catapult magazine

catapult magazine
 

Vol 4, Num 24 :: 2005.12.30 — 2006.01.12

 
 

Words, words

For about nine months, I received the Bruderhof Community?s Daily Dig, which consisted of a daily e-mail quote linked to an article on their web site. The quotes came from a variety of sources and related to all aspects of a life of faith. Authors? faith backgrounds varied, but their themes were common: poverty, the inner life, active faith, community, belief, suffering, etc. Though I rarely clicked on the article link, reading the quotes was like a reinvigorating ritual at the beginning of each day and I often visited the quote archive for my own writing.

However, on December 9, without warning, the Daily Dig message contained the following:


“The work is more important than the talking and the writing about the work.”

-Dorothy Day

“There have been enough words, enough sermons and books. What matters now is deeds.”

- Emmy Arnold

Dear Reader:

We will no longer be publishing online, so this will be your last Daily Dig. This is only the beginning, not the end. We want to thank you for your friendship over the years, and look forward to meeting you face to face. Now the real contact can begin. We welcome you to drop by any of our communities any time to join us in our daily life and work.

Not only is the Daily Dig discontinued, but the Bruderhof web site, which had contained photos and information about their communities as well as a large archive of articles, has been reduced to an address and a phone number. The disappearance of the online presence has been met with mixed reactions, but mostly shock and regret.


Do I believe that it?s possible God may have called the Bruderhof as a community to have a new focus? I do, but I also hope they realize how much their work informed and inspired day-to-day work ?on the ground,? so to speak. Of course I have no insight into their particular reasons for this decision, but as an outside observer, I?m skeptical of the forced dichotomy between word and deed in the same way I?m skeptical of the categorization of sacred and secular. Jesus is, after all, the Word made flesh, an attribute reflected in his followers as they seek to attain the unity of speaking and doing. While I acknowledge the prevalence of empty words, I do not think that we can declare words (or other art forms) useless in the sharing of experiences that represent our efforts toward the realization of the Kingdom.


Which is why, as we head into the new year, *cino is preparing to pick up where the Bruderhof left off. The Daily Asterisk, as soon as we can set it up in early January, will consist of a simple daily e-mail containing a quote of interest to those who seek to attain unity of word and deed in the everyday practice of faith principles.


Our hope is not to provide an ego massage for today?s cultural Pharisees, but to provide real encouragement for people humbled, confused, enlightened, exhausted and grateful in the daily work to which they?ve been called. *cino as an organization aspires to the call revealed in Ephesians 4:


It was [Christ] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

So watch for the daily messages to begin as we prayerfully embark on the path of building up the body through redeemed technology?and sign up now to start receiving messages as soon as we?re set up!

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