the historical Jesus they weren’t laying tracks headed toward the return of the Risen LORD. There was continuity but there continuity was unfaithful.

Oddly enough, discontinuity can be faithful. There are any number of churches built without historical continuity that pick up from their historical present the line between the historical Jesus of the past and the returning LORD of the future.

In terms of present-continuous experience an individual or group can be unfaithful if they’re not connecting with Godde in the present. One can point back historically and point forward eschatologically but if one is not rooted in relationship with Godde in the present then one is also not being faithful.

I guess the challenge for the emerging church to develop each tangent responsibly.