Back to eisegesis – maybe even a little spiritualising – but once again Hauerwas has my attention. His use of Matthew’s account of the calming of the storm, as an analogy for a fearful church which like an ark is tossed and threatened by storms, gives the story a dramatic twist that depicts both the missional context and inevitable anxieties of life in the world. If I were going on retreat soon, I’d save the rest of this book for then – Hauerwas is good conversational company, and he does get to the heart of the text, if not always by the recognised paths. In the absence of such a treat, I’ll carry on reading him in the wee spaces of reading time salvaged from life as it is at present.
The church is the ark of the kingdom, but often the church finds herself far from shore and threatened by strong winds and waves. Those in the boat often fail to understand that they are meant to be far from the shore and that to be threatened by a storm is not unusual If the church is faithful she will always be far from the shore. Some, moreover, will be commanded to leave even the safety of the boat to walk on water.
A church that challenges the powers of this world is not a church that will need to explain Jesus. Such a church needs only to worship Jesus. To worship Jesus means that the fear we experience from being so far from land in a trackless sea, buffetted by winds and waves, will not dominate our lives. Fear dominates our lives when we assume that our task is to survive death or to save the church. Our task, however, is not survive, but to be faithful witnesses. Fear cannot dominate our lives if we have good work to do. Good work to do is but another name for worship.
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