Onsi Kamel recently wrote an article for First Things, ‘Catholicism Made Me Protestant’. He discusses it with me in this episode.
Tag: ecclesiology
What Makes Gathered Worship Different?
A brother challenged me after reading my book, where I talk about how sacred space and time are transformed through the Lord Jesus from being temple- and sabbath-oriented, to being person- and whole-life-oriented. He suggested that I am inconsistent to simultaneously hold that attending church is worship per se, and that we enter the heavenly court during this time (a view I briefly argue for here).
He linked me to the work of a brother of yours, Tony Payne of the Sidney Anglicans, who argues for a view in which attending church is not any more worship than any other part of life, but merely an embodiment and acting-out of the communion we have at all times in the Lord Jesus—a view he dubs the “gathered in heaven” model of church.
I’m sympathetic to Tony’s view, but I equally find it hard to abandon the idea that meeting on the Lord’s Day is especially worship in some sense (perhaps something like ritual worship as opposed to mundane worship). Similarly, although I agree that we are, at all times, in the presence of God through his Spirit, there does nonetheless seem something significant about the symbolic representation of drawing near to his throne, which actually does draw heaven and earth together in a way that isn’t true during the ordinary course of life. One possible avenue of relieving this tension that has occurred to me is in the threefold intensification of sacred space in the temple itself; can we perhaps correlate the “mundane” worship of Rom. 12:1 to service in the courtyard, while the “ritual” worship I see hinted at in Acts 13:2; 1 Cor. 14:25 is service in the Holy Place, with Jesus’ everlasting service being in the Holy of Holies?
The Sea Creatures: Part III
What Spiritual Nutrients are in the Tops and Tails of Paul’s Letters?
Do you have any broader comments on the personal greetings and instructions at the end of Paul’s letters and their significance? Of course each one is unique, but I wondered if there’s anything we can draw more generally from their presence and recurring patterns.
Continue reading “What Spiritual Nutrients are in the Tops and Tails of Paul’s Letters?”
The Spirituality of the Church
On this week’s Mere Fidelity, Derek, Andrew, Matt, and I continue our exploration of ecclesiology in a discussion of the spirituality of the Church.
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The Invisibility of the Church
On this week’s Mere Fidelity, Matt, Derek, and I discuss the doctrine of the invisibility of the Church.
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Transcript for Election in Ephesians 1
One of my supporters has very kindly transcribed this video on my understanding of election in Ephesians 1. I don’t have time to transcribe my videos myself, so anyone willing to volunteer to transcribe one video every week or fortnight would be greatly appreciated! The transcript is very lightly edited at a few points for the purpose of comprehension.
