Hodos

I've begun a group blog with TS and Phil3:10 over at Hodos (Check out the site here). We're looking at the "remonking" of the church, and how that concept can be lived out . . . It's interesting to be part of a group blog, and the subject should trigger some lively discussions among us. My first post is up (See below), as are T's and P's. My first post:

The Quest For The Radical Middle

Phil discusses below the need for a remonking within the body of Christ. As followers of Christ we will indeed stand out, but what will that look like? Many times we do stand out, but is it for the right reasons? Do we stand out because of Christ in us, or because we are being weird? How did Jesus stand out (there is defnitely a "weirdness" that comes from God in my opinion, but also one that we create!!)? Any path toward remonking is a quest for a radical middle, where we embrace the best of monasticism whilst deleting the man made stuff that gets in the way . . . The exciting challenge is to throw the bathwater out but keep the baby.

Some further thoughts on some probable components of remonking:

Community - This is a big one - in our high tech, high speed society we may come to define community differently, but it needs to be a core part of the DNA of remonking

Practiced Presence - Brother Lawrence wrote about it, and we may move toward doing it. Prayer, solitude and silence are all key components of this one

Embracing the Mystic - A movement deep into the cloud of unknowing (tough in our current mindsets)

Taking the Red Pill - An allusion to the now antiquated Matrix movie - We need a willingness to see how deep the rabbit hole goes. In other words, we need to be open to going a lot further/deeper than our experience tells us is possible. (Also called faith)

A New Vocabulary - Old, time worn words need to have new meaning pressed into them, or we must find a language that fits

Scripture - A move away from our reading the scriptures as science books, and into allowing scripture to read us

Generosity - Our grace toward one another must be great . . . We will say stupid stuff and stumble as we move into the cloud - We need to be gracious to one another and understand that we are all just His children pressing in to find a deeper place in Him.

Further in and higher up . . .