Comments on: Multi-Jesi http://daryljwhite.us/2006/10/26/multi-jesi/ contemplating life and ministry Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:59:24 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: kenbaptist http://daryljwhite.us/2006/10/26/multi-jesi/comment-page-1/#comment-30 kenbaptist Fri, 10 Nov 2006 18:59:31 +0000 http://daryljwhite.us/2006/10/26/multi-jesi/#comment-30 Since I'm working on my own post on Chapter 1, I'll leave most of my comments for that. As for our faith being a "shining example" to those in the congregation, I think you're absolutely right about it being challenging and helpful to have a humble attitude in this regards. After all, each one of us models and lives out our faith in different ways, so each of us learns from the examples of others. It's not that you and I should try to be Abraham - who was, to me, the pre-eminent example of what "faith" is. He was a man who lived in a very different culture a long time ago. The question for us is, "What does faith look like where I am, right here and now?" In that way, the best "shining example" I think all of us can offer is not trying to be any holier than anyone else - Jesus was that model for us. The best we can do is to live out faith in our very own context, and give people the tools and the resources to figure out how to do that too. That means even responses to things like doubt, cynicism, depression, sins... faith doesn't happen in a vacuum. It happens in our moment-by-moment response to what God brings into our lives. Since I’m working on my own post on Chapter 1, I’ll leave most of my comments for that. As for our faith being a “shining example” to those in the congregation, I think you’re absolutely right about it being challenging and helpful to have a humble attitude in this regards. After all, each one of us models and lives out our faith in different ways, so each of us learns from the examples of others. It’s not that you and I should try to be Abraham – who was, to me, the pre-eminent example of what “faith” is. He was a man who lived in a very different culture a long time ago. The question for us is, “What does faith look like where I am, right here and now?”

In that way, the best “shining example” I think all of us can offer is not trying to be any holier than anyone else – Jesus was that model for us. The best we can do is to live out faith in our very own context, and give people the tools and the resources to figure out how to do that too. That means even responses to things like doubt, cynicism, depression, sins… faith doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens in our moment-by-moment response to what God brings into our lives.

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