Tear down the walls

Some random thoughts…

I major step for the Body of Christ would be to tear down the walls of the church which withheld them to live in creation and subsequent to come closer to babylon. Most of christian activity is inside the 4 walls and if not, than a project OF the CHURCH is launched to address society. This project comes out of the 4 walls and from above down to society as a final solution or answer.

The problem is, that the church and babylon do not understand each other. There is a communication problem that comes out of the subculture of the church. So church has to unlearn a lot in order to reconnect with society. Therefore: The walls must disappear so that HIS people can learn to live with the people in our communites. It is about sharing of life with them. To hear, not to speak, to listen with our heart and emotion to their stories. A Place where the wall is installed in our minds are the theological institutions. There is nothing wrong with theological education but what is the aim of it. It should have the aim to train theologians to translate theological aspiration and know how for the masses of people in our societies and not just for the few within the 4 walls. Theology should work on concrete social, political, spiritual questions of our societies. What is the concrete theological-based alternative to the common tools to approach unemployment? What do we have to say to the decline of our cities? Therefore theology has to become interdisciplinary. Who has to understand our message? So often the approach of the church to society was, to tell THEM how and where THEY have to change. But I think it is up to us to OFFER a true alternative.

Clarification on “Babylon”

How do I use the term ” Babylon”? I use it in at least these ways.

1. For me Babylon stands for our society. By “our society” I mean any society. So an interesting question would be whether “Babylon” and “Creation” is the same or not. Or is Babylon in Creation?
2. Babylon is my Context. So that means Meiningen, Germany and some other places I travel to. I could say, that I am looking for Babylon wherever I am. I try to be sensitive to the “exile places” of my surrounding.
3. And now, while I am writing and reflecting, I find another connotation of Babylon. Babylon and the church/people of God/ body of Chris or what ever you name it, is devided from Babylon. So Babylon is, in that case, everything outside of Gods Lordship.

I will find out, how long I can run with this description. But I already guess, that I have not arrived yet. Its a long way to Babylon.

What do you see?

I see my city suffering. It is longing and yearning for life and love. I see an economy that is on the ground, I see young people who leave because there is no reason to stay – there is not enough room for development and work. The Citycouncil announced that they will focus on the elderly, because that is where the future market will be. That is right, but what shall we do, if the goverment is giving up on the youth? Can we turn that arround? And yet through al of this I see the potential of my City. There is a lot of creativity, new cafes opend during the last 1-2 years and… yes and what else. This place develops so slowly that it is hard to see it some times.As Martin is writing, we need to develop a spirituality, a way of following christ, IN this situation of creation. We are no sphere for our own sake.