It's Time!

My follow up post to Reading Mark (below), is cross posted in two places: The Missional Journey and the Spectrum Blog. It seems I'm going to be blogging a bit more at Spectrum so stay tuned for that.

Here's the beginning of the post. The whole thing can be read here and/or here.

In an earlier post, here, I suggested a creative re-reading of the first chapter of Mark that was part of my sermon on Epiphany 3. What I was trying to do in that narrative was to highlight the context in which Mark frames Jesus’ announcement of the Kingdom.

Notice,

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:14-15).

The challenge facing pastors week by week is serious. I’m deeply concerned that most congregations are hearing the texts only in ways that prop up the reigning social imagination; in my case, the consumer capitalism and militarism (among other things) of the United States of America. But we need scripture to subvert our imaginations and sow the seeds of a new world. This can never happen while pastors simply offer scripture as a way of learning how to live well-adjusted lives in whatever society we find ourselves.

....

Comments

[andrew]

glad to hear you encouraging this way of viewing teh scriptures. peace.

[Glenn]

I'm surprised/encouraged/curious to hear an SDA pastor use the word, not to mention base a sermon in part on the idea of, Epiphany.

Having been attending an Episcopal church over the past year, I am growing more familiar with the role played, and the structure provided by, the liturgical calendar, and the particular phases (Advent, Epiphony, Lent, etc).

I'd be interested in hearing (maybe a post to this effect) how you have come to embrace this wider--I'd even dare say more universal--aspect of church life.

[Ryan Bell]

I've written in a very brief and limited way here - http://www.ryanjbell.net/intersections/2007/11/christ-the-king.html. It definitely deserves a fresh treatment as our congregation and I have grown in our understanding of the importance of redeeming time. What could be more Adventist than the idea of redeeming "Christian time," right? (I'm saying for me, not necessarily for you). I guess all I'm saying is that connecting the wider Christian tradition to an Adventist hook is important in my context as it would be in any context to connect with people's sense of religious tradition.