A Theology of Place
In Genesis 28:16 Jacob remarks upon waking from his dream of a ladder set on earth reaching to heaven: "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it."
I wonder how many of us can say the same thing. I have this sneaking suspicion that most Christians are oblivious to the presence and activity of the Lord in a given locality. Evangelical Christianity has so confined God's presence and activity to the church that it is mostly unaware of what God is doing in their city or neighborhood.
We lack a theology of place. Ours is a theology of time and eternity dealing with abstract concepts while considering geography as irrelevant in the pursuit of truth. Any serious reading of Scripture, however, clearly reveals the importance of place in God's mind.
Incarnation without place is meaningless. If we are to be an incarnational people, then we must be aware of the significance of place as far as God is concerned. It isn't just so much real estate as is the case with the mindset of western culture. It's the people of a given locality that make that place what it is. So God's compassionate nature prompts him to send his prophet to the pagan city of Nineveh, he tells Paul he has many people in the immoral city of Corinth, and he shapes and forms his son in Nazareth, a town with a good-for-nothing reputation.
So what is God doing in your city? Can we be involved with him if we are unaware of his compassion for our city, as well as his presence and activity in that place?
I wonder how many of us can say the same thing. I have this sneaking suspicion that most Christians are oblivious to the presence and activity of the Lord in a given locality. Evangelical Christianity has so confined God's presence and activity to the church that it is mostly unaware of what God is doing in their city or neighborhood.
We lack a theology of place. Ours is a theology of time and eternity dealing with abstract concepts while considering geography as irrelevant in the pursuit of truth. Any serious reading of Scripture, however, clearly reveals the importance of place in God's mind.
Incarnation without place is meaningless. If we are to be an incarnational people, then we must be aware of the significance of place as far as God is concerned. It isn't just so much real estate as is the case with the mindset of western culture. It's the people of a given locality that make that place what it is. So God's compassionate nature prompts him to send his prophet to the pagan city of Nineveh, he tells Paul he has many people in the immoral city of Corinth, and he shapes and forms his son in Nazareth, a town with a good-for-nothing reputation.
So what is God doing in your city? Can we be involved with him if we are unaware of his compassion for our city, as well as his presence and activity in that place?
Perhaps it is not that the Western Church has neglected the importance of space as much as they have missed how the Lord desires us to use it. Institutional congregations have been losing the religious corner of the market, so we have adjusted by becoming the religious market on the corner.
Carm has written about the admonition for us to be a light in a perverse and corrupt generation, but we have set up our "shop" in the well-lit center of the business district. Most of the folks that come here are the ones with the bucks. Who wants to set up in a risky destitute neighborhood with street people living on the sidewalks---that is besides Jesus?
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