A Blessed Lent to all. Here is more from 1 Peter, chapter 2 verses 11-12 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge. Okay - we are the beloved.That is our beginning (in fact, that is also our end). To be these beloved of God - to have ourselves grounded by an identity that has the power to transform life - is to be a bit odd. The people to whom this letter was written were people at home in their areas of Asia Minor (think Turkey). And yet, as ones baptized in Christ, Jesus, and pulled by the Holy Spirit into what that means for day to day living, belovedness can carry some baggage. Usually we consider baggage a negative. Therapist want us to look at the 'baggage' we all carry around from the generations before us and the experiences of our families. It is vitally important to do that as we learn to live with others. But here, the baggage we carry is the life that is created - yes, created - as followers of Jesus. Our baggage is a love that makes us a contrary people when we stand alongside the ways of the world. So, we can be seen as aliens and exiles - people who have something about them that just seems different. Some would say that we are ones who live for the well being of others. In a self-centered and self-possessed culture that is run on the power of self-interest, we follow the Lord who self-sacrifice was for all - without condition. I would argue that how I just described our culture is another way to say: desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. As we are so in-tuned with this culture, we are being urged to resist this way - abstain from it all. Don't do it. Don't be a part of it. Connection: Once a therapist reminded me that I always have many heads on my shoulders. The heads - voices - presence of those who make up my past. They are often given control of what is said and done. If I do not know they are there - directing my life - I am not free - I am not able to self-define. But if I know they are there, I can say "yes" and I can say "no" and there is a better chance that you will see and hear a more authentic me. We live with the head of Christ as one of the voices that possess us. This is, what I would call, a positive possession. Quite like when we give voice to the simple statement: Come, Lord, Jesus. It takes deliberate action to listen to that voice of the Christ of God who is endlessly for us. In the middle of what is so common, O God, your Spirit of New Life sustains us and delivers us into the life we have been handed so that each day - all that we do and all that we are - your love for us will be the life that is displayed for all. We give you thanks. Amen. |
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