I had a chance to scan through the following book: How God Became a King : The Forgotten Story of the Gospels.
The title of this post is a statement I found towards the end of the book. The author was an Anglican bishop.
I find the message in the book highly illuminating and contemporary.
In a nutshell he theorizes that the essential message of Christianity is bringing love into relationships in this world, not in another world. The Kingdom, now or in the future, is an addition, and most likely unimportant. The creed of the Orthodox Christian churches were much in debate for a few centuries after Jesus’s death before eventual adoption. The Nicene creed of 325 inserted the ‘for ever’ part in the creed, which is the normative profession of faith for most old churches including Anglican, of which Wright was a Bishop until 2010.
The orthodox Christians are sticklers for the creed and do not care much for the Kingdom: the Evangelicals, on the other hand, are gung ho about the Kingdom and do not care much for the creed. What is needed is a union of both.
I have the idea that messages in progressive churches are converging on this theme recently. Fellowship, study, growth, worship and reaching out are the five reasons why we are here in this world, according to Pastor Aubrey of Church of the Rock in Winnipeg. He explains that fellowship is the key. The culture of putting ‘me’ first is not the key to Christianity; it is about fellowship and love.
I can’t disagree with Bishop Wright and Pastor Aubrey. How about you?
