Blog
cityView: in review
we began this series with the following introduction:
faith is everywhere. or lack of faith. or a little faith. regardless of which it is, there’s a bigger conversation occurring in our city than just a single church or a single faith perspective. instead of becoming an insular community, we hope that eikon can be a place that listens to & engages in the broader faith conversation in our city.
over the past few weeks of this series, i think we’ve begun to do just that. we’ve poked around in the faith conversation in and around little rock. we’ve turned over a few of the loose rocks. certainly, it hasn’t plunged us into the deeper waters, but we’ve waded in, getting our feet wet.
the conversation continues, though. in just the fledgling stages of this thing called eikon, we hope this series has been an introductory connecting point with the larger community around us. we simply don’t want to be an island church, floating in the waters of ecclesial and social isolation.
we want to continue conversations with people like thomas hudson, who is seeking out an image of jesus that actually does, instead of just says. we’re seeking out more conversations with people like darren huckey, who’s looking past our modern christian notions of god to capture the essence and jewishness of jesus. we’re looking for ways to connect with people like rich wiebe, who is seeking a life filled with deeply abiding love and compassion for others. all of our writers have expressed a unique dimension of the conversation revolving around faith in our city.
certainly, these aren’t the totality of perspectives in our community.
so, we’ll continue to seek people beyond our “four walls” that are trying to figure out if there’s some Thing beyond us or more to life than what we see in front of us. we’ll continue to talk and write and dream and debate and grow and engage the our city.
there’s a broader view in this city, in our community of little rock. our hope and prayer is that this series is only the entry point to engaging those many views.
I wonder if you would welcome conversation from someone who disagrees with this writing? It is rife with trouble and doubt, or is that the purpose of this website and apparent movement?
You say: “so, we’ll continue to seek people beyond our ‘four walls’ that are trying to figure out if there’s some Thing beyond us or more to life than what we see in front of us. we’ll continue to talk and write and dream and debate and grow and engage the our city.”
Really? “If” there’s something beyond us? You have just disqualified yourself from calling yourself a church, have you not? The church is ‘the called out ones’ from out of this world unto the GOD who calls. Please do not denigrate the church to this standard. Call yourself a social club or a think-tank, but do not run the word ‘church‘ through your mud.
Please tell me if I have heard you correctly on this because at best you are dangerous and not revolutionary.
Furthermore, in your theology section, you suggested that Jesus was just like us in culture yet you forget he had no where to lay his head, he spent nights praying until the morning dew blotted his brow and he picked grain on the Sabbath. He was called a drunkard and glutton and he despised the ruinous lot that pilfered in his temple so much so that he ran them out with a whip. You mention relevancy in culture – OK, what will you tell them when you get there if you have not even understood Christ. What could you tell the culture if you are still trying “to figure out if there’s some Thing beyond us?”
There is a lot of talk here about grace but I fear it has been too easily applied – saying “Peace, peace when there is no peace” (Jer 6:14). You have not come close to the standard by which Christ will judge us, because one cannot apply grace on their own or even see Christ as their Savior unless they realize they are deservedly damned before a Holy and Just God. “GOD is angry everyday at the wicked” (Psalms 7:10); thus without this understanding of His wrath toward our personal sin and disobedience, a single soul would never implore His mercy unto genuine salvation.
You are doing nothing new here but I feel you are striving for a revolution. Revolution is holiness in all aspects of life. Strive for that, friend, and know that “those who claim they belong to the Lord must turn away from all wickedness” (2 Timothy 2:19). And, yes, love comes out of a heart cleansed by the one who is Truth, the Way and the Life.
r.
“What the world needs is for men to wash one another’s feet.” – Art Katz