URBANarmy

Too often it is so easy just to chase the next amazing panacea for the church, to to mimic the latest just shake, mix and stir answer to the church's woes. The result is that a church can slip into being overloaded trying to be all things to all people. Warren argues though that a healthy church knows and works within its capacity, a healthy church does a few things and does them well. In order words it represents a church that knows what it is about and is focused. A true sense of urgency means that these churches are purposeful and relaxed and as a result there is enjoyment in mission and ministry.

I liked this from Nouwen.org today: "Optimism and hope are radically different attitudes. Optimism is the expectation that things-the weather, human relationships, the economy, the political situation, and so on-will get better. Hope is the trust that God will fulfill God's promises to us in a way that leads us to true freedom. The optimist speaks about concrete changes in the future. The person of hope lives in the moment with the knowledge and trust that all of life is in good hands."  The idea of living in the moment we find ourselves seems significant and Larry Warner of b-ing.org develops this in his monthy email for Januray saying: "Jean-Pierre de Caussade wrote a book dealing with this important perspective entitled, Abandonment to the Present Moment/Sacrament of the Present Moment. His premise is that God’s will for us is discovered and lived into in the moment that we find ourselves – the present moment, the now here of our lives." Somehow perha...

The daily meditations from Richard Rohr seem to have taken a step up, and seem to take more chewing over, but his key thought this week is a good one to chew on. In encouraging his readers to find "a healthy middle" he distinguishes between "two alternating mediocrities of knowing..." "all heart and little head (lacking rational, historical, scientific grounding) or all head and little heart (lacking inner experience and true love). We need head and heart, grounded in our physical and sensory body, for a holistic and mature faith". Adapted from Immortal Diamond: The Search for Our True Self,pp. 70-71; and Things Hidden: Scripture As Spirituality, pp.13-14