Barnabas File

One Sunday my pastor preached on the passage in Luke 15 about the loving father. Most of us call it the Parable of the Prodigal Son, but the primary emphasis is on the action of the father and, by implication, the action of the Heavenly Father. The fresh insight I received that morning was that the father in the story took the initiative in reconciliation with both sons. First, when the younger son returned home, the father ran to meet the son without waiting for the son to approach him. Second, when the older brother refused to come in to the homecoming celebration, the father “went out and pleaded with him” (v. 28). The loving father was not passive but active in sharing love and grace with his sons. This text can help us to understand better the nature and mission of God as well as the nature and mission of the church. In the Hebrew Bible, we read that it is God who takes the initiative to redeem humankind. God sends messengers and prophets to inform an...

Phyllis Tickle has emerged (no pun intended) as a key participant-observer on contemporary matters of faith. Her book The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why is interesting, insightful, and a bit incomplete. You may not agree with all of her conclusions, but she makes informed observations that provoke dialogue. In a recent interview posted on the Faith and Leadership site (sponsored by Leadership Education at Duke University), she was asked to share her ideas about the future of denominations. Her statements are both provocative and informative: People under 40 right now have been born right smack-dab into a fully matured emergence, the Great Emergence. They can’t change their sensibilities any more than they can change the color of their eyes. They’re going to be non-hierarchal. They’re going to be afraid of institutions. They’re going to want to spread out horizontally. They want to be communal. They’re going to be actively involved in social justice as they...