Principles of Christ

Our lecture in Church and Mission continued on the topic of Christ's earthly ministry. It's really remarkable to think of the impact of a man who wrote nothing and spent the majority of his time with the poor and outcast. What a different time period - no multi-media technology - yet word spread because it was so counter-cultural. As mentioned before, Jesus challenged the status quo and advocated for life lived in community with one another as equals. He broke cultural rules and walls between socioeconomic levels, gender, and political divides. The enemy was no longer the neighboring nation; evil now had a name: Satan. The strongly patriarchal society was also challenged to elevate the role of women. Jesus proclaimed that our father was in Heaven, so the earthly father lost some power through that declaration.

The most impactful part of the lecture for me, though, was Dr. Bolger sharing a bit about how his family put these lessons from Christ to practice in their lives. About 3 years ago, I came to visit my friend, Daphne, who had just started the MACCS program. I sat in on a class with her, which happened to be Church and Mission, the class I'm currently taking. During that lecture, Dr. Bolger shared a story about how he and his family prayed for a different attribute of Christ daily to display in their lives. This really impressed and challenged me. I wrote them down and determined to do the same someday when I have children. Well, I misplaced the paper somewhere along the way and was disappointed to not have it anymore. Thankfully, this topic came up again in today's lecture, and Dr. Bolger shared the daily principles of prayer that he and his family prayed for. I hope that this can be a good challenge for all of you, as well. This is just a very brief outline, but if you want more detail, they are taken from Body Politics by John Howard Yoder.

Monday: Peacemaking
Tuesday: Banquet, Eucharistic practice…sharing
Wednesday: baptism…including the outcast, one who is different
Thursday: universal giftedness…recognize gifts in others
Friday: fullness of Christ – give a voice to the voiceless
Saturday: for a day of holy leisure
Sunday: worship