+==actualizing==+

Actualizing the Kingdom by:Walter Wink
The early church did not seek to formulate a theory of illness;
instead, it healed the sick.
It did not attempt to explain how the demonic could exist in a good world made by a good God; instead, they cast out demons.
They had no hypotheses about how prayer works.
They simply prayed....

Their attitude was not anti-rational or anti-theological, but merely concrete.
They looked, not for adequate ways to conceptualize the Kingdom, but for ways to actualize it.

Source: Engaging the Powers



Rationalization. Theories. Today we are all about coming up with these explanations for why something exists; these explanations for why someone is messed up. This was the way of the others in the early church. Illnesses and disease existed because you had sinned. Or, even worse, your parents had sinned, and you were being punished. They gave reasoning for everything under the sun.

But what has happened to our faith? We are a world of fact and not enough of hope. Even those of us who call ourselves people of faith are lacking. We are not of *this* world, but of God's world. The powers that be rest their hopes in wealth and success. We are told to rest our hopes in faith. To be active in our faith by doing good works for others, by being inviting and compassionate. By giving to the poor, even when we are told not to. By loving unconditionally because we are loved as so by God. It is faith, hope and love that abide. Where is it? The early church prayed because they could. There was no secret formula. No assurance that it would get them anywhere. But their faith and hope in God, and their love for God that made them certain prayers would be answered in some fashion.

This is a challenge. Not just to whoever is reading this, but to myself as well. I am challenged because my trust in God is minimal these days. And these coming days will be when I need it most.

Where do your faith, hope and love abide?