TheMeekShall Posted March 12, 2005 Author Share Posted March 12, 2005 (edited) The speech is good. Since I've started talking about my ideas, I'm becoming more aware that a sleeping giant is waking. Nothing like a war of agression to turn complacent libereals into activists. I don't know if UCC as a whole is trying to become more visible in progressive ideas, but yesterday I saw an TV ad that touted them as an inclusive church. So at least here, they're gayfriendly. Edited March 12, 2005 by TheMeekShall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
des Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 Maybe so, Meek. Jim Wallis' book "God's Politics" has been on the NY Times Best Seller list for many weeks in a row now. When Larry King had the 5 most influential evangelicals, he had on Brian (or is it Bruce) McLaren.(I think he was also in Time Magazine, in their article on the subject. This indicates that at least some people are reading and hearing about these ideas. The UCC ad (not allowed on NBC or CBS because it was too controversial nor on ABC which doesn't run religious ads-- these stations have no problem with Will and Grace or Cialis and Viagra, but that's another topic) ran during Advent as well. --des Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cunninglily Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 I appreciate this discussion...very interesting and important I think...but it seems to me to always boil down to etymology and language. There is a difference, which I'm sure you all here know, between *Jesus* and the *Christ*...and I always wince a bit when the two are used interchangeably, as I think it is at the root of much of the confusion which surrounds the perception of Christians. I don't think we are to be like Jesus. I think Jesus is the name of a unique individual who lived in a particular time and place in history. I think this Jesus is our teacher (and an incredible, fantastic, and challenging teacher at that), not our savior. Christ, the Anointed One, is our Savior and I believe the distinction is important. It is this anointing, this Christ in us that we are to embody....NOT the personality of Jesus. With this anointing we can do in our time what Jesus did in his. Christ in you is the hope of glory...not Jesus in you. I think ideally we should not shy away from the name of Jesus (I say ideally because sometimes I do and for all the reasons you have stated), because to my knowledge there has never been anyone quite like him, and as a teacher and example of what humanity can be in proper relationship to God, he is unequaled in my eyes. But, to me, at my current level of understanding, he himself stressed "the greater things" that we shall accomplish when we too embody the Anointing, or Christ in us....and that this is the really good news Jesus proclaimed, that each one of us can be transformed by Christ or the Anointing to become mediators of Gods Good Will for the whole of creation. But bear with me. I am very much "in process" and my understanding changes and evolves and develops in surprising ways quite frequently. Yesterday I began Walter Winks book "The Powers That Be" and could hardly put it down....fantastic book! I found myself falling in love with Jesus all over again....which, in my mind at least, does not contradict anything I said above. It always amazes me and fills me with wonder how *current* Jesus always is. There seems to be no end to what he can teach us. But it is with Christ in Us, to my mind, that we too shall go on to accomplish incredible things...not as Jesus clones, but as the unique individuals, living in a particular time and place, NOW. ~lily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynthia Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 Beautiful thoughts Lily, thanks... Just as I started seeing F - the president bumper stickers; I went to church today and they had J- the Christ T-shirts.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cunninglily Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 I wanted to add, if I may? I take pause at the phrase "jesus is lord". Is Jesus Lord? Or is Jesus the CHRIST, Lord? If Jesus is Lord then so are you and I , if I am to be consistent with what I said above. And what is Jesus thought to be Lord of but the whole of creation, and Jesus, the man, can not be Lord. Only as the Christ is He Lord. And what is a Lord but an Overseer? And is this not our goal as Christians? To become Lords or Overseers or Mediators or Co-creators with God? To act as Christ? ie under the Anointing or as Anointed Sons of God? In my own, not always so humble, opinion, it is the message of Christ, the Anointing, the Call and Purpose revealed in Jesus for ALL of humanity that "sells" a Liberal Christianity. This is what I think people ultimately hunger for....a sense of purpose in Life...and what greater purpose can there be? And what is more it already IS our purpose, we already DO mediate...we only do so more or less consciously....its already an accomplished fact. We only have to open ourselves to receive it; to KNOW who and what we really are in God. And I also don't believe that people have to necessarily accept the teaching of Jesus to understand their purpose in God...although I never quite understand why people wouldn't want to...excepting the bull that gets passed for "the teachings of Jesus", of course. ~lily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynthia Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 "...excepting the bull..." kinda like, except for That, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cunninglily Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 "...excepting the bull..." kinda like, except for That, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> haha! ...er...yeah, exactly. ~lily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolly Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 Good thoughts, Lily and Cynthia. Appreciate your taking the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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