a brief excerpt
"If the Church's worship is faithful, it will eventually be subversive of the culture surrounding it, for God's truth transforms the lives of those nurtured by it"
- Marva Dawn
Sola fide - the doctrine of justification - the idea that we are justified by faith alone. We are made right with God by our faith not by our actions. I think it is something I have assumed for a long time. I don't think I have thought about it to much though. Being raised in the Calvinistic tradition it is perhaps something that is often just assumed. Dr. Payton made me think about this again... these thoughts are mainly his or at least by inspired by his words.
Romans 3: 21-24 tells us "But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." This being made right with God is through faith in Christ. Through faith alone, not through deeds because we all no matter how good fall short to God. However, being justified through faith alone does not mean that we can sit on our lazy bums. It is not a one time, and now we are good for life commitment.
Yes, only by faith we are justified. However, faith is not something that stand on its own, it can't. Without the body of believers nourishing our faith, without being challenged in our faith, our faith stands alone. When it stands alone is cannot be living. Faith in Christ is not an one-time thing, it is something that changes over the span of our life. We sin and get raised again with Christ, we fall down and get picked up by His love that we can see in the body of believes. If this, our faith, is this one time commitment it is dead. We run the danger of becoming a mouse in a cooke jar, to steal an idea from Soren Kierkegaard. All around us are Christians who have made a faith commitment, and their faith might be alive, but they are all around us, and so we assume we are also a Christian whose faith is alive. However, we need to be aware that our surroundings don't determine where we think our faith is at. Perhaps my faith is not something living, and I am just someone trusting on the idea of justification throug faith.
To me being safe in a Christian environment is a huge encouragement, however, within my heritage we run the risk of thinking we are cookies. Whether it is in our church, school, or work communties our faith should not be lazy, it should spur us to a more active life rooted in Christ and the faith we have received by His grace.
I am a bit of an urban junky, unfortunately Redeemer's campus is not located int Downtown Hamilton, but right on the rural-urban fringe - (and it is being surrounded at an alarming rate by suburban development and a new fire-station). Therefore, when I visit downtown, I don't have my own place, I don't have a place that I can call my home, sure there are a few friends in that area, and my church is within walking distance of the downtown core, however, I have come to appreciate the importance of urban places. (To define urban places - I mean places within a distinctly urban area, in which one can engage the surroundings, experience the city, share time with friends, or just simply relax.)
Now Hamilton is full of urban places, some a bit dysfunctional, and some on the upbeat. One of these places for me is the Farmers Market. Right amidst one of the less attractive developments downtown Hamilton has seen in the the later half of the 20th century (that is the complex which includes Jackson Square, City Centre, Copps, the Library, and the Market itself) the market is a great urban place. The market doesn't claim to be a true local, all Hamiltonian market and rightfully so. The Farmers Market is kind of a mosaic. Your ethnic foods, breads, veggies, Deli, flowers, or crafty soaps are all available inside this big hall which is the Farmers Market. Whether you need a rabbit for dinner, the best deal on bagels in town, or some ingridients for oriental type of cooking you are at the right place.
Another urban place worth checking out in Hamilton is the FRWY cafe (Freeway). Depending on when you go you will either find the relaxed atmosphere of a coffee house, an art show featuring local artist, salsa dancing lessons, or even church. One thing is always present - good coffee. The Coffee house is run throught the church community that meets in the very same place. The FRWY is a place where community is central - whether meeting there for a coffee or partking in their church community - the FRWY is all about enriching deep community.
Another place is Mixed Media - located on James St. North it has been instrumental in the revival of the arts community in Hamilton. While being mainly an arts supply store, it is also a gathering place for those in the James St. area. One of the main things that Mixed Media has encouraged is the James St. Art Crawl - not only is it a great initiative because the street is closed off dor any moterized traffic, it has also been voted the best place to take a date in Hamilton... Just so you know.
What all these places have in common is that they provide the Hamilton community with unique experiences and places. They seek to enrich the life of the city, they increase the public life of a city, they provde places where we can engage with others, places where we can live out the gospel, places where we can challenge and be challenged.
Here are a few articles and topics that have kept me busy (at least my thoughts) - maybe I will expand on this in the near future.Regarding Worship I think Brian McLaren gives us an insight into the state or church worship today. Read the article here.Cardus (formerly known as the Work Research Foundation) published an article by Steven Garber on Proximate Justice. This article gives us an insight into what Mr. Garber was talking about.How can we as Christians within this post-modern (ultra-modern, creative-anti realistic) world keep to the truth - to Christ. How can we encourage people to seek for the truth, but not become relativistic regarding our own faith. Why do people equate being Conservative or Republican to being Christian... Shane Claiborne has some things to say about this in his book Jesus for President. <---- that's a link to a short videoLastly, when will there be proportional representation in Canadian elections!! Please!! See this submission to the Ontario's electoral reform committee or if you are interested and have some time, here are a number or thoughts about the issue of proportional representation.
