10: Reincorporating the Lost
Church History as a Road. When a road is built, there is discarded debris. Or when a sculpture is made, there is discarded marble. It is in the debris and the discarded marble that the debris or the marble are the losers in the current structure of the church. Winners do not want act 5 (the eschaton) to start; losers long for act 5.
Reincorporation. Reincorporation marks the end of the story.It takes memory of where the story has been. A great story of reincorporation is given.
Larger Stories and Smaller Stories. “The analogy arises from the perception that the church exists in Act Four of a five-act play, that the vital event has already happened, and thus that its role is principally to keep the story going, rather than assume it must make the story come out right. It then becomes clearer that the great majority of things that Christians do derive from habit and instinct, and that Christian ethics is more concerned with the development of good habits than with the making of good decisions. Character is formed in a number of ways, but the definitive setting for the embodiment of good habits is worship. The next stage is to recognize the role and significance of status, and to realize that status transactions are simply different tactics and strategies for getting one’s way.”
A Family Redeemed by Improvisation.
Excerpt From: Samuel Wells. “Improvisation.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/improvisation/id473939687?mt=11