Whenever our ordinary emotions and physicality are demonized or dismissed, some form of gnosticism is at work. When my pursuit of God excludes kindness toward my ordinary body, gnosticism is there, gnawing at my goodness. When my pursuit of peace in God sidesteps seeking peace in my physicality, gnosticism is slicing me in two. When my worship of God does not include welcoming my neighbors or sitting with the suffering, I am succumbing to a gnostic form of spiritual autonomy. When ordinary shepherding and ordinary sacraments don’t seem relevant enough to build a church or reach the world,
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