Luka led Creator's energetic discussion after Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber's DVD presentation about unexpected good news.From the beginning it was clear that Nadia Bolz-Weber is a favorite author and speaker of many of the participants of this Adult Form. I have linked twice to her sermons just in these blogs because others talked about them in their reactions to Pastor Michelle's recent sermons.
The DVD presentation showed why. She articulated and summarized the common response many people would have when first confronted with the gospel stories of Jesus. Where some might simply decry the prosperity gospel some Christians now believe, for example, she embodies that in her "initial" response to the story of Jesus. She laments this is a depressing example of good news
After citing Jesus' death on the cross, her reaction is This is the worst good news I have ever heard. This plays with one current assumption that financial blessing is the will of God for Christians, and that faith, positive speech, and donations will increase our wealth, like winning the lottery. I would think the gospel message might be the worst good news for them.
Then Nadia return to an understanding of what the good news truly gives us. Our ego, consumerism and our sense of being exceptional as individuals, or in a group we belong to, or as a nation, don't need to be at the center of our lives. We don't need to fight to be first to create meaning in our lives.
What has challenged us throughout the Animate series is to perceive our faith in new ways. A prime example dovetails into the discussion Diane led last week that focused on our reactions, as children, to Old Testament stories. Most of those participating in the forum grew up with some sort of church background, albeit very different ones. Our childhood responses are still within us and very real to most of us.
The question is can we approach them with a new understanding that comes from who we are become, with our current cultural context and what we have experienced since we were children.
Luka drew our attention to parts of the workbook. He asked us to complete our wording of the gospel message and what the gospel means to us individually. He went on to topics like:
- Our favorite stories of Jesus
- Whether the actions or the words of Jesus were most important to us.
- If we believed the gospel asks for a response from us
- Examples of the gospel lived out that we have experienced in our lives.
For the last topic, Debi and Paul answered with their stories of El Salvador and what they had seen lived out in those peoples lives. For Luka it was his experience with Nativity, his former church in Bend, Oregon.
The answers to the rest of the questions varied greatly. We talked about Jesus stopping a crowd from stoning a woman, Luka's favorite Jesus story, and hit on additional topics like retribution and justice in the ancient legal systems and church using excommunication as a tool of power in the Middle Ages.
We talked about how both his words of Jesus and what Jesus did touched the most unexpected people as described in the gospels.
Luka left us with the Leadership Guide's challenge of writing a modern day parable that would illustrate what the good news means to us.
Pastor Michelle will lead next Sunday's session; Genre: Rhythm of the Text presented by Jose Morales
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