Text - Colossians 3:1-17

The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience - Book by Rod Sider (book review)

From The Evangelical Scandal - Article from Christianity Today, Rod Sider

How do we turn the ship around?
We need to rethink our theology. We need to ask, "Are we really biblical?" Cheap grace is right at the core of the problem. Cheap grace results when we reduce the gospel to forgiveness of sins only; when we limit salvation to personal fire insurance against hell; when we misunderstand persons as primarily souls; when we at best grasp only half of what the Bible says about sin; when we embrace the individualism and materialism and relativism of our current culture. We also lack a biblical understanding and practice of the church.

I would think that evangelicals would want to get biblical and define the gospel the way Jesus did—which is that it's the Good News of the kingdom. Then we see that it means that the way to get into this kingdom is through unconditional grace because Jesus died for us. But it also means there's now a new kingdom community of Jesus' disciples, and that embracing Jesus means not just getting fire insurance so that one doesn't go to hell, but it means embracing Jesus as Lord as well as Savior. And it means beginning to live as a part of his new community where everything is being transformed. (read the rest of the article here)

Anne Lamott quote

...when you ask God into your life, you think that he...is going to come into your psychic house, look around, and see that you just need a little cleaning - and so you go along for the first six months thinking how nice life is now that God is there. Then you look outside the window one day and see that there’s a wrecking ball outside. It turns out that God actually thinks your whole foundation is shot and you’re going to have to start over from scratch.

A Generous Orthodoxy - Book by Brian McLaren (Tom has if you want to borrow)

From A Generous Orthodoxy....an interview with Brian McLaren

Question: What is a generous orthodoxy?
McLaren: Well, I took a whole book to try to answer that, and still didn't do it justice, but in a sentence, a generous orthodoxy is an attempt to remarry two things that never should have been divorced --- truth and love, orthodoxy and orthopraxy, doctrine and ethics/mission. The phrase comes from Hans Frei, a leading postliberal theologian. I think it represents the hopeful possibility of a convergence of postliberal and postconservative Christians.

Orthodoxy - from the Greek ortho ('right', 'correct') and doxa ('thought', 'teaching'), is typically used to refer to the correct theological or doctrinal observance of religion, as determined by some overseeing body. (right beliefs)

Orthopraxy - derived from Greek meaning "correct practice". It refers to accepted religious practices and may include both ritual practices as well as interpersonal acts. (right practices)

Generous (Evangelical) Orthodoxy - Excellent post from Scot Mcnight's Jesus Creed blog

Matthew 6:33 - Strive first for God's Kingdom

The Ragman - Story by Walter Wangerin, Jr.