10 February 2005

Ash Wednesday has passed and we still look to the creative future of God - in words by Jurgen Moltmann.



Humanity is waiting for a revolutionary Christianity which will call the world evil and change it, declared Walter Rauschenbach... But before we can change and improve this evil world we must change and improve ourselves. this happens when we turn about, and look to the future. In trust in God's coming, we open ourselves for his life-giving Spirit and experience the healing and liberating forces of that Spirit. These forces are not miraculous supernatural powers from heaven; as the Epistle to the Hebrews says (6:5), they are 'the power of the age to come'. They come out of the promised future of Christ into our present and fill us with new vitality.



We are healed and made new by "The power of the age to come". This day carries the potential for reconciliation even when the only witness of the day is the love affair we have with war and that which we think we can claim by our power. This day is being pulled into the Reign of God even if all we can see around us is a world in which the poor are forgotten and those who like to run the world keep in mind only those others who claim to own and run the world. The power of the age to come does not bless the powers of this world when they act contrary to the vision of God's Reign. And yet, we continue to let our faithful language be ripped off by politicians who really have little or no vision of the way of Jesus. The "liberating forces" of the Spirit of God will continue to encourage witnesses who will proclaim the promise of the peaceable Reign of God that is always much more than any self-serving human budget will ever be able to manufacture.



Connection: There is that promise of "new vitality" that will never be defeated by the ongoing injustice and corruption of our world. Sometimes, we simply need to take a time in the day to stop and take a deep breath of that promised life that can and does stir us up with all hopefulness.



By you Gracious power, O Lord of Life, lift us up again for we so quickly let the powers around us rule us and push us around. Help us keep in mind our brothers and sisters who long for that simple creative touch of your Reign...and let us be a part of that touch. Amen.