We carry on from last week with pieces Willimon places in the section called "Christ Triumphant."
The story "I once was lost but now am found" is the narrative that gives us a peculiar account of lost and found, a special responsibility to seek and to save the lost. If we want to come close to Jesus - and that's a good definition of a Christian, someone who wants to go where Jesus is - then we've got to go where he goes. Christians go to church in order never to forget that we were strangers and aliens out on the margins (Ephesians 2:19).
We are to never forget that there is not a line dividing us from them. Rather, we are those strangers at whom people point. Therefore, we are draw together to listen to the story of God's mighty acts on behalf of those pushed out to the margin. We were lost...and now found. Those who appear to us to be lost may be strangers, but that is where Jesus goes...and we - follow. When we worship, it is all about praising this God who abides with and welcomes home strangers and aliens so that no one will be left out and left alone. Worship is a gathering where the sign out front that says welcome is only the beginning of a welcome that does not end - ever. Our character is an active one. We are not saved as much as we are a part of a saving journey in which the one we follow becomes the life of those who follow.
Connection: When we abide in the margins and see ourselves as one of the marginalized, I wonder what that will do with how hospitable we let ourselves be?!
You find us, O God - and we are have our lives opened up to experiences we may have never entered. By your grace, we not only see ourselves with new eyes - we see all things anew. Continue to take us up into the welcoming vision of your Reign and to become the living welcome to others. Amen.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Friday 11 September 2009
Today we will move into a section of "Who Will Be Saved?" that is called "Christ Triumphant" - still with William Willimon.
One reason that Christians tend to move toward those on the boundaries, tend to feel responsibility for the hungry and the dispossessed is because we worship the sort of God who has moved toward us while we were famished and out on the boundaries. God looks upon us all, even us fortunate ones, as the hungry and dispossessed who need saving. This is just the sort of God who commands, "when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed" (Luke 14:13-14). Here is God who, for some reason known only to the Trinity loves to work the margins inhabited by the poor, the orphaned, and the widowed; the alien and sojourner; the dead and the good as dead in the ditch. It is of the nature of this God not only to invite the poor and dispossessed but also to be poor and dispossessed, to come to the margins, thus making the marginalized the center of his realm. "Truly I tell you, just as you did it unto the least of these...you did it unto me" (Matthew 25:40).
This is a story that is not only a part of the story of Jesus as the Messiah of God. It is the story of our God who will not stop making us a new people who keep moving into the creative image of God that cares for all and heals all and abides with all and welcomes all - so that all might have life and have it abundantly...that is...be within the Reign of God's shalom. It is easy to build up a world that is meant to suit the well-to-do and the satisfied and the well-pleased. That is the norm of our culture and many others. But in such a well-made culture, we turn our backs on any and all who do not fit into the store-window world that has become the cultural lie about us. Jesus keeps us looking toward those who are just out of sight...just placed beyond reach...just far enough away that we don't have to see them or feel compelled to stand with them. More and more, I am finding this Jesus Reign to be disturbing. Maybe it is because it keeps tickling me with what can be among us. For me, that tickle is the presence of the Holy Spirit that will not stop trying to turn our heads and lift us up to see what is next along the way of God's call to enter the Reign and live within its fullness. I suppose that I am also caught up with is the price of seeing that Reign and stepping into it - even if I do take tiny, hesitant steps and continuously look for others to take them with me. I don't know what it is to be dispossessed - for I am so possessed by so many things that restrict me from expanding my vision and my actions. The tickling of the Holy Spirit is much needed to bring about life that is both beyond me and quite new.
Connection: Aliens and sojourners....know any?....see any? By the way...don't count yourself for we are invited to look to those out there even at the margins of our own lives.
God of All Times, you never change. You continue to love all and remember all. This is even when we find it so easy to make war, hate, and forget. And yet, you press on with your Spirit touching us and redirecting us...even when we run like crazy in the other direction. Continue to lead us to new life. Amen.
One reason that Christians tend to move toward those on the boundaries, tend to feel responsibility for the hungry and the dispossessed is because we worship the sort of God who has moved toward us while we were famished and out on the boundaries. God looks upon us all, even us fortunate ones, as the hungry and dispossessed who need saving. This is just the sort of God who commands, "when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed" (Luke 14:13-14). Here is God who, for some reason known only to the Trinity loves to work the margins inhabited by the poor, the orphaned, and the widowed; the alien and sojourner; the dead and the good as dead in the ditch. It is of the nature of this God not only to invite the poor and dispossessed but also to be poor and dispossessed, to come to the margins, thus making the marginalized the center of his realm. "Truly I tell you, just as you did it unto the least of these...you did it unto me" (Matthew 25:40).
This is a story that is not only a part of the story of Jesus as the Messiah of God. It is the story of our God who will not stop making us a new people who keep moving into the creative image of God that cares for all and heals all and abides with all and welcomes all - so that all might have life and have it abundantly...that is...be within the Reign of God's shalom. It is easy to build up a world that is meant to suit the well-to-do and the satisfied and the well-pleased. That is the norm of our culture and many others. But in such a well-made culture, we turn our backs on any and all who do not fit into the store-window world that has become the cultural lie about us. Jesus keeps us looking toward those who are just out of sight...just placed beyond reach...just far enough away that we don't have to see them or feel compelled to stand with them. More and more, I am finding this Jesus Reign to be disturbing. Maybe it is because it keeps tickling me with what can be among us. For me, that tickle is the presence of the Holy Spirit that will not stop trying to turn our heads and lift us up to see what is next along the way of God's call to enter the Reign and live within its fullness. I suppose that I am also caught up with is the price of seeing that Reign and stepping into it - even if I do take tiny, hesitant steps and continuously look for others to take them with me. I don't know what it is to be dispossessed - for I am so possessed by so many things that restrict me from expanding my vision and my actions. The tickling of the Holy Spirit is much needed to bring about life that is both beyond me and quite new.
Connection: Aliens and sojourners....know any?....see any? By the way...don't count yourself for we are invited to look to those out there even at the margins of our own lives.
God of All Times, you never change. You continue to love all and remember all. This is even when we find it so easy to make war, hate, and forget. And yet, you press on with your Spirit touching us and redirecting us...even when we run like crazy in the other direction. Continue to lead us to new life. Amen.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Wednesday 9 September 2009
09-09-09 Hmmm. In the middle of this hope, what are we to do - again, William Willimon.
...the church's task is to proclaim, in word and deed, the grand fact of our salvation. "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9). The benefits of Jesus' atoning work extend to all, though sadly, not all know the facts; therefore, we are called to preach the "mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."
Not all know that it is finished...and a new day is available. There are still too many games we would rather play...too many religious act we think will make us God's beloved...too many voices we think we must obey. And yet, the fact remains - our salvation is "in the bag" and we are able to live as though it is the truth. In that living, we become the word and deeds that help others see the mighty acts of God who brings abundant life without our input...it is here...and....now.
Connection: With this fresh in our minds, how will it play out as we continue the stroll through the highs and lows of this day?!
Be present with us, O God - present like wind that may change its appearance and its way of touching us...but is always bringing life....breath....wholeness and healing. In you we begin to find a way in the midst of all the other pathways that try to woo us. Blow upon us Spirit of God. Amen.
...the church's task is to proclaim, in word and deed, the grand fact of our salvation. "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9). The benefits of Jesus' atoning work extend to all, though sadly, not all know the facts; therefore, we are called to preach the "mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."
Not all know that it is finished...and a new day is available. There are still too many games we would rather play...too many religious act we think will make us God's beloved...too many voices we think we must obey. And yet, the fact remains - our salvation is "in the bag" and we are able to live as though it is the truth. In that living, we become the word and deeds that help others see the mighty acts of God who brings abundant life without our input...it is here...and....now.
Connection: With this fresh in our minds, how will it play out as we continue the stroll through the highs and lows of this day?!
Be present with us, O God - present like wind that may change its appearance and its way of touching us...but is always bringing life....breath....wholeness and healing. In you we begin to find a way in the midst of all the other pathways that try to woo us. Blow upon us Spirit of God. Amen.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Tuesday 8 September 2009
Between me forgetting to post on Friday and Monday as a holiday, I hope coming back to Willimon on hope will not be too alien.
For humans to attempt to deny the work of Christ (and Barth seems unwilling to give such denial more than the status of an attempt) is a nonsensical, irrational act. But of course we do stupid things all the time. It is risky to swim against the tide of divine grace, but we often try. To attempt to will something that is against the will of God is to put one's puny little choices and pitiful little will against the desires of God, which is stupid. Whether rebellious, intransient, stupid human resistance to God's desires can go on forever, in the light of Barth's strong emphasis of the vitorious grace of God, is dubious. Still, we commit so many dubious self-destructive acts now, in this life, in this world, who can say for sure that we may not continue into whatever future is given?
I'm not much of a swimmer and I know that when I am at a beach attempthing to swim along the beach, I'm never able to move very far - most often I end up taken by the tide. Grace as a tide that cannot be overcome is a powerful image. I think of those small pools in which swimmers swim against a forced current. The pools can be small because no one can defeat that current rushing at them. It is meant to keep you in one place. In the case of divine grace, we cannot even stay in one place. Grace can and will alter everything - our whole life. God will not relinquish the gift and the grip upon us nor will God leave us thinking that we have been able to go it alone. For as long as we claim to be in control or able to resist God's invitation to rest and be at home, there will be our God outlasting our claims to be our own lord of life.
Connection: It is not at all easy to be reminded of God's will in the face of our own plans.
Lord of Life, when you remind us of our place within your gracious Reign, it can be too much for us to hear. We often want to hear and then speak a limited word. Then again, you prevail through all time so that your voice becomes the truth of our days. Amen.
For humans to attempt to deny the work of Christ (and Barth seems unwilling to give such denial more than the status of an attempt) is a nonsensical, irrational act. But of course we do stupid things all the time. It is risky to swim against the tide of divine grace, but we often try. To attempt to will something that is against the will of God is to put one's puny little choices and pitiful little will against the desires of God, which is stupid. Whether rebellious, intransient, stupid human resistance to God's desires can go on forever, in the light of Barth's strong emphasis of the vitorious grace of God, is dubious. Still, we commit so many dubious self-destructive acts now, in this life, in this world, who can say for sure that we may not continue into whatever future is given?
I'm not much of a swimmer and I know that when I am at a beach attempthing to swim along the beach, I'm never able to move very far - most often I end up taken by the tide. Grace as a tide that cannot be overcome is a powerful image. I think of those small pools in which swimmers swim against a forced current. The pools can be small because no one can defeat that current rushing at them. It is meant to keep you in one place. In the case of divine grace, we cannot even stay in one place. Grace can and will alter everything - our whole life. God will not relinquish the gift and the grip upon us nor will God leave us thinking that we have been able to go it alone. For as long as we claim to be in control or able to resist God's invitation to rest and be at home, there will be our God outlasting our claims to be our own lord of life.
Connection: It is not at all easy to be reminded of God's will in the face of our own plans.
Lord of Life, when you remind us of our place within your gracious Reign, it can be too much for us to hear. We often want to hear and then speak a limited word. Then again, you prevail through all time so that your voice becomes the truth of our days. Amen.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Thursday 3 September 2009
More going on about hope - Willimon and Barth.
Barth's view of salvation is strongly "objective" - our feelings and responses have little to do with it. Barth means to say, in effect, Jesus Christ has accomplished your salvation. This is an undeniable, ultimately irresistible fact. Now live in the light of the fact - repent and believer the good news. We need not strive to be included in salvation; in Jesus Christ all are included as the gift of the miraculous love of god in Christ. By stressing this objective, accomplished quality of salvation, Barth hopes to defeat any modernist notion that salvation is just another personal preference, something that human beings fabricate.
What joy to simply hear this: our salvation is an "ultimately irresistible fact." Oh, we might run from it and try to put in conditions that will make us feel good or reject it outright and say it is something we don't really give a damn about. But...it is still and always will be an irresistible fact always ready and available to be our ground and foundation and future. This is the kind of word that is able to lift one's head when despair and hopelessness is swirling around our lives. For then, we can ask what will be next? What is the day to become for those who rest in this fact? There is no magic and no everything will turn out as we want it. There is simply this announcement of what is...forever. I find that to be quite powerful and yet, at times, I continue to forget it or turn to some other power to sustain me. Unfortunately, nothing else really does.
Connection: What are the kind of facts that help to make the day for you? In the middle of all that can go wrong or turn sour...is this "ultimately irresistible fact" able to reach you?
Lord of the Day, you are the available power for life that is able to transform us and turn us into new directions and into experiences of your loving presence. Be for us again this day as you always promise. For in this day, we know there will be times when we are all too willing to run to other powers and other promises. Amen.
Barth's view of salvation is strongly "objective" - our feelings and responses have little to do with it. Barth means to say, in effect, Jesus Christ has accomplished your salvation. This is an undeniable, ultimately irresistible fact. Now live in the light of the fact - repent and believer the good news. We need not strive to be included in salvation; in Jesus Christ all are included as the gift of the miraculous love of god in Christ. By stressing this objective, accomplished quality of salvation, Barth hopes to defeat any modernist notion that salvation is just another personal preference, something that human beings fabricate.
What joy to simply hear this: our salvation is an "ultimately irresistible fact." Oh, we might run from it and try to put in conditions that will make us feel good or reject it outright and say it is something we don't really give a damn about. But...it is still and always will be an irresistible fact always ready and available to be our ground and foundation and future. This is the kind of word that is able to lift one's head when despair and hopelessness is swirling around our lives. For then, we can ask what will be next? What is the day to become for those who rest in this fact? There is no magic and no everything will turn out as we want it. There is simply this announcement of what is...forever. I find that to be quite powerful and yet, at times, I continue to forget it or turn to some other power to sustain me. Unfortunately, nothing else really does.
Connection: What are the kind of facts that help to make the day for you? In the middle of all that can go wrong or turn sour...is this "ultimately irresistible fact" able to reach you?
Lord of the Day, you are the available power for life that is able to transform us and turn us into new directions and into experiences of your loving presence. Be for us again this day as you always promise. For in this day, we know there will be times when we are all too willing to run to other powers and other promises. Amen.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Wednesday 2 September 2009
Here is some stuff I often say...but I don't have the name as these two do.
Barth wants to eliminate any sense that God's love for us is somehow conditional upon or determined by us. Though the Reformers affirmed salvation by God's grace along, many of their heirs came to speak of salvation as a result of something we did, thought, or felt: "If you repent and believe, then you will be saved. If not, you will not be saved." We like that message because we live in a culture in which our subjectivity and our actions tend to be everything.
It is once again that "if you do...then you get...." It is still, as I tell the youngest followers of Jesus in our congregation "baloney!" What I really like about Willimon's comments here is his evaluation of our culture. One in which "our subjectivity and our actions tend to be everything." It fits the cultural Jesus stuff wonderfully. We say it is all about Jesus but we really want the light to shine on me and how I have done or what I have chosen or how I have "come around." In reality, we are pulled into the this new life that is repentance. We are pulled onto the train and told to hold on for the ride of our lives only to notice that our God has put a seat belt on this train. As we settle into this reality - this ride - it becomes us. That is, we begin to look like the ride and act as though we are a part of this journey through God's Reign. When asked how we got on the train...well...kicking and screaming....but what a ride it is becoming from day to day.
Connection: We do stand and walk through this day as the saving people of God. Already on board and already filled with life that we are invited to share as we go along the way.
You remember us, O God. That is the power that opens up even those days that are most covered over with threat and sadness and doubt. You remember us and you hold us up through all things. We are forever blessed because that is you promise despite all other words or actions or events that we face. Amen.
Barth wants to eliminate any sense that God's love for us is somehow conditional upon or determined by us. Though the Reformers affirmed salvation by God's grace along, many of their heirs came to speak of salvation as a result of something we did, thought, or felt: "If you repent and believe, then you will be saved. If not, you will not be saved." We like that message because we live in a culture in which our subjectivity and our actions tend to be everything.
It is once again that "if you do...then you get...." It is still, as I tell the youngest followers of Jesus in our congregation "baloney!" What I really like about Willimon's comments here is his evaluation of our culture. One in which "our subjectivity and our actions tend to be everything." It fits the cultural Jesus stuff wonderfully. We say it is all about Jesus but we really want the light to shine on me and how I have done or what I have chosen or how I have "come around." In reality, we are pulled into the this new life that is repentance. We are pulled onto the train and told to hold on for the ride of our lives only to notice that our God has put a seat belt on this train. As we settle into this reality - this ride - it becomes us. That is, we begin to look like the ride and act as though we are a part of this journey through God's Reign. When asked how we got on the train...well...kicking and screaming....but what a ride it is becoming from day to day.
Connection: We do stand and walk through this day as the saving people of God. Already on board and already filled with life that we are invited to share as we go along the way.
You remember us, O God. That is the power that opens up even those days that are most covered over with threat and sadness and doubt. You remember us and you hold us up through all things. We are forever blessed because that is you promise despite all other words or actions or events that we face. Amen.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Tuesday 1 September 2009
Hope and faith....again Willimon uses Karl Barth.
Barth puts into perspective the much-praised Reformation principle of "justification by faith." "Faith" - our response to God - is not in itself saving. Roman Catholics have spoken of our faith as animated by love whereas Protestants stress that faith must be exclusively initiated and constantly sustained by its object, Christ. Barth reminds us that the quality or the quantity of our love or our or our believing is not that which saves. Faith is not that which is undertaken by us but rather that which we undergo when the fact of Christ's work floods in upon us with undeniable force. Faith is a gift, pure grace, which is to say that it is miraculous.
I love the image of Christ's work flooding in upon us with undeniable force. Lately I have been taking note of experiences in which I am simply hit with something - something unexpected - something that interrupts...like a glass of wine the dumps over on a table. It makes a mess. This is also the experience of this flood of Christ's work. We are caught up in its spilling out all over things and making us make sudden changes. We do not decide to change. This spilling moves us...often before we have the opportunity to think about it. Move! A gift that simply takes us out of our path and our plans and delivers us into another way of experiencing the rest of the moment...and the rest of our lives. That is grace...it takes over and overwhelms and miraculously brings about life that was not anticipated even a moment ago.
Connection: We are in the middle of this spilling and the Spirit will always nudge us to look again or move...now.
Come, Lord God, and stir up our lives with your strange visitation. Be the Spirit that will not let us go and will always find ways to turn our head and our lives so that we will be a part of the faithful living within your Reign . Amen.
Barth puts into perspective the much-praised Reformation principle of "justification by faith." "Faith" - our response to God - is not in itself saving. Roman Catholics have spoken of our faith as animated by love whereas Protestants stress that faith must be exclusively initiated and constantly sustained by its object, Christ. Barth reminds us that the quality or the quantity of our love or our or our believing is not that which saves. Faith is not that which is undertaken by us but rather that which we undergo when the fact of Christ's work floods in upon us with undeniable force. Faith is a gift, pure grace, which is to say that it is miraculous.
I love the image of Christ's work flooding in upon us with undeniable force. Lately I have been taking note of experiences in which I am simply hit with something - something unexpected - something that interrupts...like a glass of wine the dumps over on a table. It makes a mess. This is also the experience of this flood of Christ's work. We are caught up in its spilling out all over things and making us make sudden changes. We do not decide to change. This spilling moves us...often before we have the opportunity to think about it. Move! A gift that simply takes us out of our path and our plans and delivers us into another way of experiencing the rest of the moment...and the rest of our lives. That is grace...it takes over and overwhelms and miraculously brings about life that was not anticipated even a moment ago.
Connection: We are in the middle of this spilling and the Spirit will always nudge us to look again or move...now.
Come, Lord God, and stir up our lives with your strange visitation. Be the Spirit that will not let us go and will always find ways to turn our head and our lives so that we will be a part of the faithful living within your Reign . Amen.
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