Thursday 17 September 2009

This will be a challenge to some...it is why I like reading William Willimon.

It would have been so much easier if Jesus had merely asked us to get along with our enemies. Tolerance is an Enlightenment virtue, the best that can be mustered by those who do not know a merciful God. Divine love is considerably more demanding than simple tolerance. Those whom we love, we quite naturally desire to be saved. As Christians, we are trying to love a God who desires to love all. We want what God wants; therefore, if we pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," then we ought to pray that God's will be done and that all will be saved. How seldom one hears a really good prayer for Osama bin Laden, despite Jesus' command and Paul's conviction that, in the end, Jesus shall not only triumph for the elect but shall also destroy "every ruler and every authority and power" handing over all earthly powers including Al-Qaeda, "to God the Father" (1 Corinthians 15:24).

Many folks in the church don't know what to do with this kind of radical salvation. It is as though Christ triumphs only for some...not all. Otherwise it is left up to us to buy into this saving act. When that is the case, we make little of the power of the Resurrection because it really needs us to say "yes" for it to be eternally available. This is one way of seeing the triumphant Christ that really makes the hair on the back of many necks stand on end. Is it that we are so afraid of the fullness of the Reign of God and its power to make things new, that we cannot and will not let ourselves begin to even talk about such a reality. Instead, we want to come up with a certain path upon which we expect all to walk before we can talk about love of neighbor or enemy. How wide is the Reign of God in Christ, Jesus...when does it begin to fall in place among us...who will be in the midst of its life and who will be brought back to life even when death seems to win the day? How do we talk about the Good News of the Reign of God if it is truly for all - freely for all - a gift that cannot be tossed out or refused...but always at hand...forever?!?

Connection: I think this is all about changing everything. That much change can overwhelm us. So, when you are drawn into wideness of God's Reign, who do you need to be there so you can hold hands and face the wideness - even when it looks like a great abyss?!?

Walk with us, O God. We are are moving along the way and yet we really don't want to go all the way into your Reign - unless of course we can change it to fit our ideas. We need to be encouraged, empowered, humbled, delivered, and made into a saving people in your name. Amen.