Another Advent Thought!

The previous post was from Henri Nouwen and was most certainly "A Broader View" (the title of the reflection).  It is a view which we should all reflect upon, especially in this country, as we live in a democracy and even though we sometimes feel powerless the facts are that We Are the Nation.  This nation has been blessed greatly from it's inception.  We have done Some great things for the world but we should also confess our failures as well and try harder from a communal standpoint in the future.  I would suggest once again a book by Marianne Williamson titled "Healing The Soul of America".  To those whom much is given, much is required.
I loved Henri's use of two great metaphors:  Leaving the "House of Fear" and entering the "House of Love", where reconciliation, healing, and peace can reign.
There were just a few words in this piece which bothered me and thought I would mention why.  A lot of scripture as well as theology in general is couched in varying degrees of "Imperial or Kingdom" terminology.  This is understandable considering the world when these lofty concepts were written but today there could be a more accurate choice of wording to reflect the life of our Christ and the Spirit of our God.
To begin with he quotes Matthew "observe his commands".  In my opinion I feel a more accurate word would be to "observe his path"  as what the "red letter text" says is not near as important as how Jesus walked His path.  He modeled the path for us He did not just command us as to what to do.  He walked the walk as well as talked the talk.

Secondly, "The whole world is to be converted!  True, but I feel that a more appropriate word would be "Transformed".  "converted" smacks of the idea that the whole word should be converted to the  "Catholic"/"Lutheran"/"Evangelical"/"Christian"(or another one of the 3,000+ denominations out there) church.  In the "Emerging" perspective the most accurate use of the word Christ is Far greater than Any of the churches which carry His name and  claim to have The truth.  I was recently blessed to get a copy of a Palm Sunday sermon given by a Baptist preacher regarding his study of Mahatma Gandhi, (Martin Luther King Jr. 22 March 1959 in Montgomery, Alabama). It demonstrates the point I'm trying to make much better than can I.   In a nutshell, I present the following quote but if you can google the sermon it would be well worth the read. ""It is one of the strange ironies of the modern world that the greatest Christian of the twentieth century was not a member of the Christian church".

My poor final point here is in reference to the "House of Love" quote above.  While I agree with the word "reign" used here it feels that a better word would perhaps be "Thrive".  Kind of picky I know but in the final analysis this is my blog and sometimes I can be picky if I wish :0)

P.S. - Just another reflection.  Last night a group of us kindred spirits watched a webinar regarding an "alternative orthodoxy".  One of the presenters was Richard Rohr and he made a very intriguing point regarding one of the pillars of conventional orthodoxy, The Nicene Creed ( he did credit the point to a question asked him by a student) .  He stated that not once in this primary document of the Christian faith is the word, Love, used.  Interesting!  Merry Christmas!  RV