the community blog of vine & branches christian community - a journal of who we are and what we're going through as a community of faith
Pray with us
> Christmas
> psalter week 1
> morning prayer
> evening prayer
> night prayer
> lectionary reading
click here to donate to palmer's medical bill fund through vine & branches. your gift through paypal will be tagged for mark's needs. note: paypal does charge a small fee per transaction, can't help that. thank you!
atom xml feed
Recent Posts
> from the abbot
> On Being a Diaspora Christian
> mystical union in God
> test
> the rule > sections 4-5
> community life > october 2005
> the rule > sections 1-3
> the rule > introduction
> our life in common
> how does it work?
Archives
> April 2002
> May 2002
> June 2002
> July 2002
> August 2002
> September 2002
> October 2002
> November 2002
> December 2002
> January 2003
> February 2003
> March 2003
> April 2003
> May 2003
> June 2003
> July 2003
> August 2003
> September 2003
> October 2003
> November 2003
> March 2004
> May 2004
> June 2004
> July 2004
> August 2004
> September 2004
> October 2004
> November 2004
> December 2004
> January 2005
> February 2005
> March 2005
> April 2005
> May 2005
> July 2005
> August 2005
> September 2005
> October 2005
> November 2005
> December 2005
On Being a Diaspora Christian
In the ancient church, communities called one another "resident aliens" as they wrote to encourage, correct, and share stories. As in, "the Colony of Resident Aliens, God's people sojourning at Corinth, to the Colony at Philippi," that sort of thing. Diogenetes wrote about how even while Christians do obey local laws and follow local customs, they have a different citizenship -- they find their self-identity not in their political circumstances, but in their allegiance to Jesus. Colonies in the Roman world existed as outposts of imperial power and civilization in "barbarious" lands. The appearance of a colony (just as in the Americas) meant that the imperial power was moving in to take ownership, and soon enough would remake the place according to its own will.
There is a certain irony, then, that Christians considered themselves to be colonists for the Kingdom of God in the Roman Empire. These communities understood that Jesus was Lord and Caesar was not. The emperor would find this out soon enough, but in the meantime, converts to Jesus would no longer treat the State or any earthly citizenship as being a meaningful catagory. They would of course pay dearly for this refusal to participate in the imperial cult.
(I could go on, but many of you know where this would go. If you'd like to see me chase this one, see the articles under Patriotism: Before the Altar of Caesar at Vindicated: The Amazing Blog of Kyle Potter)
I try to keep these ideas before me, and it helps that in Britain I am a stranger twice over, and I remember this every time I misunderstand an accent or eat a funny meal. Make no mistake, I enjoy the hospitality and friendship of many people, and consider myself to participate fully in the life of the college, but I am a stranger.
I'm not British. But then, in terms of the things that make me me, I'm not really American, either. In the Church of Jesus Christ, and in light of the coming Kingdom, it's simply not a meaningful ontological catagory.
I belong, therefore, in the context of the Church, and the world that God is colonizing. But this affirmation also runs counter to the gospel of modern religion, which has told me that I am an individual, autonomous self, who makes decisions with myself as a primary reference point. That's just not true.
I am baptized into Christ, and a member of the Church catholic. I share this life with the Vine and Branches in the Eucharist, common prayer and hospitality. We do not live together as a community because we have the same hobbies, or because we agree in our theologies down to the last detail. Hell, I'm not even on the same continent! We are a community because God has called us together as such, to bear the life of the Risen Christ together in the world around us. Our choice to love one another - to struggle with that and to learn what it means - is our response to God's gracious call.
Even on the other side of the world, I am supported by the love and care of God's new community, both within and outside of that particular fellowship. I am bound to my friends, my brothers and sisters in Christ, by our baptism, shared allegiance to Jesus, and in prayer. This is not mystical and abstract, but mystical and concrete. This reality has lots of faces and voices. They speak in unity a promise from God that I do not stand or fall on my own, and I never will.
| posted by Kyle | 5:03 AM | 5 comments |
Saturday, November 05, 2005
mystical union in God
I wanted to share with you a quote from an old book I have. It was actually the first book I ever bought about Thomas Merton - while I was in college, about 1985 probably. It's called Thomas Merton on Prayer by John J. Higgins, S.J. (he's a Jesuit Priest). Very helpful book actually published in 1971. Here's a great quote about our union with Christ - the heart and core of what our Christianity is about. Read it at least twice.
...every Christian is capable of perfect assimilation to Christ in a union of loving faith. Every man, then, must become spiritually identified with Christ Who is the principle of his union with God. However, this very identification implies a responsibility to develop and to grow in one's new life. Hence, the union with God, which is at the basis of Merton's spirituality, is of necessity something dynamic. It implies growth and development in the individual Christian in that such a person must continuously learn to live more fully, more perfectly, and more completely in Christ in order that the Spirit of Christ might carry out in his life actions worthy of Christ. This, Merton notes in an article about his own conversion:There's some meat for you. Chew on it for a while. Peace.
If they [Christians living in the world] are to live as true members of Christ and radiate the divine influence among the men with whom they are in contact, they will be obliged to develop rich interior lives of union with God, and this union will have to be deep enough to weather the demands of hard work and constant contact with things that would defile a weaker spirit.
In view of this, one can say that man's purpose in life is to grow continuously, through a participation in the life of the divine Spirit, in union with the risen Christ, toward the complete maturity and perfection that is the full manifestation of Christ in one's life, namely, Christ living in man and uniting men to one another in His own life and unity.
| posted by + Alan | 6:57 PM | 0 comments |
Thursday, November 03, 2005
test
testing post ability.
| posted by + Alan | 6:55 PM | 0 comments |