Word from Father Kevin: The Witness of Obedience

I know many of you read the works of Anglican bishop and theologian N.T. Wright. Recently, I was reading a transcript of a conference talk he gave and was stopped by this: 

“Throughout the early church, the world as a whole in its easy-going immorality was called to account again and again by the fact that Christians were living as new creation people, faithful in marriage and celibate outside. They didn’t even know such a thing was possible. Most people today in our world don’t think that is possible. That’s one of the things that early Christians did that made people say, ‘That’s a new creation, a new way of being human.’”

Simple obedience is its own witness—and more powerful than we often think.

Jesus Undercuts Tribalism

By Father Kevin Miller

One of the most powerful forces in our world today is what the political scientists call nationalism and the sociologists call tribalism. This viewpoint drives elections and many of our news stories. Tribalism says, “What’s right is the needs of my tribe.”

While not denying the right of nations to make decisions about their interests, the life and teaching of Jesus consistently undercuts tribalism. Consider these verses: "For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us” (Eph. 2:14) and "There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

In Christ, what’s right is what provides dignity and humanity for every person God created. So at the national level, we support policies that treat immigrants and refugees with respect; locally, we support the work of our ministry partner World Relief DuPage Aurora. And in our church, we try to give a warm welcome to every visitor or guest, no matter what their background or how they may be different from us.

Thank you, friends of the Savior, for how you do this.

What Attracts People to Anglicanism?

By Deacon Joshua Steele.

Based upon my "fieldwork" in starting and running a blog called "Rookie Anglican" at AnglicanPastor.com, I was asked recently by The Telos Collective to write a post about what attracts people to Anglicanism.

You can read my entire post over at the Telos Collective's blog, but here's a sample.

First, I address the apparent lack of "seeker-sensitivity" within Anglicanism. On one hand, I think this is a good thing.

No “culture of this world” can be equated with the culture of Jesus Christ. This is, I suggest, the important sense in which Christians (and not just Anglican ones) should not be “seeker-sensitive.”

And yet, on the other hand, the very mission of the church seems to demand that Christians be “seeker-sensitive” in the best sense of the phrase. This is because the gospel, though it does contain a powerful critique of a world alienated from God, is only “good news” to the extent that it resonates with (and does not merely refute) the cultures in which it is proclaimed.

So, perhaps we Anglicans need to do a better job of being “seeker-sensitive”—in the sense of resonating with the culture(s).

“Resonating” with the culture, however, does not necessarily mean “approving.” Instead, the church’s resonance with the cultures around it will frequently be “subversive”. . .

Toward that end, I’d like to consider some ways in which I’ve noticed the Anglican tradition subversively resonating with the culture(s) around it—especially those in the United States of America in recent years.

If you'd like to read the rest of the piece, please click here to view the post at the Telos Collective's blog.