Kenny Borthwick spoke these words this morning when talking about the two different words for 'word' used by John in Chapter 17 of his gospel. While both of them have been translated as 'word' the Greek behind them is quite different. One of then indicates knowledge from heaven, the other, the unalterable truth of the gospels. It is this latter 'logos' that struck me the most and that inspired the quote from Kenny in the title above. We live in an age in the church when there had sometimes been an over-emphasis on grace. Kenny mentioned various gurus and leaders on the forefront of the emerging church and speedily growing movements who have said that 'doctrine doesn't matter anymore - it is only grace.' Yet it is doctrine, coming from the Bible and so elegantly framed in much of the liturgy of the Anglican church that speaks of repentance and coming to the cross. It is those words of saying sorry for our sins that open up the whole world of gave that we don't actually deserve. The gospel does matter. As Kenny put it, God has His arms of love, but you still need to walk into them. I wonder if it would be worth having a corporate repentance for this attitude at New Wine - we may not have been personally or corporately responsible for these sort of wrong attitudes ourselves - but there may still be a place for saying sorry on behalf of others.
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