Bringing the life of God

A friend emailed me today asking me what three things that I could do that would help bring justice to the world.  I suspect that we'll be hearing more of this idea in the coming weeks.

anyway, it got me thinking and I went and dredged up this old post that I wrote at Organic Church a couple of years ago.

Two blogs on the trot, Caroline, what’s going on here?

Well actually, I’m puzzling over something and I wonder if these guys can help me.

OK then, go on ..

ummm, err, I’ve been getting myself in a tangle for the last year or so. I’ve been nagging anyone who was foolish enough to pass too close by me with ill-formed ideas about taking our witness out into the community in a way that demonstrates and lives out Christ’s love rather than just talking about it.

I think the clever theologians in this blog-community call it Incarnational Missiology.

Oh do they? And does it hurt? And does the –ology make a difference? Anyway, what’s really go me frustrated is that I have struggled to put what I was thinking into words. My friends would say; oh could you give us an example, Caroline? But I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to say we should do this or that activity and I could feel my friends getting mystified with what I was banging on about. The wonder was that several people agreed with me that God was calling us to a different kind of witness, but we kept wandering around in circles.

I’m not surprised m’duck, you really haven’t had a clue what you wanted to do! Any progress?

Well, I think so.. can I try it out on you and see what you think? A while ago I was asked what my role as a university teacher was given that I’d just said that I thought that nothing stopped learning quite like teaching? My answer, after a pause, was that ‘because people spent time with me they could do more’. You know, I don’t think that’s a bad description of a Christian either. Anyway, just last week it occurred to me that when the Spirit breathed the life of God through the dry bones (Ezekiel 37) they could do more; they could get up and move around. So could one way of witnessing to the life of God in Long Buckby be to seek out ways of helping people do more? Not just doing good things for them or to them, but working with them in a way that helps them do more, be more alive …

Err, where does God come into this?

If we were to act in a way that help others do more, wouldn’t the worst that could happen would be that they experienced the life of God “through a mirror dimly”? And maybe, seeing that dimly lit image, they might explore for more? But I guess that is their choice isn’t it?

So how might this work in practice?

Oh, I really didn’t want to go into details, I didn’t want to champion one sort of action as being right.. but the other day, when I was on a walk, I was praying. I saw a friend, Gerry, who I knew runs his own business from home. “I wonder if there are more in Long Buckby like Gerry? So many jobs have been lost in the village over the last few years that we’re in danger of becoming a dormitory housing estate; I wonder if we could encourage more businesses into the village, more people to work from home and so use village facilities? I met up with Gerry the next day and it turned out that he had tried something similar a few years ago. He said that it would take time and stamina to keep going through the first year which would be hard. I wonder if “keeping going” so that we could encourage more local businesses might be one way amongst many that the church family could help the village do more, one way (amongst many) that we could be a heartbeat to the village?

Sounds a bit vague..

It is vague, and I don’t want to be more precise. I’m sure there are many better ideas, but the key question for me is whether this kind of ‘bringing the life of God’ to help people do more is a helpful way of witnessing to his life giving love?

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well, in the couple of years since I first wrote that things have progressed slowly.  the Entrepreneur idea hasn't taken off but other ideas have and I'm spending more and more of my time praying for these ideas and trying to support those who are carrying them out.  What would you do to bring the life of God to your home town/village?  And what could others do that would encourage you to be adventurous?

Comments

[jon birch]

your commenting on my blog draws me back to your blog... which i love... i find your site thoughtful, warm, empathetic and thought provoking. thankyou.
j:-)