Subject:  SW: Forum Name Change |
Author:
Eugene
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Date Posted: 16:57:30 03/03/03 Mon
I have changed the name of the forum to "So What!?" Please don't think that I am getting a major attitude problem! I am in a good place in my life and have moved into a beautiful new apartment that feels more like a vacation rental than anything. I just thought that there may be a few good reasons for the name change.
First of all, soon after I named the forum "the Sabbatical Journey", I learned that one of my favorite author, Henri Nouwen, had published a book by the same name. My first reason for the name change is out of my respect for Nouwen.
Then there is my desire for a new beginning. Frankly, I believe that for a believer, new beginnings should be continuously experienced. I can't find anything more thrilling and joyful than to constantly breaking out of stiff molds, pigeon holes or, like one of my good friend said, "quan-quan" (frames). I am using the name change as a means to launch a next season of recorded reflections.
At last, there is my personal conviction of the most important question every believer must answer: So what!? When we read the gospel, it HAS to be more than just fascinating miracle stories with moral implications. When we study the letters, we MUST do more than reducing them into dogma and doctrines. Scriptures provide a holy place where we may encounter Christ and his body, and unless we are impacted to our very root by this encounter, we have cheapened the enterprise of "Bible study".
Christ's eyes are upon us -- "Now that you have met me, what will happen to you?" That is the "So What!?" question.
I am using this question to encourage myself. From reading my past journal it may look like I have just been sulking, moaning and complaining about how the institution of church failed to meet my expectation. But I must not just judge. I am within the body of Christ. "Church" is not (or should not be allowed to become) an institution, but a community which I love. Like Bonhoffer once said, the church is not an ideal, it is a holy reality. A shepherd has no business complain about his flock. None!
I don't think any little boy has ever aspire to grow up to be a druggie. I don't think any little girl would say, "When I grow up, I want to be a prostitute." By the same token, church as an organic body, never started by aiming to become stagnant, legalistic, irrelevant or hurtful. When the growth of the church went awry, it is not "they" that must change. It is a time to take things personally: What would Christ want to do with our body? It is a "so what" moment.
So what!?
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