In "defense" of goats and an interesting question with a great link....

The Future of the Church...

My colleague Carol Howard Merrit blogs about the future of the church quite often.  When she is not blogging she writes about it.  Her book The Tribal Church: Ministering to the Missing Generation is a must-read for those yearning for Young Adult ministry.  Those who hear me preach often know that I strand convinced that church is changing rapidly.  Not so much theological forms, but functional forms, worship forms, polity forms, and structural forms.  Which is a way of saying that I think that Reformed Theology, or reformed thinking, or the baseline of our theology as Presbyterians is a cogent and relevant theology for the 21st century.  I'd argue that it will be the theology of the next century (even as I readily admit that such an argument is transparently self-serving).  What I wonder about is if our forms of theological communication - the way we communicate the gospel and the way we "do" church -- will continue to be relevant.  What do you think will become of the church in the next decade?  What are your dreams for church?

Here are Carol Howard's thoughts, I'd love to hear yours...

Carol Howard Merritt - 10 Future Church Models

(photo from christiancentury.org - connected to Carol's blog post)

Concerning goats....

Or, should I write, in defense of goats?

The sermon on Sunday concerned Matthew 25 and several folks have said, "you sure were hard on goats," or, "we had a goat once and it was the sweetest animal," or, "you know I am a capricorn," or something similar. 

In defense of goats several added that there were terrains in the world that only the goat could master.  That the goat had something that the sheep would never have.

All these points are valid even as they are varied.

Let it be noted that I did not create the metaphor, Matthew 25 did.  And while I did have some fun at the goats expense, it was only fun in so far as I was able to compare them to sheep.  Sheep and goats are very different.  Each having their strengths and weaknesses.

The goat for example will eat anything and is frankly too stubborn to die.  That is why it masters terrain where few other creatures can survive.

I think the point of the parable, of the sheep and goats and the son of man, the king of glory, though is something akin to the fact that sometimes we can be so stubborn, so set in our ways, that we miss the opportunity to truly live.  Too stubborn to let the old life die so the new life God offers becomes who we are.  If we do this we play the goat at our own expense.

For the record I am a capricorn, too.

Happy thanksgiving.