running commentary and a quote for today

1) Thank you to joshua for defining this site as a "communication experiment." Hopefully it will live up to that lofty categorization :-) I do want to emphasize that sometimes we have really thoughtful things to say based on our experiences or these cultural artifacts around us that we're reading or listening to. Often a little word of interpretation or clarification or personal application is the most helpful/insightful/enlightening treatment of the material. That being said, this blog is simply not intended a journal of my thoughts; there are far too many other voices out there saying valid things that we should listen to and not just add our own static to the mix. Think about how different the world would be if there was less commentary and more practicing the things we've learned. But the world is never that clear and sometimes only through "talking it out" can we get to a plain of clarity where the "doing" flows naturally out of the "thinking and believing." This blog can be--and I would argue has been--a forum for "talking it out" in a context of cyber-community. Rarely do we just accept something whole and in undigested format and make it a stalwart practice in our lives. Hopefully here is a place where we can chew on and digest the ideas floating around out there, spout out our interpretation of them for others to chip away at, and get to a place where we own the idea enough to believe it--then believe it enough to do something about it. 2) the home group/church that meets here in Clintonville rocks! Brd got a chance to witness it "in action" at ABC/CMC's house last Sunday. I love the way that God is orchestrating the gifts of so many different people together for the purpose of mutual challenge and encouragement. I love watching people be obedient to his call--to putting together a "family" of sisters and brothers who are seeking their Creator together. Every week I'm so incredibly thankful for the distance we've traveled together so far and so sad about the thought that it will be coming to an end eventually. 3) About a week ago, I met with some people from the Bruderhof and talked very briefly about what they do and what their vision is for the future of their organization, for the kingdom of God as they see it being played out in America, etc. I felt so challenged about their decision to live in an intentional community. I wondered what that means for b and me, for our wee bairn, for the weekly home group/church. How much community is "too much?" Was Jesus a dreamer, an idealist, an unrealistic person (a condescending names I've been called) simply for making the statements he did and following them with incredible actions? I mean, I know that he was the Son of God, but in the concept of homoousia, as both human flesh and very God, did he know that what he was asking of people was impossible and yet he knew that the Father would come through, doing the impossible? I guess what I'm asking is: is idealism contrary to Christian faith or an essential part? And if it's essential, why is "idealist" used as a negative term of someone who sees the situation as it currently is and then strives to change it? 4) In the midst of these idealistic feelings, I came across this article by and about the Bruderhof. I felt a crazy stirring. Is this what all Christians should be aspiring to? Is it what we--meaning you and me--should be aspiring to? Is this the "ideal" to which our home group/church should be driving itself? Below, I've posted the section that hit me the hardest. What are your reactions (other than, "Erik, you damned idealist!")? [here you go world, that precious insight into my agonistic relationship with the world and the church.] When I hear Jesus' manifesto, especially in the Sermon on the Mount, I understand it to mean that everything needs to be reconstituted: relationships, systems, values, character†the whole nine yards. It's a seamless revolution. God's transformation involves a radical reversal, one that confronts the root causes of greed and injustice, impurity and violence, both in ourselves and in the world. Isn't this the ultimate protest against war? This is why God's way of changing the world is ultimately through apeople who build life together on a different foundation. The good news is not that Jesus can make nations or individuals "better," but that he transforms those aspects of life that seem to have a momentum all their own, as they so often do in politics and business. The good news is this: Through the power of the Spirit a corporate work of transformation can occur, one that reverses the effects of what is at root rotten in our world. A different social reality, one woven together by a diverse number of strands, is born. In Acts chapters 2 and 4 we read how the Spirit gave birth to a totally different kind of society. The apostles' message was clear: Repent; escape from this wicked generation and be baptized; come join God's new thing; be a part of God's promise and power on earth. With the outpouring of God's Spirit came a new kind of life. God's people were endowed with powers that affected the very structures of being-together. The first Christians were converted into a new world, one marked by a love that erupted into total sharing and reckless caring. This world took the pagan world by surprise, turning everything upside down. The desire to protest violence and injustice is good, but it means very little unless our live embody God's new order. And this "otherness," as Stanley Hauerwas reminds us, is precisely what helps this violent world to know that it is violent. In other words, people of faith are marked not so much by their strategies to change the world but by their unique life, both personally and together. It is this life that helps the world see redemption at work. Such a life "stands out," is "set apart," and by its very nature exposes the darkness. Sharing life together in a distinct and different way makes a difference simply by being what it is: a subversive reality†a community that resists the fallen order at every point.? When this happens, when people are faithful to being peace and justicetogether, they will find themselves at odds with the assumptions of this world, and many will not like them. In Ephesus the message of the gospel led many to make a total break from their former lives. This had both spiritual and economic consequences.? In one case, Demetrius, a silversmith, convinced the city's craftsmen that the Way was a threat to their business (which it was). They formed a mob, and Paul had to flee the city (Acts 19). I believe now, more than ever, that being a part of a contrast-community, building a life that nurtures peace, is our only hope of ending war. True, there are many ways to effect peace in the world besides living in a community. But imagine what kind of resistance could be formed if we would cease to run our lives on the basis of career or income or certain standards of living that involve treating the rest of the world as one giant fuel pump? What if instead we spent our energies and resources building up a common life that needed less and gave more? What would happen if in sharing life together we did away with the usual distinctions that keep people apart and at odds with one another? What if we actually disengaged ourselves from the driving values of material security, professional achievement and social recognition along with the lifestyle that reinforces them to create a genuinely alternative existence? John Stott once wrote, "No comment could be more hurtful to the Christian than the words, 'But you are no different from anybody else.'" We are called to be different, to be a new world, as Jesus prayed, marked by divine unity and love, precisely because this provides the ultimate protest against all that is wrong in the world, including war. This kind of protest demands a great deal more than a weekend march for peace. It spells the end of life as usual. In fact, it transcends every "usual" norm dictated by society and those in power. And it does so because it grows out of a vision for peace that is practiced in the trenches of every day life.