The pic from Tiananmen square is profound! One man, standing in front of a tank and risking everything for the sake of a cause... something He deeply believed in... to the point of death. What the picture does not tell is the 'plural imperative' of this moment. To his left and right are thousands of students, intellectuals, those who were partnered with this unknown rebel. This image is not about a man standing alone in his principles. This image is about a man exemplifying the plural imperative. The image below displays the streets of Tiananmen Sq. filled with revolutionaries. To be an uknown rebel - yeah, that's provocative. To be partnered with unknown rebels is world changing!
Honestly, most of us in the faith get the 'vertical imperative'. We grasp inviting Christ to be our life. He comes into your heart... He changes your life... You spend time with Him. Your passion for 'knowing God' is there and its compelling (or at least your want it to be). I know we know about this vertical passion - to personally know God. I am not sure, however, that we truly grasp God's intense passion for the 'plural imperative'. This movement of Christ followers is a 'we or us'. Our western notions of rugged individualism really don't jibe very well with the plural imperative of this movement called the church.
I was reading some thoughts about the church of late, and I like what the guy was saying. The church has never been a building. Church is Kingdom dwellers put together. The plural of Jesus follower is 'church'. It's a simple way to say 'we' or 'us' - church. Jesus insisted that there is a plural imperative: Church is disciples following together.
After Jesus had sent His Spirit to His followers, they spoke about the good news and three thousand people believed, crossed the border into the Kingdom of God, and became Jesus Followers. When they joined in the band, the "US" was amazing. Someone actually wrote down all the plural things that were happening. They devoted themselves to one another... to prayer.... to eating bread together.... an awe comes upon everyone because of the power the Jesus followers have.
They are all together.... all things in common... they actually sell what they own and give money to everyone who needs it. They meet together in the Jewish temple.... house to house... and when they eat, they are glad and very sincere about it. They cannot help but talk about how great their God is! And everyone can't help but notice and be attracted to them.
This beautiful thing called us... the church is so creative, imaginative, beautiful, united and impassioned that it stirred and fulfilled the deepest passions and longings of people... the desire to belong.. the desire to belong to something far bigger than themselves... the ultimate desire to belong to Someone - the living God!
Let's live the Plural Imperative. We belong to Him. We belong to one another. Feel free to click on comments below and add to the commentary.
Mark
1 comment:
What have we done as a society to lose the ability to really set down at a dinner table and just be in awe of God our Father? Why is it so hard for us to sit and talk about just how awesome he is and what he is doing in our lives? How do "We" and "Us" get that adhesive back in our lives just to sit and talk about Jesus, theres just not enough talking about the Father to overshadow this dark world. I sit and write this with tears in my eyes and a burdern on my heart to really be that "Rebel" that is interlocked with so many others(yarn/string). I long so much for this in my life, for i am about rise a son and god knows that i dont want him to struggle with the things i did and i truly believe that there is one way to do that and thats to teach him what it truly LOOKS like to STAND FIRM not just what it means to stand firm, BUT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE. I knew alittle about standing firm when i grew up and i did see some of it in action, but I never put the TRUTH IN ACTION. Thats what i want for my son. TRUTH IN ACTION!!! NOT JUST WORDS
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