I've been reading: Unfettered Hope - A Call to Faithful Living in an Affluent Society by Marva Dawn.
At first I was a little skeptical about the book - all this talk about 'focal concerns' and 'fettering' or 'unfettering' our hopes, and my disagreements with her views on technology in some aspects. But I have to admit, thought I'm not done with the book yet, Dawn's theories are really growing on me.
Here's an excerpt, which starts with a quote from Madeleine L'Engle's Walking on Water:
"'It is a criterion of love. In moments of decision, we are to try to make what seems to be the most loving, the most creative decision. We are not to play safe, to draw back out of fear. Love may well lead us into danger. It may lead us to die for our friend. In a day when we are taught to look for easy solutions, it is not always easy to hold on to that most difficult one of all, love.'
What are our foremost loves by which everything else is judged? In what do we place our hopes?" (pg. 62) She then continues, "It is my primary thesis in this book that Christianity provides focal concerns worthy of our creation as human beings and efficacious for dealing with the encroachments and fetterings of our technologized, commodified milieu. I believe that the focal concerns of Christianity . . . are these two: the love of God and the love of neighbor." (pg. 76)
She argues that our lives as Christians ought to be centered on our focal concerns: loving God, and loving neighbor. Everything, yes, pretty much everything we do ought to make us ask - is this in line with my focal concerns?
A challenge...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Sermon for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year B, "Picnic and a Boat Ride," John 6:1-21 (Proper 12B, Ordinary 17B)
Sermon 7/28/24 John 6:1-21 Picnic and a Boat Ride Our gospel lesson today is a text that’s probably familiar to most of you, at least some...
-
Sermon 2/18/18 Mark 1:1-4, 9-15 Jesus in the Wilderness You’ve heard me say before that the gospel of Mark is my f...
-
Sermon 11/26/17 Mark 1:1-8 Hope: A Thrill of Hope Are you a pessimist or an optimist? Is the glass of life half emp...
-
Sermon 12/3/17 Mark 13:24-37, Isaiah 11:1-10 Peace: All Is Calm, All Is Bright “Silent night, holy night. All is ...
No comments:
Post a Comment