One of the questions that comes up is: "Can any of us find within our traditions something unique to offer anyone else?" We are part of a growing and changing community - our ethical traditions and cultural worship styles are important, but they are hardly timeless or culturally transcendent manifestations that encapsulates Jesus' way for the world. But that doesn't mean that our traditions and cultures should be blank-slated (even if they could be) and that we should imagine, somehow from scratch, what Jesus would be up to today. On the contrary, it means that we come out of particular and important stories. And we have a responsibility to those stories.
For Christians it's the scriptures, traditions, reasonings, and experiences that make us who we are. The question then becomes..."How, in conversation, do we constructively engage the stories of others, and without forgetting our own experiences, carefully entangle ourselves in the divine mess of regenerating a mutually Created truth?"
...I have been speaking only in the context of U.S.-American Mennonites - and that dialogue, at least for me, is intimidating enough. Bike Movement is about something more though. Bike Movement is asking me and you to consider broadening our understanding of the church to the world outside of U.S. borders - outside of North America. The broader the conversation, the more complicated it becomes. Sure. But to truly realize the Creative reign of our God - we must demarnd of one another at least an attempt at this imagined, truly representative, dialogue - a microcosm of the true global church.
- Tim Showalter on bikemovement.com
Harrisonburg, Va., native
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment