What we focus on often determines what we miss out on. My focus on the urban poor and contemplative spirituality means I miss out on things such as best practices of Alpaca farming or stock market forecasts.
This is a short post to mention the ongoing dichotomy I experience between moralism and missional.
I continue to see committed christians who feel as if they need to get their porn addiction or financial debt under control before they can seriously consider following Jesus into redemptive relationships with the marginalized poor.
The biblical notion of righteousness certainly includes personal moral purity but it is a far less individualistic endeavor than how our american christian culture has made it appear.
To truly unplug from the god of individualistic moralism takes courage. It takes a shift in focus. It likely will entail a certain experience of death...
And I also see how easily one could unconsciously allow social activism to become the new moralism.
Holding both - Personal spiritual formation and growth alongside the value of loving my neighbor and my neighborhood are not separate ministries of the church, so let's do ourselves a favor and stop thinking in linear terms or using categorical language in order to distinguish between them.
"Long ago I became convinced that the seeing see little."
Helen Keller
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