Reflection for October 5

Where is the church that lives as if it really is God’s unexpected answer to what’s wrong with the world? The church that, in the end, wins through suffering witness and love? The church that shares an open table and tries breathlessly to keep up with the movements of the risen Christ? The church that dares to be incomprehensible to the world because it believes Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection are true? That church is more ubiquitous than we knew (Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon, in The Christian Century, September 22, 2014, reflecting on the 25th anniversary of the publication of their book Resident Aliens).