Christianity, a Religion of Practice

The early community that followed Jesus was a community of practice. Jesus’ followers did not just sit around the campfire and listen to lectures on Christian theology. They listened to stories that taught them how to act toward one another, and what to do in the world. They healed people, offered hospitality, prayed together, challenged traditional practices and rituals, ministered to the sick, comforted the grieving, fasted and forgave. These actions induced wonder, gave them courage, empowered hope, and opened up a new vision of God. By doing things together, they began to see differently.

It is profoundly important to grasp this. Jesus and his followers were poor; the vast majority of them were politically and religiously oppressed. There was little reason for them to hope for a better world, that the Romans would just let them be, or that the next ruler would change things. They were victims of one of history’s most vicious empires; they lived in utterly hopeless circumstances...Jesus did not tell them to have faith. He pushed them into the world to practice faith. The disciples did not hope the world would change. They changed it. And in doing so, they themselves changed.

- Christianity after Religion, Diana Butler Bass, HarperOne, 2012, pp. 207–80.

Call to Worship courtesy of Mary Oliver, with additional wanderings.....

Why do people keep asking to see God’s identity papers
When the darkness opening into the morning is more than enough?

Certainly any god might turn away in disgust.
​Though that is the miracle. The divine spirit lingers in the midst of our blindness and stupidity.

Think of Sheba approaching the kingdom of Solomon.
Do you think she had to ask, “Is this the place?”

This morning the redbirds eggs have hatched
and already the chicks
are chirping for food. They don't
know where it's coming from, they
just keep shouting, "More! More!"
As to anything else, they haven't
had a single thought. Their eyes
haven't yet opened, they know nothing
about the sky that's waiting. Or
the thousands, the millions of trees.
They don't even Know they have wings.
And just like that, like a simple
neighborhood event, a miracle is
taking place.

I beg you, wait for God quietly, and don’t be so religious. To have nothing to show for yourself and to wait for God is better than to be polishing your piety. You shall not become godless by waiting for God. On the contrary, the truth of God’s cause will grow in your heart, and that is all that matters. A true word once in ten years is dearer to God than a daily sermon. It is your genuineness that matters. . . .

A single genuine moment has much greater consequences in God’s kingdom than a thousand religious practices.

Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt, 19th German Lutheran theologian and one of the founders of Christian Socialism in Germany and Switzerland.