Simple Church Minute 70--calling and social justice

70—calling and social justice

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute

            The U. S. has a history of many of the earliest settlers coming to this continent for the specific purpose of being free to believe the Christian faith according to their conscience.  Some parts of that history have been p.r. spun in a number of quite variant directions over the past 40 years.  The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines “calling” as 1) an inner urge or strong impulse, especially one believed to be divinely inspired to accept the Gospels as truth and Jesus as one’s personal savior, and 2: an occupation, profession, or career.  Where I grew up, a calling was a vague thing someone who would become an institutional church pastor sensed to become a pastor, or to move from one position to another.  Over time, I have come to learn that a calling is like the definition above—first, every person on earth is called to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord; relatively few will accept this offer, and in a culture with a Christian heritage, some will say they accept this call, but will only show whether they really have when something difficult happens.  Also, some who have accepted this call will only come to take it seriously after they publicly fail at some point.  We humans don’t have the capacity to tell the difference from any distance away.  From accepting the call of salvation, the Holy Spirit calls us to grow in spiritual maturity.  If, at some point, we refuse to go God’s way in a situation, much like the Israelites in the wilderness, we will mark time for a bit, and another situation will come up where we can choose to deal with that same point.  Most of what God’s direction for us is in the Bible.  At a certain point in spiritual maturity, the Holy Spirit in some way can show a believer a thing that he or she is uniquely geared to be passionate about.  This may have to do with showing others the way to Jesus as Savior, may have to do with directing believers in growing in God, and may have to do with showing God’s love by caring for a social injustice.  Some believers have shied away from the latter, as those who are into a theology of unbelief only care for the last of the three. 

            You can email me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com.  You can learn more about simple worship at http://www.simplechurch.com/ or locally at (local website).

On the recording, at this time, it says, “house churches.”  While that phrasing is OK, to say “organic church” is better.  I comment on that in blip 94.