A few snippits from what I've been reading lately (The Open Secret by Lesslie Newbigin):
Jesus could not satisfy the vox populi. He outraged it. He rejected the "righteous" and accepted the "sinners". Or, to put the matter more accurately, the coming of Jesus is the shining of light, in which all are exposed as God's enemies, and all are accepted as God's beloved. Both the "righteous"-- the representatives of religion, of morality, of social and political order, of sacred traditions-- and the "sinners"-- "the man on the street", the thoroughly "conscientisized" crowd demonstrating outside the governor's mansion-- are revealed in the final showdown as the murderers of God, and both are accepted as the beloved of God. "Father, forgive them; they know not what they do." Jesus is not for one against the other. He is against all, for the sake of all. Faith sees, then, in this happening the wrath of God and his blessing. In the agony in the garden and in the cry of dereliction from the cross, where God was berift of God for our sake and the loving obedience that mankind refuses to give God was offered on our behalf, faith sees the decisive event by which all things were changed, the powers (of state, of law, of tradition) that falsely claim the absolute power were unmasked and disowned, and the reign of God was established. (From pg 50)
I've been meditating quite a bit lately on Jesus' blood. We all were bought with a hefty price: the blood of Christ. On my own, I am never found good enough. My extensive perfectionism, struggles accepting grace and forgiveness and despair when all that I see are my failings time after time and current situation only highlight that I am an enemy of God. It is only through God entering this world as man; the Blameless One [whose perfection I could never obtain] taking on my failings, the one with more power, wealth and prestige than all of the world leaders put together, executed, that I become the Beloved of God. That I can overcome the present. If that isn't a sober and humbling thought, then I don't know what is.
Those who are chosen to be bearers of a certain blessing are chosen for the sake of all. . . Bearers-- not exclusive beneficiaries. There lay the constant temptation. Again and again it had to be said that election is for responsibility, not for privilege. . . It is Jonah who must take God's message to Nineveh. He is the elect bearer of God's promise of blessing for the nations. No one else can bring the blessing. But the election and promise are for Nineveh, for the nations, not for Jonah alone. As God's chosen one he must suffer. God will not let him off. But God will also not let him go. For God does not cancel his calling. (Pg 32-3, my bold emphasis added)
I find Newbigin's thoughts on election and calling interesting in light of the past 6 months. The more I chew on it, the more I wrestle with what he's saying, the more I think he's on to something.
A few scattered musings from my life recently:
-Last Tuesday morning, I realized in one of those insightful, 'birds-eye' moments that I so badly need, that I will ride again. The call from last Fall still remains, but my perspective has dramatically changed. Now when I think of riding, its far less of me + horses and the expression/worship/"Jesus is Lord" part of it coming from that and for more about me + God and His kingdom and the horses coming out of that. I honestly know that even if I don't ever ride again, that I can have just as content and fulfilling of a life as with the horses. And I am secure in that realization. It's an awesome place to be.
-Its also humbling to fully realize that you are the weakest link. Yet, even despite this position, its even more humbling to see God manifest and use me despite my weaknesses. I hope I saw an example of this last night when discussing theology with a student. I certainly saw it two Fridays ago, when I lead the group in prayer-- the words coming out of my mouth were most certainly not my own.
Here's more Newbigin:
"Spirit" is the word used in English versions of the Bible to translate the Hebrew word rauch, meaning "wind" or "breath". A person's breath is the secret of life, and the Spirit of the Lord (rauch Yahweh) is the very life of the Lord himself put forth to give life and power, wisdom and speech, knowledge and understanding to humans. It is the living, mighty and self-communicating presence of God himself. (Pg 57).
Jesus could not satisfy the vox populi. He outraged it. He rejected the "righteous" and accepted the "sinners". Or, to put the matter more accurately, the coming of Jesus is the shining of light, in which all are exposed as God's enemies, and all are accepted as God's beloved. Both the "righteous"-- the representatives of religion, of morality, of social and political order, of sacred traditions-- and the "sinners"-- "the man on the street", the thoroughly "conscientisized" crowd demonstrating outside the governor's mansion-- are revealed in the final showdown as the murderers of God, and both are accepted as the beloved of God. "Father, forgive them; they know not what they do." Jesus is not for one against the other. He is against all, for the sake of all. Faith sees, then, in this happening the wrath of God and his blessing. In the agony in the garden and in the cry of dereliction from the cross, where God was berift of God for our sake and the loving obedience that mankind refuses to give God was offered on our behalf, faith sees the decisive event by which all things were changed, the powers (of state, of law, of tradition) that falsely claim the absolute power were unmasked and disowned, and the reign of God was established. (From pg 50)
I've been meditating quite a bit lately on Jesus' blood. We all were bought with a hefty price: the blood of Christ. On my own, I am never found good enough. My extensive perfectionism, struggles accepting grace and forgiveness and despair when all that I see are my failings time after time and current situation only highlight that I am an enemy of God. It is only through God entering this world as man; the Blameless One [whose perfection I could never obtain] taking on my failings, the one with more power, wealth and prestige than all of the world leaders put together, executed, that I become the Beloved of God. That I can overcome the present. If that isn't a sober and humbling thought, then I don't know what is.
Those who are chosen to be bearers of a certain blessing are chosen for the sake of all. . . Bearers-- not exclusive beneficiaries. There lay the constant temptation. Again and again it had to be said that election is for responsibility, not for privilege. . . It is Jonah who must take God's message to Nineveh. He is the elect bearer of God's promise of blessing for the nations. No one else can bring the blessing. But the election and promise are for Nineveh, for the nations, not for Jonah alone. As God's chosen one he must suffer. God will not let him off. But God will also not let him go. For God does not cancel his calling. (Pg 32-3, my bold emphasis added)
I find Newbigin's thoughts on election and calling interesting in light of the past 6 months. The more I chew on it, the more I wrestle with what he's saying, the more I think he's on to something.
A few scattered musings from my life recently:
-Last Tuesday morning, I realized in one of those insightful, 'birds-eye' moments that I so badly need, that I will ride again. The call from last Fall still remains, but my perspective has dramatically changed. Now when I think of riding, its far less of me + horses and the expression/worship/"Jesus is Lord" part of it coming from that and for more about me + God and His kingdom and the horses coming out of that. I honestly know that even if I don't ever ride again, that I can have just as content and fulfilling of a life as with the horses. And I am secure in that realization. It's an awesome place to be.
-Its also humbling to fully realize that you are the weakest link. Yet, even despite this position, its even more humbling to see God manifest and use me despite my weaknesses. I hope I saw an example of this last night when discussing theology with a student. I certainly saw it two Fridays ago, when I lead the group in prayer-- the words coming out of my mouth were most certainly not my own.
Here's more Newbigin:
"Spirit" is the word used in English versions of the Bible to translate the Hebrew word rauch, meaning "wind" or "breath". A person's breath is the secret of life, and the Spirit of the Lord (rauch Yahweh) is the very life of the Lord himself put forth to give life and power, wisdom and speech, knowledge and understanding to humans. It is the living, mighty and self-communicating presence of God himself. (Pg 57).
- Wow. Heavy post. Have a good evening y'all.
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