As a child my Christology, if you could call it that, was limited as the primary message in the church was that Christ died for my sins and I needed to accept him as my personal savior. Of course, there were Sunday School lessons on typical youth-oriented subjects that pointed to guidelines of behavior deemed appropriate for a follower of Christ, but there was no concerted effort to present Christ as a unifying principle around which a life could be based. Or, to be fair, at least no concerted effort that I can discern as I look back on my early years in Sunday School.
Thankfully, as I matured, so did my view of Christ. I often tell the students in my youth group that my mind is like a jukebox that can access songs appropriate to almost anything and so it is for my Christology. Here are the lyrics to a the song Center by Charlie Hall:
You’re the center of the universe
Everything was made in You Jesus
Breath of every living thing
Everyone was made for You
You hold everything together
You hold everything together
Christ be the center of our lives
Be the place we fix our eyes
Be the center of our lives
We lift our eyes to heaven
We wrap our lives around your life
We lift our eyes to heaven, to You
What this song says more poetically than I could ever attempt to articulate is that Christ has become for me the prism through which the world can be viewed. His death and resurrection wasn't just to bring me into the kingdom of God it was to bring the kingdom of God to me - and to others - as I serve him on earth and as believers give him rule over every aspect of their lives. It is nothing any of us earn, but is a gift from God.
As Webber says, to preach Christ is to preach the kingdom (p. 55). Christ and the kingdom of God are inextricably linked as it is through Christ that all of creation is being restored to God.
This idea of Christ being in all and through all is essential to the postmodern, who holds a holistic view of life. Nothing can be more frustrating to a postmodern than someone who speaks of Christ, but does not act as Christ would. The modern mind with its emphasis on reason, systematic thinking and individualism made it possible to put God in a box, so to speak. Church life was in one place and the rest of life was elsewhere or you could acknowledge Christ and his sacrifice on an intellectual level without it having an effect on the way you live your life.
3 comments:
WTS' Annual Theological Problem, the theme for our academic year is a dream come true. It is fascinating to see the impact it is having on everyone! You are describing a worldview with a center. Somewhere between the Sermon on the Mount and the sawdust trail we lost the theology of the kingdom and Christ as Creator, King, Victor, Lamb, and Prophet. He was abdicated to a priestly role who manages our sins and is a friend who is waiting to meet our every need, sort of a theology of entitlement to blessing.
That brings up another suggestion for whomever makes such decisions at WTS. Obviously, it's tough for the MACD people to make it to the theological summits. Is there any way some of the material from that can be shared with us, even if it is in an informal way? Especially if there are special speakers or anything.
Tammie, we tried videotaping and audio recording the TS. The event is fairly experiential which makes it difficult to save and send to students. Simulcast and other options are being explored. The film, "The Second Chance", that was a part of the January TS, could be reviewed and included in this class as a part of your final project. The focus on the kingdom of God is also relevant to our theological/missional discussions. I will pass your concern on to the TS Director. Thanks for good suggestion!
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