Personal Theology: A Garden of Community Lucy Atkinson Rose’s idea of the sermonic moment continues to strike me as a new and powerful method of developing relationships through sermons. Atkinson Rose proposes the following: “One form of preaching aims to gather the community of faith around the Word where the central conversations of the people of God are fostered and refocused week after week.” In suggesting that we rethink sermons as a shared experience of Truth, rather than truth from the single perspective on a regular schedule, Rose sees a possibility for higher engagement with one another. The idea may not be that every worship service includes a semi-directed conversation in the place of whatever we might think of as a traditional sermon, but Lucy Atkinson Rose is definitely identifying an important critique that preachers have had to deal with for centuries: the divide between the preacher and the congregation. Rose’s hope to break down the
…show more content…
Luke portrays Christ as an entity of the people in the birth narrative, wholly excluding the magi from the story, only shepherds go to see Christ as an infant born amongst the animals. Later, Luke depicts Christ, not as a figure who teaches on a mountain out of reach to some, but as a leader who shares lessons “on a level place” (Lk 6.17). Jesus is also shown to be a character at a power level strong enough to denounce the religious and political leaders of His day, even when they had the authority to stone offenders or ban them from the Temple. As a servant, Luke shares story after unique story about Jesus’ work as a healer, even to the point that Jesus rebukes the violence of one disciple, healing the ear that had been cut off in Jesus’
Luke portrays Christ as an entity of the people in the birth narrative, wholly excluding the magi from the story, only shepherds go to see Christ as an infant born amongst the animals. Later, Luke depicts Christ, not as a figure who teaches on a mountain out of reach to some, but as a leader who shares lessons “on a level place” (Lk 6.17). Jesus is also shown to be a character at a power level strong enough to denounce the religious and political leaders of His day, even when they had the authority to stone offenders or ban them from the Temple. As a servant, Luke shares story after unique story about Jesus’ work as a healer, even to the point that Jesus rebukes the violence of one disciple, healing the ear that had been cut off in Jesus’