churchy stuff

I've been preparing for this Sunday's sermon, reading through Stanley Hauerwas' commentary on Matthew and its getting me fired up, this guy is so good, here are his thoughts the parable of the sower in Mt. 13:

"It is hard to imagine a text more relevant to the situation of the church in the West. Why we are dying seems very simple. It is hard to be a disciple and be rich. Surely, we may think it cannot be that simple. The lure of wealth and the cares of the world produced by wealth quite simply darken and choke our imaginations. As a result the church falls prey to the deepest enemy of the gospel - sentimentality. The gospel becomes a formula for "giving our lives meaning" without judgment. Too often those who propose strategies to recover the lost status of the church do so hoping people can be attracted to become members of a church without facing the demands of being a disciple of Jesus. The church in America is simply not capable of growing deep roots. It may seem odd that wealth makes it impossible to grow the word. Wealth, we assume, should create the power necessary for the church to do much good. But wealth stills the imagination because we are not forced as the disciples of Jesus were forced, to be an alternative to the world that only necessity can create. Possessed by possessions, we desire to act in the world, often on behalf of the poor, without having to lose our possessions. A church that is shrinking in membership may actually be a church in which the soil of the gospel is being prepared in which deeper roots are possible"

Wow! I'm also reading "The Shaping of Things to Come" by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, which offers the best analysis I've read of why the church in the West is in the position it is in and how we must reshape and rethink our concept of church to survive. Sorry, just getting fired up! Peace. Miss you all! Wes