Thursday, December 09, 2010

no reforming of reformation language: how about de-formation/re-Orientation?

Leonard Sweet has sometimes said, "there is no name for what God is doing now."  I love his suggested name...but can I also call it a "de-formation?":

Western Christianity is largely belief-based and church focused...The Jesus trimtab, in contrast, is relationship-based and world-focused...It is less invested in maintaining and growing an institution and more invested in Jesus' passion for saving the world..

For the past decade [written in 2004] a variety of voices have claimed that we are living in a "new reformation." Some have called this the Postmodern Reformation or the Second reformation or even the Third..

God does seem to be up to something big, and I confess to have used reformation terminology myself...But..

...if we can't get reformation "issues " right after half a  millenium of trying, then having  another go at coining new reformational terms and lists and requirements won't help things now.

Watching what God is up to today suggests less a reformational paradigm than a missional paradigm. In other words, rather than a call to take care of family business, yet again, after five hundred years of trying, God seems to be calling us to take care of the world...

..since mission is nor reformation, i would suggest calling this new movement of God a re-Orientation, partly due to teh meaning of teh word Orient.  Orient means 'east.."  ...an eastering orientation... Easter faith is not a Resurrection belief, it's a Resurrection reality.
-Leonard Sweet, "Out of the Question.." page 6-9, excerpts



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Hey, thanks for engaging the conversation!