This is one of those stories that reminds us, that God not only calls us, but equips us with what we need to fulfill our calling. It's a powerful reminder that we're called to great things - that God expects great things - awesome things - from us, but that God doesn't expect us to do it on our own. Not because we're lazy, but because the things God asks us to do are oftentimes outside the realm of human possibility.
He did not live in a house but in the tombs. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles. He was driven by the demon into the wilds. For a long time he had worn no clothes. Until he met Jesus. Then he was clothed and in his right mind. You’d think this story of great deliverance would have a happier ending. You’d think the townsfolk would be so happy that this […]
The Kingdom of God is for riff-raff. This is uncomfortable to me. Because I've tried very hard in my life NOT to be riff-raff. As I've lived my life, entered adulthood, and joined the League of Parents I've tried as hard as I can to be as respectable as possible. I try hard not to disrespect the unrespectable, but I also try and keep a comfortable distance, because that sort of thing rubs off, you know. But, our Lord has a soft spot for the unrespectable. They're his people. Yes, yes, Jesus doesn't play favorites. . . But he does really.
As humans, when we come face to face with birth or death we instinctively stop. It’s like there’s a universal recognition of the sacred in such moments. And in moments of birth and death we re-engage our sense of touch. In modern, western, culture we’re funny about touch. And, sure, other cultures are funny about touch too, of course. But we, in particular, don’t generally like to be touched or to touch others unless the […]
And that is the let-down we are all faced with on Trinity Sunday. We can have fun with Athanasius and Arius, we can break out Greek words like homoousias and perichoresis, and maybe get our money's worth from our theological education. But, at the end of the day we will be left with the gap between us and the unknowable. That which we are unable to bear.
Cause if we just sink into the mire of Christian blandness we might as well just climb back into the upper room. And lock the door. I heard it's safe in there. But when the Spirit of God moved on the waters, and Light shined forth, and the morning stars sang together with all the heavenly host - when that hunk of clay took its first breath direct from the lungs of God - when the white-hot fire of God swooped down from Heaven and set a bush on fire/ blazed a trail in the wilderness/ filled the Temple with God's Presence/ brought forth the Holy Spirit and set the disciples' heads literally on fire. . . there was nothing bland about any of it.
And, maybe it's not the central meaning of this passage from the Book of Acts, but what this perspective at least demonstrates is that ministry, and blessing, and prayer all happen in the midst of the messiness of human emotion. There's that awful preconceived notion that the Christian life is supposed to be one of calm serenity, if not outright blandness. There's an unspoken (though maybe in some circles it IS spoken) platitude that if we're close to the heart of God we just smile all the time and put up with anything and anyone without bother. Bologna.
On this day when we remember our mothers, let us offer our prayers to Jesus, the son of Mary. Because on this earth we are all sons and daughters of Eve, let us pray for the whole world and the church universal, that we might behold each other as brothers and sisters. Lord in your mercy. Hear our Prayer. As Rebecca gave birth to Jacob, and in so doing she gave birth to a whole […]
The astute reader will recognize in this reading, from the second to last chapter in the Bible, imagery from the second chapter of Genesis, and the Garden of Eden: the Tree of Life and the River flowing on either side of it. Here, in this phase of John's Apocalypse, we return to the cool of the garden - that wonderful time when humanity walked with God in the cool of the day. That time when we spoke to God as casually as we might speak to one another. That time when all was right in the universe, and all was right in our relationship with God. Paul would call this righteousness. But, it's not that the 'unpleasantness' of the fall never happened. Or the unpleasantness of Cain killing Abel. Or the unpleasantness of drunkenness, sordidness, the golden calf, David and Bathsheba, war, strife, hatred, idolatry, unfaithfulness blah, blah, blah - it's not that all that didn't happen. It's that it's all taken care of. The tab has been paid. The tomb is empty. Jesus is made new. And now the full ramifications of the Resurrection of Jesus can be seen: Eden is made new. Eden has returned - but! It's also remade. It's new.
If you’ve been following this blog for a few weeks, you may have noticed a theme. . . I think the juxtaposition of the quasi-continuous readings of the Book of Revelation this Eastertide is a great reminder that the Resurrection of Jesus has personal and cosmic ramifications: everything gets made new. Everything. Even us. Even the whole wide world. Peter catches a glimpse of that in the lesson from Acts. His personal struggle with the […]