Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Good blog post by Creech

I was reading Creech's blog today (http://www.alancreech.com/) and felt a kinship with him.

Though I was planted in different soil than him, I've think I've come to the place of not wanting to be stuffed into religious boxes anymore-which is what I see him saying. I don't want to choose a label, a flavor, a limited expression of faith and make it my norm. Of course, whatever I actually do will reflect some flavor or branch of the Christian Church . . . that's obvious.

I also don't want to try and be ahistorical, pretending I'm somehow able to transcend the realities of being a follower of Jesus in a time and place. I can't be a Christian without a context. In fact, only within a context (a real circumstance) can we be Christians.

Strangely enough, the heritage I grew up in once said things like "Christians only, but not the only Christians" and somehow lost that sentiment. Now trying to be "just a Christian" gets one in trouble with the very denomination that once sought to be only that.

Of course my own heritage has no monopoly on being denominationally-minded. It's the disease of denominationalism.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"I can't be a Christian without a context. In fact, only within a context (a real circumstance) can we be Christians."

....totally profound words at Lent for the attempt at Calvary was to take Christ out of the context of culture.