A new CGGC day has begun...
...and with inclusion of the word that was once, apparently, unspeakable or, um, untypable? in official CGGC communications...
The notorious R word.
Twice, actually, if I counted correctly.
If you are a Facebook friend of George Jensen, you may already have read his rave review of Lance's first eNews offering as E.D., which has created a Facebook tidal wave of praise for Lance's initial offering. And, sorry George, but I agree with George far more often than I do with most in our declining body.
I, too, agree that Lance got off to a very good start, though I'm not able to find all the superlatives George did.
To his immense praise, Lance actually acknowledges the importance of biblical truth for our body apart from increases in the numbers of nickels and noses. Yikes! Perhaps he IS a revolutionary.
Oddly, Lance finds himself encouraging CGGCers to become practitioners of grace and not merely to be people holding to truth without acts of love and grace.
As much as I truly appreciate what Lance has written, as I boisterously cheer his use of the R word, I think he gives the CGGC far more credit for holding to biblical truth than we deserve. In the issue he addresses, I believe, we are being more tradition driven than Bible driven. As is usual, it seems to me, even here, our truth comes more from the Middle Ages than from the Word. (I'd love for the CGGC to call a conversation on marriage in the New Testament.)
We truly are not a people of the Word and we need to be honest with ourselves about that. We have not been driven by passion for truth for several generations. R-ing of our devotion to tradition will not come to us easily. Too many mountaintoppers prefer tradition to truth.
Anyway...
...good
start, Lance. Thanks for using the forbidden word twice right from the beginning!
I hope all of you will read the eNews and give it careful and serious thought.
OTOH, as much hope as there may be in what Lance has started, ERCers may have noticed that last week DOCTOR Richardson sent out a Healthy Church Update on how we can respond to Charleston, not through repentance, but by highlighting the shaping of liturgies and by noting the social dimension of the SACRAMENT of Communion.
ReplyDeleteOn the big picture level, we are going to have to acknowledge that we are not unified and that at one extreme there are important people in our body who dream of a high church future for the CGGC featuring liturgies and sacraments.
I think that we are in deeper trouble than most CGGCers can imagine.