“To be human is to be on a quest. To live is to be embarked on a kind of unconscious journey toward a destination of your dreams. To be human, we could say, is to desire the kingdom – some kingdom…We all live and long for a social vision of what we think society should look like too. That’s why there’s something ultimate about this vision: to be oriented toward some sense of the good life is to pursue some vision of how the world ought to be.”

…….

“What are we here for in the first place? The fundamental answer…is that what we’re ‘here for’ is to become genuine human beings, reflecting the God in whose image we’re made, and doing so in worship on one hand and in mission, its full and large sense, on the other; and that we do this not least by ‘following Jesus.’ The way this works out is that it produces, through the work of the Holy Spirit, a transformation of character. This transformation will mean that we do indeed ‘keep the rules’ – though not out of a sense of externally imposed ‘duty,’ but out of character that has been formed within us. And it will mean that we do indeed ‘follow our hearts’ and live ‘authentically’ – but only when, with that transformed character fully operative (like an airline pilot with a lifetime’s experience), the hard work up front bears fruit in spontaneous decisions and actions that reflect what has been formed deep within.”

…….

“In a similar way, Christian worship should tell a story that makes us want to set sail for the immense sea that is the Triune God, birthing in us a longing for ‘a better country – a heavenly one’ that is kingdom come (Hebrews 11:16). The biblical vision of shalom – of a world where the Lamb is our light, where swords are beaten into ploughshares, where abundance is enjoyed by all, where people from every tribe and tongue and nation sing the same song of praise, where justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like an everlasting stream – is the vision that should be enacted in Christian worship. And that vision will CAPTIVATE us, not just because we ‘know’ it’s what God wants, but because the tangible practices of Christian worship paint the picture, as it were – in the metaphors of the biblical story, the poetics of the Psalms, the meter of hymns and choruses, the tangible elements of bread and wine, the visions painted in stained glass – all of which works on our imaginations, teaching us to want.”

{From “You Are What You Love” by James K.A. Smith}

 

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