Serving Bread

Summary:

In this part of his book, Crouch surveys the story of Scripture, focusing on how God (and humanity) created and shaped culture. He looks at the creation story, especially how God was at cultivating and creating culture in the midst of the physical creation we see around us.

Crouch points out how the low point of human culture is exemplified in the plain of Shinar in Genesis 11, as the people of the world tried to create a building toward the heavens.

Crouch goes on to trace the story of the people of Israel, leading the conversation toward Jesus, the supreme culture maker. Jesus was not just a teacher, but one who created a new paradigm and culture for people to embrace. As Crouch writes, “As innovative as his teachings were, his adversaries seem to have been most provoked by his actions… Jesus did not just teach creatively; he lived creatively, and the guardians of the horizons were unsettled by him” (138).

Jesus as culture maker introduced people to the Kingdom of God that was meant to touch every aspect of a believer’s / follower’s life.

Crouch continues the story until the glorious picture in the book of Revelation that paints a picture of perfect redemption. All things that are broken will be redeemed, and the heart of the image is in the city of the New Jerusalem. Culture will be “rescued, redeemed and transformed.” One of the interesting things that Crouch speaks of is what heaven will be like. Not only will it not be boring, it will also not be Sunday Morning lived out for eternity.

Crouch imagines that our eternal life in “God’s recreated world will be the fulfillment of waht God originally asked us to do: cultivating and creating in full and lasting relationship with our Creator.”

Lessons from Part II:

• Christians have transformed Kingdoms. Crouch summarizes the work of Rodney Stark who tried to understand how the early church grew to become a powerful force within three hundred years. One of Stark’s observations was that the early Christians “were not cut off from their neighbors–the culture they created was public and accessible to all.” I once heard a pastor exhort his flock (in a sermon) to create a hedge of protection between them and the non-Christians around them. The church would have never grown had the early believers heeded the teachings of this pastor. Also, Christians were at the forefront in caring for the sick during the various epidemics that hit the Roman empire. Nursing and caring for the needy authenticated their faith and created space for people to see faith at work.
• Embrace the best of the culture around us. Crouch imagines that the best of our culture will be with us for eternity, for the best is a picture of God’s gift to humanity. And we may be surprised that in heaven, we will enjoy the works of many non-believers (whether it be art, food, architecture, etc…) I think Crouch has his fingers on a new way of proclaiming the gospel and doing evangelism—point people to God when we see the best in people. Thank people fo the ways that they have allowed God to do the best in them. How empowering it is for anyone (whether believers or non-believers) to be thanked for the ways that their works point us closer to God!
• God lifts the needy. Many of us will be surprised of the ways that God will lift up the last to be first in the Kingdom. I find myself so caught up in learning from the powerful and wanting to be like the powerful that I forget that God will/does confound the wisdom of the world. I find myself losing sensitivity to how God may be speaking to me through the least around me. During my Sabbatical, I am learning to hear God through my 3-year old and my 8-month old.