How Do I Connect with God? Understanding Different Expressions of Christian Spirituality
This statement won't surprise you: we're all different. This is one of the greatest challenges of Christian community. Somehow, we're expected to love God, love each other and work together as God's people, the Church. That's easier said than done! On one hand, we are called to learn to love and see ourselves, our unique traits, as valuable (Gen 1), but on the other hand we are "[...] Buried with Christ through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (Rom 6:4). The word the Apostle Paul uses in Romans 6:4 translated here as "new" comes from the Greek word kainos which may be better translated as "a new quality(or state) of life". Paul isn't saying that baptism "freshens" us up, as the translation seems to say. Paul is literally saying that the Christian life is a transformative experience and we're not, in his mind, the same ...