Month: January 2008

I have thought much (and am doing a lot of reading) about what it means to be ‘missional’ in the context of the local church and as Christians in the so-called ‘postmodern’ environment we find ourselves in. This being an election year, a variety of issues are at the forefront: many ‘moral’ in nature. War, sexuality, immigration, etc.

So what is at stake for us, as Christians? Is it important that we ‘win’ in regards to having our agendas met?

We are all citizens and therefore it is our duty to vote, and vote our conscience. However, does the Church have a different aim, goal, mission than the state? I hope so. But to engage in the way we speak as Christians, you would think that Christians expect the state to have the exact same goals as we do. Or, in fact, maybe we’ve forgotten our mission altogether and mistake ‘being right’ or ‘winning’ with spreading the gospel. Therefore, can ‘winning’ be counterproductive? Are we expending energy on the ‘battle’ rather than the ‘war?’ (again figuratively speaking.)

Epiphanytide Blessings!  When we think of an ‘Epiphany,’ we think of an ‘aha’ moment–a moment of clarity or discovery.  The Feast of the Epiphany (Theophany in the East), is the feast of manifestation; the manifestation of Jesus as the Theoanthropos to the Magi, and in his baptism, and in his first miracle.

Epiphanytide is a gift to the Church and to the world because it continues the reflection of the Incarnation after the calendar has passed December 25th.  We don’t cease contemplating God becoming man because Christmas is over, we continue because our faith is meaningless without the reality that God became man to save us and to make us like himself.