Posted by Kevin Bates on July 21, 2002, 4:02 pm
Hey Amanda for your kindness - I'm looking forward to catching up again sometime. I don't think any of us like those gospel bits that keep swtirring us to get cracking into new and foreign territory - we must keep hearing and responding to them - and probably we must keep rebelling and fighting them too eh - I sure do!
--Previous Message--
: Greetings Kevin et al 
: This subject keeps coming up all over the
: place in my life lately!
: Let me state, for the record, that I HATE
: politics. I also HATE being forced out of
: my 'comfort zone' - as do we all, at least
: to some extent, I would think. (For me -
: it's right up there with my hate of death
: and porridge - but that's another story
: However - there's these Gospels that keeps
: doing EXACTLY THAT - calling me out of my
: 'comfort zone' and challenging me to
: engage in political debate on issues
: primarily of justice (among others) from a
: purely 'Gospel values' perspective, I
: might add. Tough stuff.
: I thank God that there are courageous people
: like you, Kevin, who get in there 'boots
: and all' - RADICAL stuff that I applaud.
: As my dear friend says; "Light to
: your path"
: smiles
: Amanda
: --Previous Message--
: In a little gathering earlier this week, one
: of
: the group expressed the concern that
: social justice issues got in the way of
: living of the gospel because they were
: often too politicised.
: A couple of points are pertinent here.
: Firstly I cannot live the gospel without
: seeking to live justly. I cannot eat at
: the Lord's table without committing myself
: in some way to the doing of justice. This
: is as old as the gospel itself, it is
: expressed time and again by the Church
: Fathers, it is at the heart of the
: Church's social teachings as articulated
: by the Popes, and especially by the
: present Holy Father, and at the heart of
: the Vatican Council's documents,
: particularly those on the Church in teh
: Modern World and on Ecumenism.
: Secondly, it is impossible to engage in
: dialogue around justice issues without
: being politically involved. Jesus was
: killed as much for the political
: implications of his teachings as for their
: religious implications. The early
: Christians were dragged before governors
: for 'upsetting the present order"
: (Acts), and all through its history, when
: the Church has done well in the area of
: justice, it has been seen to be
: politically involved.
: This is not the same as being aligned with a
: movement or a Party, though in fact there
: will be resonances from time to time of
: course between worthy movements and
: parties and the church. No one has a
: mortgage on the truth.
: So in short - we have no choice - the gospel
: we proclaim with our lives and our words
: is about reformation, and even at times is
: of a revolutionary character: "he has
: cast down the mighty from their thrones
: and raised up the lowly." - the one
: to whom this was attributed was the
: gentlest of souls, and yet gave birth in
: herself to the most transformative moment
: in human history.
: The Word became Flesh -- you can't do that
: without getting involved and when he said
: that his kigndom was not of this world,
: good scolarship would tell us that he was
: referring to "this world" of
: greed, lust, unforgiveness, violence and
: so on, for God looks at the world and sees
: that it is good and longs for it to find
: its peace!
:
: :
:
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