The Liturgy of Politics: The Partisan Liturgy of Tribalism
Release Date: 09/22/2024
Practice: An Atonement Examen (Christ's Influence)
The Practice Church Podcast
At the heart of the gospel is a story of Christ's redeeming work. How we understand this story impacts who we understand God to be, how we see ourselves, and how we relate with God. In this series, we will consider what Jesus accomplishes in his life, death, and resurrection, and we will seek to live in the fullness Christ’s atoning work. This week, we reflected on the atonement story that invites us to consider the life of Jesus in addition to his death and resurrection. How does the heart of God expressed in Christ invite us to be formed by God to live a cruciform life like Jesus? This...
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Stories of Atonement: Christ's Influence
The Practice Church Podcast
At the heart of the gospel is a story of Christ's redeeming work. How we understand this story impacts who we understand God to be, how we see ourselves, and how we relate with God. In this series, we will consider what Jesus accomplishes in his life, death, and resurrection, and we will seek to live in the fullness Christ’s atoning work. This week, we reflected on the atonement story that invites us to consider the life of Jesus in addition to his death and resurrection. How does the heart of God expressed in Christ invite us to be formed by God to live a cruciform life like Jesus? If The...
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Practice: An Atonement Examen (Christ's Victory)
The Practice Church Podcast
At the heart of the gospel is a story of Christ's redeeming work. How we understand this story impacts who we understand God to be, how we see ourselves, and how we relate with God. In this series, we will consider what Jesus accomplishes in his life, death, and resurrection, and we will seek to live in the fullness Christ’s atoning work. This week, we reflected on a story of atonement grounded in Christ's victory. How have we expereinced Christ's victory in our lives, and how do we long to live more deeply in his victory of sin, death, and the evil one? This practice is a part of our...
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Stories of Atonement: Christ's Victory
The Practice Church Podcast
At the heart of the gospel is a story of Christ's redeeming work. How we understand this story impacts who we understand God to be, how we see ourselves, and how we relate with God. In this series, we will consider what Jesus accomplishes in his life, death, and resurrection, and we will seek to live in the fullness Christ’s atoning work. This week, we considered the Orthodox story of atonement. Jesus in his life, death, and resurrection is victorious over the evil one. This story invites us to consider God’s great love which leads to the Lord: Offering forgiveness without the need for...
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Practice: An Atonement Examen (Tragedy and Intimacy)
The Practice Church Podcast
This guided practice is a part of our series Stories of Atonement. At the heart of the gospel is a story of Christ's redeeming work. How we understand this story impacts who we understand God to be, how we see ourselves, and how we relate with God. In this series, we will consider what Jesus accomplishes in his life, death, and resurrection, and we will seek to live in the fullness Christ’s atoning work. In this examen practice, we reflect on the work of Jesus. How might we rightly see sin as a tragedy and experience Christ's atonement as a restoration of intimacy and union with God? ...
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Stories of Atonement: Tragedy and Intimacy
The Practice Church Podcast
At the heart of the gospel is a story of Christ's redeeming work. How we understand this story impacts who we understand God to be, how we see ourselves, and how we relate with God. In this series, we will consider what Jesus accomplishes in his life, death, and resurrection, and we will seek to live in the fullness Christ’s atoning work. This week, we reflected on a story of atonement rooted deeply in love. How might we, like Julian of Norwich, see sin as a tragedy rather than a crime and experience the atonement, like Father Richard Rohr, as a restoration of intimacy and union with...
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Practice: An Atonement Examen (Substitution)
The Practice Church Podcast
This guided practice is a part of our series Stories of Atonement. At the heart of the gospel is a story of Christ's redeeming work. How we understand this story impacts who we understand God to be, how we see ourselves, and how we relate with God. In this series, we will consider what Jesus accomplishes in his life, death, and resurrection, and we will seek to live in the fullness Christ’s atoning work. In this examen practice, we reflect on the substitutionary work of Jesus. How have we seen Christ at work in our lives, and how do we long to experience his healing more fully? This practice...
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Stories of Atonement: Substitution
The Practice Church Podcast
At the heart of the gospel is a story of Christ's redeeming work. How we understand this story impacts who we understand God to be, how we see ourselves, and how we relate with God. In this series, we will consider what Jesus accomplishes in his life, death, and resurrection, and we will seek to live in the fullness Christ’s atoning work. This week, we look at the substitutionary nature of the atonement. We reflect on the legal view of the atonement (penal substitutionary atonement), and consider the alternative view of medical substitution. If The Practice Church is your home community,...
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Walking in the Miracles: Jesus Heals a Woman and a Little Girl
The Practice Church Podcast
In this series, we will spend time exploring three miracles from the Gospel of Mark. Mark tells these stories as a way of revealing the identity of Jesus, but they are more than intellectual proofs of his divinity. These miracles beg for a response. We hope walking in these stories will be more than a learning experience. Our prayer is that we might encounter Jesus in all his creative, restorative love, and maybe even catch a glimpse of the miraculous work of Christ in our lives. This week, we explored the story of two miracles. While on his way to ultimately raise a little girl from the dead,...
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Walking in the Miracles: Jesus Calms the Storm
The Practice Church Podcast
In this series, we will spend time exploring three miracles from the Gospel of Mark. Mark tells these stories as a way of revealing the identity of Jesus, but they are more than intellectual proofs of his divinity. These miracles beg for a response. We hope walking in these stories will be more than a learning experience. Our prayer is that we might encounter Jesus in all his creative, restorative love, and maybe even catch a glimpse of the miraculous work of Christ in our lives. This week, we explored the story of Jesus calming the storm. Joan invited us to open ourselves to encounter Jesus...
info_outlineAristotle said the purpose of politics is to create a people who are better than they would be without it. Politics has a way of shaping how we see ourselves, how we see others, and how we should live in the world. Have you noticed how this is parallel to the task of the gospel? This journey of faith creates us to be someone better than we would be without Jesus. Jesus shapes how we see ourselves, how we see others, and how we should live in the world. Is it any wonder our political activity has gotten so bound up in our understanding of the gospel?
In fact, our partisanship and faith have become so wrapped up together, that it is like one big ball of tangled string. They influence one another in various ways (some helpful and some not), and often times it is hard to tell where one begins and the other ends. This month, we will be crafting experiments together. These experiments will center on how we engage politics and how we are being formed by politics. Together we will notice what strings in this tangled mess the Holy Spirit is drawing to our attention, and we will intentionally practice ways of untangling that thread. How can we seek to be formed in the way of God's kingdom and bring that to bear on politics rather than allowing politics to shape how we view the kingdom?
We continued our experiments this week exposing the partisan liturgy of tribalism, reflecting on the ways we are tempted to find our identity in a political party or position. Then, we considered the counter-formational liturgy of humble service. What if our political activity followed the way of Jesus and humble service?
You can find the handout for crafting an experiments here.
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