BLOGGING TOWARD SUNDAY…

Alan Jones, retired Dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, begins his new book with these words: I owe a great deal to many great human beings who shared with me their vision of the fully human life. Three of them were great Christians: Hugh Bishop, Anglican priest and monk; Monica Furlong, novelist and journalist; and Fielder Cook, movie director. All three were generous artists of the soul and taught me a generous form of Christianity. (from Reimagining Christianity: Reconnect Your Spirit without Disconnecting Your Mind).

Needless to say, after reading only that much, I was hopelessly hooked. Jones is a particularly intelligent priest, with an outstanding mind and a warm heart, whose writings never fail to stir something deep within me. I was especially struck by these opening words.

First, he speaks of “the fully human life” rather than “the Christian life,” as if they are one and the same. I believe they are, and that that is one of the things Jesus came to teach us and to demonstrate.

Second, I love the phrase “generous artists of the soul,” and although I don’t know any of the people he so eloquently describes, I know intuitively exactly the kind of person he is talking about! It has been my privilege to know such people myself.

Third, the phrase “a generous form of Christianity,” makes me wish that there were no other way to describe our faith. It is terribly unfortunate that there exist, within Christianity, many expressions of it that are anything but generous. Far too many are narrow, mean-spirited, stingy, dogmatic, and often downright unkind. Tragic, but true.

We United Methodists pride ourselves on being a people of Open Hearts, Open Minds, and Open Doors, and I don’t know of a better description of “generous Chrisitianity.” Now if we could just live up to it! (and don’t you just love the title of Jones’ book???!!)

Filed under: Blogging Toward Sunday