Jesus Cropped from the Picture

Jesus Cropped from the Picture

My friend, Brad Brown, extended this metaphor:

He is the Vine, you are the branches! Which gives us a deep, enriching connection—a bond with other Christians city-wide, state-wide, nation-wide, world-wide! Parts of every culture and race … connected to the One, True Vine since time began. Thousands upon thousands of limbs, branches, shoots, saplings, twigs and leaves getting their sustenance and support from a forever Source that is deeply rooted in eternity. And it is from this gigantic, ancient trunk twisting and turning down through history, that the Creator has cultivated an incredible, multitudinous variety of millions and millions of fruit that have blossomed and burst forth beyond the wildest dreams and expectations of our agricultural limitations and individual imaginations. 134 Those who want to become the People of the Story must make a wholesale commitment to this comprehensive shift in identity. It is not practical to “tinker around the edges,” or “gradually move in that direction.” Rationalism, The Marketing Concept , Postmodernity, or any number of cultural factors will continually pull a church off course unless there is consensus among the leadership to break free from its gravitational pull. Churches must correlate all aspects of church life to the Story. Don Davis said: The Story shapes our family and body life: In theology , we affirm God as the Author of the Story, Jesus of Nazareth as its Champion, and the Holy Spirit as the interpreter of the Story.

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