DownloadArticles : Carmen Andres
Nov. 16, 2009 issue
-
Andres
People with vision
When we lived in Alabama, I visited a civil rights museum in Montgomery and was struck anew by the inspiration people found in Martin Luther King Jr. He not only confronted America with the wrongness of segregation, discrimination and racism, but also presented a profound vision of what the future could be like — where “little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” His vision changed people’s way of thinking and moved communities toward wholeness and rightness.
As believers, our vision of the future also affects how we think and act here and now — and that impacts the world around us. This is something Peter gets at as he closes his second letter.
Nov. 9, 2009 issue
-
Faith-full people
This year, I forgot my mother’s birthday. I wrote it down on my calendar, circled it several times and told myself repeatedly: Don’t forget! But that wasn’t enough. The day came and went, filled with everyday distractions and tasks, and I forgot to call. I knew it was her birthday, but I allowed other things to redirect my focus.
Nov. 2, 2009 issue
-
A suffering people
God’s plans for our redemption are deeply connected to his covenant community. The new covenant community that forms with Jesus is an important part of those plans. This community centers on Jesus and his new opportunity. And, just like Jesus, it will inevitably clash with the culture around it.
Oct. 26, 2009 issue
-
Chosen to proclaim
Early on, we discover the covenant community is deeply connected to God’s plans to redeem his creation. It is, as Scot McKnight puts it in The Blue Parakeet, “the context within which our wonderful redemption takes place.” With Jesus and the Spirit came a remarkable new opportunity, and a new community begins to form. God’s people are finally enabled to start living out the kind of relationship with him, others and the world for which he created them.
Oct. 19, 2009 issue
-
Blazing life
From the beginning, we were created to live in a whole, loving relationship with God and each other in a good world. Then sin ruined us, fracturing everything. But God works to redeem his creation. And, as Scot McKnight observes in The Blue Parakeet, “the way God works redemption in this world is through his covenanted community — first Israel, then the church.”
Oct. 12, 2009 issue
-
A radical call
As we look at Jesus’ encounter with a wealthy man, we hear a radical invitation not only to follow Jesus but also to join the new covenant community he is forming.
Oct. 5, 2009 issue
-
Crumbs of life
In exploring God’s redeeming work and its connection to his covenant community, we’ve been looking at Jesus and his invitations to the kingdom. This week, we discover more about who’s invited and what it takes to be part of the new community he’s forming.
Sept. 28, 2009 issue
-
One set free
As we’ve explored the story of God’s work to redeem the world and how that’s connected to his covenant community, we’ve come upon Jesus and his invitations to the kind of living-together God has been working toward.
Sept. 21, 2009 issue
-
Community in Jesus
In exploring the story of our redemption working out in the context of God’s covenant community, we’ve discovered “a deep thread of failure,” as Scot McKnight puts it in The Blue Parakeet. “Israel won’t get the job done until the job is done for them.”
Sept. 14, 2009 issue
-
Impossible odds
The Israelites are riding the wake of a renewed commitment inspired by Ezra to be God’s people. But it hasn’t been easy. As Michael D. Riley points out in the Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible, their population has dwindled, Jerusalem is still in ruins, their rebuilt temple is only a pale shadow of Solomon’s original, and their children can’t read God’s law because they know foreign languages better than their own. God’s people are floundering.
Download a free PDF showing the populations of
Mennonite groups and other Anabaptists.
