I just read this quote by Lesslie Newbigin on NextReformation, a blog run by a pastor named Len in Kelowna, B.C.
In The Open Secret (64), Newbigin writes,
“My own experience as a missionary has been that the significant advances of the church have not been the result of our own decision about the mobilizing and allocating of “resources.” This kind of language, appropriate for a military campaign or a commercial enterprise, is not appropriate here. The significant advances in my experience have come through happenings of which the story of Peter and Cornelius is a paradigm, in ways of which we have no advance knowledge. God opens the heart of a man or a woman in the gospel. The messenger (the “angel” of Acts 10:3) may be a stranger, a preacher, a piece of Scripture, a dream, an answered prayer, or a deep experience of joy or sorrow, of danger or deliverance. It was not part of any missionary “strategy” devised by the church. It was the free and sovereign deed of God, who goes before his church. And, like Peter, the church can usually find good reasons for being unwilling to follow. But follow it must if it is to be faithful. For the mission is not ours, but God’s.”
Also, here is a quote from one of my professors from Whitworth, Jerry Sittser’s book, Water From a Deep Well, which I found to be pretty insightful:
For all its shortcomings, the medieval emphasis on a sacramental faith has something valuable to teach us. Medieval Christians tried to Christianize their world. We are in the process of doing the opposite. Many churches today, especially in the West, are fast becoming little more than empty onumnets. I recently read an article in our local newspaper about a crisis concerning church buildings in Great Britain. Officials of the Church of England are resposible for hundreds of church building that have fallen into disrepair because they are no longer being used. Officials say that the church cannot afford to keep them up or open. So they have decided to sell them to developers, who are converting them to other uses–upscale apartment, condominiums, pubs, recreation centers with climbing walls, businesses, even a school to train people for the circus. In short, these buildings are being paganized. No longer used for worship and the administration of the sacraments, they have become the tools of modern capitalism. Perhaps the church in America is following the same course. Today many churches preach self-help principles, peddle a variety of clever religious products, offer various programs to religious consumers and cater to the “felt needs” of people. Ironically, while England is paganizing church buildings, Americans could be “paganizing” the faith itself.(159)
Lastly I have an interesting quote from Brian McLaren’s new book, Finding Our Way Again. This book is about returning to seeing the value of the spiritual disciplines.
Practice (or exercise) may not make perfect, but as we will see in more detail later, it does make currently impossible things possible. The one who tries to run a marathon can’t do it, but the one who trains eventually can. The one who tries to lift a heavy weight can’t do it, but the one who exercises his muscles on lighter weights eventually can. the one who dreams of playing Mozart on the violin can’t actually do it, but the one who practices-doing various finger exercises, melodic warm-ups, bowing drills, and so on-eventually can. And the one who wants to be patient, kind, forgiving, courageous, just, joyful, peaceful, and resilient can never do it; the harder she tries, the more frustrated she will become. But the one who trains and exercises herself becomes what she was incapable of being before.(47)
It should be noted that Brian goes on to point out that the exercise is not enough, but the empowering of the Holy Spirit is also required.
Anyways, I just thought I would share some quotes that have been connecting with me lately. Hope you enjoy them!
