"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,
if you love one another"
- John 13:35
"You are the light of the world.
A city built on a hill cannot be hidden.
Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.
Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."
- Matthew 5:14-16
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:
to look after orphans and widows in their distress
and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
- James 1:27
By Tony Nguyen
Through all my Friday morning's reading at Green Joe's, talking scripture and theology on Wednesday morning's, and digesting sermons from Sundays, I have come to realize this truth which has yet to leave my mind since I've began my time in North Carolina:
Life in Christ isn't just meant to be talked about or studied, but lived.
Though there is certainly a place for Christian academia and discussion (coming from a guy who works for biblical/theological scholars), I am making the point that none of that matters unless Christians live radically different from everyone else.
- GSO Fellows after Cooper River Bridge 10K in Charleston, SC
Of the several books I've read recently is one by my boss and beloved brother in the faith, Dr. Benjamin S. Wall, titled Welcome as a Way of Life: A Practical Theology of Jean Vanier. Through Dr. Wall's theological appraisal of Jean Vanier and L'Arche, the Fellows and I have had the opportunity to discuss the notions of welcome, care, hospitality, and what it means to live in community. (If you want to know how those conversations have been, ask me, ask a fellow, Dr. Wall, or better yet, buy the book!)
My point is, now that you, my fair reader, know that my friends and I have wrestled with the ideas of welcome, care, and community, it would be reasonable that you should expect out of any one of us to act in ways that are, to some noteworthy degree, care-full and welcoming (especially to the marginalized).
Furthermore, my hope is not simply that you would have one pleasant interaction with myself or some other who has mulled over such material. As a matter of fact, one act of hospitality alone from myself would make me an utter failure if I am striving to be a welcoming person. Rather, the greater success is, if one were keen to notice, that I would systematically do things in a welcoming, caring, and hospitable fashion over and over. Only then would I or anyone in this example be worthy to be described as virtuously welcoming, caring, or whatever other virtuous quality.
Aristotle puts it more articulately in his Nicomachean Ethics:
Applied to Welcome as a Way of Life, one becomes hospitable by exercising hospitality. Caring by performing actions carefully. Furthermore, one gains empathy for the disabled by being in routine contact with a person with a disablity. Kate Black, who has hosted the Fellows for dinner once a week for the past four years, is a perfect example of someone who is delightfully hospitable and welcoming. Cheers to you Kate!
On the morning of April 17th, Will Dungee, a friend and also pastor of Grace Community Church graciously led us Fellows in a morning devotional on being in step with the Holy Spirit. He read Galatians 5 and reminded us of the fruits of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Again, speaking in the Aristotelian spirit, one becomes loving by doing loving things, joyous by doing things joyfully, gentle by exercising gentleness, etc. Likewise, it would seem the classical Greek philosopher Socrates has convictions similar to those of Christians striving to cultivate Godly virtues. He says:
"To know the good is to do the good" - Socrates
Someone who has become a hero of mine recently and certainly "knew and did the good" is the late Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The Rev. Dr. Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian who lived in the time of Hitler's rise to power during WWII and, in light of his experience with churches in America passionately living out their faith, Bonhoeffer, was convinced he could not be a professing Christian and leave his compatriots to suffer alone in Germany. To that end, he left America to return to Germany where he would, among many great tasks, lead the Church and stand in solidarity with the Jews knowing full well he could die for his faith, which happened on April 9th, 1945 when he was hung at Flossenbürg Concentration camp dying at age 39.
Much earlier than Bonhoeffer did the heroes of the Bible understand that faith in the Lord manifests in the form of calls into obedient action: Moses led the Israelites out of slavery, Jesus' disciples fed the thousands, Peter walked on water, and Jesus himself hung on a cross in faithfulness to the Father.
- Fellows and Friends at Lewis Barbecue in Charleston, SC
May I encourage you (and myself, for that matter) to return to the words from Hebrews 11 which recounts the works of those who've gone before us. Alternatively, I exhort you to remember from 1 John:
"We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us
--and we ought to lay down our lives for one another."
- 1 John 3:16
The Gospel, the story of how the God of Israel is revealing to fallen creation His kingship of it through the death and resurrection of Christ, has convinced saints over the millennia to lives extraordinarily peculiar and radical. That call is still the same for believers today. Drawing from Matthew 5:
- Christians are not to be well-wishers,
but to be well-bringers.
- We are not called to just want peace,
but to bring peace wherever or to whomever we go.
- We are called not just to want racial reconciliation,
but to actually fellowship and do life with brothers of color (or lack thereof).
- We are called both to pray and to be the answer to another's prayer.
"Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven..."
- Matthew 5:12a
Joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit. Christ calls us to act joyfully, that is, in joy. I find that joy is what sets the actions of a Christian apart from any others'. Not only is the Christ follower called to have faith, but he is compelled to show it by his lifestyle and actually is commanded to take pleasure in all he does for God!
How often have I looked back at myself doing something out of obedience but not joy and imagining how grumpy I must've appeared to others.
Now, there are many circumstances which God calls us into that are everything but joyous. I'm not saying we should laugh or smile in the first instances after a loved one dies. It would be abnormal not to express any sort of grief. What I am saying is that in all expressions of faith, it should be with a desire to be satisfied in the risen Lord.
It should bring Christians great delight in doing God's will.
Father Boules George of St. Mark's Church in Tanta, Egypt (one of two which suffered bomb attacks from terrorists this past Palm Sunday) seems to know a thing or two about having joy in the Lord even in the wake of tragedy. Assuming you clicked the link and watched the video, that is an exemplar of the faith God requires.
In closing, know the words of the prophet Micah:
"He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, love kindness,
and walk humbly with your God?"
- Micah 6:8
Blessings,
TBN
"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,
if you love one another"
- John 13:35
if you love one another"
- John 13:35
"You are the light of the world.
A city built on a hill cannot be hidden.
Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.
Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."
- Matthew 5:14-16
A city built on a hill cannot be hidden.
Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.
Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."
- Matthew 5:14-16
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:
to look after orphans and widows in their distress
and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
- James 1:27
to look after orphans and widows in their distress
and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
- James 1:27
By Tony Nguyen
Through all my Friday morning's reading at Green Joe's, talking scripture and theology on Wednesday morning's, and digesting sermons from Sundays, I have come to realize this truth which has yet to leave my mind since I've began my time in North Carolina:
Through all my Friday morning's reading at Green Joe's, talking scripture and theology on Wednesday morning's, and digesting sermons from Sundays, I have come to realize this truth which has yet to leave my mind since I've began my time in North Carolina:
Life in Christ isn't just meant to be talked about or studied, but lived.
Though there is certainly a place for Christian academia and discussion (coming from a guy who works for biblical/theological scholars), I am making the point that none of that matters unless Christians live radically different from everyone else.
- GSO Fellows after Cooper River Bridge 10K in Charleston, SC
Of the several books I've read recently is one by my boss and beloved brother in the faith, Dr. Benjamin S. Wall, titled Welcome as a Way of Life: A Practical Theology of Jean Vanier. Through Dr. Wall's theological appraisal of Jean Vanier and L'Arche, the Fellows and I have had the opportunity to discuss the notions of welcome, care, hospitality, and what it means to live in community. (If you want to know how those conversations have been, ask me, ask a fellow, Dr. Wall, or better yet, buy the book!)
My point is, now that you, my fair reader, know that my friends and I have wrestled with the ideas of welcome, care, and community, it would be reasonable that you should expect out of any one of us to act in ways that are, to some noteworthy degree, care-full and welcoming (especially to the marginalized).
My point is, now that you, my fair reader, know that my friends and I have wrestled with the ideas of welcome, care, and community, it would be reasonable that you should expect out of any one of us to act in ways that are, to some noteworthy degree, care-full and welcoming (especially to the marginalized).
Furthermore, my hope is not simply that you would have one pleasant interaction with myself or some other who has mulled over such material. As a matter of fact, one act of hospitality alone from myself would make me an utter failure if I am striving to be a welcoming person. Rather, the greater success is, if one were keen to notice, that I would systematically do things in a welcoming, caring, and hospitable fashion over and over. Only then would I or anyone in this example be worthy to be described as virtuously welcoming, caring, or whatever other virtuous quality.
Aristotle puts it more articulately in his Nicomachean Ethics:
Aristotle puts it more articulately in his Nicomachean Ethics:
Applied to Welcome as a Way of Life, one becomes hospitable by exercising hospitality. Caring by performing actions carefully. Furthermore, one gains empathy for the disabled by being in routine contact with a person with a disablity. Kate Black, who has hosted the Fellows for dinner once a week for the past four years, is a perfect example of someone who is delightfully hospitable and welcoming. Cheers to you Kate!
On the morning of April 17th, Will Dungee, a friend and also pastor of Grace Community Church graciously led us Fellows in a morning devotional on being in step with the Holy Spirit. He read Galatians 5 and reminded us of the fruits of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Again, speaking in the Aristotelian spirit, one becomes loving by doing loving things, joyous by doing things joyfully, gentle by exercising gentleness, etc. Likewise, it would seem the classical Greek philosopher Socrates has convictions similar to those of Christians striving to cultivate Godly virtues. He says:
"To know the good is to do the good" - Socrates
Someone who has become a hero of mine recently and certainly "knew and did the good" is the late Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The Rev. Dr. Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian who lived in the time of Hitler's rise to power during WWII and, in light of his experience with churches in America passionately living out their faith, Bonhoeffer, was convinced he could not be a professing Christian and leave his compatriots to suffer alone in Germany. To that end, he left America to return to Germany where he would, among many great tasks, lead the Church and stand in solidarity with the Jews knowing full well he could die for his faith, which happened on April 9th, 1945 when he was hung at Flossenbürg Concentration camp dying at age 39.
Much earlier than Bonhoeffer did the heroes of the Bible understand that faith in the Lord manifests in the form of calls into obedient action: Moses led the Israelites out of slavery, Jesus' disciples fed the thousands, Peter walked on water, and Jesus himself hung on a cross in faithfulness to the Father.
- Fellows and Friends at Lewis Barbecue in Charleston, SC
May I encourage you (and myself, for that matter) to return to the words from Hebrews 11 which recounts the works of those who've gone before us. Alternatively, I exhort you to remember from 1 John:
"We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us
--and we ought to lay down our lives for one another."
- 1 John 3:16
--and we ought to lay down our lives for one another."
- 1 John 3:16
The Gospel, the story of how the God of Israel is revealing to fallen creation His kingship of it through the death and resurrection of Christ, has convinced saints over the millennia to lives extraordinarily peculiar and radical. That call is still the same for believers today. Drawing from Matthew 5:
- Christians are not to be well-wishers,
but to be well-bringers. - We are not called to just want peace,
but to bring peace wherever or to whomever we go. - We are called not just to want racial reconciliation,
but to actually fellowship and do life with brothers of color (or lack thereof). - We are called both to pray and to be the answer to another's prayer.
"Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven..."
- Matthew 5:12a
Joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit. Christ calls us to act joyfully, that is, in joy. I find that joy is what sets the actions of a Christian apart from any others'. Not only is the Christ follower called to have faith, but he is compelled to show it by his lifestyle and actually is commanded to take pleasure in all he does for God!
How often have I looked back at myself doing something out of obedience but not joy and imagining how grumpy I must've appeared to others.
Now, there are many circumstances which God calls us into that are everything but joyous. I'm not saying we should laugh or smile in the first instances after a loved one dies. It would be abnormal not to express any sort of grief. What I am saying is that in all expressions of faith, it should be with a desire to be satisfied in the risen Lord.
It should bring Christians great delight in doing God's will.
Father Boules George of St. Mark's Church in Tanta, Egypt (one of two which suffered bomb attacks from terrorists this past Palm Sunday) seems to know a thing or two about having joy in the Lord even in the wake of tragedy. Assuming you clicked the link and watched the video, that is an exemplar of the faith God requires.
Father Boules George of St. Mark's Church in Tanta, Egypt (one of two which suffered bomb attacks from terrorists this past Palm Sunday) seems to know a thing or two about having joy in the Lord even in the wake of tragedy. Assuming you clicked the link and watched the video, that is an exemplar of the faith God requires.
In closing, know the words of the prophet Micah:
"He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, love kindness,
and walk humbly with your God?"
- Micah 6:8
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, love kindness,
and walk humbly with your God?"
- Micah 6:8
Blessings,
TBN
TBN
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