One More Thing…
The Seven Principles of Christian Nonconformity
“Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God’s will is – what is good and pleasing and mature.” – Romans 12.2 (CEB)
“Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so…” (lyrics to the song, written by Anna Bartlett Warner, 1860)
The post-modern world would ask us to believe that there is no authoritative narrative, no singular truth that holds us together. The only “truth” in post-modernity is the truth you choose to conjure up in your heart. Christian Nonconformity invites us to a different reality. The library of letters, essays, poems, aphorisms, contracts, and lyrics that we call the Bible ask us to imagine a more beautiful story. A story that while it takes a long time and is yet to be fully and totally complete, evil has been, is, and will be overcome by good. A story of God’s personal search for and utterly faithful connection with each of us. The promise and possibility of hope and redemption that restores that which we’ve wrecked. The amazing transformation that grows out of self-sacrificing love.
As Anabaptist Christians – part of a 500-year-old, radical, evangelical, nonconformist movement – we have been and continue to be a people of the Bible. It is the Bible that informs our journey. As much as we would like to imagine that the Divine is in some way a latent presence within us, or that the natural world is full of divinity, the nonconforming truth is that the scriptures tells us that a mysterious, ineffable, loving character whom we call, “God” has created everything, redeemed everything we have broken, and sustains our souls as we wait with patience, endurance, and tolerance, for a new era to come forth.
That is not to say that the Bible hasn’t been misquoted, misconstrued, and misinterpreted over the generations. Which is why Anabaptist Nonconformists both respected Biblical preaching and teaching, and demanded that the people of God read, discuss, and embrace the scriptures together. No one Anabaptist preacher is always right. No one Anabaptist congregation always interprets scripture well. No one association of Anabaptists fully confesses the entirety of the Bible’s message.
So, we read the scriptures, alone and together, and we are responsible to hold each other accountable to live out the authority of scripture. Anabaptists respect the Bible, teach the Bible, and seek to live out the message of the Bible together.
So, let’s go, Church (and read about the Jesus who loves us…)
Pastor Jeff
jeff@bgmc.net
P.S. I’ll be at the A&N Diner on Monday morning, January 27, around 7:30am (depending on how thick the ice is on my windshield). I’ll be at the Broad Street Grind on Friday afternoon, January 31, around 3:30pm (depending on the detours along the 113). These are weekly opportunities to dialogue. It’s your time to ask me anything on your mind. Who knows? Maybe we’ll even read the Bible together…