The Surprising God

This post concludes our review of the book  Deep Church Rising  by Andrew G. Walker and Robin A. Parry. For other posts in this series, click a number:  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 .  5 ,  6 ,  7 , 8 .  Holy Communion  (stained glass window) Wikimedia Commons Noting that in the Eucharist, "right belief, right worship and right practice embrace," Walker and Parry conclude their book,  Deep Church Rising, imploring each church to become a Eucharistic community (p.145). They remind us that the apostolic tradition placed Holy Communion at the heart of the worship service--- visually (Table front and center),  liturgically (order of service centered on the Supper) and theologically (the gospel, which is re-enacted in the Eucharist, being the basis for the sermon and all other worship elements). Sadly, many contemporary evangelical churches de-emphasize the Eucharist, some even viewing it as "a distraction from the real business of worship" (p.146). This is largely due

This post continues an exploration of  Deep Church Rising  by Andrew G. Walker and Robin A. Parry. For other posts in the series, click a number:  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 .  5 ,  6 , 7 , 9 .  Already in this series we've looked at what Walker and Parry say about a return to deep church  (the apostolic tradition), calling for the recapturing of  deep faith, deep worship and deep living , Now we'll look at their call to deep transformation, which means recapturing the practice of discipleship  (catechesis). They point out that this practice is life-transforming when it is gospel-focused and worship-centered, and includes (among other factors) corporate prayer, theology, holiness and mission. Below is a synopsis of these points. Leonardo DaVinci's Last Supper  Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons Gospel-focused At the heart of Christian discipleship in the apostolic tradition is the story of Jesus (the gospel), which is about transformation, not mere

This post continues an exploration of  Deep Church Rising  by Andrew G. Walker and Robin A. Parry. For other posts in the series, click a number:  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 .  5 , 6 , 8 ,  9 . Icon of the Resurrection Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons Last time  we looked at Walker and Parry's appeal for the church to return to right (deep) worship ( orthodoxia ). Now we'll examine their appeal for a return to right (deep) living ( orthopraxia ), which they define as "a wide-ranging concept covering everything from the ritual use of the body in worship to appropriate Christian moral behavior." For them, right living is "intimately entangled with belief in God as Creator and the story of God in Christ" (p. 114). One of the reasons the church in modernity largely lost its ethical moorings is that modern thinkers largely rejected the idea that human nature has a goal or purpose ( telos ). Once recognition of this telos ceases, ethics becomes grounded only in

Check out the Return to Deep Worship post on The Surprising God blog. #incarnationaltrinitariantheology