Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Redeemer Devotions

Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions 

This section of Alison's writing has too many images that grab and hold me - so I'm staying put here for the day.

 

Our knowledge of each other is projective and in its mode already distorted. Only in the degree to which we allow our own distortion to be corrected will we be able to know the other with limpidity. In case it is not clear already that this reciprocal involvement in turning each other into stumbling blocks, which is at the heart of Jesus' moral teaching, has, at its roots, an understanding of desire, a few verses later Jesus' further teaching on prayer makes exactly this point. In Matthew 7:1-7 prayer is shown to be a learning to desire without stumbling blocks in imitation of the Father who is without stumbling blocks. We must not let our desire remain at the stage whereby we think that we will not get what we want but must learn to believer in one who gives gratuitously what we really want. Prayer is a constant reeducation of desire out of a mode of stumbling blocks and into a mode of desiring and receiving gratuitously. And this is then directly referred back to our human relationality (7:12): we must treat others in the same way, learning how to substitute a gratuitous reciprocity for a reciprocity formed by the skandalon.

 

In the Lord's prayer we say 'your will be done.' That - is reeducation up front. That is our request of God to turn things over - turn them into the way of God's forgiveness and grace and away from the constant desires that put us at war with one another through blame and the need to judge and be right - even when we are not. "Prayer is a constant reeducation of desire out of a mode of stumbling blocks and into a mode of desiring and receiving gratuitously." Within the realm of our prayers comes life shaped by those prayers. Our prayers are not desirous - they are offered with open hands ready to receive what God hands us. God will hand us all we need - that's called promise. All we need is enough for you and enough for me. Enough love - hope - patience - forgiveness - grace - patience - kindness - daily bread - and enough of God's presence so that we will be at peace. It is a whole adventure of reeducation and it is constantly becoming available to us in new ways that turn us over and help us stand again within the moving power of God's Spirit of life.

 

Connection: Prayer really does throw us back into relationality. In fact that is prayer. It is the foundation of all the ways we become one body even as we look and see and think and live so differently. It is not magic. It is not within our control. It is like walking into a vision and finding out I'm not who I just was and I am not yet who God making me. Prayer will always move us from here to there. We need not be afraid of 'there.'

 

O God of life, take us there - take us into your arms - take us home and make us alive. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Redeemer Devotions

Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions 

Still holding on to line from yesterday's quote I'll push on here to more on what Alison calls 'a constant reeducation of desire.'

 

Our knowledge of each other is projective and in its mode already distorted. Only in the degree to which we allow our own distortion to be corrected will we be able to know the other with limpidity. In case it is not clear already that this reciprocal involvement in turning each other into stumbling blocks, which is at the heart of Jesus' moral teaching, has, at its roots, an understanding of desire, a few verses later Jesus' further teaching on prayer makes exactly this point. In Matthew 7:1-7 prayer is shown to be a learning to desire without stumbling blocks in imitation of the Father who is without stumbling blocks. We must not let our desire remain at the stage whereby we think that we will not get what we want but must learn to believer in one who gives gratuitously what we really want. Prayer is a constant reeducation of desire out of a mode of stumbling blocks and into a mode of desiring and receiving gratuitously. And this is then directly referred back to our human relationality (7:12): we must treat others in the same way, learning how to substitute a gratuitous reciprocity for a reciprocity formed by the skandalon.

 

Once again I get caught up in simple phrases that capture me. On prayer he writes, 'prayer is shown to be a learning to desire without stumbling blocks in imitation of the Father who is without stumbling blocks.' We all know it is not easy to be patient - to wait and trust that God will provide life. Maybe that is because we often do not want mere life. We want life our way - under our conditions - with you being a part of the world as we want the world to be. Whoa, can you hear the sound of people stumbling all over the place. In prayer we let go of those knock down, trip up, push over, desires that have a way of taking us farther and farther away from the life within God's Reign because they really only give us what we desire and not what God has imaged for us. Our God offers us the life of God's peaceable Reign - no strings - all life available without conditions. We are invited to enter it - so is our neighbor - so is our enemy. That is a bit crazy. That is unbelievably gracious.

 

Connection: Thank God we are handed God's reigning life without all of the game-playing we so readily like to enter. It is as the game-playing and the desire drops that we are given a new lens through which we can see how God's Reign really does unfold among us.

 

O God of life, catch us up in your vision of life and encourage us again to let go of the desires that keep us imprisoned in ourselves and unable to love others as ourselves. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

Monday, October 29, 2012

Redeemer Devotions

Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions 

Let me go back to this quote from James Alison - again in "The Joy of Being Wrong."

 

This becomes particularly clear in Matthew 7. There we have the commandment not to judge, and it is explained that the reason for this is that all our judgment is scandalous, because we have already tripped over the log in our own eye. This is a rigorous revelation of the way we are tied into each other by the skandalon,  and the way we must detach ourselves from it (one so important that it is taken up by Paul in Romans 2:1). Our knowledge of each other is projective and in its mode already distorted. Only in the degree to which we allow our own distortion to be corrected will we be able to know the other with limpidity.

 

I was going to press on but then I reread this piece as was caught by 'we have already tripped over the log in our own eye.' Damn you Jesus - why must you say it so clearly. You make me turn my head and listen again. That usually means that the words bite. They bite in order to grab attention - and they do. Over and over again I am so amazed at how quickly - without much thought - I turn to judgment. It may not be full-blown condemnation kind of judgment - but even the small judgments tend to be full-blown condemnation of some type. We must have the audacity to speak the truth but we must also no think that we are the only holders of the truth. Unfortunately, it is not easy to relinquish our fantasy of being the truth holders and the righteous judges. It comes quite easily - like picking a piece of fruit off a tree. One of the gifts we are being offered here is that we must remember that our judgments and condemnations are words that need to be directed back at us all - back at the accusers - back at the judges. That is not easy to hear when we are so sure we are so right and they are so wrong.

 

Connection: As we press on toward All Saints Sunday, it does us well to have eyes hat see the beloved in the other - see the ones for whom Jesus would die - even though we would rather that they just simply die. This journey with Jesus is a labor of love - a work - a journey - a day-by-day adventure. Yet, along the way there is this amazing promise for life.

 

O God of life, unleash your breath of life and wrap us up in its glorious power.  Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, October 26, 2012

Redeemer Devotions

Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions 

There are ways to imitate the 'perfect gratuity of the heavenly Father' when we are trying to avoid scandal

 

This becomes particularly clear in Matthew 7. There we have the commandment not to judge, and it is explained that the reason for this is that all our judgment is scandalous, because we have already tripped over the log in our own eye. This is a rigorous revelation of the way we are tied into each other by the skandalon,  and the way we must detach ourselves from it (one so important that it is taken up by Paul in Romans 2:1). Our knowledge of each other is projective and in its mode already distorted. Only in the degree to which we allow our own distortion to be corrected will we be able to know the other with limpidity.

 

Though this is a good place to pause in the reflection, it is also because I had to look up limpidity (clearness) before I could carry on. That wild pointing finger is amazing. Whenever I hear about it I feel a sense of shame - because I know that I can be a master at pointing and judging. At the same time, it is a great unifier. We are all in the same boat. We point fingers and judge and demand that the 'other' will get it right (right as we would want it). How do we see the other when we do not add our filters and our biases? Obviously we do not see clearly. The vision of the Reign of God is meant to give us clear vision so that we can see the other as the Beloved of God. And yet, we too often switch to another lens and that is not what we see. We like to see the Beloved only in the mirror. But there - beyond us - uncluttered by our baggage is the Beloved 'other'. If only we were able to have such vision.

 

Connection: We are able to have such vision. It is prayerful vision. It is taking the world by the hands and calling forth the healing of all things. It is then that we are able to step out of the cycle of scandal that never allows the life of God's promise to unfold among us. Now, prayer is not simply words. Prayer is the life of the words flowing into our very being - becoming us. That - takes work, and more prayer.

 

O God of life, it is not easy to move these logs that clutter our vision. When we are lazy, be for us the strength to strive for clarity and healing.  Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Redeemer Devotions

Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions 

another add on:

 

Jesus then goes on to show clearly that righteousness cannot be defined by the law, but the roots of righteousness must be found at the level of desire. He reveals the evil of human desire to be much more drastic than the law could fathom and righteousness as having to do with a transformation of that desire: so anger is the same as murder, a lustful look the same as adultery, being caught up in the stumbling blocks of desire much worse than any form of physical defect, not one of which can exclude from heaven.

This world of drastically sinful desire is treated as a relational reality: Jesus is not talking about some sort of wicked desire locked into the solitude of an individual person which must somehow must be exorcised. He is talking about a deformation of relationality such that we are scandalized by each other and give scandal to each other. This can be shown by the remedy: freedom is to be found by not allowing oneself to be caused to stumble by the evil done to one: one must not resist evil, on must go the second mile. There is only one way not to be locked into the scandals of this world, and that is by learning to forgive, which means not allowing oneself to be defined by the evil done. It is quite clear from Jesus' teaching that he considers humans to be locked into a certain sort of reciprocity, which it would be wholly consistent to identify with the scandalon, and that he teaches the way out of that sort of reciprocity into a wholly new sort of reciprocity. This new sort of reciprocity is made concrete in forgiveness and other acts of not being trapped by the skandalon and in this way is able to begin to imitate the perfect gratuity of the heavenly Father in whom there is no skandalon.

 

We can expect to never get far from forgiveness when we are talking about following Jesus. In fact, this is the way - this is the way that breaks the cycle - this is the way that frightens all of us - this is the way that seems absolutely impossible. Forgiveness (outside of those few situations in our lives in which forgiveness is easy) goes across the board and therefore it makes us turn in another direction. In a moment of time, I can come up with a list of people and groups of people I am unable to forgive. Oh yes I can, but I will not. I hold on and hold on and hold on. What comes of that? The same old stuff that always comes from separation and sin - death. And yet, I choose shortening the richness of life within God's Reign for the false power and control that comes from not forgiving. Forgiveness stops the crucifixions that take place every day - the ones in which I participate with joy - nail after nail.

 

Connection: Be that light - be that salt - be that forgiveness that the world longs to see as a living power that does make things new. In the meantime - when forgiveness seems to be impossible - connect with others who also have trouble with this gift of God's Reign. And there at that time, we may each begin to be a part of the resurrection to new life.

 

O God of life, make us instruments of forgiveness so that all life may be healed.  Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Redeemer Devotions

Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions 

Let me simply add to Alison's work from yesterday

 

Jesus then goes on to show clearly that righteousness cannot be defined by the law, but the roots of righteousness must be found at the level of desire. He reveals the evil of human desire to be much more drastic than the law could fathom and righteousness as having to do with a transformation of that desire: so anger is the same as murder, a lustful look the same as adultery, being caught up in the stumbling blocks of desire much worse than any form of physical defect, not one of which can exclude from heaven. This world of drastically sinful desire is treated as a relational reality: Jesus is not talking about some sort of wicked desire locked into the solitude of an individual person which must somehow must be exorcised. He is talking about a deformation of relationality such that we are scandalized by each other and give scandal to each other. This can be shown by the remedy: freedom is to be found by not allowing oneself to be caused to stumble by the evil done to one: one must not resist evil, on must go the second mile.

 

I have to stop here. This is not a 'give up' attitude or give them a break or let them off the hook. It is - an action that says I will not go along with that evil. I will not let that evil turn me into another form of evil. I will stop the action - now. I will - even if it means that I will suffer consequences that may be the end of me - love that enemy - that neighbor. Most would call that foolishness. And yet, we are taught that it is on the way during that second mile that lives can change and transformation can take place. In the presence of the followers of the Messiah - life, in all of its violent potential, can take on another face and a new direction. We may not see the change - that is not our task. We are invited into life that does not fall for the desire to judge and therefore bring us all to the brink of warfare. We are invited into the miracle of dialogue - always a relational adventure.

 

Connection: Going that second mile seems next to impossible. It is tough enough to put up with the junk in place right now. Going the second mile is tough because it can so easily be viewed as going along with the evil. Yet, the second mile must be full of faithful argument and imagination so that there can be that movement from blame to mutual healing - something we may never thought was needed.

 

O God of life, take us on the road again. Open our hearts to your loving presence so that we will be a part of the healing and transformation of our relationships. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Redeemer Devotions

Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions 

Again, I must thank anyone who reads these. I know that sometimes what I read and then what I write seems to not deal with everyday life. But this last week of Alison's writing have really moved me to look again at our blossoming way of life as followers of Jesus. So we continue:

 

Jesus then goes on to show clearly that righteousness cannot be defined by the law, but the roots of righteousness must be found at the level of desire. He reveals the evil of human desire to be much more drastic than the law could fathom and righteousness as having to do with a transformation of that desire: so anger is the same as murder, a lustful look the same as adultery, being caught up in the stumbling blocks of desire much worse than any form of physical defect, not one of which can exclude from heaven.

 

I will once again add onto this quote in the following days. As for now, we are taking a deep look at what it is that becomes that which we see. Those 'desires' that no one can see unless we unveil them. We can see people murder one another and there are laws to try to keep that under control. But as Alison notes, the law does not define righteousness. No one see anger - at least not all of it. Anger wears many masks. I would suggest it can even wear the mask of love. We love our own - we allow our anger at other - not our own - to be expressed from anything from murder - to lesser violence - to avoidance - to working behind the scenes to trip up others. All of it is shaped by our desires and only "murder" get the bad rap. Think of racism - an ugly aspect of a broken humanity - and the many ways we have incorporated that hate-filled part of our lives into the very fabric of our society. Our desire to have the world as we like to see it and have it produces living patterns and social actions that quite literally seek the destruction of people of color (though we would never say that) so that 'they' will not interrupt the world as we want it and desire it. There is so much stuff sitting deep beneath the surface of what can be seen and yet we most often only attempt to deal with the most visible aspect of our brokenness while thinking everything else is just fine.

 

Connection: It becomes quite difficult to judge others when we learn to accept the fact that we are usually participants in that which we are trying to judge.Jesus' opening up of the commandments is like throwing out a net. We all get caught - we all fall down. So, in the meantime, why let our judgment of others rule our lives and create greater and greater divisions. How do we live when we are in the same boat as 'them?' Maybe it is with forgiveness deeply a part of every part of our life together.

 

O God of life, open up our hearts to a love that grabs hold of all your beloved. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

Monday, October 22, 2012

Redeemer Devotions

Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions 

Allow me to return to Friday's quote by Alison - I think it is full of images old and new.

 

This is the understanding behind the Matthean Sermon on the Mount. All those who are called makarioi (blessed) are those who have been "scandalized" by the order of this world and live in a relation of dangerous proximity to being victimized by the order. Because they have been scandalized by the order of this world, precisely because of the precariousness of their belonging, they will not be scandalized by Jesus himself, and thus are able to identify with the "blessed one" of Matthew 11:6 who is not scandalized by Jesus. These will be able to form part of the new victim people whom the new Moses is projecting from the mount in fulfillment of the old, a victim people salted for sacrifice (5:13) that will be the new Zion, the city on the hill (5:14), which alone will accomplish the law and the prophets (5:17).

 

Friday I said I was hung up on the image of 'the city on the hill' - especially as it is used in U.S. politics. Today, I want to move to the image of salt.  Whenever I place salt on the lips of a newly baptized person, it is for me a powerful moment - one that can easily bring tears to my eyes. I know again why that is. We are - in the waters of baptism - "a victim people salted for sacrifice." We are the seasoning that is sprinkled on the world so that life may become a taste of the Reign of God. We are the spice. We are not to make ourselves into that seasoning - we are that. That is us. That is me and you. That comes to us as gift - as holy mess - as delightful good news. So, we can be that. God hands that to us and says, 'Yes, be that seasoning'. The blessed are a part of the character that God calls God's own. A character like this is one that embraces life beyond the limited embrace of the world that only knows how to see after itself and care for itself. This is the character of scandal - one that welcomes - beyond belief!

 

Connection: To salt something is a bold step. It is a much needed step but it takes some boldness. It means speaking up - stepping up - breaking in - listening again - acting in a ways that may be contrary to what is or may simply press for more seasoning. It is as we enter into the mold of self-sacrifice (or self-donation) that we begin to turn heads as others get a taste and then come out to see this new way.

 

O God of life, let your Reign spice up our lives with a love that will not let any part of this world go untouched by you love that is our lives. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, October 19, 2012

Redeemer Devotions

Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions 

Today's piece is full of images of victims and scandal that leads to good reflection on who we are as these followers of Jesus.

 

This is the understanding behind the Matthean Sermon on the Mount. All those who are called makarioi (blessed) are those who have been "scandalized" by the order of this world and live in a relation of dangerous proximity to being victimized by the order. Because they have been scandalized by the order of this world, precisely because of the precariousness of their belonging, they will not be scandalized by Jesus himself, and thus are able to identify with the "blessed one" of Matthew 11:6 who is not scandalized by Jesus. These will be able to form part of the new victim people whom the new Moses is projecting from the mount in fulfillment of the old, a victim people salted for sacrifice (5:13) that will be the new Zion, the city on the hill (5:14), which alone will accomplish the law and the prophets (5:17).

 

Wow. Too much to handle in one sitting. Therefore I will start today with that image of 'the city on a hill.' Often, some people in American politics say that we are that city. And yet, we are not a people who will live for the well-being of the victims - the outcast - the ones who have not 'done their part' or 'pulled themselves up by their bootstraps' . Rather, we take this to be something quite different. We are the ones on the top - we have made 'it' - we are the life that everyone wants. And yet, the way of Jesus - the way of the cross - the journey of scandalizations is not what everyone wants. More and more I am amazed at the way some folks try to tie Christianity to Nationalism - especially American Nationalism. We may be a 'city on a hill' - but it is not the city referenced in Scripture. It is a fortified city - a city of wealth - a city of exclusion - a city afraid of the world - a city willing to be idolatrous by following the way of might and power and the ability to Lord it over others. The 'city on a hill' is much more a vulnerable image. Out there in full sight - being those who suffer with the forgotten and do not follow the ways of the powers. We are invited to be a part of that city. Not everyone wants to go their and live there. That's why we change the image to fit one of elite opportunity and privilege.

 

Connection: How will the vulnerable city make it in this world? Well, we are. not expected to make it. We  are simply invited to be that city of wholeness and healing and peace and justice in the middle of a world that rejects all of that - and yet a world that uses those words to get whatever it wants. The vulnerable city will simply be that vulnerable presence even when we must be present in a way that is not consistent with the world around us. Even when we must 'stick out' like a 'city on a hill' open for pot-shots.

 

O God of life, your love continues to shape us and feed us and grab our hearts so that we will continue to boldly embody your loving Reign. We give you thanks. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Redeemer Devotions

Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions 

Continuing on with 'The Content of the Skandalon' - by James Alison

 

Although the apostolic witness derives the main lines of force in its understanding of skandalon from the postresurrection understanding of the way in which Jesus had fulfilled the Scripture, it would be wrong to think that this exhausts the meaning of skandalon. The words skandalizo and skandalon appear too often in Jesus' mouth with too coherent (as well as too rich and too dense) a set of meanings for it to be doubted that Jesus himself taught in terms of the stumbling block before his death. When Jesus was teaching the disciples how to avoid being scandalized by him, he was not only teaching them something about him, but something about them: what it is to live in a world of skandala. That is to say, he was not only preparing a particular group of people under particular circumstances to avoid being scandalized by a particular event; he was doing that as part of a  general teaching about the human condition and the way out of it as involving a certain sort of imitation called discipleship, a sort of imitation which is a moving out of a being caught up in a desire which leads to victimizing, and a moving into a sort of imitation which, in the structure of this world, will lead the disciple to run grave risk of victimization. The skandalon defines the former desire (in John, the flesh) while the Spirit defines the latter.

 

The way out of the brokenness of the human condition is this thing called 'discipleship'. That is a radical notion. it is radical in that discipleship is so often used as something that is dropped on us. We get baptized - we go to church - we say we follow Jesus, therefore we are disciples. And yet, this call to discipleship is one that involves us in a life that is scandalous. It is a life in which the status quo is no longer our calling in life. Rather, we are invited and (I would add) pulled by the Holy Spirit to walk into the path of Jesus' abiding presence with the any and all who are considered rejected - unworthy - less than the rest. It is there in that company (that scandalous company) that Jesus shows us the very face of God - the image in which we have been created - an image from which we so often run. Rather than go along with any of the many ways in which we are able to make victims of others - blame them - used them as scapegoates, we are - in the line of Jesus - raised up to be ones who take sides with the victims. In that way, we (again, like Jesus) shine a light on what is happening to them at the hands of 'good and holy' people and how it is the 'good and holy' people who are farthest from the presence of God among God's people.

 

Connection: Imitation. This is not always a good word in the context of the church. Even though Paul will admonish folks to imitate him and he imitates Christ, it seems like we have let that word fall to the side. Since we appear in the same kind of mess as we have always lived, it is as though we say to hell with imitation - it doesn't work. And yet, we do not enter into imitation of Christ with the expectation that something will work. We imitate because it is the texture and character of God's Reign. For that kind of imitation, we may just be rejected and be considered failures. And yet, we imitate again today and tomorrow - the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Hmmmm.

 

O God of life, it is a grand day when the life of your beloved Jesus, becomes part of the character that gives us vitality and hope. Continue to open our hearts to his way and his life.  Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Redeemer Devotions

Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions 

Today, we will enter a section of James Alison's writing that is labeled "The Content of the Skandalon."

 

Although the apostolic witness derives the main lines of force in its understanding of skandalon from the postresurrection understanding of the way in which Jesus had fulfilled the Scripture, it would be wrong to think that this exhausts the meaning of skandalon. The words skandalizo and skandalon appear too often in Jesus' mouth with too coherent (as well as too rich and too dense) a set of meanings for it to be doubted that Jesus himself taught in terms of the stumbling block before his death. When Jesus was teaching the disciples how to avoid being scandalized by him, he was not only teaching them something about him, but something about them: what it is to live in a world of skandala.

 

Once again I'm stopping mid-paragraph and will add the rest tomorrow. This is a stopping point for me because once again, we do not merely read about Jesus and we do not merely talk about Jesus and we do not merely announce how he lived and died and was raised. Rather we - you and I - have the story unfolding among us - as us. In a day when 'church' means an acceptable component of society that keeps things as is, we are meant to be this scandalon - this Jesus figure still moving down this path of 'self-donation.' We are not an institutionalized group of people who simply reflect what the world want to see and hear. We are this outcast band still saying and doing that which is scandalous to the realm of 'normalcy.' To this I must remind us that the scandal is a love that let's no one go. It is not foolishness for the sake of being noticed. It is foolishness - plain and simple - foolishness acting out within the boxed up world that longs for liberation - even now.

 

Connection: Sometimes we only need the companionship of others to take on the scandalous life of Jesus' way. In fact I would submit again that we must have such companionship - so that we come to test one another and refine the way and hold each other up so that we can see the vision of God's peaceable Reign even as we think we are falling down. This is how we see beyond death. This is how we walk right into it.

 

O God of life, walk with us and among us as we face what will be the powers of the day in this day. Open our eyes to the light of resurrection and promise.  Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Redeemer Devotions

Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions 

Let me attach a bit more to yesterday's piece by James Alison.

 

We thus have a very coherent body of witness to the ultimate stumbling block being Jesus' death. Jesus knows that he can lead his disciples up to a certain point, but finally they will be scandalized by him, and that only the resurrection, at the same time as it removes the stone from the mouth of Jesus' grave, will remove the final stumbling block. The stumbling block that it will remove is the human impossibility of following and imitating another man in a path of self-donation that regards death as without substance. What we see then is the link between the notion of the stumbling block and the notion of discipleship. What we have in the Gospels is Jesus teaching the disciples to imitate him in all the things he does: in preaching, teaching, healing, and exorcisms.He would have them imitate him in his self-giving toward death, as all the warning about the persecutions to which they will be prone indicate. However, he know that, in fact, they will not be able to imitate him perfectly in this until after his death and resurrection, so he prepares them as far as possible for his death. In this way at least they can be his witnesses, and after his death they will be able to live out the imitation of his self-giving unto death, thus bearing witness to the Father, without fear of death.

 

I suppose the only way to talk about life eternal and the powerlessness of death is to die - and then be raised. To talk about it is one thing. We all do that. We all talk about new life out of death- but to go through death with the expectation that life awaits us there seems a bit absurd and downright frightening. That is the Good News though. It is the story of life that is no ours to have and to hold - but ours to give away as freely as God's love is handed out for all for new life. The resurrection becomes not a 'fantasy' or mere myth, it becomes for us the next steps of our lives. That is, it becomes what will become us - people who donate our lives as a part of the vision of God's Reign. We need not fear pushing the envelope of hope and peace and justice and mercy and forgiveness. Yes, there may be consequences to such a contrary life, but there is life beyond what we could ever imagine - life that seems to spring from nothing - even death.

 

Connection: Encouragement to be - to say - to move - to give - to dream - to share - to donate even that which is most precious to us - our lives. That is what we are handed through the resurrection - encouragement to be vitally alive even when we know that we are afraid to be so alive and renewed.

 

O God of life, open up this day to the winds of your Spirit and shape our every breath.  Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

Monday, October 15, 2012

Redeemer Devotions

Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions 

This week we will begin with more on the scandal being revealed.

 

We thus have a very coherent body of witness to the ultimate stumbling block being Jesus' death. Jesus knows that he can lead his disciples up to a certain point, but finally they will be scandalized by him, and that only the resurrection, at the same time as it removes the stone from the mouth of Jesus' grave, will remove the final stumbling block. The stumbling block that it will remove is the human impossibility of following and imitating another man in a path of self-donation that regards death as without substance. 

 

I will add the rest tomorrow - this was enough - maybe too much. I was reading this all as just another morning bit of reflection. Then, I read about this 'path of self-donation'. Often people use self-sacrifice. That also is a powerful term. And yet, as I simply say the words 'self-donation' I am a bit shaken. There is no distance between me and self-donation. I know what it is to donate something - to put it in the box being passed around - to open the clothing drop-box and dump in those clothes I no longer need. But self-donation - that is a real action. It mean giving me up - passing me on for the well-being of another. Sacrifice is an old word in some ways. It brings to mind ancient rituals. Even sacrifice in today's world is tied to things like sweat, time, and the like so that we improve ourselves or our situation. Self-donation is a simple giving up what is presently my self - and doing it for a reason. In line with this scandal, the self-donation takes place as part of the healing of a broken world that is as real as me putting myself out for another - freely with no expectations about paybacks or thank you notes - just given and shed we could say.

 

Connection: Is this what happens when we follow Jesus? Are we being invited to donate life. That's what the banner is for organ transplants. People donate an organ - freely. No gift - no money exchanged - just life handed to another. I think about people who donate a kidney. They literally hand over life and they put their own life into some jeopardy. And yet - usually out of love for another, even a stranger - they do it. They self-donate. I will use this term on myself.

 

O God of life, by the power of your Spirit of Life, you move us to see the worth of our own lives as part of a gift that can be given for the sake of others. Encourage our giving.  Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, October 12, 2012

Redeemer Devotions

Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions 

As brave and faithful as many appear - it is really a short journey into the heart of scandal. When we are there - at the time that calls forth faithfulness - the stories of the faithful show us that folks - run - away.

 

- if Jesus' teaching is concerned with enabling his disciples not to be caused to stumble by him, he knows full well that in fact they will all be caused to stumble by his death. The Gospels illustrate this process with particular care. Once again the stumbling centers around a fulfillment of Scripture, and one evidently important in the earliest days of the Church. Zechariah 13:7: "I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered." This text appears in Mark 14:27 and Matthew 26:31, as well by an obvious allusion in John 16:32. In all three contexts it appears linked with the notion of skandalon. This is most obvious in Matthew, where the text is quoted to justify Jesus' claim that all would be scandalized by him that night (26:31). Peter refutes this by claiming that he will not be scandalized and receives the prophecy of his denial. In Mark, Peter understands the quotation in terms of stumbling and promises not to be scandalized (14:29). In John, the allusion appears in an exchange where Jesus has said specifically that "I have said all this to keep you from being scandalized" (16:1). The disciples claim to have understood this, and Jesus, to show them that they haven't understood, then prophesies that they will all be scattered.

 

This way of the shepherd is not easy street. Easy street gets us where we want to go. We usually want to go to a place we judge to be safe according to how we define safe. Therefore, the way the shepherd goes may be - and usually is as we can see throughout Scripture - not our way. Easy street may even be a hard road. And yet, it is still a road we choose to travel - at our speed and under our conditions. Jesus is moving toward the cross. You don't move to the cross by walking down easy street. A person moves to the cross by be a part of a contrary life that does not go along with how the world moves along its way. Each time Jesus teaches and heals and moves into arenas folks are not to go, I'm sure the disciples stuttered a bit. We are told that they followed him but we are also told that they argued and wrestled and doubted and even got the message all wrong. We are told that side of the story because they - the disciples - are us. They are troubled by the scandal of Jesus life and death and -though loving the guy - must and did turn away. The way of God's Reign within the world - the peaceable Reign - is not easy street. If death is a part of this way of Jesus, who wants that! And yet it is that road into the domain of death that shows us another way to be alive. Too often, we all turn down easy street before we allow ourselves to go to the cross.

 

Connection: When I mention going to the cross, I usually offer a shout out to the people around me. That is how each of us moves off of easy street and onto the way of the cross in our individual lives and our corporate lives. It is the wind, whipping Spirit of God's unfolding community of saints that offers the courage for cowards like me to take a step from one street onto this other way - this Jesus way. That communal action is full of dialogue and questions and resistance and pats on the back and words of reservation and encouragement. And yet, in the end, the gathering of saints becomes the story and words of life that offer us another opportunity to follow.

 

O God of life,  we begin this day with the life of your Reign before us. Be for us the encouragement to move out and walk in the realm of your gracious love. Amen.