Wednesday 29 July 2009

This will be the last piece taken from the section "Divine Abundance" in Willimon's book "Who Will Be Saved?"

At the end of one of his most demanding, exacting sermons, requiring that his disciples turn the other cheek, refuse to divorce and remarry, carry others' burdens not just one mile but two, and to pray for their enemies (Matthew 5), Jesus extravagantly demands that they be "perfect...as your heavenly Father is perfect" (v.48). But then he characterized the Father's perfection as one who "makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends the rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous" (vs. 45). It is of our nature to make careful distinctions, to draw accurate lines between people, to conceive of reality as characterized by scarcity and insufficiency. But it is of the nature of this God to blur our proper divisions by indiscriminately, profusely sending rain and sun upon all without distinction.

Perfectly graceful. No bias. No special interests. No favoritism. No pecking order. Graciousness poured out upon all. It is that act of unconditional grace that begins to shape the character of the community of saints called the Church. When we leave out this very vital piece about who we are within the Reign of God we begin to shape our character around that which will suit us. As we all know, that means the divisions go up, wars break out, the number of poor increase, people turn their backs to one another. What is most amazing about how we try to run things is that we speak of the vision of God's Reign but we walk away from it as though we have a "better take" on what it is to be among us. It is a grand comedy that is also the greatest of tragedies.

Connection: On the evil and the good....wow...what a way to consider all that we move by today.

From the beginning when you called the unfolding of your creation "good," O God, you continue to remind us of the way to care for all things and let your grace be the source of new life day after day. Inspire us to see with this vision that opens up the future to new ways of encountering all things. Amen.