The Extreme Center
The “Extreme Center” as Jesus Preached It…
Read Pastor Jon’s paper on The Extreme Center
“One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, ‘Which commandment is the first of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The first is, Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these.’ “ Mark 12:28-31
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Irish rock singer, Bono, once wrote:
The left mocks the right.
The right knows its right.
Two ugly traits.
How far should we go to try to understand each other’s point of view?
Maybe the distance that grace covered on the cross is a clue.
There is truth to Bono’s words. So, where does that leave the person who seeks to live the questions of faith, that relishes the mystery of faith, but seeks a deeper and more personal expression of their faith experience?
We rejoice that there is a growing movement that seeks “a third way” to the living out of the gospel. At Light of the Canyon United Methodist Church, we call this living in the “extreme center.” We did not make this term up. It was first coined by United Methodist bishop Scott Jones. At LOTC, we reject the idea that theology and Christian practice are on a continuum from left to right, and that we need to place ourselves somewhere on that line.
Instead, we live in the extreme center, a place that embraces aspects of the left and right, as well as creatively approaching the living out of our faith. The extreme center rejects the continuum model because it limits Christian faith to doctrinal positions. Instead, we believe that the focus of our life should be on growing in Christ, on sanctification, on “going on to perfection.”
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Instead of a single continuum, this is more aptly described in with a square that has four sections (see diagram, above). The upper left section represents evangelicalism. The upper right section represents the social gospel. The lower left section represents personal holiness. This is the result of the practice of evangelical Christianity. The lower right section represents social holiness; justice. This is the result of the practice of the social gospel.
The circle in the middle of the square where the four sections intersect is the extreme center. This is an integrated faith. It is an historical faith. It is a faith that does not limit God to one box. It is a faith that sees God across a broad spectrum of faith expressions. In fact, the extreme center views as “incomplete” any faith that does not embrace all four aspects of faith as expressed in the Gospels. In the Methodist tradition, we have already developed the tools to practice this kind of faith. The means of grace that John Wesley taught represent perfect tools for living life in the extreme center.
See the sermons section on the LOTC web site for more details on the means of grace and the quadrilateral (scripture, tradition, reason and experience)
