Bill Berger.org

Life Together

We had our prayer gathering at All Saints tonight. It really exemplified the importance and power when people get together. I was encouraged by all who came out to pray for Seattle, All Saints and each other.

I like what Stanley Hauerwas says about gathering around the person of Christ.

"The Christian claim is not that we as individuals should be based in a community because life is better lived together rather than alone. The Christian claim is that life is better lived in the church because the church, according to our story, just happens to be true. The church is the only community formed around the truth, which is Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life. Only on the basis of his story, which reveals to us who we are and what has happened in the world, is true community possible."

I really believe we encountered that tonight. It is certainly a giant step toward evoking necessary change. See you next time.

Something to consider

In light of all that is going on in the World, America, our own lives, I received this in my inbox this morning from Richard Rohr. It really is something to consider...

"All-or-nothing reformations and all-or-nothing revolutions are not true reformations or revolutions. Most history, however, has not known this until now. When a new insight is reached, we must not dismiss the previous era or previous century or previous church as totally wrong. It is never true! We cannot try to reform things in that way anymore.

This is also true in terms of the psyche. We grow and we pass over into the second half of life; we do not need to throw out the traditions, laws, and earlier stages. That is mere rebellion and is why so many revolutions backfire and keep people in the first half of life. It is false reform, failed revolution, and no-transformation.

So do not waste time hating mom and dad, hating the church, hating America, hating what has disappointed you. In fact, don't hate anything. You become so upset with the dark side of things that you never discover how to put the dark and the light together, which is the heart of wisdom, all love, and the trademark of a second-half-of-life person."

Start a revolution today!

"So now faith, hope and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." I Corinthians 13:13