The Pietist Option: Hope for the Renewal of Christianity by Christopher Gehrz & Mark Pattie III

Author:Christopher Gehrz & Mark Pattie III [Gehrz, Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Christian hope, church unity, renewal movement, Pietist movement, Christian life, ecumenism, priesthood of all believers, whole person, church renewal, Pia Desideria, Pietism, Moravians, Christian church, proclamation, evangelism, spiritual formation
ISBN: 9780830889112
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2017-10-04T04:00:00+00:00

The Journey Outward

Whatever form conversion takes it will be characterized by entrance into freedom—the freedom which comes through the presence of Christ in one’s life—and by involvement in Christ’s mission to the world. To be converted to Christ is always in a sense to be converted (turned) to the world. It is to see the world through the eyes of Christ, to share his compassion, to perceive his will for the world, and to strive to follow it.

Don Frisk

Conversion is not frequently thought of as a turning outward to the world. More often we think of it as a turning toward God, and rightly so. Yet turning to God also means turning with God to see and serve the world. As we have celebrated and soaked in the love of Jesus for us on our journey inward, so we begin to notice and be caught up in his abounding love for others.

Following Jesus, we follow his gaze as he looks out on the world with love. Walking with Jesus, we walk with him in extending his love to our neighbors. Loving Jesus, we love him among those with whom he promised he would be—the hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick, and imprisoned. When we come back to Jesus, we experience not only the joy of receiving his love but the joy of coming alongside him in loving others.

Expressing our love for Jesus by turning our attention toward our neighbors is imperative, as Spener understood: “All the commandments are summed up in love (Rom. 13:9). Accordingly the people are not only to be told this incessantly, and they are not only to have the excellence of neighborly love and, on the other hand, the great danger and harm in the opposing self-love pictured impressively before their eyes . . . , but they also must practice such love.”

In contrast, Western Christians today are often stirred up not to “love and good deeds” (Heb 10:24) but to fear, emotional reactivity, and hate. It is a dangerous and clearly un-Christ-like path. Yet it is one we are continually tempted to take. The Thirty Years’ War served as the early Pietists’ prime example of this road not to be taken. They’d seen far too many of those calling themselves by the name of Christ swept up in attitudes and actions nowhere near those exemplified and taught by him. They’d witnessed far too many neighbors caught up in serving out violence to neighbor rather than love. For us, the past century has been replete with such examples, and our current landscape of polarizing politics seems only to be encouraging us in that destructive direction.

We love Jesus among those with whom he promised he would be—the hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick, and imprisoned.

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