Quote of the Day - The Quest for More

"It is not that what is is not enough, for it is; it is that what is has been disarranged, and is crying out to be put in place."

- Madeleine L'Engle, Walking On Water

Quote of the Day - Richard John Neuhaus

The entirety of our prayer is “Your will be done” – not as a note of resignation but of desire beyond expression.

-Richard John Neuhaus

Quote of the Day - Environmental Stewardship

Environmentalism doesn’t need to be about a radical political agenda. It can be about our own behavior, informed by values like good stewardship, protecting family time, self-restraint, and helping others. That’s not radical. It is common sense and, most important, thoroughly Christian.

-Chuck Colson

Quote of the Day

So, my friends, every day do something that won't compute. Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing...Be joyful, though you have considered all the facts.

-Wendell Berry

Quote of the Day - Lent repentance

Going through the motions doesn't please you,
a flawless performance is nothing to you.

I learned God - worship
when my pride was shattered.

Heart - shattered lives ready for love
don't for a moment escape God's notice.

Psalms 51:16-17 The Message

Why Shalom? Why stumbling toward it?

The Hebrew word shalom is an extremely rich concept—it means full human flourishing in every aspect. When the prophets (like Isaiah) describe shalom, they assume it means spiritual conversion and true worship but also social justice for the poor and cultural products that glorify God, not ‘man.’ So God is calling believers to seek the full range of human renewal—individual, spiritual, communal, social, and cultural.
-Tim Keller

I am immensely indebted to Tim Keller. His exposition of the Hebrew shalom started a sort of pilgrim's progress for me which, in turn, unwrapped the vastness of the biblical Gospel.

My formative years were spent in a tradition which unintentionally preached a gospel of "sin management and hell avoidance", to quote Dallas Willard. The gospel involved being overcome by guilt or strong emotion, praying a prayer, and then trying really hard not to do bad things while you wait to escape this world and go to heaven. There was a pietistic striving to become a more moral person, have a "quiet time", and not involve yourself in the things of the world - especially smoking, drinking, and cussing. The tradition provided a great deal of instruction on WHAT you were not to DO but very little on WHO you were to BE in Christ and how you were to interact with the whole of God's creation.

As I submit to the rule and reign of Christ in my life he unveils a holistic Gospel found in the story line of the Bible: creation-fall-redemption-consummation. This story shows us that through the power of the cross God is making the world to rights. Although sin has separated creation from Creator, God's plan is to redeem and restore the entirety of his good creation beginning with the cross and being consummated upon Christ's return. The kingdom of God has broken into human history in the here and now. As Tim Keller says, "God's purpose is not only saved individuals, but also a new world based on justice, peace, and love, not power, strife, and selfishness." The role of a Christ follower is to be a "signpost" of God's kingdom meaning that through word and deed we are ambassadors of the good news of the cross which redeems a broken relationship with our Creator and brings life and reconciliation to any place we find death and decay.

Shalom!

Keller describes shalom as an "interwoven-ness". We were created to be interwoven in our relationship with God, in our relationship with others, and in our relationship with ourselves. Creation, in all its capacities, was to be interwoven in perfect harmony and intimacy. Sin has separated what was once supposed to exist in shalom, what was once interwoven, but the Gospel restores the shalom, the interwoven-ness that creation was created for. On the last day shalom will be completely restored, but God in his good grace has given us the first fruits of shalom in the here and now. Because the creation is still marred by brokenness, we exist in the already and the not yet, and we find ourselves...stumbling toward shalom.

As the quote above alludes to, this Gospel, this shalom, has something to say about all of human life, speaking into both our private and public world. Submission to the Gospel molds personal aspects of our lives such as the spiritual, physical, and emotional as well as our response to the systematic structures of human society-politics, economics, vocation, education, leisure, etc. In our lives we should constantly be developing a Gospel worldview or life view. Worldview pioneer Brian Walsh calls this The Transforming Vision.

In this little space I plan to process, wrestle with, and flesh out what a Gospel worldview looks like including quotes that inspire me, articles that challenge me, as well as thoughts and convictions that God is putting on my heart.

stumbling toward shalom....





*In addition to Tim Keller, I am indebted to N.T. Wright, Michael Goheen, Brian Walsh, Art Boulet, and countless others for many of the ideas...and some of the words which comprise this post.