Alternative Response

For 2020, we're spending the entire year exploring the Bible, its story, and significance for us as followers of Jesus. Here is our working definition of the Bible: “The Bible is a library of writings that are both divine and human, that together tell a unified story, which leads us to Jesus.”

This past Sunday we finished up our latest mini-series within the ‘Year of Biblical Literacy’ called ‘A Creative Minority’ where we’ve been diving into the book of Daniel. Jon Tyson defines a Creative Minority as “a Christian community in a web of stubbornly loyal relationships, knotted together in a living network of persons in a complex and challenging cultural setting who are committed to practicing the way of Jesus together for the renewal of the world.” Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi in the UK until 2013 (and perhaps the first to popularize the term Creative Minority) defines it this way: “To become a creative minority is not easy, because it involves maintaining strong links with the outside world while staying true to your faith. Seeking not merely to keep the sacred flame burning, but also to transform the larger society of which you are a part. This is a demanding and risk-laden choice.“ For Week 5 we explored the idea of ‘Alternative Response.’ We asked the question: “How do we respond when the world around us is falling apart?” Take a listen.

Like thousands of churches worldwide, this global pandemic has forced us to be creative in our response — both in terms of how we gather and how we serve our community. Though we believe the normative pattern established in Scripture for community anticipates embodied presence of the Gathered Church, there are certain times where that’s not as safe. We find ourselves in such a time and are thankful to be able to leverage the digital landscape to remain faithful to plugging into community. This week’s Gathering came by way of smaller House Gatherings (following local, state, and federal guidelines) via Zoom. We’d love for you to join us next week!