eric.gephart
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
In my World Missions class last week we were talking about the globalization of the gospel, how the Western Church can no longer claim ownership of the evengel, how the Southern Church is becoming the authority. My professor mentioned that this is a good thing, after all, the Southern Church takes a different approach at theology, highlighting aspects the Western Church may have never seen.
After class I was discussing this idea with another student, and she explained that during her time in Japan she discovered that Japanese Christians had a better grasp on certain aspects of Christianity than Western Christians. We then marveled at the idea that the pearls of the gospel may indeed be sprinkled throughout the world, that each culture may be able to perfectly grasp one aspect of the Christian faith. Maybe there is a language somewhere with the perfect word for grace, maybe another culture has the perfect description of the trinity, maybe another can fathom perfectly the idea of Divine suffering. What if the gospel can only be perfectly understood when every culture brings its pearl to the table?
The book of Revelation ends with a vivid description of the New Jerusalem descending from the clouds. John describes in lengthy detail the city, and then says something I have never understood, “The nations will walk by its light…People will bring into it the glory and honor of the nations” (21:24, 26). Why would the redeemed bring the glories and honors of the passing world into the new one?
Maybe John is describing the manifestation of the perfection of the good news. Maybe our glories are our pearls of wisdom. Maybe all the cultures will bring their piece of the puzzle, and there, just inside the gates, we will assemble them to discover the honors we have been entrusted with. Then maybe, as the body of Christ from every tribe, tongue and nation we will fully understand the mystery of the gospel as we worship the good news itself.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
In my World Missions class last week we were talking about the globalization of the gospel, how the Western Church can no longer claim ownership of the evengel, how the Southern Church is becoming the authority. My professor mentioned that this is a good thing, after all, the Southern Church takes a different approach at theology, highlighting aspects the Western Church may have never seen.
After class I was discussing this idea with another student, and she explained that during her time in Japan she discovered that Japanese Christians had a better grasp on certain aspects of Christianity than Western Christians. We then marveled at the idea that the pearls of the gospel may indeed be sprinkled throughout the world, that each culture may be able to perfectly grasp one aspect of the Christian faith. Maybe there is a language somewhere with the perfect word for grace, maybe another culture has the perfect description of the trinity, maybe another can fathom perfectly the idea of Divine suffering. What if the gospel can only be perfectly understood when every culture brings its pearl to the table?
The book of Revelation ends with a vivid description of the New Jerusalem descending from the clouds. John describes in lengthy detail the city, and then says something I have never understood, “The nations will walk by its light…People will bring into it the glory and honor of the nations” (21:24, 26). Why would the redeemed bring the glories and honors of the passing world into the new one?
Maybe John is describing the manifestation of the perfection of the good news. Maybe our glories are our pearls of wisdom. Maybe all the cultures will bring their piece of the puzzle, and there, just inside the gates, we will assemble them to discover the honors we have been entrusted with. Then maybe, as the body of Christ from every tribe, tongue and nation we will fully understand the mystery of the gospel as we worship the good news itself.