This week: God as powerfully able to lose. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com . God as powerfully able to lose is wrapped up in the image of Jesus' dead body being taken from the cross and being put into the tomb - dead and gone. Dead and gone - sounds like a loser. From the depths of what appears to be a losing battle, we will witness the resurrection - we will witness the last word being one of forgiveness while Jesus hangs on for the last moments of his life as a loser on another one of the imperial crosses that dispose of people. Go as powerfully able to lose follows through with the way of God's Reign - without compromise - loving and forgiving to what appears to be the end. And yes, it does look like the end. It does look like Jesus loses and the disciples now must go on their way wondering what will come next. And then, God as powerfully able to lose raises up a life that will always be a witness to the powers of the world that are willing to destroy life as they live within the illusion that they are making new lives for themselves. The only new life within a blame-filled, 'us verses them' world is life that steps out and ceaselessly takes hold of the kinds of qualities of life that are so often associated with the weak and outcast and losers - love, forgiveness, self-sacrifice, solidarity with those left out. God as powerfully able to lose keeps giving us options for life even when we are being told there are only certain ways to live. O God of love and new life, help us step out of the games and into the ever-present life of your Reign that becomes new each day. Amen. |
 | | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions |
| | | | | This week: God as divine character. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com . God as divine character brings what many hope will be - right into that which is hope in the making. The incarnation sets us into that which is utterly ordinary and common - humanity in all its common glory - and there is born the character of God's Reign. That character is a gift we are each invited to entertain as the life we take on and make our own. God as divine character is that wonder-filled power to look one another in the eye and see the waiting character of God ready to be realize. Imagine what that must be able to do to our lives - to see that character right in front of us and in another person. Most often, we align ourselves with 'God's side.' And yet, God as divine character is expansive - it takes us beyond how we would have that character displayed. In its incarnation, we see the character of God in the other and therefore we begin to treat the other - any other - all others - as the presence of God. I imagine that would add something new to our lives. O God of love and new life, help us imagine you with us - present - showing yourself off as those around us. Amen. |
 | | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions |
| | | | | This week: God as powerfully able to lose. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com . Losing does not look like power in our world. When we lose, we do not make the mark - we do not overcome another power - we fall short - we are beaten by another. And then, we have the story of our God whose love is so expansive God seems able to lose in order to bring to life another way to be full of power - the power of love and forgiveness and mercy and justice. God as powerfully able to lose is the God who shows us the richness of our humanity - show us God's image. As we go about our days following the ways of hold power over and against others and holding power for the sake of the welfare of myself and my own, God as powerfully able to lose hands us an endless way of coming to grips with how love is a power available to all - and love does not overcome others - love reunites and heals and welcomes and rescues. The cost of all that kind of life - that power - is that we become something other than the ways of the world. God as powerfully able to lose leads us to places in which we may have to stand up the crowd (no matter what size) and act out or speak up in such a way that the 'us and them' that creates a world of winners and losers no longer has a say with us. O God of love and new life, as you call us to love, you invite us to let go of the life we all have learned to hold so dear to us. And yet, as we open ourselves up to what comes within that love there is a new power for life that allows us to re-imagine how new life can be today. Blessed are you, O God. Amen. |
 | | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions |
| | | | | This week: God as divine character. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com . God as divine character brings what many hope will be - right into that which is hope in the making. The incarnation sets us into that which is utterly ordinary and common - humanity in all its common glory - and there is born the character of God's Reign. That character is a gift we are each invited to entertain as the life we take on and make our own. God as divine character is that wonder-filled power to look one another in the eye and see the waiting character of God ready to be realize. Imagine what that must be able to do to our lives - to see that character right in front of us and in another person. Most often, we align ourselves with 'God's side.' And yet, God as divine character is expansive - it takes us beyond how we would have that character displayed. In its incarnation, we see the character of God in the other and therefore we begin to treat the other - any other - all others - as the presence of God. I imagine that would add something new to our lives. O God of love and new life, help us imagine you with us - present - showing yourself off as those around us. Amen. |
 | | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions |
| | | | | This week: God as divine character. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com . Well at least I have the right day today. God as divine character brings us into the realm of the fullness of life that is possible within humanity. Rather than being distant, God as divine character does all that is possible to become known in the quite ordinary stuff of life - in order to demonstrate the true character of God. In the flesh we are able to experience all the pictures that are painted for us in Scripture: the mercy - the justice - the compassion - the love. All of these aspects of God's Reign must be see as truly alive or they are just words printed on a page or spoken aloud. Yet, from the page or from the voice there must be the life - the character - the divine that is no longer elsewhere. God as divine character is the way of peace that actually become a way - in a way that becomes us. God as divine character is a life that may look out of place - like God among humanity - but it is really the only place such a character is to come to life. O God of love and new life, paint us into the picture of a world that brings your character into living color. Amen. |
 | | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions |
| | | | | This week: God as divine character. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com . snow day O God of love and new life, let it snow - let snow - let it snow. Amen. |
 | | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions |
| | | | | This week: God as divine character. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com . I mean this in several ways - at least. The first may simply be that I see God as a real 'character' - as when we look at someone who may be acting a bit odd and we lean over to say to someone else "S/he's a real character." God as divine character shows forth what it is to be the unity of what is traditionally called 'heaven and earth.' Such a character takes the humanity we have made our own and does not let it remain 'as we like it'. God as divine character takes us on a ride into our own lives as though we can be free from the many ways death and all of its powers tend to have a hand in everything we do. God as divine character takes away the line between life and death so that we may live as though we can walk on both sides of what was once a line. We are free to be 'characters' who have this vision of God's peaceable Reign and we move right on into it as though the vision is the life available to us right now. That is Jesus living it all out to the fullest - unmoved or controlled by the structures of death - a real 'character' to most of the folks around him. And yet, God as divine character - God as this character Jesus who is as human and vulnerable as you and me - will do and say and act as though God's Reign really does remove boundaries and bring life to all - even in what we call death. O God of love and new life, when we are characters who take a lead from the actions of your beloved son, we begin to actualize a promise that you have always offered to your people. Thank you for the promise to make life anew each day. Amen. |
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