I am often struck by the dangerous narcissism fostered by spiritual rhetoric that pays so much attention to individual self-improvement and so little to the practice of love within the context of community.
01624 – The Vine & Branches Metaphor
The communal life envisioned in the vine metaphor raises a strong challenge to contemporary Western models of individual autonomy and privatism. At the heart of the Johannine model is social interrelationship and corporate accountability. The vine and branches...
01309 – Salvation is Both Personal and Social
Salvation is personal, but this hardly needs emphasis... What does need emphasis is that Salvation in the Bible is also social. Ancient Israel's story is a story of the creation of a new people, a nation, a community. Salvation is about life together. Salvation is...
00497 – God of All?
It is strange that our language about God has not changed noticeably with the radical changes that have come with our understanding of quantum mechanics, or the theory of chaos, or the mysteries of particle physics. Shouldn’t our awareness of the magnificence of the...
00422 – Journeying with Jesus
Journeying with Jesus also means to be in a community, to become part of the alternative community of Jesus. Discipleship is not an individual path, but a journey in a company of disciples. It is the road less traveled, yet discipleship involves being in a community...