We continue in "In the End - The Beginning"
According to the Old Testament, God's righteousness is his creative faithfulness to the community he shares, in the covenant with his people and in the covenant with his creation. According to the First Commandment, the God of Israel is the God who has freed the prisoners from their enslavement. So it is right to expect him to 'execute (create) justice for the oppressed' (Psalm 14:7; 103:6). God brings about justice for widows and orphans (Deuteronomy 10:18; Psalms 82:3; Isaiah 1:17) and is present among people who are forsaken and lost. He cares for the the 'strangers.' That is why anyone who cries out for God can cry with Psalm 31:1: 'In thy righteousness deliver me!'
The character of our God shapes our expectations of how our God will be with us. Moltmann's expression "creative faithfulness to the community" is brimful with possibilities. And yet, the possibilities of our lives will have a face on them that will be very distinct and above all, inclusive. For example, if there is no justice for the poor and no liberation for the oppressed, then we cannot talk as though God's people are raised up and delivered. Then again, it is what we can expect and it is a life we can presently walk into even if there is no evidence that God is bringing it about at this time. Why? Because liberation and care and support of the poor is promised. Unfortunately, how often do we go for it...reach out as though it is coming into the midst of our lives. Usually I think it is something for which I am to wait...and yet, God uses God's people to fulfill promises. If I remember well, something like two brothers names Aaron and Moses were right in the middle of the liberation of Israel from the once strong arm of Pharaoh.
Connection: Yes, we've heard it before. Justice and mercy begins today...in the midst of all of us. Who knows what that will mean today...I'm sure we will get a few hints.
Faithful Lord, as your blessed Reign continues to be established, inspire us to be workers within your gracious power and to look for the many ways you seek to bring abundant life to all. Amen.
Monday, January 10, 2005
Sunday, January 9, 2005
10 January 2005
We continue with "In the End - The Beginning" by Jurgen Moltmann
'May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope', writes Paul to the congregation in Rome (Romans 15:13).
This is unique. Nowhere else in the world of the religions is God associated with human hope for the future. God is the one who is Eternally Present, the deity is the Wholly Other, what is divine is Timelessly Eternal: all that is common coin. God is 'above us' as the Almighty, or God is 'within us' as the ground of our being: that is familiar. But a God of hope, who is in front of us, and goes ahead of us in history?
If this is indeed the case, I suppose we will start to take a look at how such a view of God has an impact on us. In the text from Romans, there is already a glimpse at what it means to have hope for the future - it is present today. Hope abounds today because we are taught that there is a future in which God already presides. When hope in the future abounds today, today becomes a day filled with life. In that sense, as we shall see over the next week, we are intimately tied to the end of all things because they already make an impact on who we are and what we do today. With a vision of what is to come, we do not simply live within this day and count on what the day will make of us. We can walk through what the day will make of us but we will hang our lives on what we know will be the outcome of history - sometimes we use language like a banquet. In this way, there is life today that cannot be contained by the limits of today. You may say I'm defeated, but I know I am already a part of the victory.
Connection: We are free to be very involved in the events of today and we bring to this day all the life that is promised for the very end of time. How will that shape the day?
O Lord, from the end of time, you rush into this day to remind us of what is to come and to walk with us through the day that awaits us. As we live among our neighbors, remind us of the neighborliness of your Blessed Reign that we will be free to join your saints in just such a life now. Amen.
'May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope', writes Paul to the congregation in Rome (Romans 15:13).
This is unique. Nowhere else in the world of the religions is God associated with human hope for the future. God is the one who is Eternally Present, the deity is the Wholly Other, what is divine is Timelessly Eternal: all that is common coin. God is 'above us' as the Almighty, or God is 'within us' as the ground of our being: that is familiar. But a God of hope, who is in front of us, and goes ahead of us in history?
If this is indeed the case, I suppose we will start to take a look at how such a view of God has an impact on us. In the text from Romans, there is already a glimpse at what it means to have hope for the future - it is present today. Hope abounds today because we are taught that there is a future in which God already presides. When hope in the future abounds today, today becomes a day filled with life. In that sense, as we shall see over the next week, we are intimately tied to the end of all things because they already make an impact on who we are and what we do today. With a vision of what is to come, we do not simply live within this day and count on what the day will make of us. We can walk through what the day will make of us but we will hang our lives on what we know will be the outcome of history - sometimes we use language like a banquet. In this way, there is life today that cannot be contained by the limits of today. You may say I'm defeated, but I know I am already a part of the victory.
Connection: We are free to be very involved in the events of today and we bring to this day all the life that is promised for the very end of time. How will that shape the day?
O Lord, from the end of time, you rush into this day to remind us of what is to come and to walk with us through the day that awaits us. As we live among our neighbors, remind us of the neighborliness of your Blessed Reign that we will be free to join your saints in just such a life now. Amen.
Friday, January 7, 2005
7 January 2005
We start again with Jurgen Moltmann's "In The End - The Beginning."
The theology of the early Church said that in this event (Christmas) God 'became man' - became human. But the mystery really begins with God's becoming a child. The great, all-comprehensive rule of God begins as this child's rule of peace. The gospel of Christ is profoundly engraved by the gospel about children: 'Whoever receives a child receives me' and : 'Unless you become like a children...', for the kingdom of God is theirs.
How would it fit to say that the incarnation and the coming of God in the form of a child has something to do with "Unless you become you." That is, unless you see the worth in being human in your own shoes without any privilege beyond the fact that you are you...you will miss the power and simplicity of the Reign of God. Last night I told some of our young people that when we baptize, we say the child's name: first name, middle name, but no last name. There is to be no last name because the child's identity is to be as one clothed in Christ and not shielded or known to everyone by the influence and status of the family. In Baptism, God blesses and saves me...the infant child...the one who has no power and no real identity. The same thing is going to happen at my death. No matter how rich or famous...or poor and despised I may become, the casket is covered with the funeral pall so that my casket will look like all others. And when it is time to put me into the ground or taken to the crematory, they will say only the name Frank Allan - stilled beloved of God.
Connection: We have the God of Creation on our side and with us throughout all that takes place today. That doesn't make us superhuman nor does it mean that we will be protected from all the bad stuff in the world. It means we can be fully human...just who we are...and it is all that is needed to begin to walk within the image of God.
Take us and hold us as we face the events of this day, O Lord of Creation. Send us off again, with the assurance of your love that is the power to heal the brokenness around us and in us. Lift up our eyes so that we can see the fullness of this day you have created for all your children. Amen.
The theology of the early Church said that in this event (Christmas) God 'became man' - became human. But the mystery really begins with God's becoming a child. The great, all-comprehensive rule of God begins as this child's rule of peace. The gospel of Christ is profoundly engraved by the gospel about children: 'Whoever receives a child receives me' and : 'Unless you become like a children...', for the kingdom of God is theirs.
How would it fit to say that the incarnation and the coming of God in the form of a child has something to do with "Unless you become you." That is, unless you see the worth in being human in your own shoes without any privilege beyond the fact that you are you...you will miss the power and simplicity of the Reign of God. Last night I told some of our young people that when we baptize, we say the child's name: first name, middle name, but no last name. There is to be no last name because the child's identity is to be as one clothed in Christ and not shielded or known to everyone by the influence and status of the family. In Baptism, God blesses and saves me...the infant child...the one who has no power and no real identity. The same thing is going to happen at my death. No matter how rich or famous...or poor and despised I may become, the casket is covered with the funeral pall so that my casket will look like all others. And when it is time to put me into the ground or taken to the crematory, they will say only the name Frank Allan - stilled beloved of God.
Connection: We have the God of Creation on our side and with us throughout all that takes place today. That doesn't make us superhuman nor does it mean that we will be protected from all the bad stuff in the world. It means we can be fully human...just who we are...and it is all that is needed to begin to walk within the image of God.
Take us and hold us as we face the events of this day, O Lord of Creation. Send us off again, with the assurance of your love that is the power to heal the brokenness around us and in us. Lift up our eyes so that we can see the fullness of this day you have created for all your children. Amen.
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
6 January 2005
We will start from "In the End, The Beginning"
'In every child the messiah can be born', says a Jewish proverb. So every child deserves respect. It is encompassed by the magic of the messianic hope. At Christmas, Christians celebrate the festival of the birth of the Redeemer in 'the child in the manger' in Bethlehem. What are we really doing then? We are celebrating the encounter with the almighty God in the weak and helpless child Jesus. But this presupposes a tremendous proceeding: the Creator of heaven and earth, whom even the heaven of heavens cannot contain, becomes so humble and small that in this child Jesus he is beside us and lives among us.
Becoming humble and small seems like something we all try to avoid at times. We do that by making too much of ourselves or making too little of ourselves. God becomes human. God becomes the a part of the fullness of humanity in all its glory so that God would be known not as something or someone out there...but here...right where you are. For me, becoming humble and small means that I think enough of myself to let go and take the risk to come and know you no matter what it might mean for me. That is a dangerous proposition because in coming to know you and be known by you, things may change for me and you...and we can never tell what that change will be. When we look at the Jesus story, it is always with the view of what we learn about God through hearing about Jesus. Sometimes I like to think that God had to learn a whole bunch about what it is to be...not to create - but to be...human. We can only imagine what that learning was.
Connection: What would it take to come to know someone more than we might know that person right now? What might we gain...what might we lose?
Lord of the Nativity, by breaking into our lives you break open what it is to live in the presence of the Reign of God taking up residence in our place and time. Turn us so that we will face those around us and thus find in them another way to be like the Christ who comes into all of our humanity. Amen.
'In every child the messiah can be born', says a Jewish proverb. So every child deserves respect. It is encompassed by the magic of the messianic hope. At Christmas, Christians celebrate the festival of the birth of the Redeemer in 'the child in the manger' in Bethlehem. What are we really doing then? We are celebrating the encounter with the almighty God in the weak and helpless child Jesus. But this presupposes a tremendous proceeding: the Creator of heaven and earth, whom even the heaven of heavens cannot contain, becomes so humble and small that in this child Jesus he is beside us and lives among us.
Becoming humble and small seems like something we all try to avoid at times. We do that by making too much of ourselves or making too little of ourselves. God becomes human. God becomes the a part of the fullness of humanity in all its glory so that God would be known not as something or someone out there...but here...right where you are. For me, becoming humble and small means that I think enough of myself to let go and take the risk to come and know you no matter what it might mean for me. That is a dangerous proposition because in coming to know you and be known by you, things may change for me and you...and we can never tell what that change will be. When we look at the Jesus story, it is always with the view of what we learn about God through hearing about Jesus. Sometimes I like to think that God had to learn a whole bunch about what it is to be...not to create - but to be...human. We can only imagine what that learning was.
Connection: What would it take to come to know someone more than we might know that person right now? What might we gain...what might we lose?
Lord of the Nativity, by breaking into our lives you break open what it is to live in the presence of the Reign of God taking up residence in our place and time. Turn us so that we will face those around us and thus find in them another way to be like the Christ who comes into all of our humanity. Amen.
Tuesday, January 4, 2005
5 January 2005
We continue with "In The End - The Beginning by Jurgen Moltmann
'To us a child is born', proclaims the prophet Isaiah to his people who are 'walking in darkness' (Isaiah 9:6, 9:2). The destruction of their country, the expulsion from their homeland, forced labour in Babylon: a black eclipse of God had fallen on God's people.
...So 'the child of promise' becomes the symbol for the future of life, in contrast to the sufferings of the present. And in this way it also becomes the pledge of God's faithfulness: he will find his forsaken people and bring them home.
This is an image we see quite a bit at the change of one year to the next. The baby 2005 replaces the old man 2004. The child is future - what can be. This symbol of potential life is especially important for all of us when we face what can be a brutal, disappointing, and fear-filled situation in our lives. I'm always amazed when people say they would never want to bring a child into a world like ours. It is a sad statement that reflects an inability to trust that our God is a God for every age and this God calls each age and every generation into life beyond our present expectations. We could say that the more hopeless a day looks is precisely the time to consider the "child born to us" and how God will indeed be with us so that hope blooms before us.
Connection: It is easy to be defeated by the circumstances of our day. It is easy to fall prey to discouragement and failure. It is also critical for us to remind one another how God will keep giving birth to new life no matter how down and out we may feel today.
Lord of New Year and the New Day, take us with you into the vision of your blessed Reign that will begin today and will move us into the time that is to come. Ignite within us a yearning for the possibilities that you place within our lives. Amen.
'To us a child is born', proclaims the prophet Isaiah to his people who are 'walking in darkness' (Isaiah 9:6, 9:2). The destruction of their country, the expulsion from their homeland, forced labour in Babylon: a black eclipse of God had fallen on God's people.
...So 'the child of promise' becomes the symbol for the future of life, in contrast to the sufferings of the present. And in this way it also becomes the pledge of God's faithfulness: he will find his forsaken people and bring them home.
This is an image we see quite a bit at the change of one year to the next. The baby 2005 replaces the old man 2004. The child is future - what can be. This symbol of potential life is especially important for all of us when we face what can be a brutal, disappointing, and fear-filled situation in our lives. I'm always amazed when people say they would never want to bring a child into a world like ours. It is a sad statement that reflects an inability to trust that our God is a God for every age and this God calls each age and every generation into life beyond our present expectations. We could say that the more hopeless a day looks is precisely the time to consider the "child born to us" and how God will indeed be with us so that hope blooms before us.
Connection: It is easy to be defeated by the circumstances of our day. It is easy to fall prey to discouragement and failure. It is also critical for us to remind one another how God will keep giving birth to new life no matter how down and out we may feel today.
Lord of New Year and the New Day, take us with you into the vision of your blessed Reign that will begin today and will move us into the time that is to come. Ignite within us a yearning for the possibilities that you place within our lives. Amen.
Monday, January 3, 2005
4 January 2005
From Jurgen Moltmann's "In the end, the beginning."
In writing about God's promises and our trust of those promises Moltmann writes:
Abraham and Sarah offer the primal image of this kind of trust, for according to Genesis 12 they left everything in response to God's promise that he would make of them a great people and a blessing for all generations of human beings. The departure of Abraham and Sarah from their home country, and the wanderings that followed, show that a divine promise doesn't just point forward to some far-off future, which we have to wait for; the promised future is already present in the promise itself, and mobilizes the people concerned through the hope it awakens.
The promise brings life that is able to see beyond today and to see how today is a part of what is to come. The promise is not based on our gifts and our talents. We are not asked to trust in our skills or our knowledge and then "pull ourselves up" into a better day. The promise is all about what our God plans to do and will begin doing with us right now. There is no promise that God will make me successful in the world...or keep me safe from harm. The promise is that God will take me...me as me...and create a life of faithfulness that will be unlike anything that is already in place around me. Abraham and Sarah were not invited into the promised future of God because they were "somebody." They were quite the opposite - nobody at all. God takes just such people and builds new life for them and, as you might expect, others.
Connection: Trusting that we are beloved of God and called into the life that new status gives us can make more of a claim on today than we might ever imagine. That's why we are always being called to live within that promise. Come and see what this life will be for you.
Lord, we do not know what it means to trust your gift of life and your invitation to follow. In Christ, Jesus, you show a way to move into this day. In Sarah and Abraham you flash before us lives that took seriously your promise for life as they left their home to live within your Reign. Encourage us to step forward and trust whose we are and what life we are given. Amen.
In writing about God's promises and our trust of those promises Moltmann writes:
Abraham and Sarah offer the primal image of this kind of trust, for according to Genesis 12 they left everything in response to God's promise that he would make of them a great people and a blessing for all generations of human beings. The departure of Abraham and Sarah from their home country, and the wanderings that followed, show that a divine promise doesn't just point forward to some far-off future, which we have to wait for; the promised future is already present in the promise itself, and mobilizes the people concerned through the hope it awakens.
The promise brings life that is able to see beyond today and to see how today is a part of what is to come. The promise is not based on our gifts and our talents. We are not asked to trust in our skills or our knowledge and then "pull ourselves up" into a better day. The promise is all about what our God plans to do and will begin doing with us right now. There is no promise that God will make me successful in the world...or keep me safe from harm. The promise is that God will take me...me as me...and create a life of faithfulness that will be unlike anything that is already in place around me. Abraham and Sarah were not invited into the promised future of God because they were "somebody." They were quite the opposite - nobody at all. God takes just such people and builds new life for them and, as you might expect, others.
Connection: Trusting that we are beloved of God and called into the life that new status gives us can make more of a claim on today than we might ever imagine. That's why we are always being called to live within that promise. Come and see what this life will be for you.
Lord, we do not know what it means to trust your gift of life and your invitation to follow. In Christ, Jesus, you show a way to move into this day. In Sarah and Abraham you flash before us lives that took seriously your promise for life as they left their home to live within your Reign. Encourage us to step forward and trust whose we are and what life we are given. Amen.
Sunday, January 2, 2005
3 January 2005
We start a series featuring "In the End-the Beginning" by Jurgen Moltmann.
"There is a magic in every beginning", wrote Hermann Hesse. What does this mean, if we think about the beginning of every human life? In order to grasp this more clearly, let us look at the biblical concept of promise. A divine promise is the promise of future which God is going to bring about. When God promises something he is bound to keep his promise, for his own sake and for the sake of his glory. His whole being is faithfulness. That is why we human beings can trust him and can believe what he promises.
At least we must realize that promise within our faith story has to do with "future which God is going to bring about." This is not about what I want to see take place. I am called to trust in what God promises. There is a whole book filled with how God goes about bringing the promises that point to the way of the future into the events of the day. Many times though, it is much easier for me, and I take it for you also, to trust what we each may have planned for ourselves and others in our lives. But when we venture to say we are God's people, we are letting go of the plans we can so precisely make and we are boldly invited to set out into God's future. Sometimes we use the word vision to lay out such a planned journey. But again, it is the vision of God's future that we learn from the one who stretches it out before us. The magic (if that's one way we choose to call it) of a beginning is that we cannot know its full content. Absolutely anything can step into the pathway we walk and therefore we cannot predict how the promise will unfold. When God promises to be with us -Emmanuel- that sounds great...but what in the world will that mean for us by the end of this day or the next week or as I am about to decide between this or that "life" decision. There is always something strange, challenging, and...hopeful in hearing that God is and will being bringing something about in our lives.
Connection: Hang on and be ready for a how today may be an ordinary day but within its many turns and straight-aways, we may find something divine in the air and it blow across our faces turning our lives into something more than we could expect.
Wind of Life, you pull us forward into your future. Sometimes we pull away and run as fast as we can in another direction and sometime we are swept up into your presence and find our lives changing again. Refresh us again so that we will be ready to walk in your ways. Amen.
"There is a magic in every beginning", wrote Hermann Hesse. What does this mean, if we think about the beginning of every human life? In order to grasp this more clearly, let us look at the biblical concept of promise. A divine promise is the promise of future which God is going to bring about. When God promises something he is bound to keep his promise, for his own sake and for the sake of his glory. His whole being is faithfulness. That is why we human beings can trust him and can believe what he promises.
At least we must realize that promise within our faith story has to do with "future which God is going to bring about." This is not about what I want to see take place. I am called to trust in what God promises. There is a whole book filled with how God goes about bringing the promises that point to the way of the future into the events of the day. Many times though, it is much easier for me, and I take it for you also, to trust what we each may have planned for ourselves and others in our lives. But when we venture to say we are God's people, we are letting go of the plans we can so precisely make and we are boldly invited to set out into God's future. Sometimes we use the word vision to lay out such a planned journey. But again, it is the vision of God's future that we learn from the one who stretches it out before us. The magic (if that's one way we choose to call it) of a beginning is that we cannot know its full content. Absolutely anything can step into the pathway we walk and therefore we cannot predict how the promise will unfold. When God promises to be with us -Emmanuel- that sounds great...but what in the world will that mean for us by the end of this day or the next week or as I am about to decide between this or that "life" decision. There is always something strange, challenging, and...hopeful in hearing that God is and will being bringing something about in our lives.
Connection: Hang on and be ready for a how today may be an ordinary day but within its many turns and straight-aways, we may find something divine in the air and it blow across our faces turning our lives into something more than we could expect.
Wind of Life, you pull us forward into your future. Sometimes we pull away and run as fast as we can in another direction and sometime we are swept up into your presence and find our lives changing again. Refresh us again so that we will be ready to walk in your ways. Amen.
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