Chris: I
was thinking, ‘Gus.
‘Gus: No
you weren’t, you were reading.
Chris:
Well, yeah, I was re-reading After
Virtue.
‘Gus: No
you weren’t, you were reading Living
Faithfully in a Fragmented World.
Chris:
Well, yeah, as I initially said, I was thinking… and there is a hole in our
thinking about those 21 questions.
‘Gus: Oh?
Chris:
Yeah. Alasdair MacIntyre thinks that all modern moral reasoning is flawed
because it ignores the question of telos
the aim the objective of the thing… He thinks moderns ask “Where are we at,
what do we need to do to get there” and forget the most crucial step, where are
we going?
‘Gus: And?
Chris:
We’re doing the same thing!
‘Gus: Ha! You’re learning on your own!
Chris: Yup…
So… we have:
An analysis
of where we are, the 3d’s.
And 7
habits to get us where we are going.
But, we
have no Telos, no idea where we are
going… what the idea end is.
‘Gus: You
don’t know what the goal is, what the chief end of the Christian faith is?
Chris:
Well, as a Lutheran we’re a little more ambiguous than some, right. Luther
wasn’t a systematic thinker, so we don’t have an answer like
the Presbyterians, “Q. What is the chief end
of man? A. Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him
forever.”
‘Gus: I'm not Lutheran... but... sure you do.
Chris:
No, Luther has a whole bunch of Solas—Grace,
Faith, Scripture.
‘Gus:
You might not be systematic, but Luther does better than you are letting on,
look back to the Catechism.
Chris:
Okay, well, the goal of Lutheranism is to help people have awe, love, and trust
toward God above all others.
‘Gus:
There you go.
Chris:
So… that means… the context of our 21 questions is this:
1.
Our world is Decentralized, Disestablished, and changing Demographically.
2.
We seek to help people be awe-filled, love, and trust God above all things.
3.
We do this through the 7 central things of the liturgy both inside and outside
the church.
‘Gus:
That’s right on. Break it down even more simply.
Chris:
3D’sà7CenteralThingsàAwe,Love,Trust.
Meaning
all 21 questions ought to be phrased slightly differently. For example, “How do
we gather without the explicit approval of our society, so that people might
fear, love, and trust God?"
‘Gus:
I think you’re now asking the right question.
