{"id":1207,"date":"2014-02-01T00:56:17","date_gmt":"2014-02-01T00:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/?p=1207"},"modified":"2014-02-01T00:56:17","modified_gmt":"2014-02-01T00:56:17","slug":"the-embrace-of-vulnerable-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2014\/02\/01\/the-embrace-of-vulnerable-love\/","title":{"rendered":"The Embrace of Vulnerable Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

Submitted by:<\/em>
\n<\/em>Pastor <\/i>Jan Bros<\/em>, Abbey Way Covenant Church<\/em><\/p>\n

Part of my personal work as a member of the Commission on Biblical
\nGender Equality has been to become more aware of the conversation that
\nis happening within the Evangelical Covenant Church and among
\nChristians elsewhere concerning the understanding of the roles of men
\nand women in the church and in particular church leadership. There is
\nmuch written conveying multiple viewpoints. I can get easily
\ndiscouraged when I read literature that uses mean spirited or unkind
\nwords to convey meaning. In these moments, when my soul is sad, it is
\nimportant for me to remember the truth we hold together as the body of
\nChrist even when we do not agree on the particulars.<\/p>\n

Here is a post I wrote a number of years ago in reflection and review
\nof Miroslav Volf’s work on repentance and reconciliation. I think it
\nis important we do not forget the essentials in the work God calls us
\nto do.<\/p>\n

“To repent means to resist the seductiveness of the sinful values and
\npractices and to let the new order of God’s reign be established in
\none’s heart.” ~Miroslav Volf<\/p>\n

In Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity,
\nOtherness, and Reconciliation<\/span>, Miroslav Volf challenges and instructs
\nhis reader to reconstruct a new way of understanding about how we live
\nout the Kingdom of God among us. Thoughtfully written, carefully
\nexecuted, the book deconstructs conventional ways of understanding the
\nrelationships between oppression, victimization, justice, and
\nreconciliation, while constructing new patterns of thought, inviting
\nus to live in God-like “vulnerable love.”<\/p>\n

Confronting the usual divisions of victim and perpetrator, Volf
\npointedly calls for the repentance of both parties, calling into
\naccount the conventional division of victim and perpetrator–one being
\n“good” and the other “bad”–which enables the continuing construct of
\npatterns of sin through the generations. The goal is reconciliation
\nbetween the factions, which is only obtained through forgiveness, and
\nan extension of grace.<\/p>\n

Never having experienced firsthand the deep enmity between warring
\nparties of nations divided against it as Volf has, I have experienced
\nthe political unrest of the divisions between husband and wife, child
\nand parent, and church member and leader. There may not be literal
\nguns being shot and blood being spilt, but hatred and deep-rooted
\nbitterness abounds, given voice behind closed conference doors.
\nStubborn spirits, wounded by untold numbers of inhumane interactions,
\nin relationships that were created to exemplify the Creator’s love,
\nnow are stuck in pointing fingers of blame and hurt, exposing a
\nbattlefield as bloody as in any armed conflict.<\/p>\n

“From a distance, the world may appear neatly divided into guilty
\nperpetrators and innocent victims. The closer we get, however, the
\nmore the line between the guilty and the innocent blurs and we see an
\nintractable maze of small and large hatreds, dishonesties,
\nmanipulations, and brutalities, each reinforcing each other. The more
\nattentive we are, the more accurate the portrait of the Apostle Paul
\npaints of humanity–of “all” from which “no one” is exempt (Romans
\n3:9, 20)–strikes us.”<\/p>\n

So what is God’s call to us when we are embroiled in our own wall
\nbuilding selves?<\/p>\n

The answer comes to us in the vulnerable love of Jesus. To open to
\nthis love requires repentance: a turning around, a turning towards God
\nand then our neighbor. It is when we admit first–I have sinned; I
\nhave failed; Father forgive me; transform my heart; free me from my
\nbonds–that the power of God’s vulnerable love can be released and
\nmanifested in us for our healing and forgiveness.<\/p>\n

But it cannot, stop here. We must be willing to become the vulnerable
\nlove that we have received. This is the power of the Gospel in all its
\nglory, to change everyone, bringing the possibility of reconciliation
\nand peace for all.<\/p>\n

Volf is clear, however, warning us this reconciliation is not the
\nfinal reconciliation but an on-going reconciling action until the
\nfinal, complete reconciliation at the end of the age. Let us not be
\ndeceived. The Messianic age is not a political reign, but a real
\nKingdom, which comes to all who dares live into Gospel of repentance
\nand vulnerable love.<\/p>\n

I pray that truth is reflected in how we live together as men and
\nwomen under the reign of Christ. May we continue with arms extended in
\nour own embrace of vulnerable love with God and each other.<\/p>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Submitted by: Pastor Jan Bros, Abbey Way Covenant Church Part of my personal work as a member of the Commission on Biblical Gender Equality has been to become more aware of the conversation that is happening within the Evangelical Covenant Church and among Christians elsewhere concerning the understanding of the roles of men and women […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19328],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-testimoies-and-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Embrace of Vulnerable Love - Commission on Biblical Gender Equality<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2014\/02\/01\/the-embrace-of-vulnerable-love\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Embrace of Vulnerable Love - 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