This is a prayer I wrote as a facebook status after morning worship this past Sunday. It embodies much of what I believe the Spirit has been teaching me lately, and the hope God has been forming within me, even as I have been becoming more and more painfully aware of and agitated by the gods of our current cultural milieu:
GOD, in our time of unease and social unsurety, may we ask better questions! By Your Truth, set us free to love and serve You, with gladness and singleness of heart. Help us to enter into the Joy of the knowledge that our ontological location as Christians is in the New Life of the Resurrection of Your Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ. Remind us that we are not our own, to do with as we would like, but that we are your creation, your Joyful servants, through Whom you are acting to redeem all of Creation. May our unruly desires and affections be revealed as what they are: hindrances to your Gospel. And may we, with all Your saints, ever enter into the Joy prepared for us, beginning now in the eternal abundant Life promised to all who abide in Your Son, by the indwelling of your Holy Spirit. Awaken us to your will for our lives: to live righteously, soberly, and in loving communion with Yourself and each other. Sharpen and illumine our minds to consider carefully the effects of our social choices, that our works may please you, and that we may do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with you, rejoicing in the power of your Resurrected Son, who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns and Loves, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Saturday, March 3, 2012
An Holy Lent: Second Sabbath of Lent, 2012
So far, this Lent has been a bit different than any of the others I have observed.
I have not really settled on a particular discipline, neither in terms of adding a specific spiritual practice nor in abstaining from any particular food or drink item, or any specific pattern of fasting. Rather, I have been making sporadic choices to abstain in particular situations, whether it be a dessert that I suddenly have a desire for, or for a soft drink or tea during the week.
I have been rather lax in my reading for philsophy club, so I have resolved to keep up in my reading of the Odyssey. Perhaps that committment will result in an interesting blog post about connections I begin to experience between Lenten themes and Odysseus' journey home.
Today, however, I believe I have received a certain clarity about the particular focus God is calling me to this Lent. Truthfully, it has been coming for a while now, but it was brought into focus for me as I read Part I of Marva J. Dawn's Sexual Character: Beyond Technique to Intimacy this morning. I have wanted to read this book ever since I first saw it in her list of works on the cover of Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down: A Theology of Worship for the 21st Century Church, and today I am confirmed in my desire to read it.
So many of the same threads run throughout her works; her clarion call to listening to the authority of God and the place of God's Stories in the shaping of the countercultural character of God's people are but two that resonate with me. And so, I'll end this post with this passage from the ending of Part I of Sexual Character, which has to do with more than just sexual character, but with Christian character in general, and the responsibility of the Church, and every member of the Church in participating with God in the formation of Christian character via the engagement of Christian ethics:
"The main task of ethics is to enable us to ask better questions about the issues of our day. An ethics of character is especially helpful because it gives us tools to ask new questions out of its comprehensive inclusion of means and ends, rules and narratives, models and virtues, personhood and community. Especially important is the fact that an ethics of character enables us to ask new question out of the grace of God. We seek virtues and behaviors, not because we ought to, should, or must, but because they are modeled for us in Jesus, whose Spirit empowers us to follow in his way. We choose to live according to the design of the Creator becasue he invites us to the delights of such truthfulness. Moreover, we can invite others to participate in those choices, too, because we know that thereby they will be happier, more fulfilled, more whole.
This book is just a beginning. I pray that you will go beyond it to ask better question about sexual character, to develop a Christian community that nutures godly sexuality, to offer hope to those who are drowning in our society's toxic sexual milieu."
That's so Lent.
God, ever being, do Lent in us.
And, lift us by your Spirit to behold the face of your Son, Jesus, Christ,
so that we may be made into his likeness, from glory to glory,
and be shining lights in the darkness of the world around us.
We remember your Son's blood shed for us, and pray in his name,
the Name of our Salvation: Jesus, the Christ.
Amen.
I have not really settled on a particular discipline, neither in terms of adding a specific spiritual practice nor in abstaining from any particular food or drink item, or any specific pattern of fasting. Rather, I have been making sporadic choices to abstain in particular situations, whether it be a dessert that I suddenly have a desire for, or for a soft drink or tea during the week.
I have been rather lax in my reading for philsophy club, so I have resolved to keep up in my reading of the Odyssey. Perhaps that committment will result in an interesting blog post about connections I begin to experience between Lenten themes and Odysseus' journey home.
Today, however, I believe I have received a certain clarity about the particular focus God is calling me to this Lent. Truthfully, it has been coming for a while now, but it was brought into focus for me as I read Part I of Marva J. Dawn's Sexual Character: Beyond Technique to Intimacy this morning. I have wanted to read this book ever since I first saw it in her list of works on the cover of Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down: A Theology of Worship for the 21st Century Church, and today I am confirmed in my desire to read it.
So many of the same threads run throughout her works; her clarion call to listening to the authority of God and the place of God's Stories in the shaping of the countercultural character of God's people are but two that resonate with me. And so, I'll end this post with this passage from the ending of Part I of Sexual Character, which has to do with more than just sexual character, but with Christian character in general, and the responsibility of the Church, and every member of the Church in participating with God in the formation of Christian character via the engagement of Christian ethics:
"The main task of ethics is to enable us to ask better questions about the issues of our day. An ethics of character is especially helpful because it gives us tools to ask new questions out of its comprehensive inclusion of means and ends, rules and narratives, models and virtues, personhood and community. Especially important is the fact that an ethics of character enables us to ask new question out of the grace of God. We seek virtues and behaviors, not because we ought to, should, or must, but because they are modeled for us in Jesus, whose Spirit empowers us to follow in his way. We choose to live according to the design of the Creator becasue he invites us to the delights of such truthfulness. Moreover, we can invite others to participate in those choices, too, because we know that thereby they will be happier, more fulfilled, more whole.
This book is just a beginning. I pray that you will go beyond it to ask better question about sexual character, to develop a Christian community that nutures godly sexuality, to offer hope to those who are drowning in our society's toxic sexual milieu."
That's so Lent.
God, ever being, do Lent in us.
And, lift us by your Spirit to behold the face of your Son, Jesus, Christ,
so that we may be made into his likeness, from glory to glory,
and be shining lights in the darkness of the world around us.
We remember your Son's blood shed for us, and pray in his name,
the Name of our Salvation: Jesus, the Christ.
Amen.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Christmastide 2011-2012: Clueless Righteousness
This is the manuscript to a "Spoken Meditation" I shared with my church, First Baptist-Morganton, NC, on the first Sunday after Christmas, which also happened to be New Year's Day, as well as the celebration of The Circumcision and Holy Name of Jesus, The Holy Family, as well as the Solemnity of Mary, God-Bearer.
The Scipture lessons for the service that morning were:
Isaiah 61:10-62:3
Revelation 21:1-6a
Matthew 25:31-46
O God, you make us glad by the yearly festival of the birth of your only Son Jesus Christ. Grant that we, who joyfully receive him as our Redeemer, may with sure confidence behold him when he comes to be our Judge; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (from The Book of Common Prayer, a collect for Christmas)
As I was listening to the passage from the Gospel of Matthew yesterday, something caught my attention that has never caught my attention before. Not only did it change the direction of this homily slightly, but it also changed the way I understand, or do not understand, this story.
“What? There’s nothing puzzling about this story!”, one might say. “You feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit those in prison. If you do, you get to be called ‘righteous’ and are sent to eternal life. If you don’t, well, you just get sent to ‘eternal punishment.’”
I do not think this assessment shows evidence of a fair hearing of this story. That summary might be what we expect to hear. It is a pretty popular image: the sheep and goats divided at the end of time when the Son of man comes in glory, the righteous and unrighteous dealt out their just, eternal rewards. And of course, we are the righteous ones in the story.
Now, what I had planned to do was try to drive home the point that we are failing to live up to the standards Jesus speaks of: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, visiting those in prison. Because of course, we all—or at least most of us—fall short. We fail to do the most basic of things that this story tell us Jesus will be checking off his list at the end of time. And I was going to try to encourage us to recommit ourselves to doing those most basic of things, looking to the baby in the manger as the perfect example of how Jesus really was God’s self made into a vulnerable, hungry, thirsty, alien, naked, frail, outcast of a human being: “the least of these.” The least of all.
So hopefully, we would have gone out from this place ready to seek out those in need of ministry and minister to them as ministering to Christ. Seeing Jesus in every full, hydrated, welcomed, clothed, cared for, visited person to whom we ministered.
But the funny thing is, (and this is what I realized yesterday) if we would do exactly that: go out--strategically, intentionally “on mission,”—serving Jesus in the least of these, all of a sudden, we are nowhere to be seen in this story.
Because when Jesus tells the righteous—the sheep—that they have indeed been ministering to him when they minister to the least-of-these, their response is one of cluelessness: “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food?” They are just as clueless as the ones who failed to minister to the least-of-these, who say: “Lord, when was it that we did not take care of you?”
They are all clueless. And that’s what I realized yesterday.
So I also realized that I could not encourage us all to make our lists of what to do, entitled ‘how to serve Jesus in the least-of-these’, and then go about strategically building the Kingdom of God. At least not on the basis of the scriptures we have read this morning. So. What do we do with this Gospel reading?
***
About those other scriptures.
In Isaiah, the prophet exults, rejoices in God and in God’s promises of hope. Even though the fulfillment is not here yet. In fact, he admits that things are not yet what they should be, but also says that he will not keep quiet, he will not rest, until things are made right and salvation shines like a burning torch.
And if you go back and look at that prophecy, the righteousness and praise are not manufactured or performed out of duty by the faithful. Rather, they organically spring up…like a garden causes the seeds planted to spring up. You also see evangelism in this text: all the nations see the righteousness and praise of God. There is also clothing going on in the Isaiah text. But this time, it is God who is clothing God’s people with righteousness. Isaiah doesn’t make his own robe of righteousness. He also doesn’t lose hope because God’s promises haven’t all been fulfilled yet. Rather, he rejoices in the hope that consummation is coming…
That’s what I see in the Revelation passage: the consummation of God’s promises. Jesus, Alpha and Omega, beginning and end, of the Father’s love begotten, brings what was started in the manger and on the cross to completion. No tears, no death, no mourning, crying, nor pain, “for the first things have passed away.”
But we’re not there yet. We’re somewhere in the middle: between Isaiah and Revelation. We’re here with this story from the Gospel of Matthew. I think this story is telling us, among other things, how God is inviting us to be involved as God moves all of Creation from Isaiah’s prophecy to Revelation’s fulfillment. Point A to point B. But the text is more descriptive than prescriptive. It doesn’t really tell us how to get from point A to point B. It tells us that at the end, there are those called “righteous” who enter into eternal life, and those who are not, who enter into eternal punishment. But it also tells us that the righteous (just as much as the unrighteous) were clueless about the fact that in serving the least, they were serving Jesus Christ. They were clueless to the fact that they were being righteous.
So, what are we supposed to do with that? How do we minister to the least-of-these, and in so doing, serve Jesus, all the while without knowing it?
I don’t think I have an exact answer.
But I guess what I’ve learned by meditating on these Scriptures is that I don’t think you can treat the Gospel and the life inside God’s kingdom like a system where you check off your list and certain things happen. The Christian life is not a business, not a system to be governed by a board…of any kind.
I guess Mary figured something like that out too…that with God, you can’t expect the expected…sometimes you have to let the Spirit overshadow you and say “yes” to what God is doing inside of you.
It’s a good thing that our spiritual life doesn’t end when we walk out these doors. Because I think we all need to be wrestling with what these Scriptures call us to do, and who these Scriptures call us to be. And just maybe, while we’re wrestling with these Scriptures, celebrating the inconceivable mystery of the Incarnation, and the Holy Spirit is shaping us to be people who love God and love our neighbors as ourselves, just maybe, we will end up being righteous…and we won’t even know it.
Amen.
Come dearest Child into our hearts and leave your crib behind you.
Let this be where the new Life starts for all who seek and find you.
To you be honor, thanks, and praise for all your gifts this time of grace!
Come conquer and deliver this world and us forever! Amen!
-Fred Pratt Green, 1986
The Scipture lessons for the service that morning were:
Isaiah 61:10-62:3
Revelation 21:1-6a
Matthew 25:31-46
O God, you make us glad by the yearly festival of the birth of your only Son Jesus Christ. Grant that we, who joyfully receive him as our Redeemer, may with sure confidence behold him when he comes to be our Judge; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (from The Book of Common Prayer, a collect for Christmas)
As I was listening to the passage from the Gospel of Matthew yesterday, something caught my attention that has never caught my attention before. Not only did it change the direction of this homily slightly, but it also changed the way I understand, or do not understand, this story.
“What? There’s nothing puzzling about this story!”, one might say. “You feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit those in prison. If you do, you get to be called ‘righteous’ and are sent to eternal life. If you don’t, well, you just get sent to ‘eternal punishment.’”
I do not think this assessment shows evidence of a fair hearing of this story. That summary might be what we expect to hear. It is a pretty popular image: the sheep and goats divided at the end of time when the Son of man comes in glory, the righteous and unrighteous dealt out their just, eternal rewards. And of course, we are the righteous ones in the story.
Now, what I had planned to do was try to drive home the point that we are failing to live up to the standards Jesus speaks of: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, visiting those in prison. Because of course, we all—or at least most of us—fall short. We fail to do the most basic of things that this story tell us Jesus will be checking off his list at the end of time. And I was going to try to encourage us to recommit ourselves to doing those most basic of things, looking to the baby in the manger as the perfect example of how Jesus really was God’s self made into a vulnerable, hungry, thirsty, alien, naked, frail, outcast of a human being: “the least of these.” The least of all.
So hopefully, we would have gone out from this place ready to seek out those in need of ministry and minister to them as ministering to Christ. Seeing Jesus in every full, hydrated, welcomed, clothed, cared for, visited person to whom we ministered.
But the funny thing is, (and this is what I realized yesterday) if we would do exactly that: go out--strategically, intentionally “on mission,”—serving Jesus in the least of these, all of a sudden, we are nowhere to be seen in this story.
Because when Jesus tells the righteous—the sheep—that they have indeed been ministering to him when they minister to the least-of-these, their response is one of cluelessness: “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food?” They are just as clueless as the ones who failed to minister to the least-of-these, who say: “Lord, when was it that we did not take care of you?”
They are all clueless. And that’s what I realized yesterday.
So I also realized that I could not encourage us all to make our lists of what to do, entitled ‘how to serve Jesus in the least-of-these’, and then go about strategically building the Kingdom of God. At least not on the basis of the scriptures we have read this morning. So. What do we do with this Gospel reading?
***
About those other scriptures.
In Isaiah, the prophet exults, rejoices in God and in God’s promises of hope. Even though the fulfillment is not here yet. In fact, he admits that things are not yet what they should be, but also says that he will not keep quiet, he will not rest, until things are made right and salvation shines like a burning torch.
And if you go back and look at that prophecy, the righteousness and praise are not manufactured or performed out of duty by the faithful. Rather, they organically spring up…like a garden causes the seeds planted to spring up. You also see evangelism in this text: all the nations see the righteousness and praise of God. There is also clothing going on in the Isaiah text. But this time, it is God who is clothing God’s people with righteousness. Isaiah doesn’t make his own robe of righteousness. He also doesn’t lose hope because God’s promises haven’t all been fulfilled yet. Rather, he rejoices in the hope that consummation is coming…
That’s what I see in the Revelation passage: the consummation of God’s promises. Jesus, Alpha and Omega, beginning and end, of the Father’s love begotten, brings what was started in the manger and on the cross to completion. No tears, no death, no mourning, crying, nor pain, “for the first things have passed away.”
But we’re not there yet. We’re somewhere in the middle: between Isaiah and Revelation. We’re here with this story from the Gospel of Matthew. I think this story is telling us, among other things, how God is inviting us to be involved as God moves all of Creation from Isaiah’s prophecy to Revelation’s fulfillment. Point A to point B. But the text is more descriptive than prescriptive. It doesn’t really tell us how to get from point A to point B. It tells us that at the end, there are those called “righteous” who enter into eternal life, and those who are not, who enter into eternal punishment. But it also tells us that the righteous (just as much as the unrighteous) were clueless about the fact that in serving the least, they were serving Jesus Christ. They were clueless to the fact that they were being righteous.
So, what are we supposed to do with that? How do we minister to the least-of-these, and in so doing, serve Jesus, all the while without knowing it?
I don’t think I have an exact answer.
But I guess what I’ve learned by meditating on these Scriptures is that I don’t think you can treat the Gospel and the life inside God’s kingdom like a system where you check off your list and certain things happen. The Christian life is not a business, not a system to be governed by a board…of any kind.
I guess Mary figured something like that out too…that with God, you can’t expect the expected…sometimes you have to let the Spirit overshadow you and say “yes” to what God is doing inside of you.
It’s a good thing that our spiritual life doesn’t end when we walk out these doors. Because I think we all need to be wrestling with what these Scriptures call us to do, and who these Scriptures call us to be. And just maybe, while we’re wrestling with these Scriptures, celebrating the inconceivable mystery of the Incarnation, and the Holy Spirit is shaping us to be people who love God and love our neighbors as ourselves, just maybe, we will end up being righteous…and we won’t even know it.
Amen.
Come dearest Child into our hearts and leave your crib behind you.
Let this be where the new Life starts for all who seek and find you.
To you be honor, thanks, and praise for all your gifts this time of grace!
Come conquer and deliver this world and us forever! Amen!
-Fred Pratt Green, 1986
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
The Third Sunday of Advent, 2011: The Dream Isaiah Saw
I've been postponing an Advent post, but when I heard this song performed live this past Sunday at the 2011 installment of the annual Morganton Combined Choirs Concert at First Baptist Church-Morganton, NC, I figured it would be the best of anything with which to start my new year of blogging. By the second chorus, I was overwhelmed, completely undone by the Spirit's Word given to Isaiah, poetically rendered in English by Thomas Troeger, set to music by Glenn L. Rudolph, and performed by an 80-something voice choir, organ, brass ensemble, and percussionists, in an aesthetically Beautiful building:
Tears streaming down my face, I believe I perceived the Spirit pulling my soul to long for the fulfillment of God's promise given to Isaiah...in my life, in the lives of those I know and love, and in the life of our world. It is this particular longing that finds natural expression in observing season of Advent. And for those of us who recognize that all is not right with the world, I think it's the only honest thing to do, really...observe Advent before celebrating Christmas. Personally, I cannot but do just that; I feel the darkness, it is so real to me: the fang and claw, the violence of [both my] heart and systems of gain, the reality that Creation is not as God intends.
So, I pray with with Israel: (Psalm 80:19): "Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts; cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved," and sing, believing in the joy to come, "Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed, will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves" (Psalm 126:6).
Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing,
through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Lions and oxen will sleep in the hay,
Leopards will join with the lambs as they play,
Wolves will be pastured with cows in the glade,
Blood will not darken the Earth that God made.
Little child whose bed is straw,
Take new lodgings in my heart.
Bring the dream Isaiah saw:
Life redeemed from fang and claw.
Peace will pervade more than forest and field:
God will transfigure the violence concealed
deep in the heart and in systems of gain,
ripe for the judgment the Lord will ordain.
Little Child whose bed is straw,
Take new lodgings in my heart.
Bring the dream Isaiah saw:
Justice purifying law.
Nature reordered to match God’s intent,
Nations obeying the call to repent,
All of creation completely restored,
Filled with the knowledge and love of the Lord.
Little child whose bed is straw,
Take new lodgings in my heart.
Bring the dream Isaiah saw:
Knowledge, wisdom, worship, awe.
-Thomas Troeger
Tears streaming down my face, I believe I perceived the Spirit pulling my soul to long for the fulfillment of God's promise given to Isaiah...in my life, in the lives of those I know and love, and in the life of our world. It is this particular longing that finds natural expression in observing season of Advent. And for those of us who recognize that all is not right with the world, I think it's the only honest thing to do, really...observe Advent before celebrating Christmas. Personally, I cannot but do just that; I feel the darkness, it is so real to me: the fang and claw, the violence of [both my] heart and systems of gain, the reality that Creation is not as God intends.
So, I pray with with Israel: (Psalm 80:19): "Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts; cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved," and sing, believing in the joy to come, "Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed, will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves" (Psalm 126:6).
Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing,
through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Second Sabbath after Pentecost 2011: Our Joyful Gospel--Reflections on Eastertide and Pentecost 2011
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tipsbcfuB4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tipsbcfuB4
This post is a little late in coming, but I figured now was the time to write what I believe I've been hearing from the Spirit lately...
Ours is a Joyful Gospel. No, really! It is. I know, right? Hard to believe sometimes, especially the way we act...
Our Creator is redeeming fallen creation, and invites us to join!
Our Savior has passionately endured our just punishment, showing us the mercy of God, and blazing the Way for us through death to Life Eternal: knowing the Father by abiding in Jesus!
Our God's Holy Spirit is renewing the face of the Earth, working in us and through us, despite of our constant backsliding and failures, as a people of God being formed into God's community of reconciliation and goodness: the Church, made up of us who claim Christ and Lord and Savior on Earth and our fellow members cheering us on from a great cloud of witnesses!
The Kingdom of God is ever-growing, the Gospel ever-spreading, and regardless of our understanding, or misunderstanding, nothing...NOTHING can separate us from the love of Christ.
The Gospel...our Good News...offers abudant, purpose-filled, Joyful Life to all who will listen...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyyZg6BAnaA&feature=related
There is Gospel work (and rest) for all...what is your's today?
Triune, Joyful God,
make us into Your relational, Joyful likeness,
so that we may proclaim Your Joyful Gospel,
and live it out here and now, even to eternity.
Through Christ, Your son, Our Lord, who
rejoiced in Your Spirit,
Amen.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Sabbath after Pentecost: A Pentecostal Reflection
The following is still a work-in-progress (aren't we all?) based on the lectionary texts for the Pentecost Vigil, plus some. Technically speaking, these are lyrics (the "music" is in my head for the moment, and as such, I thought twice about posting it, because part of the meaning is in in the "music," which you can't hear), but here they are regardless.
Prominent are Ezekiel 37, John 17, Psalm 130; there are several other allusions, all Sciptural with the exception of the first line, which refers to a lecture given by C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory.
I am crushed by the weight of your glory.
I am crushed by the weight of my sin.
O LORD, who can stand?
O LORD, who can stand
before You?
My failings rise up like a flood;
the darkness--surely it covers me!
I cannot follow.
I cannot follow
Your Word.
Refrain:
Thus says the Lord:
Rise up My people!
Rise up - out of your graves.
Come to the waters and never be thirsty again.
Recieve My Spirit; recieve My Life:
breathe my Breath in your lungs,
feel my Heart pulsing through you.
Let My Spirit bring you
Resurrection!
We have marred Your Image, O God.
We are but dust and dry bones.
All hope is gone;
we are cut off from
Your Presence.
We spend our time building white-washed sepulchres.
We spend our time chasing wealth, fame, and pow'r...
We spend our time fitting "gospel" into Our lives,
verses letting Your Story shape ours.
We spend our time
spending time
spending time.
O LORD, redeem it!
O LORD, redeem us:
us dry bones.
Refrain.
May we remember: Christ is with Us always,
even until the end of the age.
In the Name of God:
Father, Son, and Spirit,
AMEN.
Prominent are Ezekiel 37, John 17, Psalm 130; there are several other allusions, all Sciptural with the exception of the first line, which refers to a lecture given by C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory.
I am crushed by the weight of your glory.
I am crushed by the weight of my sin.
O LORD, who can stand?
O LORD, who can stand
before You?
My failings rise up like a flood;
the darkness--surely it covers me!
I cannot follow.
I cannot follow
Your Word.
Refrain:
Thus says the Lord:
Rise up My people!
Rise up - out of your graves.
Come to the waters and never be thirsty again.
Recieve My Spirit; recieve My Life:
breathe my Breath in your lungs,
feel my Heart pulsing through you.
Let My Spirit bring you
Resurrection!
We have marred Your Image, O God.
We are but dust and dry bones.
All hope is gone;
we are cut off from
Your Presence.
We spend our time building white-washed sepulchres.
We spend our time chasing wealth, fame, and pow'r...
We spend our time fitting "gospel" into Our lives,
verses letting Your Story shape ours.
We spend our time
spending time
spending time.
O LORD, redeem it!
O LORD, redeem us:
us dry bones.
Refrain.
May we remember: Christ is with Us always,
even until the end of the age.
In the Name of God:
Father, Son, and Spirit,
AMEN.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Third Saturday of Eastertide: A Walk Worthy of God's Glory and Kingdom
A continuation of a devotional series of blogs. If you have already read the devotion I posted that was published in Gardner-Webb University's 2010 Advent devotional guide, some of this might seem familiar, as it should. I wrote this devotion in preparation for writing that particular one for the Advent guide. However, as this devotion is based only on the Thessalonians text, it has some things the other one does not, and as I was reading over it, its specific thrust seemed especially appropropriate for an Eastertide post.
1 Thessalonians 2:1-12
In chapter one, Paul writes to the Christians in Thessalonica, expressing thankfulness to God for them and affirming them for "how [they] turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come."
Verses one through two of chapter two seem to be an elaboration of verse five from chapter one, explaining in detail how both the Gospel of God had come to the Thessalonians "with full conviction," and "what kind of men" Paul and Silas and Timothy had "proved to be" when they had come to share that Gospel "among [them]."
These are the ideas that keep popping out at me as I read 2:1-12:
Vv. 1-2 After much suffering and amidst oppostion, Paul et al. preach the Gospel of God.
V. 3 There is no "error" or "impurity...[or] way of deceit" in their motives for preaching;
V. 4 they have been "approved by God," who "examines their hearts."
Vv. 5-8 They didn't abuse their power, but were gentle as they proclaimed the Gospel of God. They developed an affection for the church and the people became dear to them.
V. 9 Paul et al. worked as to provide for themelves and not be a burden on the Thessononians, and, (V. 10) "behaved devoutly," "uprightly," and "blamelessly" towards the believers.
V. 11 In sharing the Gospel of God, the evangelists "[exhort]...[encourage]...and [implore]" the people as a father would his children, all for this purpose, spelled out in verse twelve:
"so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God
who calls you into His own kingdom and glory."
Paul, Silas, and Timothy have gone through much suffering in their time of work of announcing, or proclaiming, the Gospel of God to the Gentiles. In the city of Philippi, they had been mistreated, but it seems that in these trials, God had been strengthening them for their work of evangelizing in the midst of opposition in Thessalonica. I draw the inference that it is by these sufferings mentioned in verse two that God had taught them to "speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines their hearts." Their hearts...which are free of any erroneous or impure or deceitful motive for exhorting the people.
Now, verse three could be read as being as being placed after the sufferings in verses one through two to show that, because they had endured the hardships to witness, their motives in preaching could be trusted.
I tend to think that while that inference might be true, it might also be true that it is, in fact, these sufferings that God used to purify their motives. That each suffering Paul went through was another journey through the refining work of God, who is a "consuming fire" (see Isaiah 1:21-31, Hebrews 12:29).
Paul and Silas and Timothy exemplify kingdom-of-God living in vv. 7-11, and how could they act otherwise? They have suffered for the Gospel (vv. 1-2), their motives are pure (God has searched their hearts...vv. 3-6), and we see the fruitful results of their ministry as a result of their faithfulness and God's blessing: they are a living witness of the Gospel they proclaim: they not only preach with their words of hope and salvation, they reassure people that there is something to all of this Gospel-talk by the way they behave.
Then you get to verse twelve. This is the punch-line, or at least it punched me pretty hard: all of this suffering, all of this concern over being pure of heart and motive, all of this Christ-like living and proclaiming, and exhorting and pleading, for this purpose:
"so that [the Thessalonians] would walk
in manner worthy of the God who calls
[them] into His own kingdom and glory."
God called the Thessalonians into "His kingdom and glory," and that's where God is calling us.
Don't miss what Paul and Silas and Timothy not only understand, but worked tirelessly in order to share with the Thessalonians: this call from God demands our walking in a way that is worthy of such a God.
Not that we ever could walk worthy of God on our own.
But this is the Gospel of God we're talking about here, the same Gospel the prophets had been heralding for thousands of years, the same Gospel to which the Spirit of the Law had given witness: love God, and love neighbor. And it is not us who are the workers of this Gospel in our own lives, but God (Philippians 2:13). Just as God had chosen Paul, Silas, and Timothy, brought them through trials, purified their hearts and motives, and worked in them to produce the fruit of the Spirit--in essence, made them worthy of their calling--God wanted to work the same thing out in the Thessalonians' lives, and in ours.
[Here is where I will insert new material. If the purpose of mission work is to share the Gospel so that others come to love, worship, and serve God, and walk worthily, et cetera, then why, so often, do we hear of Christians trying to entertain or attract an unbeliever into heaven? Entertainment shapes and forms people, but the shaping and forming it does leads to narcisism, not to the development of people who are willing to take up a daily cross and follow Our Lord. The Gospel is not entertaining. So what are we selling when we try to use entertainment as a method of evangelism? And, for that matter, when we plan a worship service around the unbeliever, (aka, using worship as a method of evangelism) who do we end up worshiping? Not God. If that were the case, we would plan the worship around God. I'll leave you to fill in the blanks. Hint: idolatry. Just a thought.]
God our Father, in Your love,
and by the blood of Your Son
and the power of Your Spirit,
make us, whom you have called into
Your kingdom and glory,
worthy of Your Self.
It is in your NAME we pray,
"Amen."
1 Thessalonians 2:1-12
In chapter one, Paul writes to the Christians in Thessalonica, expressing thankfulness to God for them and affirming them for "how [they] turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come."
Verses one through two of chapter two seem to be an elaboration of verse five from chapter one, explaining in detail how both the Gospel of God had come to the Thessalonians "with full conviction," and "what kind of men" Paul and Silas and Timothy had "proved to be" when they had come to share that Gospel "among [them]."
These are the ideas that keep popping out at me as I read 2:1-12:
Vv. 1-2 After much suffering and amidst oppostion, Paul et al. preach the Gospel of God.
V. 3 There is no "error" or "impurity...[or] way of deceit" in their motives for preaching;
V. 4 they have been "approved by God," who "examines their hearts."
Vv. 5-8 They didn't abuse their power, but were gentle as they proclaimed the Gospel of God. They developed an affection for the church and the people became dear to them.
V. 9 Paul et al. worked as to provide for themelves and not be a burden on the Thessononians, and, (V. 10) "behaved devoutly," "uprightly," and "blamelessly" towards the believers.
V. 11 In sharing the Gospel of God, the evangelists "[exhort]...[encourage]...and [implore]" the people as a father would his children, all for this purpose, spelled out in verse twelve:
"so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God
who calls you into His own kingdom and glory."
Paul, Silas, and Timothy have gone through much suffering in their time of work of announcing, or proclaiming, the Gospel of God to the Gentiles. In the city of Philippi, they had been mistreated, but it seems that in these trials, God had been strengthening them for their work of evangelizing in the midst of opposition in Thessalonica. I draw the inference that it is by these sufferings mentioned in verse two that God had taught them to "speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines their hearts." Their hearts...which are free of any erroneous or impure or deceitful motive for exhorting the people.
Now, verse three could be read as being as being placed after the sufferings in verses one through two to show that, because they had endured the hardships to witness, their motives in preaching could be trusted.
I tend to think that while that inference might be true, it might also be true that it is, in fact, these sufferings that God used to purify their motives. That each suffering Paul went through was another journey through the refining work of God, who is a "consuming fire" (see Isaiah 1:21-31, Hebrews 12:29).
Paul and Silas and Timothy exemplify kingdom-of-God living in vv. 7-11, and how could they act otherwise? They have suffered for the Gospel (vv. 1-2), their motives are pure (God has searched their hearts...vv. 3-6), and we see the fruitful results of their ministry as a result of their faithfulness and God's blessing: they are a living witness of the Gospel they proclaim: they not only preach with their words of hope and salvation, they reassure people that there is something to all of this Gospel-talk by the way they behave.
Then you get to verse twelve. This is the punch-line, or at least it punched me pretty hard: all of this suffering, all of this concern over being pure of heart and motive, all of this Christ-like living and proclaiming, and exhorting and pleading, for this purpose:
"so that [the Thessalonians] would walk
in manner worthy of the God who calls
[them] into His own kingdom and glory."
God called the Thessalonians into "His kingdom and glory," and that's where God is calling us.
Don't miss what Paul and Silas and Timothy not only understand, but worked tirelessly in order to share with the Thessalonians: this call from God demands our walking in a way that is worthy of such a God.
Not that we ever could walk worthy of God on our own.
But this is the Gospel of God we're talking about here, the same Gospel the prophets had been heralding for thousands of years, the same Gospel to which the Spirit of the Law had given witness: love God, and love neighbor. And it is not us who are the workers of this Gospel in our own lives, but God (Philippians 2:13). Just as God had chosen Paul, Silas, and Timothy, brought them through trials, purified their hearts and motives, and worked in them to produce the fruit of the Spirit--in essence, made them worthy of their calling--God wanted to work the same thing out in the Thessalonians' lives, and in ours.
[Here is where I will insert new material. If the purpose of mission work is to share the Gospel so that others come to love, worship, and serve God, and walk worthily, et cetera, then why, so often, do we hear of Christians trying to entertain or attract an unbeliever into heaven? Entertainment shapes and forms people, but the shaping and forming it does leads to narcisism, not to the development of people who are willing to take up a daily cross and follow Our Lord. The Gospel is not entertaining. So what are we selling when we try to use entertainment as a method of evangelism? And, for that matter, when we plan a worship service around the unbeliever, (aka, using worship as a method of evangelism) who do we end up worshiping? Not God. If that were the case, we would plan the worship around God. I'll leave you to fill in the blanks. Hint: idolatry. Just a thought.]
God our Father, in Your love,
and by the blood of Your Son
and the power of Your Spirit,
make us, whom you have called into
Your kingdom and glory,
worthy of Your Self.
It is in your NAME we pray,
"Amen."
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