Religious Connections

Been a while since I have posted a religion-related entry, aside from the sporadic series on Watonga.  To compensate, I point you to a couple of posts on others' blogs:

1. In his Challenges to a New Church, Matthew Sturges lists what he considers to be the requirements for a vital faith community. I'd make this required reading for struggling missions, new priests, and recent converts. I can't think of a thing to add to Matthew's list, and agree with every point.
2. I think Mother Sarah makes a related point in her entry concerning this past Sunday's Gospel reading (see entry for July 5, "Proper 10, Year C").  As she says, in the story of the Good Samaritan, the lawyer is really asking who he can exclude. Jesus gives an elegantly simple answer, "no one." I especially liked Sarah's line,

   ... in the "who's my neighbor" question, Jesus asks us to place ourselves in the shoes (or the ditch) of the most desperate person we can imagine before we answer. I'd like to see what would happen to our discourse as Christians and/or Americans if we did this on a regular basis before determining policy with respect to any question.

What connects these two entries for me is the notion that "life in Christ" is dynamic, and requires something more than obedience to a set of rules. You know, it's easy to have the lines clearly marked; it's easy to have a set of rules and regulations that help define who's in and who's out. It's harder to love the heretics and/or the pharisees. It's harder to accept people as Jesus would. I can't think of a single instance in the Gospels where Jesus rejects someone. When addressing the Law, Jesus challenges me to explore my heart rather than worrying about what my neighbor is up to.

While you're surfing about, check out Real Live Preacher's story "Even the Rich Woman".