OK, I do not know where this post is going to end up as I write... but in Bible study tonight we got talk around the whole Idea of what is normal ...
Go to parts of africa, asia ... and you will find people of faith, people who are living their lives sold out totally for the kingdom of God. you will find people who have very little but people who have it all. So what are we to expect a normal Christian life to look like?
What do we mean by normal?
It would depend on who you ask: depending upon their custom, their tradition, their culture.
Surely for us as chistians the normal has to be exemplified as Christ - what he did as a example has to be our norm. If that is the case then logically to be normal we have to do what he did, to follow what he commanded. If that is the case then a huge question has to be asked of the church at large - how far are we living up to that norm? how far are our cultural norms removed from that? which normal life are we living - are we taking our norm from our own experience or from the gospel way of life?
Are we doing what he did? are we trying to live to his standards? are we content in living a lesser standard? ... mmm ...
Baden in chapel tonight spoke of a set of stairs - if society could see what lay at the bottom of those stairs we certainly wouldn't go down them we'd choose to leave them well alone. BUT
we don't, we are more on a spiral staircase where we see just a few steps ahead and feel its OK to keep going. That has to be where penitence, repentance comes in we need to instead of going down take hold of our selves and return to the God.
Normality - to be a normal christian surely has to mean being what God has called us to be, and doing what he has called to do. With that in mind i refer to a book which I have just read cover to cover - Mission shaped Spirituality
"All of us are called by the missionary God to share with him in his missionary work". That means we are called to go. All of us are called to go and share that gospel. When we share that gospel as commanded we are being obedient to the call.
In Matthew 10:8 there is a definitive call to "heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy and drive out demons" ... but that's not normal! ... is it?
... it certainly isn't in my church ! ... talk about that in most churches and you most certainly would get strange looks
... feed the hungry (support a mission charity, sponsor a child ...)
there are huge questions around what the holy spirit is doing - the ministry of healing in our churches today - in the BCP there is a service of healing and wholeness, the laying on of hands for healing, prophecy, tounges, prayer, visions ... certainly it could be seen as one particular "box" in the church.
"Missionary engagment needs to draw on a particularly robust spirituality, which can take on the powers, whether social or supernatural. We need, as Christians to be assertive and engaged. The roots of taht assertiveness are not found in ourselves but in the authority that has been given to us: 'heal... raise... cleanse .. drive out'.
Churches as it suggests in the MSS must come to terms with this authority and also the responsibilty which comes with it. It is only through this growing up and responsibility taking this to the secular polis can the church grow further.
One sees hope, when you look around the globe where healings and lots of other miracles are taking place. where the gospel is being proclaimed.
What are we passionate about? what are we doing if we are not seeing lives changed for Jesus?
the gospel needs to be shared ... lives need to be changed with it ... what are we doing about it?
when miracles happen ... is that the norm? or should we be surprised? are we praying for it?
surely we do every time we pray the Lord's Prayer -
Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Mission is about life ... life is about mission
mmm... lots to ponder on
are we normal? am I normal ?
what is normal? do I want to be normal?
is society normal or abnormal?
... mmm ... mmm ...
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