Continuing the Story ... Church

When God became flesh and moved into the neighborhood significance can be found in the fact that he fostered community. He gathered a group of misfit disciples... in many ways the left overs, the ones who weren't good enough to study with the other Rabbi's of his day. The ones who had basically flunked out and learned their families trade. So we have this strange mix of tax collectors and zealots and fisherman. These are people who usually would not get along... and they had their squabbles. But Jesus believed in them. He believed that they could do what he did, live in the way he did. (For more info see Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis or Nooma: Dust).

In other words, Jesus begins creating a community... a group of people who begin striving and learning to live the way God intends us to live in relationship with creation and each other. A holy partnership ensues between God and humanity... God's plan is coming to fruition... A holy people who will be a blessing to all peoples.

This new kingdom (using language that Jesus used) is the forming of a community that partners with God to be about God's business of redeeming creation... not just part of creation but all of Creation.

The intention is that humanity would begin fulfilling what we are designed for... way back in Genesis God gives humans partnership in tending creation... partnering with God in co-creating. Caring for the things that God cares for... however, the crisis portion of the story has seemed to speak louder. Our brokenness and stubborn desire to make our own way has damaged creation. Now God is creating a community to restore what has been broken and reconcile breach that has lead to murder and war and injustice.

Jesus promises a 'comforter', 'guide' to come and be with us helping us to learn the way of God in the world. This promise is the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit which manifest himself on Pentecost. The first believers had gathered in a room, waiting and praying and deciding on what to do next. The Holy Spirit happened in upon them. They began a movement of people who joined one another through baptism to be part of God's creation redemption community. They recieved power to be God's witnesses in Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. This community is not a perfect community, but a learning, living community. A community that strives to live God's way in the world. A kingdom that does not live by the power of coersion or force... no its the power of love in its fullness. Unconditional love that is being poured out to all nations, all peoples. It's a message of goodness... it's the message of hope that all injustices will be turned upright, that what is wrong in the world will be made right

Here is a song by Derek Webb This Too Shall Be Made Right.

Continuing the Story... Christ and Theories of Atonement

Theories of Atonement:

A possible explanation for how Jesus’ life and death play a role in the salvation of the human race.

In Modernism, we must always speak in absolutes or proven scientific facts. If this is the case then only one theory of atonement can be right and all others must be wrong.

However, in Post-modernism, things have changed; human kind has struggled with the idea that not everything that is true can be proven true by scientific evaluation or equations. For example, love is real, but it cannot be proven in a scientific experiments. Hence, in post-modernism a new openness exists. Instead, of absolutes, truth can be found in the midst of all things. “God is above all, in all and through all” – Eph 4:4-6.

This Table was developed in part from Brian McLaren’s Book The Story We Find Ourselves In.

Atonement Theory	Description	The Enemy
Substitution	God sent Jesus into the world to absorb all the punishment for our sins. That’s what the cross was all about. It was Jesus absorbing the punishment that all of us deserve. He became the substitute for all of us. As he suffered and died, all our wrongs were paid for, so all of us can be forgiven. Question: 1. If God wants to forgive us, why doesn’t he just do it? 2. How does punishing an innocent person make things better? (divine child abuse?)	God’s just wrath towards our sinfulness.
Ransom	We humans, through our sin, placed ourselves under the authority of Satan. Jesus comes and offers himself as a ransom for us. He says to Satan, ‘If I give you myself, will you set them free?’ Satan agrees to the bargain, and so he takes, tortures, and kills Jesus, whose self sacrifice sets us free. Of course, in the end, God double-crosses Satan—pardon the pun—by raising Jesus from the dead. So Satan is doubly the loser, and we’re set free to live for and with God again. Question: 1. Why would God be making deals with the devil?	Satan, who has us as prisoners, or kidnapped.
Christus Victor	Jesus enters into and overcomes death. This opens the door for us to enter eternal life.	Death
Perfect Penitent (C. S. Lewis)	Forgiveness, for it to be legitimate and real, requires an expression of sincere repentance. And none of us are very good at repenting. None of us can repent sincerely or fully, because deep down, a part of us, at least, still loves to sin. Our best repentance is always ambivalent, partial, holding, holding back. So this theory sees Jesus’ acceptance of death—after all, he could have escaped any number of ways—as his enacting, on behalf of the whole human race, perfect repentance for us. He becomes a representative of all humanity, and willingly submits himself to being condemned and punished on our account, in spite of his true innocence, as a way of acting out real repentance for the human race.	Our inability to enact sincere repentance. There is always just a little piece of us deep down that loves to sin.
Moral Influence	The cross demonstrates Jesus’ self-giving, his complete abandonment to God’s will, his complete self-devotion for the sake of the world. Jesus’ death completes the whole message of his life: he makes visible the self-giving love of God. When that sacrificial love touches us, we are changed internally—‘constrained’[1] is the word Paul uses for it—so that we want to stop being selfish, and we want to join God in self-giving, beginning by giving ourselves back to God, and leading us to give ourselves to our neighbors and the world too. It’s as if Jesus invites us into his self-giving. He gives himself to God, for the sake of the whole world, and he invites us into his devotion, both to God and for the world.	Selfishness and Lack of Love
Powerful Weakness (Foolish Wisdom)	Hinges on the word, ‘vulnerable’. By becoming vulnerable on the cross, by accepting suffering from everyone, Jews and Romans alike, rather than visiting suffering on everyone, Jesus is showing God’s loving heart, which wants forgiveness, not revenge, for everyone. Jesus shows us that the wisdom of God’s kingdom is sacrifice, not violence. It’s about accepting suffering and transforming it into reconciliation, not avenging suffering through retaliation. So through this window, the cross shows God’s rejection of the human violence and dominance and oppression that have spun the world in a cycle of crisis from the story of Cain and Abel through the headlines in this morning’s Washington Post; I don’t know . . . this theory might be nonsense, but maybe there’s a grain of truth in it. The cross calls humanity to stop trying to make God’s kingdom happen through coercion and force, which are always self-defeating in the end, and instead, to welcome it through self-sacrifice and vulnerability.”	Human power, or arrogance, or pride, especially religious pride. We think we can do it all in our own way, our timetable, our methodology, our cleverness. We just mess things up. Human Violence, Dominance and Oppression.
God’s Agony Made Visible	God’s agony made visible on the cross. The pain of forgiving, the pain of absorbing the betrayal and forgoing any revenge, or risking that your heart will be hurt again, for the sake of love, at the very worst moment, when the beloved has been least worthy of forgiveness, but stands most in need of it. It’s not just something legal or mental. It’s not just words; it has to be embodied, and nails and thorns and sweat and tears and blood strike me as the only true language of betrayal and forgiveness. Jesus is able to forgive and ask God to forgive us on the cross. Jesus is showing that if he could forgive us at that moment, at our ugliest, lowest point, then we should forgive one another.	The Pain of Forgiving people at their least worthy moment.

* The Descriptions have been borrowed from Brian McLaren’s book, The Story We Find Ourselves In (pages 101-106).

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[1] I believe this in reference to 1 Corinthians 9:15-17 when Paul basically says he doesn’t do what does for himself, he does it because he is ‘compelled’/’constrained’ to preach Christ.

Questions... How might we be bringing the kingdom of heaven to fruition in the here and now?

These Questions were borrowed from Paul Dazet and New Hope Community in Boardman, OH. However, I thought that they were good questions. Questions that need to be considered as Oasis Life Journey continues to form (although she is only in the conception stages - vision stages of her life). Where is Oasis Life Journey? Well, it is currently located in a home on the Northeast side of Canton, OH the Home of the Football Hall Of Fame. If your interested in hearing more about it please continue to read the blog and post. So check out and consider the following questions.

What are the unique needs where God has placed us? in our city? in our neighborhood?

How are these needs reflected socially, economically, ethnically, environmentally, politically, and religiously?

What arena of our community is the furthest from the utopia that God wants to restore?

What burning issues are alive in the public's eye and brought to attention by the media?

What needs and opportunities do the industries specific to our area create?

What is the most significant change in our community in the last decade, and what need does this create?

What are the largest community events, and what needs or opportunities do they create?

Because of our specific location, what solution could we provide that no other church does?

How would we describe the "atmosphere of lostness" in our community?

What is the creation story of our particular community, and what insight does this afford?

Does the history of our community bring to light any spiritual strongholds?

What one positive change in our community would have the most dramatic effect in people's lives?
Questions are from the book "Church Unique" by Will Mancini