Already and Not Yet

“Deconstruction” is one of the biggest buzzwords in Christendom right now, especially within my generation. The debate continues to swirl as some outside my generation argue that deconstruction leads you away from the faith. I aim to be careful with the topic and acknowledge that there are real concerns from those deconstructing and those that have seen others implode from deconstructing. Before continuing:

My name is Jisoo Vis, and I am a Korean Canadian wife, mom and lawyer living in Vancouver, British Columbia.  I am a third culture kid, having been raised in Mainland China (as a missionary’s kid) and the rest of my life in various parts of Canada.

As a lawyer exposed to legal thought on people’s fundamental rights and freedoms, I often think about the implications of Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (part of Canada’s constitution), which states the following: 

Christians live in "already but not yet" time. The kingdom of God is already here through Jesus’ life, teaching, death, and resurrection. It is present today in this world and it is spreading like "yeast" (Matt 13:33). At the same time, the full manifestation of the kingdom is not here yet. It will be fully established in the eschaton, on the end of the day when Jesus returns with his angels to redeem all the believers and renew everything. So, as the church witnesses and participates in God’s kingdom, we know that it is imperfect.

Greg Paul from Sanctuary Church in Toronto once said something to this effect: “If you plant a church for the middle class, the poor will not come. However, if you plant a church for the poor, the middle class will come”. Planting a church which celebrates socioeconomic diversity is a picture of God’s kingdom to come and a means by which we can participate in the Kingdom of Jesus now.  At the same time, socioeconomic diversity in churches is brutally hard. Most churches in North America grow through affinity groups.

A few weeks have passed since we celebrated Easter Sunday but I’m still reflecting on the meaning of Christ’s resurrection. What about you? What does resurrection mean to you and how do you embody it?

When I first wrote for Do Justice, I asserted that – in order to achieve true justice in churches for believers with diverse disabilities – Christians need to “write sermons to which people with intellectual and learning disabilities can relate,” amongst other strategies. More broadly, we need to create intellectual access to our words and actions in churches.

The following story contains descriptions of abuse.  Please hold this story with tenderness.

Some years ago I worked as an Enrichment Leader at Youth at Heart, a non-profit serving youth in under-resourced communities in Tulsa. Part of my responsibility was to provide programming for youth ages 6-12. One of our core themes was community service. If my memory serves me, we used a simple definition for volunteering: giving your time, talent, and treasure to help. Our goal in teaching this theme was to ensure youth knew they could be valuable contributors to their community.

We are pleased to share with you this devotion from our Advent series.  May it bless you this Christmas eve.