Or in Downtown LA at 6PM, St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral, 514 W. Adams Blvd., Los Angeles, 90007.
Previous Blog Entries
Christ and Culture Paper - Conclusion
What Discerning Engagement Looks Like: Real Faithful Presence
The Dominant Paradigms of Cultural Engagement
Morgen's "happy mother's day" thoughts
Principalities and Powers — Threefold Battle
What happened at your house on Thanksgiving?
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What's Rankin been thinking about lately?
Who Are We, For Jesus Christ, Today?V. Conclusion As I said before, we at Pacific Crossroads don't have all this figured out. And I haven't said anything novel today. We are a working laboratory of Jeremiah 29: "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." - Jeremiah 29:4-7 These instructions were written by Jeremiah, who was still in Jerusalem, to the refugees in Babylon, to help them navigate their exile. He counsels neither nostalgia nor insurrection, but to settle in, however uncomfortably, for the long term: build, plant, marry, have children, seek the welfare (the shalom) of your captors - pray for the very people who had destroyed your homeland - for the shalom of the exiles and captors were bound together. Don't be defensive against, isolated from or absorbed into the dominant culture. Rather be faithfully present in the city, both critically affirming its healthy qualities and humbly criticizing and subverting its destructive tendencies. We aim to be models and agents of the Kingdom of God, foretaste of the shalom to come, reflections of the light that will one day dawn, incarnated through worship, mission, community and catechesis, centered around our King and invited to participate in His new story.
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