Thursday, October 05, 2006
Trinitarian Theology - a refound vision for the emerging church coming out of Anglicanism
Found this great quote in a book entitled "The Future of Anglicanism" and one of the essays within it was a quote by Tim Bradshaw on the 'Christological Centre of the Church'. This really resonated with me as something I think is really missing in many churches, which is a founding vision for the emerging church.
Anglican practice enacts a theology of concentric circles, at the centre are the holy trinity, the object of our worship and the source of our redemption. We believe that God is working in many ways and at different levels in people's lives and in social structures. But we are committed as a church to focus our faith on God revealed and mediated in and through Jesus. That is our central vision, and from that vision we read society and the work of God generally. God can reveal himself through a blossoming shrub, a summer's day, a Mozart concerto or a dead dog... Anglican practice accepts the many circles and types of commitment and faith; it is inclusive to an indecent degree.... It is very hard to be cast out of a truly Anglican congregation. People belong at very different stages, but the Church aims to bring them to the centre, to the feet of Christ. Our doctrine or practice of charitable presumption, the refusal to judge the spiritual state of people who want somehow to belong, shows both the commitment to the concentric circles and the insistence that this solar system has its centre of gravity.
Anglican practice enacts a theology of concentric circles, at the centre are the holy trinity, the object of our worship and the source of our redemption. We believe that God is working in many ways and at different levels in people's lives and in social structures. But we are committed as a church to focus our faith on God revealed and mediated in and through Jesus. That is our central vision, and from that vision we read society and the work of God generally. God can reveal himself through a blossoming shrub, a summer's day, a Mozart concerto or a dead dog... Anglican practice accepts the many circles and types of commitment and faith; it is inclusive to an indecent degree.... It is very hard to be cast out of a truly Anglican congregation. People belong at very different stages, but the Church aims to bring them to the centre, to the feet of Christ. Our doctrine or practice of charitable presumption, the refusal to judge the spiritual state of people who want somehow to belong, shows both the commitment to the concentric circles and the insistence that this solar system has its centre of gravity.
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