Today we move to Brian Blount on "The Last Word on Biblical Authority."
Many people treat biblical words (like a person who has to have the "last word"), believing that those words, all of them, must always be the last words standing. Now in matters of faith - in matters of understanding our human relationship before God and God's move to nurture, develop, restructure, and refine that relationship through the prophetic and incarnate Word - most of Christendom, I think, agrees that those inspired words are lasting words. But in matters of the proper way to appropriate those words of faith ethically, there is and has always been considerable discussion and debate.
What a wonderful contrast - last word....lasting word. Just saying this is enough to make all of us stop and look again at the word that is being offered for our prayerful contemplation as we read the biblical words. It is my bias that as we attempt to use more and more words as the "last word" we are often left with less and less words to address the situations of the day. But this word we share is one that is lasting. It takes into consideration the day in which we live and it attempts to engage us in a dialogue with times past and times present and the way our God...lasts into all the ages and all of our lives. We probably all have those biblical words that we would consider the last word. I think that is fine. But, it is necessary to keep asking what is last about it...and how is it to be last...and why!?! And if it is considered the last word, can last words become more full for us...can they expand in time to say more or less as we continue to faithfully question and discuss and be shaped by those words?
Connection: Be ready to take another listen...another look...re-view what is last and attempt to see it as first word addressed to this day by the God who calls us beloved.
Come, O Word of Life, and bend our ears so that we will listen again to how you call us anew in each day and offer us an adventure that we may have never expected. Amen.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Friday, November 9, 2007
Monday 12 November 2007
I find this to be an interesting distinction between the "son of Man" (or Human Being) and the Holy Spirit - from Walter Wink.
The Human Being pursues the will of God through trial and error and consequently is bound to make mistakes. Therefore the Human Being may be "spoken against," (Luke 12:10) even corrected or condemned.
The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, is the divine immanence urging us toward our full humanity. In this text, specifically, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is consciously calling good evil. Sin is the opposite: calling evil good. Everyone does the latter, Say Elizabeth Howes, and this passage assures us that all such sins are forgiven. But to consciously recognize the good and to damn it as evil do devastates the moral sense that one may never recover. The architects of Nazism possessed a moral sense so atrophied that most of them later were unable to repent. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit must be extremely rare. In blasphemy, one cuts off the possibility of forgiveness, because forgiveness flows from an interaction with the Source: blasphemy is calling the Source itself evil.
We will stumble in our actions and in our inactivity. We will also stumble as we point at one another and "speak evil" against them. And yet, we are nothing more than fallible beings who have as a way of our lives - stumbling...and falling...and missing the mark. To speak against others or have others speak against us is part of the process. It is part of what brings all of us into a new light so that we can see ourselves change and mature and come to new bits of growth. But when we take the step that begins to label the fullness of God's Reign - its Breath - its Spirit of Life, as less than it is, we claim to be above that creative and sustaining power. We make what has no evil into something that it is evil - or less than it is - or not at all true. I'm drawn to Wink's final words in this quote: blasphemy is calling the Source evil. Just in saying it out loud helps me hear the difference between what is sin and what is blasphemy...and then, I'm able to see how the Human Being (son of Man) is something quite different from the Spirit. The Spirit is the wholeness of life that draws us there into its embrace. Everything else along the way is blessed...but it is also life in the making with all of its flaws and shortcomings.
Connection: Forgiveness of others almost seems like a simple little daily exercise for all of us. We are free to exercise it because we are all on the journey and stumbling along together.
We pray, O God, that we will be shaped by your breath and sustained by your Spirit who is always lifting us up into the vision of your Reign. When we fall short, it is by your grace that we are able to get up and move again with your Spirit into an ever expanding fullness of your Reign. Amen.
The Human Being pursues the will of God through trial and error and consequently is bound to make mistakes. Therefore the Human Being may be "spoken against," (Luke 12:10) even corrected or condemned.
The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, is the divine immanence urging us toward our full humanity. In this text, specifically, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is consciously calling good evil. Sin is the opposite: calling evil good. Everyone does the latter, Say Elizabeth Howes, and this passage assures us that all such sins are forgiven. But to consciously recognize the good and to damn it as evil do devastates the moral sense that one may never recover. The architects of Nazism possessed a moral sense so atrophied that most of them later were unable to repent. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit must be extremely rare. In blasphemy, one cuts off the possibility of forgiveness, because forgiveness flows from an interaction with the Source: blasphemy is calling the Source itself evil.
We will stumble in our actions and in our inactivity. We will also stumble as we point at one another and "speak evil" against them. And yet, we are nothing more than fallible beings who have as a way of our lives - stumbling...and falling...and missing the mark. To speak against others or have others speak against us is part of the process. It is part of what brings all of us into a new light so that we can see ourselves change and mature and come to new bits of growth. But when we take the step that begins to label the fullness of God's Reign - its Breath - its Spirit of Life, as less than it is, we claim to be above that creative and sustaining power. We make what has no evil into something that it is evil - or less than it is - or not at all true. I'm drawn to Wink's final words in this quote: blasphemy is calling the Source evil. Just in saying it out loud helps me hear the difference between what is sin and what is blasphemy...and then, I'm able to see how the Human Being (son of Man) is something quite different from the Spirit. The Spirit is the wholeness of life that draws us there into its embrace. Everything else along the way is blessed...but it is also life in the making with all of its flaws and shortcomings.
Connection: Forgiveness of others almost seems like a simple little daily exercise for all of us. We are free to exercise it because we are all on the journey and stumbling along together.
We pray, O God, that we will be shaped by your breath and sustained by your Spirit who is always lifting us up into the vision of your Reign. When we fall short, it is by your grace that we are able to get up and move again with your Spirit into an ever expanding fullness of your Reign. Amen.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Friday 9 November 2007
Using yesterday's material from Walter Wink's book "The Human Being," I'd like to continue.
"And everyone who speaks a word against the son of man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. (Lk. 12:10; Matt.12:31-32; Thomas 44)
Jesus' refusal to deny their charge (Jesus is having Beelzebul -working on his side) outright is astonishing. Does it mean that he is willing to acknowledge that he might have a malevolent element at work in him? If so, one might conclude that he saw the same sinister element at work in everyone...this vivid sense of the universality of sin could be the presupposition of his teaching about loving enemies. He is clear that, in the name of the Human Being, he can make wrong decisions. Decisions are fallible. Therefore one may speak against the Human Being, precisely because it is not identical with the Holy Spirit.
Vision is different from the actual. In some ways, to speak against the Human Being is so raise a voice against or in criticism of what is coming to life and may be coming to life in a way that is not the vision of what is to be. The Holy Spirit is the vision of what is to be. It is the very breath of God that whips up the beginning of all things and calls all things into being and moves all things to their fulfillment. We are not qualified to speak against that power. To do so would be a joke. To do so would be to attempt to turn the vision - which we are not able to see completely - into something we think might be the vision...at least for us. There is nothing spooky or scary about this Spirit. It is not like it will "get-cha." Rather, when we attempt to speak for this Spirit or raise our voice against the Spirit, it is as though we are playing the role in life that we have never been given nor shall we ever be given it. We are creatures of the Most High - saints...not God and God's Spirit. That Spirit is out of our realm and yet it is the only power that pulls us beyond our present place and enables us to change and dream and be transformed and forgiven so that we may see the brilliance of our Humanity when we are as one in peace.
Connection: Don't try to rule or control the power of our God. It is enough to learn to live with the power we have been granted for an expansive and blessed life together. Let's start there.
Holy Spirit and Wind of New Life, take us and lift us and send us along the way of your creative breath. In the meantime, help us to trust in you alone. Amen.
"And everyone who speaks a word against the son of man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. (Lk. 12:10; Matt.12:31-32; Thomas 44)
Jesus' refusal to deny their charge (Jesus is having Beelzebul -working on his side) outright is astonishing. Does it mean that he is willing to acknowledge that he might have a malevolent element at work in him? If so, one might conclude that he saw the same sinister element at work in everyone...this vivid sense of the universality of sin could be the presupposition of his teaching about loving enemies. He is clear that, in the name of the Human Being, he can make wrong decisions. Decisions are fallible. Therefore one may speak against the Human Being, precisely because it is not identical with the Holy Spirit.
Vision is different from the actual. In some ways, to speak against the Human Being is so raise a voice against or in criticism of what is coming to life and may be coming to life in a way that is not the vision of what is to be. The Holy Spirit is the vision of what is to be. It is the very breath of God that whips up the beginning of all things and calls all things into being and moves all things to their fulfillment. We are not qualified to speak against that power. To do so would be a joke. To do so would be to attempt to turn the vision - which we are not able to see completely - into something we think might be the vision...at least for us. There is nothing spooky or scary about this Spirit. It is not like it will "get-cha." Rather, when we attempt to speak for this Spirit or raise our voice against the Spirit, it is as though we are playing the role in life that we have never been given nor shall we ever be given it. We are creatures of the Most High - saints...not God and God's Spirit. That Spirit is out of our realm and yet it is the only power that pulls us beyond our present place and enables us to change and dream and be transformed and forgiven so that we may see the brilliance of our Humanity when we are as one in peace.
Connection: Don't try to rule or control the power of our God. It is enough to learn to live with the power we have been granted for an expansive and blessed life together. Let's start there.
Holy Spirit and Wind of New Life, take us and lift us and send us along the way of your creative breath. In the meantime, help us to trust in you alone. Amen.
Thursday 7 November 2007
Today we draw on another use of the "son of man" as we look at how it can be interpreted and how the way we see it informs us of our faith life that is before us. Again from Walter Wink.
Wink uses this passage as a starting point.
"And everyone who speaks a word against the son of man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. (Lk.12:10; Matt.12:31-32; Thomas 44)
Jesus' refusal to deny their charge (Jesus is having Beelzebul -working on his side) outright is astonishing. Does it mean that he is willing to acknowledge that he might have a malevolent element at work in him? If so, one might conclude that he saw the same sinister element at work in everyone...this vivid sense of the universality of sin could be the presupposition of his teaching about loving enemies. He is clear that, in the name of the Human Being, he can make wrong decisions. Decisions are fallible. Therefore one may speak against the Human Being, precisely because it is not identical with the Holy Spirit.
In reading this, I was reminded of the difference of being on the way and being the end. Along the way, the Human Being is "becoming." So, whether the Human Being is Jesus or all people, we are on the way. There will be times when what we do and how we do what we do will not be the way that was really intended or the way that brings the best situation to life. Therefore, we will stumble. Our brokenness will show - that is not all bad...it is just real. In the middle of such brokenness, we probably all need to be called out and face what we are doing and how what we are doing is the result of "wrong decisions." In our everyday adventures, we will be called upon to speak up and even speak against the Human Being as it comes alive around us. it is necessary because, again, we are on the way - in the journey and attempting to be who we are invited to be. I like the way Wink ties in Jesus' teaching on enemies. We do not condemn and do evil to our enemies - they are, like us, people who stumble and put forth the wrong goals and walk ways that our not in sync with the vision of God's Reign. We are a people who understand that we make space for the power of forgiveness to shape us more than the divisions that attempt to shape us. I will touch on the part of the Holy Spirit tomorrow.
Connection: It is vital to our growth as saints of the Most High to allow ourselves to be critical of what we are seeing. Even when things are covered with a veneer of "holiness." Today, the veneer might be fine...but in the long run, we need to be connected to more depth than that in all of us.
Lord of Transitions and New Journeys, as we move and trip, as we stumble and yet are able to get up and leap, we turn to you to be the power for life that takes enables us to have a wide vision and a critical view of all that we try to be. Continue, as always, to nurture our growth. Amen.
Wink uses this passage as a starting point.
"And everyone who speaks a word against the son of man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. (Lk.12:10; Matt.12:31-32; Thomas 44)
Jesus' refusal to deny their charge (Jesus is having Beelzebul -working on his side) outright is astonishing. Does it mean that he is willing to acknowledge that he might have a malevolent element at work in him? If so, one might conclude that he saw the same sinister element at work in everyone...this vivid sense of the universality of sin could be the presupposition of his teaching about loving enemies. He is clear that, in the name of the Human Being, he can make wrong decisions. Decisions are fallible. Therefore one may speak against the Human Being, precisely because it is not identical with the Holy Spirit.
In reading this, I was reminded of the difference of being on the way and being the end. Along the way, the Human Being is "becoming." So, whether the Human Being is Jesus or all people, we are on the way. There will be times when what we do and how we do what we do will not be the way that was really intended or the way that brings the best situation to life. Therefore, we will stumble. Our brokenness will show - that is not all bad...it is just real. In the middle of such brokenness, we probably all need to be called out and face what we are doing and how what we are doing is the result of "wrong decisions." In our everyday adventures, we will be called upon to speak up and even speak against the Human Being as it comes alive around us. it is necessary because, again, we are on the way - in the journey and attempting to be who we are invited to be. I like the way Wink ties in Jesus' teaching on enemies. We do not condemn and do evil to our enemies - they are, like us, people who stumble and put forth the wrong goals and walk ways that our not in sync with the vision of God's Reign. We are a people who understand that we make space for the power of forgiveness to shape us more than the divisions that attempt to shape us. I will touch on the part of the Holy Spirit tomorrow.
Connection: It is vital to our growth as saints of the Most High to allow ourselves to be critical of what we are seeing. Even when things are covered with a veneer of "holiness." Today, the veneer might be fine...but in the long run, we need to be connected to more depth than that in all of us.
Lord of Transitions and New Journeys, as we move and trip, as we stumble and yet are able to get up and leap, we turn to you to be the power for life that takes enables us to have a wide vision and a critical view of all that we try to be. Continue, as always, to nurture our growth. Amen.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Wednesday 7 November 2007
More from Walter Wink as he continues to comment about the need of the Human Being to live from an interior center in the middle of a chaotic and violent world.
Whatever else it signifies, the Human Being represents the urge to actualize the self, inner and outer. The Powers are what prevent our becoming. The Human Being is the lure toward our becoming. The Reign of God - God's domination-free order - is the goal of our becoming. Becoming means fidelity to the uniqueness of our own selves. As Jung put it, "Personality is the supreme realization of the innate idiosyncrasy of a living being."
"To develop one's own personality is indeed an unpopular undertaking, a deviation that is highly uncongenial to the herd...To the (person) in the street it has always seemed miraculous that anyone should turn aside from the beaten track with it known destinations, and strike out on the steep and narrow path leading into the unknown. Hence it was always believed that such a (person), if not actually crazy, was possessed by a daemon or a god."
Were such persons crazy? Or were they merely stubborn seekers following the impulse of the Human Being, who has no place to lay its head.
We are each gifted with our lives. Sometimes it may look and feel like a curse, and yet, it is who we are. Now, how do we actualize ourselves when there can be so many other Powers attempting to turn us into something else...even with our consent?!? The goal of our becoming is that Reign of God...that new order...that coming to terms with whose we are and who we will become no matter what might be the cost or the impact as our lives, beloved by God, unfold. This is all so easy to say. Then...comes reality. Then...comes being me in the face of not being...of being rejected...of being left behind...of being forgotten...of being brutalized for not following the path being taking by most others. I don't like using the word "crazy" to describe the saints of God who are emerging as this Human Being because I think it is a more of a blessed sanity that always remembers the place we have in life before anyone tries to put us in a place that is not us.
Connection: Take a deep breath...and see how everything looks before we let everything rule us throughout the day.
What a gift you have given to us, O God. The gift is a simple one - our lives. When we forget that we are the gift of life you have placed into the world to be a gift to others, we need your Spirit to tickle us...remind us...make us bold and full of compassion. Amen.
Whatever else it signifies, the Human Being represents the urge to actualize the self, inner and outer. The Powers are what prevent our becoming. The Human Being is the lure toward our becoming. The Reign of God - God's domination-free order - is the goal of our becoming. Becoming means fidelity to the uniqueness of our own selves. As Jung put it, "Personality is the supreme realization of the innate idiosyncrasy of a living being."
"To develop one's own personality is indeed an unpopular undertaking, a deviation that is highly uncongenial to the herd...To the (person) in the street it has always seemed miraculous that anyone should turn aside from the beaten track with it known destinations, and strike out on the steep and narrow path leading into the unknown. Hence it was always believed that such a (person), if not actually crazy, was possessed by a daemon or a god."
Were such persons crazy? Or were they merely stubborn seekers following the impulse of the Human Being, who has no place to lay its head.
We are each gifted with our lives. Sometimes it may look and feel like a curse, and yet, it is who we are. Now, how do we actualize ourselves when there can be so many other Powers attempting to turn us into something else...even with our consent?!? The goal of our becoming is that Reign of God...that new order...that coming to terms with whose we are and who we will become no matter what might be the cost or the impact as our lives, beloved by God, unfold. This is all so easy to say. Then...comes reality. Then...comes being me in the face of not being...of being rejected...of being left behind...of being forgotten...of being brutalized for not following the path being taking by most others. I don't like using the word "crazy" to describe the saints of God who are emerging as this Human Being because I think it is a more of a blessed sanity that always remembers the place we have in life before anyone tries to put us in a place that is not us.
Connection: Take a deep breath...and see how everything looks before we let everything rule us throughout the day.
What a gift you have given to us, O God. The gift is a simple one - our lives. When we forget that we are the gift of life you have placed into the world to be a gift to others, we need your Spirit to tickle us...remind us...make us bold and full of compassion. Amen.
Tuesday 6 November 2007
Today we're moving into another parable verse in Luke, Matthew, and the gospel of Thomas that uses the image of the son of Man. I'm jumping over a bunch of wonderful images about the way Cynics lived in Jesus day (because some like to draw a connection between Jesus and Cynics of the day) and pressing on to some of Walter Wink's thoughts.
"And Jesus said to him, Foxes have dens, and the birds of the sky have nests; but the son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."
Here again we see indications that the Human Being could denote Jesus and , at the same time, have a collective meaning that took in those following Jesus' way. He does not say, "I have no place to lay my head," nor "I the son of the man have no place to lay my head." Insofar as Jesus, and others, live the existential uncertainty of the Human Being, they have incarnated it. Such incarnation can be the realization that we can live out of an interior center, secure yet flexible, capable of enduring tension, with a tolerance for abiguity, anxiety, and conflict, traveling like turtles with our homes on our backs. Dogmatic religion exists to protect people from this anxious, insecure openness to the possibilities of the moment.
Whatever I heard about this passage, these ending thoughts really have grabbed me. It helps explain how Jesus is said to have noted that his "kingdom is not from this world" (John). It doesn't mean that the kingdom has nothing to do with this world. Rather it can mean that the power of this interior center is not at all involved in the games and positioning and powers that are best known in our world. The Human Being is capable of life that is not ruled by the prevailing winds of the culture and society. Wink draws a picture of a people who are able to live with abiquity, anxiety, conflict - wow, don't we need that kind of a sense of a center in the church today. It is no wonder why issues like homosexuality can dismantle the peace within the church - we do not know how to remain and live from that interior center. We do not know how to be a part of life of the Human Being with the gracious Reign of our God. We want answers, limits, "yes or no." We want a place to lay our heads so that we can cuddle up in our own lives and ignore the world in which the Human Being is to come fully alive. This brief note by Wink may make it into one of my "memorable" quotes. For someone who cannot quote very well, that means this is quite a important gift of wisdom from the author.
Connection: We can walk in the middle of anxious moments and we can embrace something more of our Humanity than we thought we could.
Lord of Open Spaces and New Life, there are many times when we tremble and are afraid. In those times, it is easy to turn from you and secure ourselves as best as we know. In these times, we need your Spirit of All Hopefulness to walk with us and remain at peace and begin to see things in a new and creative way. Thanks be to you, O God. Amen.
"And Jesus said to him, Foxes have dens, and the birds of the sky have nests; but the son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."
Here again we see indications that the Human Being could denote Jesus and , at the same time, have a collective meaning that took in those following Jesus' way. He does not say, "I have no place to lay my head," nor "I the son of the man have no place to lay my head." Insofar as Jesus, and others, live the existential uncertainty of the Human Being, they have incarnated it. Such incarnation can be the realization that we can live out of an interior center, secure yet flexible, capable of enduring tension, with a tolerance for abiguity, anxiety, and conflict, traveling like turtles with our homes on our backs. Dogmatic religion exists to protect people from this anxious, insecure openness to the possibilities of the moment.
Whatever I heard about this passage, these ending thoughts really have grabbed me. It helps explain how Jesus is said to have noted that his "kingdom is not from this world" (John). It doesn't mean that the kingdom has nothing to do with this world. Rather it can mean that the power of this interior center is not at all involved in the games and positioning and powers that are best known in our world. The Human Being is capable of life that is not ruled by the prevailing winds of the culture and society. Wink draws a picture of a people who are able to live with abiquity, anxiety, conflict - wow, don't we need that kind of a sense of a center in the church today. It is no wonder why issues like homosexuality can dismantle the peace within the church - we do not know how to remain and live from that interior center. We do not know how to be a part of life of the Human Being with the gracious Reign of our God. We want answers, limits, "yes or no." We want a place to lay our heads so that we can cuddle up in our own lives and ignore the world in which the Human Being is to come fully alive. This brief note by Wink may make it into one of my "memorable" quotes. For someone who cannot quote very well, that means this is quite a important gift of wisdom from the author.
Connection: We can walk in the middle of anxious moments and we can embrace something more of our Humanity than we thought we could.
Lord of Open Spaces and New Life, there are many times when we tremble and are afraid. In those times, it is easy to turn from you and secure ourselves as best as we know. In these times, we need your Spirit of All Hopefulness to walk with us and remain at peace and begin to see things in a new and creative way. Thanks be to you, O God. Amen.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Monday 5 November 2007
Let's begin the week with one more comment by Walter Wink on the story of the healing of the paralytic and forgiveness of sins as it refers to the son of Man - the Human Being.
When the church ceased to read the reference to the Human Being here as universal empowerment to forgive sins, and took it instead as a christological title more or less equivalent to Christ and Son of God, the authority to declare people reconciled to God ceased to be the common property of the New Humanity established by Jesus. Instead, it became the sole perogative of Jesus and, through ordination, of those who continued to represent him as the official leaders of the chruch. With ordination, the rank-and-file members were stripped of the authority to declare others forgiven on behalf of God. The "laity" became passive recipients of grace and thus emptied themselves once again into transcendence.
It is so important for us to be able to forgive others. It is the beginning of the healing of all of us. This is not something that can be held off for someone else to do for us. When that it the case, some often go without hearing the word of forgiveness or speaking the word of forgiveness. The whole community suffers form that unwillingness to share in what I would consider the high-calling of our humanity. We have let go of this power for life. It has thus become something like a magical experience...only done at certain times, under certain situations, and by certain people. When Jesus heal and forgives that paralytic, is it a word to us to not shut up - but rather, speak the words and begin to experience what may come when our Humanity lives within the realm of forgiveness that is our inheritance. I think forgiveness is such a strange and wonder-filled act that we cannot even imagine what new life can come from our experience of being forgiven or offering forgiveness. I suppose the best way to enter into that part of our Humanity is to risk being a part of this power for new life.
Connection: There's something about forgiveness that calls us to let go. Letting go can be a challenge. So...today, begin to let go.
Forgiving Lord, lead us along the path that brings us into the land of forgiveness in which we are active parts of your Reign where new life is created and old wounds are healed. In that land where you pitch you tent, may we be there with you celebrating life that is within our reach as you bless us all. Amen.
When the church ceased to read the reference to the Human Being here as universal empowerment to forgive sins, and took it instead as a christological title more or less equivalent to Christ and Son of God, the authority to declare people reconciled to God ceased to be the common property of the New Humanity established by Jesus. Instead, it became the sole perogative of Jesus and, through ordination, of those who continued to represent him as the official leaders of the chruch. With ordination, the rank-and-file members were stripped of the authority to declare others forgiven on behalf of God. The "laity" became passive recipients of grace and thus emptied themselves once again into transcendence.
It is so important for us to be able to forgive others. It is the beginning of the healing of all of us. This is not something that can be held off for someone else to do for us. When that it the case, some often go without hearing the word of forgiveness or speaking the word of forgiveness. The whole community suffers form that unwillingness to share in what I would consider the high-calling of our humanity. We have let go of this power for life. It has thus become something like a magical experience...only done at certain times, under certain situations, and by certain people. When Jesus heal and forgives that paralytic, is it a word to us to not shut up - but rather, speak the words and begin to experience what may come when our Humanity lives within the realm of forgiveness that is our inheritance. I think forgiveness is such a strange and wonder-filled act that we cannot even imagine what new life can come from our experience of being forgiven or offering forgiveness. I suppose the best way to enter into that part of our Humanity is to risk being a part of this power for new life.
Connection: There's something about forgiveness that calls us to let go. Letting go can be a challenge. So...today, begin to let go.
Forgiving Lord, lead us along the path that brings us into the land of forgiveness in which we are active parts of your Reign where new life is created and old wounds are healed. In that land where you pitch you tent, may we be there with you celebrating life that is within our reach as you bless us all. Amen.
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