What good is a single wind-chime hanging quiet all alone?

John Howard Yoder is completely ruining my beliefs on sacraments, and it's awesome! The social implications of breaking bread together as seen in scripture is very clear, but Yoder's critique on the Church's idea of Eucharist can be challenging to somebody who holds fast to tradition. At first it seems as though Yoder is making claims that carelessly throw out much of tradition in typical protestant fashion, but Yoder supports his claims in appealing to early Church history as well as examples throughout time up until the reformation (very much unlike a protestant). He delves into the social and economical sides of the practice of sharing a meal together that is very evident in the life of Reba Place. I have also seen this practice used with our Friday Night Homeless Ministry in which not only is there the economic implications of bringing food to the needy, but also social implications in breaking down class/race/cultural barriers. Community is also at the center of this idea because clearly we need to share a meal with somebody and that somebody has been identified in Christ's life/actions/words.

Telling All The Stones "We're Gonna Make A Building!"

Hate is obviously looked down upon by society but, "During times of war hatred becomes quite respectable, even though it has to masquerade often under the guise of patriotism." I feel as though this words are prophetic to times like today.

Jesus was a revolutionary born in a middle eastern state controlled by a western imperial power, under threat of a genocide for fear he would try to take control of this nation, became a refugee, spoke out against the powers and principalities of this world and then was put to death by the religious and governmental institutions (and nearly everybody else). After his death, resurrection and ascension into heaven his followers (for the first few hundred years) refused to take part in governmental activities such as worshipping their leader and taking up arms against one another. Even writing a book against this western imperial power using religious language the westerners couldn't understand about how it will fall and this middle eastern nation will be restored (you might know it as the Book of Revelation, but there's some other ones we don't have in our Bible as well).

If you are an american or from any other western nation today this situation might sound awkwardly familiar to you. Maybe people in these western nations need to think more about the history their religion is built upon and reevaluate their actions.

Deception

What is life if one is not free? Can it even be considered life? I don't think 'living' life for the sake of survival or just 'living' fulfills our purpose as human beings. Thurman outlines the way deception is used by the disinherited and he comes to the conclusion that it is a device used to keep the status quo and negates the dignity or humanity of the unprivileged. He even says that living in such deception creates the same attitude among the disinherited that the dominant group holds for them. How absurd!

Thurman claims that the sincerity exemplified by Jesus is the ultimate goal by which the disinherited should strive to live up to. This sincerity is disarming to the dominant group and thus places every human at the same level, "Instead of relation between the weak and the strong there is merely a relationship between human beings. A man is a man, no more, no less. The awareness of this fact marks the supreme moment of human dignity."

This chapter made me think of Friday Night Homeless Ministry at North Park where a group of students goes down to Lower Wacker to eat and have fellowship with the homeless population that lives down there. Our ministry is different than that of a soup kitchen, or focus isn't on feeding them but creating a place where we are all on the same level. We are not trying to serve them (or save them), but to show them the dignity they deserve as fellow human beings and children of God. So we all eat together and have conversation about whatever happens to come up, all notions of "us and them" are thrown away and we just become human with each other. This idea strongly disagrees with the notion of missionary work and I think that's something that needs to be addressed.

:SIDE NOTE: I think that this chapter could also be applied to the state of much of the american church, fear has driven much of the church into a survival mode. Some churches in fear water down the message of Christ so that they may keep attendance up, while others seek to instill a fear of everything different so as to scare people into god. The purpose of many churches seems to be to survive rather than to actually preach the gospel to the ends of the earth. If the Church continues to 'survive' without actually fulfilling its purpose than is it really even the Church? :END SIDE NOTE:

I think once we accept the inevitability of death and ditch the desire for 'survival' the idea that God will beam us up to heaven will seem absurd; the beauty of God's creation will be seen showing signs of the kingdom. Learning to live with the utmost sincerity will show the image of God in which we've all been created.