Psalms 98 and 66; Jeremiah 30:10-17; Luke 6:12-26; Colossians 1:15-23
It bewilders me to consider that as I put my hope and faith in Jesus who died on the cross to save me, to remember that Jesus is God - that it is God who saves. Jesus and God are not separate beings, at cross purposes, or in conflict. God is not bad, Jesus good. God is consistent in how God deals with sin and restores and reconciles. The God who creates and reigns and judges and punishes is the God who saves us from our enemies, and from ourselves, from death. The God of Israel is the God of the cross, who was raised from the dead. The prologue to John's gospel (John 1:1-3) and now Colossians affirm this: 19For in [Jesus] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
The way I see it, God intended peace and intimate relationship with God and creation since creation. Peace with the earth, with each other, with God. So God's created intent was to create a way from the beginning - that way is Jesus, the cross and the resurrection. It took a long time for God's people to find God, to trust God. Perhaps God knew it would, since God created us with wills to wander. Scripture tells us Jesus was there through it all, the Savior-Son-ManGod. When the enemies of God came against Israel, and when Israel turned away from God; when our wounds were grievous and we were "hostile to God," Jesus was there with and as God. Says the Lord in Jeremiah, 11For I am with you, says the LORD, to save you; I will make an end of all the nations among which I scattered you, but of you I will not make an end. I will chastise you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished. With us from the beginning was truth, justice and grace, mercy and wrath, protection and discipline, all in the One true God.
As I come close to Jesus in prayer, and if I pray like Jesus, deeply - as he prayed all night long, I hear him call my name. And he draws me to God. And he tells me not to fear, even though God's character is both to save and to judge. On this side of heaven, I am still puzzled by the mystery of the Trinity - of Jesus being God, however distinct in time and economy - yet one.
This I know, God's ways are Jesus' ways, and vice verse. God's will for our lives is still relevant and necessary for us today and is manifest in Jesus. By the power of the Holy Spirit may we have ears to hear, and hearts to follow, minds to obey, and wills to trust to accept what God has for us, in Christ. Says Paul, 21And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him— 23provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Friday, April 27, 2007
Daily Scriptures, first thoughts April 27, 2007
Psalm 96:1-13; Daniel 6:1-15; 2 John 1-13
When I read Daniel and 2 John in the same reading, I am reminded of my responsibilities on the CPM committee in my Presbytery - Committee for Preparation for Ministry. The meeting of the satraps and presidents sounds like the bunch of elders and ministers and Presbytery representatives who consider the readiness of individuals for ordination within our denomination, through stages of inquiry, candidacy and ordination. I'm not sure I'm a satrap or a president, but I, like Daniel, have for sat before them on my own journey to ordination. Now I'm one of them.
Daniel flew through the process and became a superior leader among them because he had "an excellent spirit within him," and had not broken the law of God. But jealousy seemed to creep in among the others; he was just too good. And on top of that, he was a fundamentalist. Can't have that in this denomination. And so, a new requirement was imposed, to give homage to the King over God. But Daniel stayed his conscience and his faith. He maintained first and foremost his allegiance to God over his King. And he stepped into the trap set for him by his colleagues.
When we examine candidates, we presidents and satraps are asked to have them uphold the essential tenets of the reformed faith, even though they might stray from our "standards" outlined in the our constitution (confessions and Book of Order) in "good conscience." In fact, they can even have a scruple with the essential tenets, as I read the PUP report and the committee, and in the name of diversity, the CPM can pass them on. Our General Assembly has passed a guideline for us to examine people for this aspect - the Peace Unity and Purity (PUP) report which leaves open the possibility for candidates to be less than "fundamental" on the standards, and ambiguous about the essentials, even though they might have "wonderful gifts," love the Lord, and be hard working and likable. Even if their practices and teachings might cause some to stumble or minimize the authority of scripture, or the Lordship of Jesus. Even if they cannot stomach calling God their Father. And so on.
But if they're too fundamental, they might make the rest of us look bad, or have to consider our own compromises with the truth when it gets in the way of our lifestyles or conflicts with our hearts or experiences. Or when the ministry of the gospel includes prohibitions that have gone out of vogue, such as sexual purity, the Lordship of Christ alone in a pluralistic world, and biblical literacy among others. When winning lost souls is too uncomfortable for some Presbyterians who would rather feed the poor, and settle for sloppy teaching, than sound proclamation and evangelism. Fundamentalists don't belong in the PC(USA).
The writer of 2 John saw this coming too, as he chastised the woman for allowing "deceivers" into her community - into her home no less - and apparently they were leading her and the community astray. She must have been a woman of influence in the church. It seems her children, however, were fundamentalists, or so we could decide from this text. And their fragile faith was in jeopardy by her inclusiveness. I don't see this as a mandate to exclude people form the gospel, but apparently, this "deceiver" had been undermining the fundamental teachings of the community who were filled with new converts: 5But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, let us love one another. 6And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you have heard it from the beginning—you must walk in it.
What are the commandments? God alone is God. Love God first and foremost, above the institution, above the denomination, the polity, the tradition, the structures and rules. God is Lord of the conscience, but not at the expense of the authority of scripture. And as professing Christians, the essential of our faith is Jesus Christ: his life and his work and his teaching.
When I talk to candidates I want to hear them profess Jesus Christ as the way and the truth and the life - before all else. I want to hear that they have "the excellent spirit of Jesus" in them and how the Holy Spirit is working in them. The denomination may come and go, but God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. And either we believe his commandments hold as truth for today or we don't. God is God, not us.
I see my work on CPM as dicey and necessary and occasionally controversial. For as what would be defined fundamentalism, I align with the writer of 2 John as I discern the readiness and competency of those who will lead and teach the essentials of our Christian faith to future generations: 8Be on your guard, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, but may receive a full reward. 9Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God; whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
Jesus was fundamental in his faith and his obedience to the Father, so evident in the gospel of John. Jesus alone is the fundamental way to salvation. Sin blocks our way to God. This is what he taught. Lest we forget, when Jesus came in this encounter today in Luke with the leper, he was more concerned with healing sins, than physical needs. Sin. A fundamental human condition that is fundamentally defined in our scriptures, and fundamentally accounted for in the life and death of our Savior. If we embrace the fundamentals of the way to salvation - Repent, believe and follow Jesus, who alone is the way to wholeness and to God, we shall never be moved.
No matter what traps might be set before us.
When I read Daniel and 2 John in the same reading, I am reminded of my responsibilities on the CPM committee in my Presbytery - Committee for Preparation for Ministry. The meeting of the satraps and presidents sounds like the bunch of elders and ministers and Presbytery representatives who consider the readiness of individuals for ordination within our denomination, through stages of inquiry, candidacy and ordination. I'm not sure I'm a satrap or a president, but I, like Daniel, have for sat before them on my own journey to ordination. Now I'm one of them.
Daniel flew through the process and became a superior leader among them because he had "an excellent spirit within him," and had not broken the law of God. But jealousy seemed to creep in among the others; he was just too good. And on top of that, he was a fundamentalist. Can't have that in this denomination. And so, a new requirement was imposed, to give homage to the King over God. But Daniel stayed his conscience and his faith. He maintained first and foremost his allegiance to God over his King. And he stepped into the trap set for him by his colleagues.
When we examine candidates, we presidents and satraps are asked to have them uphold the essential tenets of the reformed faith, even though they might stray from our "standards" outlined in the our constitution (confessions and Book of Order) in "good conscience." In fact, they can even have a scruple with the essential tenets, as I read the PUP report and the committee, and in the name of diversity, the CPM can pass them on. Our General Assembly has passed a guideline for us to examine people for this aspect - the Peace Unity and Purity (PUP) report which leaves open the possibility for candidates to be less than "fundamental" on the standards, and ambiguous about the essentials, even though they might have "wonderful gifts," love the Lord, and be hard working and likable. Even if their practices and teachings might cause some to stumble or minimize the authority of scripture, or the Lordship of Jesus. Even if they cannot stomach calling God their Father. And so on.
But if they're too fundamental, they might make the rest of us look bad, or have to consider our own compromises with the truth when it gets in the way of our lifestyles or conflicts with our hearts or experiences. Or when the ministry of the gospel includes prohibitions that have gone out of vogue, such as sexual purity, the Lordship of Christ alone in a pluralistic world, and biblical literacy among others. When winning lost souls is too uncomfortable for some Presbyterians who would rather feed the poor, and settle for sloppy teaching, than sound proclamation and evangelism. Fundamentalists don't belong in the PC(USA).
The writer of 2 John saw this coming too, as he chastised the woman for allowing "deceivers" into her community - into her home no less - and apparently they were leading her and the community astray. She must have been a woman of influence in the church. It seems her children, however, were fundamentalists, or so we could decide from this text. And their fragile faith was in jeopardy by her inclusiveness. I don't see this as a mandate to exclude people form the gospel, but apparently, this "deceiver" had been undermining the fundamental teachings of the community who were filled with new converts: 5But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, let us love one another. 6And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you have heard it from the beginning—you must walk in it.
What are the commandments? God alone is God. Love God first and foremost, above the institution, above the denomination, the polity, the tradition, the structures and rules. God is Lord of the conscience, but not at the expense of the authority of scripture. And as professing Christians, the essential of our faith is Jesus Christ: his life and his work and his teaching.
When I talk to candidates I want to hear them profess Jesus Christ as the way and the truth and the life - before all else. I want to hear that they have "the excellent spirit of Jesus" in them and how the Holy Spirit is working in them. The denomination may come and go, but God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. And either we believe his commandments hold as truth for today or we don't. God is God, not us.
I see my work on CPM as dicey and necessary and occasionally controversial. For as what would be defined fundamentalism, I align with the writer of 2 John as I discern the readiness and competency of those who will lead and teach the essentials of our Christian faith to future generations: 8Be on your guard, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, but may receive a full reward. 9Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God; whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
Jesus was fundamental in his faith and his obedience to the Father, so evident in the gospel of John. Jesus alone is the fundamental way to salvation. Sin blocks our way to God. This is what he taught. Lest we forget, when Jesus came in this encounter today in Luke with the leper, he was more concerned with healing sins, than physical needs. Sin. A fundamental human condition that is fundamentally defined in our scriptures, and fundamentally accounted for in the life and death of our Savior. If we embrace the fundamentals of the way to salvation - Repent, believe and follow Jesus, who alone is the way to wholeness and to God, we shall never be moved.
No matter what traps might be set before us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
