Text: Galatians 1:6-7
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel - not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.
The great punch line...not that there is another gospel. I've always loved Paul's quick correction to what he has just said. It drives the point home all the more powerfully. There is one gospel! But even now there is great disagreement about what is this Gospel - this Good News. Is it something we learn...or come to know? Is it the rule by which we judge all things as to whether they are in or out of our "good news community?" Or...is it a truth about our God that reveals the worth of our lives in the eyes of God and the life such truth can bring to us each day? Is the Gospel something about a life after we die or is it something about life - now? Is it like a savings plan that we hope to use later or is it like a gift (let's say an ice cream dessert) that is given to us right now - take it, eat it, enjoy it, savor it. It is for life! It does us no good to criticize the so-called Christian Right and the so-called Christian groups whose invitation to life is full of "exclusions" if we do not have a life about us that is the gift of life Paul seems to treasure so dearly. Good News - gospel - how radical of a life comes with that news. A rooted (radical) life that draws life from the fact of God's unconditional love - that life is just as unconditionally loving as God is loving. Jesus is no mere mystical presence. His life is our life - free for all.
Connection: What limits do you put on your loving? Can you at least spot some today? Not big thing...just the everyday ways we actually live by a gospel other than the gospel we know in Jesus...not that there is another gospel.
Most Holy and Loving God, take us into your arms and teach us your ways. When we face the day at hand remind us of the life of Jesus and how his life is the way we come to see you most fully. Amen.
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