Chapter 47
Good Monday Morning to this week 47 of 2021
Reading an article called, The Church of the future, I found a
a very helpful passage.
I did a quick and incomplete translation out of the German passage.
Einführung in die Evangelische Theologie U. Schnelle
The Church must be a spiritual Church,
one that is indebted to the Spirit and gives space to the
the creative Spirit of God, because the creative Spirit of God is the Spirit of life.
This, “Spirit” is by no means simply the uncontrollable, spectacular seizure by an incalculable power. Rather, the term “spirit” is to be differentiated and concretised in three different terms.
Pneuma, (breath of life)
Nous (reason, intellect or intelligence)
Logos (word, speech)
All three Greek terms are closely related to each other (cf. Romans 12:3-8) and yet
set their own accents and significance.
Pneuma; is the Spirit in the fullest sense”,
which is our being shaped and being gripped
holistically by the entire existence, the breath of God.
Pneuma makes it clear that there is a
deeper spiritual experience that moves and blows far beyond words.
Nous; as reason, intelligence
and insight by the Spirit. This
intellectual dimension of the
of spiritual activity is more and more relevant.
The general, accessible and rational
perception of self and the world, along
with critical consideration and judgement, lead
by Gods Spirit is greatly needed within the Church.
Logos; as “speech, power of thought and spirit”
represents the rhetorical and pedagogical
presentation of the word of the cross and the word of reconciliation.
and shows its priority and deliberate focus.
The Spirit is seen as a transforming
power, as knowledge and power of speech, the representation
a divine gift, which experiences its highest
form in the presence and inhabitancy of love.
In summary,
The level of experience, the level of thought and the level of representation of the Spirit,
build a holistic vocation and calling of our human existence as a Gods creation. Being open to all dimensions of the Spirit of God is a door, a path, a direction to the future of the Church.
Wishing us all a good and blessed start to this week as we wrestle with the implications of the questions of the cooperate future along with our personal calling within the Church.
Philemon