Since we are, in fact, somewhere below the internet noise floor and I doubt this post will get much attention, I’m going to make my first public link to my latest under-wraps project, Neoredemptive. Neoredemptive is a wiki where I’m trying to put together thoughts on being scriptural, evangelical, charismatic, covanental, missional, and practical, along with a few other adectives, all at once. I’ve posted some thoughts on the events of last week at Virginia Tech, trying to look at things through the lens of the gospel and of the church’s call to be counter-cultural — to engage with the events and questions of the day (to avoid becoming ghettoized) while offering a critique of it (to avoid being co-opted) and encarnating a better alternative (to avoid being indistinguishable).
I’ll duplicate my last point here, because I think it bears repeating:
Local churches should take this opportunity to assess whether and how they would be able to respond to a sudden tragedy of this kind in their own area, not because of emotional opportunism to win converts, but out of a genuine concern for the lives that have been ended, torn, and bruised by evil, their desire to do so being a natural product of Jesus’ loving compassion for us. Do we, as an organizational church and as individuals each embodying and representing “the church” in our day-to-day lives, have the nerve to engage with tragedy counter-culturally — lovingly and compassionately engaging with the reality of the event without compromising the unflinching truth of the Gospel? Can we honestly say we are ready to step into such a situation and talk about a truly good God in the midst of excruciating tragedy?
On a more personal note, as someone who once aspired to academia (and sometimes ponders returning), I’m disturbed by what looks to me like Mr. Winset getting the politically-correct left-foot-of-fellowship from Emmanuel College. Is “WASP” now a derogatory racial ephitet (the supposed cause of his firing)? If so, let me say publicly that — as a WASP — I don’t want to be protected from that, especially by a so-called “liberal arts” college (the ilk of which have historically played no small part in fostering our current culture of anti-WASP-ism).
