narrative theology

here is a compilation of ideas that make up the backbone of narrative theology. i have found that it is much easier to find these compilations of nt theology minus scripture references rather than with scripture references. i will attempt to build up scripture reference support for this and add it to each of the paragraphs. any assistance or comments would be appreciated. i am also interested in supporting each of these paragraphs with quotes from john wesley as a tie in to the wesleyan tradition.

matt frick from mars hill has put together a great bibliography of where most of this comes from, and you can get the mp3 teachings that mars does in a class. highly recommend for the ipod.

here goes...

Narrative Theology
I believe God inspired the authors of Scripture by his Spirit to speak to all generations of believers, including us, today. God calls us to immerse ourselves in this authoritative narrative individually and communally to faithfully interpret and live out that story today as we are led by the Spirit of God.

In the beginning God created all things good. He was and always will be in a communal relationship with himself - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God created us to be relational as well and marked us with an identity as his image bearers and with a missional calling to serve, care for, and cultivate the earth. God created humans in his image to live in fellowship with him, one another, our inner self, and creation. I recognize that through human sin, darkness and evil entered the story and are a part of the world, fracturing our relationships with God, others, ourselves, and creation.

I believe God did not abandon his creation to destruction and decay; rather he promised to restore this broken world. As part of this purpose, God chose a people, Abraham and his descendants, to represent him in the world. God promised to bless them as a nation so that through them all nations would be blessed. In time they became enslaved in Egypt and cried out to God because of their oppression. God heard their cry, and he liberated them from their oppressor and brought them to Sinai where he gave them an identity and a mission as his treasured possession, a Kingdom of priests, a holy people. Throughout the story of Israel, God refuses to give up on his people despite their frequent acts of unfaithfulness to him.

God brought his people into the Promised Land. Their state of blessing from God was intimately bound to their calling to embody the living God to other nations. They made movement toward this missional calling, yet they disobeyed and allowed foreign gods into the land, overlooked the poor, and mistreated the foreigner. The prophetic voices that emerge from the Scriptures held the calling of Israel to the mirror of how they treated the oppressed and marginalized. Through the prophets, God’s heart for the poor was made known, and we believe that God cares deeply for the marginalized and oppressed among us today.

In Israel's disobedience, they became indifferent and in turn irrelevant to the purposes to which God had called them. For a time, they were sent into exile; yet a hopeful remnant was always looking ahead with longing and hope to a renewed reign of God, where peace and justice would prevail.

I believe these longings found their fulfillment in Jesus the Messiah, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, mysteriously God in the flesh. Jesus came to preach good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted and to set captives free, proclaiming a new arrival of the Kingdom of God, bringing about a New Exodus, and restoring our fractured world. He and his message were rejected by many as he confronted the oppressive nature of the religious elite and the empire of Rome. Yet his path of suffering, death, burial, and resurrection has brought hope to all creation. Jesus is our only hope for bringing reconciliation between God and humans. Through Jesus we have been forgiven and reconciled to God. God is now reconciling us to each other, ourselves, and creation.

For all who trust Jesus, the Spirit of God affirms as children of God, empowers with gifts, convicts, guides, comforts, counsels, and leads into truth through a communal life of worship and a missional expression of our faith. The church is a global and local expression of living out the way of Jesus through love, sacrifice, and healing as we embody the resurrected Christ, who lives in and through us, to a broken and hurting world.

I believe the day is coming when Jesus will return and judge the world, bringing an end to injustice and restoring all things to God's original intent. He will reclaim this world and rule forever. The earth's groaning will cease, and God will dwell with us here in a restored creation. On that day we will beat swords into tools for cultivating the earth, the wolf will lie down with the lamb, there will be no more death, and God will wipe away all our tears. Our relationships with God, others, ourselves, and creation will be whole. All will flourish as God intends. This is what we, the Church, long for. This is what we, the Church hope for. And we have given our lives to living out that future reality now.

Comments

[Brett]

Beautiful stuff.

[Danny]

This is beautiful. It reads almost like a modern day creed. Good work on it. I especially like the part where it calls us to read the Bible both individually and communally.