Disclaimer: About This Blog

THIS BLOG IS: my personal journey of how I am rethinking some of my spiritual beliefs.
THIS BLOG IS NOT: intended to point fingers at people who I think are wrong.
I do not believe the final judgement will be based on how many correct answers we get on a theology exam. I believe many people throughout history have had genuine relationships with God, despite holding questionable beliefs and practices. I make no claim to having it all figured out or being your judge. If we end up disagreeing over these topics I pray we can find a way to demonstrate grace.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Spring Cleaning - Ecclesia Reformata, semper reformanda

"Ecclesia Reformata, semper reformanda," which means "the Reformed church, always to be reformed." In the context of the sixteenth century (and the mind of the Reformers) this phrase does not mean that the church is always morphing into something new with the passage of time (a common misconstrual in our own day). Instead, this seventeenth-century motto is consistent with the Reformers' idea that they were not innovating, but "turning again" to the form of the church and belief originated by Jesus Christ, lived out by the first disciples and early church, and born witness to in the writings of the Old and New Testaments shorn of later additions.
http://reformedtheology.org/SiteFiles/WhatIsRT.html

We just did the biggest spring cleaning around our home. Every couple of years we clean out different rooms and get rid of stuff we don't need. But there's always some items we keep but never use. Who knows, I may need those old MS-DOS disks - (I don't even own a floppy drive anymore... but.... but...).

This year we were motivated to create more living space in our home. Instead of buying a bigger home we knew we needed to empty all the junk we've collected that we just don't need. There was a lot of good 'junk', but we realized that we'd be better off without it. (And the Salvation Army could put some of it to better use.)

One may view the reformation period like a spring cleaning. The church threw out some trash that had accumulated.

Did the reformation overlook or hang onto some items that could have been disposed of? Have we accumulated some new trash that is inconsistent with the way that Jesus left for us?

Is there still room to reform further? What do you think?

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