In the Coracle

Maybe it really IS important to quibble about words

April 24, 2006 // Tags: Gospel

In a moment of websurfing while watching a pice of software install again, I saw this invitation:

Do you possess life eternal? Do you have the assurance that if you died today, you would wake up in Heaven, with the Lord Jesus Christ for eternity? Are you sure? If so, praise God! But if not, why not make sure? Why not be certain? I challenge you to ask yourself some very important questions! Please Click here

And it made me think.. is life eternal really something that I can possess, the same way I can possess my car, or the lunch I purchase, or a good book about outlaw bikers? Or is it something more wild and unfettered, like a relationship with my spouse, or my daughter, or joy?

Perhaps one of the core challenges to contemporary Christian faith - if we can measure faith as a true life if discipleship, walking the way of the cross - is that as consumerists we see salvation as a possession, and once we’ve attained it, we move on to our next target. Like a new camera, or the next pair of pants.

But the life of the disciple - the servant of the Kingdom - is nowhere near that simplistic. Perhaps it’s better to talk about life eternal possessing us, a means of recognizing that salvation (now, ongoing, and later) drafts us into a Kingdom that’s not ruled by ourselves anymore.

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Introduction

Welcome! I'm Pat Loughery, and I'll be your host here. Feel free comment on what you see here. I am a lay missionary to North Bend on the east side of Seattle, a husband, dad to 2 kids, a software test manager for Equiom, Inc.,, a software consulting company. I'm also a failed and (quite possibly future) church planter and a Doctor of Ministry student with Bakke Graduate University, and usually on this blog we discuss Christian spirituality (especially of the Celtic, post-Evangelical, post-Charismatic and neo-monastic flavors), photography, motorcycles, and other oddball things.

About the Coracle

I'm trying to live a deep and relational Christian life. As I study Christian spirituality, I find the Celtic stream helpful, challenging and liveable. One of the images from early Celtic Christianity is their sea transport - the coracle.

The ancient Celts traveled in coracles - handmade, wooden framed and hide-covered boats, to journey where the trinitarian God led them. Though the transportation was simple, the journey was profound. This image is an illustration of the way I experience God's guidance - an invitation to travel with him on his paths, not mine; at his pace, not mine.

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“It’s almost like you’re writing a book one post at a time” - Kedge

Maybe it really IS important to quibble about words