Monday 6 July 2009

Within the bounds of his discussion of Eternal Life, Willimon throws this out to us.

Why does my church talk so little about salvation? We preachers speak before people who neither conceive of themselves as dying down in the ditch nor a God who is able to stoop, a God who not only loves to heal, but even to raise the dead. Able to solve most our real problems by ourselves, fairly well off and well fixed, working out regularly and watching our diets, we come to church only for helpful suggestions for saving ourselves. As Jesus would have said of someone in our circumstances, "You've already had your reward" (Luke 16:9-18).
I'm reminded of that dramatic moment in the Exodus when Moses tells Israel "stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish" (Exodus 14:13). "Thus the Lord saved Israel that day" (Exodus 14:30). Note that all that is required of us is to stand and to see. The rest is God's. God forbid that this book be written or read as just another of our salvation projects. Better that these pages be part of our standing, seeing, and adoring the salvation of the Lord.

"Stand firm and see." I do not hear this as though we are to be a people who watch the story go by. Instead I see this unfold as a story in which we are already involved. We do not control the story but by the grace of God's invasion in, with, and under our lives, we are already a part of the saving drama that God has in motion. A drama that will bring all things to their creative fullness. The 'stand and see' part has to do with being aware of how God intends life to go on as we move into God's Reign that is already at hand. Stand and see how ordinary folk who are beaten and left on the side of the road will be given new life by one who -under our usual controlling judgments - would have no place in our storytelling. We are always at the beginning of what is going to be a life we have not been able to bring into being. In fact, we cannot bring it into being on our own. Sometimes the beauty of this 'standing and seeing' is that we will be surprised and we will have our world turned upside down even when we think we are the ones who turn things upside down. It is so easy to put ourselves in the seat of control and forget that this kind of thinking usually stinks - for everyone.

Connection: So how do we go through this day living as though our primary role is to stand and see because "The rest is God's." Do you feel less or more empowered?

Be a part of the transformation of our thinking and living, O God. We can be so turned in on what we want and what we know and how we want the world to move that we are left bound up in our own worlds and unable to experience the joy of your eternal Reign that is constantly breaking in upon us. Amen.