Naming Love’s Alluring Way

by | Jun 25, 2019 | Church, Discipleship, Learning, Worship

June 25, 2019

Dear Pilgrim Partners,

I met with my District Superintendent Monday for our annual supervisory meeting. He reminded me of my pastoral calling as “theologian in residence.” I embrace that calling in every conversation, group discussion, and sermon, as well as countless hours of reading and reflection. Asking the question, “Where is God in this experience?” leads us to live as more fruitful followers of Jesus.

In the four months since February, I have experienced an unprecedented season of theological exploration and growth. I have devoured 34 books on theology, biblical interpretation, and sociology as part of this ongoing quest for life knowledge and a guiding wisdom in the sometimes chaotic, polarized, and constantly changing context of living our followship of Jesus. A week before a church mission trip, I was struck by the way five of the authors I’ve read each identified three characteristic marks of life in the kingdom in our time of theological reformation and technological change (see below for book titles):

Caputo (1) Scott (2) Root (3) Sanguin (4) Vosper (5)
Allurement Incarnation Gratitude Meditation Values
Forgiveness Responsibility Giftedness Ritual Ethics
Hospitality Unity Rest Sabbath Community

I was fascinated by the way in which these identifying marks of the kingdom reinforced each other. Then I was inspired to articulate three marks of followers of Jesus: as Witnesses, Activators, and Hosts of the kingdom. I felt moved to name the way love lures us:

I join with all who witness, activate, and host a way
of life allured by love.

  • We witness
    whenever love lures by glimpsing the unity manifest in cosmos, earth,
    and the community of creatures great and small. Love and logic story our life
    together.
  • We activate
    however love lures     by celebrating dignity, forgiving violence, and sharing
    justice. Our transience and suffering invite us to gift ourselves as
    non-anxious presence.
  • We host
    wherever love lures by joyfully opening our lives with others. We brave
    hostility as we give ourselves unconditionally, welcoming and finding welcome
    in love’s possibilities.

We hope this day you will join us.

I’d love to know what you think of
this way of naming the call to life in Christ we experience together. How does
my statement of faith resonate with your life in Christ, and what three marks
of life in Christ are most important to you?

Peace,
Bo Gordy-Stith

  1. Jack Caputo – Hoping Against Hope Confessions of a Postmodern Pilgrim
  2. Bernard Brandon Scott – Reimagining the World: An Introduction to the Parables of Jesus
  3. Andrew Root – Faith Formation in a Secular Age, Vol. 1
  4. Bruce Sanguin – Darwin, Divinity, and the Dance of the Cosmos
  5. Gretta Vosper – With or Without God: Why the Way We Live is More Important Than What We Believe