Today's reading is an expansion of what was printed yesterday.
Christian salvation is another view of humanity that arises out of faith in a God who has chosen to be for us. Our lives are not the sum of our choices, but rather the results of the impact of God's grace upon us. Evangelism is an imaginative act that enables people to describe their lives in the light of the purpose of the world. For some, that narrative will mean the relinquishment, letting go of their false and erroneous loyalties in light of the good news. For others it will be the embrace of something fresh and new, a living into a whole new world. Still others will experience it as a new sense of themselves as valued, cherished people who now have a self-knowledge that the world could not give them. The existence that once was outside them (the salvation wrought by Jesus Christ in cross and resurrection) will now be internalized, igniting them, so much so that they may speak of having been thereby "born again," as if their previous existence were one great confusion, nothing to compare with their lives having been found by the searching shepherd, the seeking woman, the waiting father, the inviting boss, the reckless farmer.
The Good News is Good News to all people because it brings new life no matter who we have been and what we have experienced. In all ways, this opening of the Reign of God - this persistent love of God will interrupt what we have been and introduce us to something just beyond what we have been willing to be. No matter how radical the change may appear in some one's life, the change is always radical in that it calls us to let go and then...grab hold of a whole new word of truth about us and all others. This can be an alarming time for all of us. It needs to be...otherwise we will think that what we do and how we run our lives is always consistent with God's Reign. I think the Good News keeps reminding us of how easy it is to settle for what we have and forget about the wonder and joy that is available for all God's people.
Connection: The way the Good News sets my heart on fire may not be the same way it happens to you. But...in both cases there's fire brewing. That is probably why it is so important to listen to other stories and take notice of how wide a foundation is this vision of God' Reign.
Be our life and our light, O God. Continue to touch us and turn our lives around. When we are set in our ways be the power that draws us to you. Amen.
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