Please excuse me if I go slowly through my use of James Alison's writing. It simply catches me wondering and wandering. The New Testament is concerned in the first place with an announcement about God. This is made absolutely clear in 1 John 1:5: This is the message we [i.e., "John" representing the apostolic witness] have heard from him [i.e., Jesus] and proclaim to you [i.e., the Church, actual or yet to be], that God is light and in God there is no darkness at all. There are too many ways to take what is written in 1 John. Though I usually do not like the image of light verses darkness (it carries -for me- to many historical hints at race), here I am taking darkness to be the story of the way things are in the world. Within the domain of God Reigning power - that must be announced without condition and without end - the ways of the world are no longer our guides and our mentors. Now and forever, God Reigns. To life! We can look all around us and see that the-evidence-of-the-day places the power and principalities in charge of all that is and all that will be. (just look at the power given to corporations to determine how we will be nation and who will be considered people). The welfare of all is diminished as the welfare of some becomes the operational practices that are meant to shape who we become. As I noted in the sermon yesterday, this is all a lie that is sugarcoating garbage - again. The God who rescues and liberates and heals the whole even as we long to be separate will not be silent in the midst of the powers of separation. In the realm of God's creative wind, the power of separation is not a power. It is useless - it is powerless - it is what 'has been,' that is death. The announcement about our God is that God Reigns - no other power. Even when we are asolutely sure that there are ways to beat down the powers and principalities with our own might (making us one of those powers), there is this light that opens up the room for life beyond our vision and our expectations. Connection: It is as though God is an announcement that pops up to ask, 'What else" or "Is that all you have?" This is only to show us that the works of the powers and principalities are really nothing in the grand scheme of the day at hand. Therefore, when we live within the announcement of God's Reign, we can risk living within the shalom that puts an end to divisions and brokenness and blame. O God of life, your love shines as a beacon to remind |
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