Think "dynamic". A personality culture instantly imagines the high octane people magnets that bring life to the party, some pop to the room, and mesmerize the crowds with their smooth talk. In this world "dynamic" is a personality type, the extroverted, self-assured leader who gets things done and makes things happen.
At church "dynamic" is a skilled verbalist, a great leader, or a church on the move. Like the culture in general, the church tends to treat "dynamic" with the same personality generalizations, giving the label to people or congregations that make a good appearance or garner some attention. In the numbers game, "dynamic" also translates "big".
In the physics lab, "dynamic" is the opposite of static. In physics, "dynamic" is defined as energy or objects in motion. So, God's creation is "dynamic". He calibrated life, breath, motion, reproduction, constant living and moving and changing, into even the smallest of the particles of the universe. As a result, life is always in a state of flux. It is the nature of things, organic growth, atomic movement, the motion of a world created by a living God.
Dynamism seems faster these days. While the elements of time and space and the character of matter are essentially unchanging since creation, technology has fast-forwarded the time-tables of dynamism by making more things happen in those well-defined moments. Things seem faster, though they really aren't. It is an appearance because more information and activity and decisions are crammed into the time allotments established 6,000 years ago.
But, dynamic isn't about speed. That's another experiment in the lab, the tests of velocity. Dynamic is about life and growth and activity. Everything is in a state of constant motion. Only when force or energy or power or torque or work or any of the other elements of motion interact with an object can the dynamism create movement. So, there can be plenty of motion without a millimeter of movement.
So, the point, Mr. Wizard, is that nothing is static, everything is dynamic. Enter the unchanging world of the church once again. While the world around us is zooming at nano-speed many spiritual leaders are stomping the brakes hoping to impede the movement and change. Success in some spiritual groups and organizations is the degree to which their leaders cling to what has defined them in another age. In our own denomination there is a retro move that yearns for another time, another way, something past.
Scripture is a living book that leads us to a living faith through faith in a living Lord. This life is defined in terms of newness---the new covenant, the new life, the new way, the new creation---the new thing God is doing at all times. Throughout the Book is the language of the dynamic, not static, nature of faith. It is a living, breathing faith, entrusted to the Body of Christ---the living Body. His mercies are new every day, the Body is being nourished and edified every moment, a miraculous multiplication growing the Body, edifying it, building it up.
There's some activity and motion out there today. It's dynamic by some accounts, certainly able to draw a crowd, raise an eyebrow or two, even construct a media event with broad distribution, church gone prime time. But, again, the dynamic thing God is doing isn't about motion or speed or even "wow". It's about the nature of the Body and the character of life. They are active and growing, pulsating with life.
Dynamic!
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