Marginal Christianity

http://www.missioalliance.org/lukes-great-narrative-on-mission/ July 22, 2014 | By: Len Hjalmarson 0 Comments   “One thing is clear to me: The temptation of power is greatest when intimacy is a threat. “Much Christian leadership is exercised by people who do not know how to develop healthy, intimate relationships and have opted for power and control instead. Many Christian empire-builders have been people unable to give and receive love.” – Henri Nouwen, “In the Name of Jesus” +   Luke 10 has become paradigmatic in the missional shift: the disciples sent out before Jesus, sent empty-handed and vulnerable, sent into villages and towns two by two. The great commandment follows: we are to love God with all that we are, and our neighbours as ourselves. Then follows the story of the good Samaritan. Hmm. That shakes us out of our presuppositions that God is with the righteous few and not with the other. So much for a colonial style mission: We go as learners. + ...

http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2013/03/downward-mobility.html Posted on 3.19.2013 I recently finished a great little book by Henri Nouwen, The Selfless Way of Christ . The book contrasts the cultural push for "upward mobility" with Christ's example of "downward mobility." Nouwen's description of the lure of upward mobility and how we work to support its mythology in our culture: We are taught to conceive of development in terms of an ongoing increase in human potential. Growing up means becoming healthier, stronger, more intelligent, more mature, and more productive. Consequently we hide those who do not affirm this myth of progress, such as the elderly, prisoners, and those with mental disabilities. In our society, we consider the upward move the obvious one while treating the poor cases who cannot keep up as sad misfits, people who have deviated from the normal line of progress. In contrast to this upward progress, Nouwen ...