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what i learned from the church: hope
my friend glenn has created an excellent meme entitled “what i learned from the church” and he graciously invited me to be a part of the conversation. so, this is my contribution to the conversation…
i grew up in an extremely conservative baptist church that’s sole focus was teaching one to master the content of the bible. i memorized countless passages, the order of the books in the bible, listened to and were taught countless stories in the gospels and old testament, bible songs, the list could go on and on and on. i am extremely thankful for these early formative years and am quite amazed at what i remember from my childhood sunday school days. however, the one thing that i did not learn in these early formative years was a love for scripture. it seemed, rather, that scripture was something to consume and use but not in a formative way. i truly wish that i had been taught what a love for scripture looked like from my church community. it has taken years to learn this and i still wouldn’t say that i have a “love” for scripture, i just have a “like” relationship with it. this is beside the point… a bunny trail if you will.
this was an extremely easy question for me to answer, but of all the things that i learned from church the one thing that i am most thankful for learning is the gospel. without learning the hopefulness of the gospel, without experiencing the forgiveness aspect of the gospel i would not be where i am today ready to embark on this next phase or journey in life to plant a church. at a very early age i experienced the grace and love of Jesus speaking into my heart and my life thanks to the tremendous workers in the childrens department. the encounters that i had with Jesus as i listened intently to the teacher speak of his miracles, of his love, and ultimately of his forgiveness enraptured my heart to the point of repentance and ultimately following him into the waters of baptism. he has never left my side, although i have left his many times.
i learned the beauty of grace and forgiveness contained within the gospel… i learned of atonement. however, this is where it ended and my own learning curve began. i only learned a sliver of the gospel from the church, the side that talked only about my own relationship with God being redeemed—nothing else. for a while i struggled with this idea thinking that ‘there had to be more to the gospel than just this! this isn’t good news to everyone!’ one day my eyes were opened to a fuller picture of the redemption of the gospel within scripture. i saw 4 relationships that were healed through the atonement: 1) me and God, 2) me and creation, 3) me and myself, 4) me and other people. i saw these four separations clearly in Genesis 3, and clearly redeemed in Paul’s letter to the Romans. this is what i’m learning today… the gospel is much bigger than i realized!
i am still wrestling with this idea, still wading deep into the waters of scripture tapping into the story to understand what other aspects of the gospel are out there. i’ve heard it said that there are actually 30-40 different strains of the gospel on dispaly throughout Paul’s writings… i want to explore the depths of the gospel! i want to know what good news (the gospel) looks like to all sorts of different people that are entrenched in all sorts of different lifestyles and situations. i want to see what good news looks like for the rich business executive that wants for nothing. i want to see what good news looks like for the homeless man living on the side of the road. i want to see what good news looks like to a new mom or dad, a friend dying from cancer or in the midst of a difficult marriage situation. i want to explore the gospel as found in scripture and really see it come to life.
an explosion of beauty. that’s the word image that comes to mind when good news comes… and that’s what i want to see, experience and learn. i want to see the embodiment of the gospel—nay, i want to be a part of the embodiment of the gospel. that’s what i have learned and that’s what i’m learning… and hoping for.
11 Responses to “what i learned from the church: hope”
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Aaron…
Wow! You were really kind!
I like the “explosion of beauty!”
glenn,
i probably could’ve been rather merciless… but for a change i thought i’d be generous and hopeful. turning a new leaf…
You have nicer leaves than I.
I am not a proponent of being merciless. It’s the old speak the truth in love thing. If you love someone, you will honest, because you love them. But you won’t use the truth to beat them up with no high purpose in mind.
nicer leaves? probably not… i always tried to convince myself that i was ’speaking the truth in love’ but i wasn’t, it was bitterness through and through. about a month ago i made the decision to walk away from that bitterness and everything all of a sudden looks a little bit brighter. i’m certainly not under the auspice that everything is bright and cheery with the church and everything is perfect but i’m trying to see the good side for a while so that the ol’ bitter bug doesn’t creep back in.
[...] Aaron @ Regenerate: Hope [...]
Aaron…
How about seeing both sides and not losing our soul to bitterness nor ignore that which should be addressed? I am not not talking about feeling as though some people are our enemy. Yet, I think there is an element of being true to ourselves and who God made us to be, rather than who other people want us to be.
Sounds like the new attitude is your way of dealing with the old pain.
I’m picking on you, you know.
[...] and Compassion: Pithy and Provocative Julie @ Onehandclapping: Faith, Certainty, and Tom Cruise Aaron @ Regenerate: Hope Monte @ Monte Asbury’s Blog: Jesus Doesn’t Matter Much Rachael @ Justice and Compassion Rachael [...]
quite possibly, however i’m still as critical as the next guy… it’s just a different way of being critical. my critiques were out of anger, not grace… i’m going to give grace a chance.
i still see both sides of the equation for sure… don’t think that i’ve gone all soft. i’m starting to see that even though i may not necessarily agree with how some are “doing church” there is still value to it since it is bringing about the kingdom in some people’s lives. i guess it’s the churches way of being all things to all people. and maybe it’s true that everything has a life cycle and some churches are reaching the end of their life cycle while others are just starting to hit their stride…
Aaron…
I couldn’t agree more! I may have been too pushy. Think you know where I was coming from and why I was picking on you.
i didn’t think you were picking on me… however, i appreciate the challenge! it certainly helps me put things into words!
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