at Ashland Seminary

I had a great time this week at Ashland Seminary, meeting Allan Bevere who graciously hosted me there. Was good getting acquainted with him in person. And getting to hear Scot McKnight on the gospel. Four great lectures on the gospel along with good, stimulating question and answer times afterwards.

What was reinforced for me is that the gospel is bigger than many of us have understood it to be. It is centered in Jesus and out from him comes the salvation that is meant for the entire world and all of creation. And it is meant for each person and each person in their totality. I gained new insights into this with reference to the gospels, the early witness in Acts, and Paul, and how we work that out in the present day.

Was great to have the privilege of chatting at a coffee place with Scot and Allan. Allan himself is a gifted scholar, pastor and professor. I wish I could have heard him teach or preach. And with Scot we had a most interesting conversation over theology and what is going on in their work and from others today.

I must add that Ashland Seminary is an interesting place, and it looks to me like a very good work is going on there. And beautiful days there as you can see from the pics.

the gospel

"Gospel" simply means "good news." JR Woodward is currently having a great series on the good news, with a host of contributors.

I am weary of gospel presentations which fail to take into account that the good news is for all creation. Yes, humans made in God's image are at the pinnacle of creation. But as such, we are meant to be involved in both the fellowship and works of God.

Sin has to be taken care of, and that indeed is ongoing for us in Jesus in this life. But we must not stop there. Too often gospel understanding does; it's all about forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

To better understand this, we need to consider more carefully Jesus' message of the gospel/good news of the kingdom of God. And we need to read the Bible more as story, how God is at work in the world and what his work is heading toward in Jesus. A work that begins now, in this life.

I believe the point of Scripture, or goal of the good news, indeed an important aspect of it is to help us see God's work in Jesus in the world, that we might become a part of that work in the kingdom and new creation in Jesus. It's written primarily as story, or story is at the heart of its writing, seeing it as God's story in the world, meant to catch us up and carry us along in the same story.

We don't want to lose sight of "the simple gospel," but neither do we want to see the good news as less than what it is, a news that is for all the world, to bring humans into no less than God's kingdom working and trinitarian community, in Jesus.

Not an easy post, and a subject I'll always be working on in this life, both to better understand and better live out.

But what would you like to add to these words?

"Holding Pfaltzgraff - inclusion" from L.L. Barkat

Struggling to find a sense of belonging has long been a problem of mine from my childhood days of not quite fitting in with friends, or at school. And even left to myself I felt like an outsider or on the verge of it, much of the time. When I commited my life to God through Jesus, this opened up a new chapter in which I suddenly felt on the inside with God and other Christians. Though I've come to realize over the years that this can still be a struggle as a sort of exclusivism can wrap itself around us (some of that from the truth, but much of it from error), making it easy for us miss the point of why Jesus came, and why we in Jesus remain here in this world.

L.L. in this chapter helpfully unfolds for us this problem of exclusion which is part of sin and God's curse and scattering of humankind. And of God's answer for inclusion, back to his very heart. Continuing with her on her journey she recounts her days after college when she settled down in her own place and ate off her pfaltzgraff stone plates after which with delight she'd wash them in the suds in the sink. This was therapeutic for her in that she felt on the inside, contrary to what her stepfather had drummed into her that she was an outsider who couldn't do anything.

L.L. shares with us in a way I've never seen of God making his heart known to humankind through Israel in the form of the beautifully woven crimson, blue and purple of the tabernacle/tent pitched in the middle of the tribes of Israel as they traveled through the desert. Through the priestly sacrificial system God was making himself known, the high priest entering the Most Holy Place once a year in front of the ark of the covenant with the carved cherubim overshadowing it, the center of God's heart, to make atonement again and again, annually, for the people in forgiving their sins.

Jesus in the incarnation came as the Word became flesh and made his dwelling, or more literally pitched his tent or tabernacled among us. Jesus is the new tabernacle through whom access is given to God's very heart. No longer would the people of God just see it, but now through faith in Jesus they enter it for themselves, into the Most Holy Place through the blood of Jesus, meaning through his death.

Jesus' heart was broken in the process of making this true and open for all. He was treated in the most inhumane ways and even felt like his Father had turned his face away in excluding him as well. But he suffered this that we might be included again, back to God and with all peoples, in Jesus. In Jesus we become the place where God wants to bring other outsiders in.

L.L. reminds us that God gives to his people in the new covenant, a new heart, his very heart. It's a heart that is inclusive, that wants to bring all people in through Jesus and the message of the gospel. The question for us is how do we see this? Is this just for ourselves, or does it include others? This was a major issue Jesus had with the Pharisees and religious leaders of his day. Yet Jesus' example was just the opposite, reaching out to the outcasts in his day: the lepers, tax-collectors and sinners, and really to all, including those who excluded others. We in Jesus are to do the same, knowing that this inclusion we have found in Jesus is not just for ourselves, but for others.

It has taken me years to have a settled sense of inclusion in spite of all the ways I can feel excluded at times. God's heart for us in Jesus revealed to us by his Spirit and his word makes it clear that we are included and that God is inviting and welcoming home in Jesus, all who are outside. We are to live as those in Jesus before the world to help others find this same inclusion in Jesus.

Read this chapter (and book) slowly and enjoy.

What would you like to share in your thinking or from your life about what this means to you?

1. Stepping Stones - conversion
2. Christmas Coal - shame
3. Tossed Treasures - messiness
4. Heron Road - suffering
5. Sword in the Stone - resistance
6. Howe's Cave - baptism
7. Palisade Cliffs - doubt

Next week: Indiana Jones - fear

not only about me and God

Yes, the faith in Jesus is about us, each of us individually and our God in Jesus. God's love is intensely personal, beyond what is stamped in us as human beings made in God's image. So God cares about us to the most minute details of life.

But God's salvation in Jesus involves more than just "me and God." It involves the world. In Jesus, God has reconciled the world to himself, not counting people's sins against them (2 Corinthians 5) and has reconciled all things to himself in Jesus, in heaven and on earth (Colossians 1). In other words the great salvation in Jesus is cosmic in scope.

This is why I think it's so important that we care about what is going on in the world: among the inhabitants of the world as well as all of creation itself. Yes, including the spotted owl as we try to arrive to solutions in being good stewards of all of God's creation while helping people retain or have a livelihood- sufficient work (Genesis 1-3; Psalm 8).

We need more hymns and Christian songs that reflect this reality of the scope of God's great and good salvation in Jesus which begins even now, in this fallen world, destined someday to take over the world completely in shalom.

What thought might you like to share here?

Tomorrow: chapter 5: "Sword in the Stone: resistance" from L.L. Barkat's book, Stone Crossings: Finding Grace in Hard and Hidden Places.

quote of the week

Ouketi hos does not mean "not only as" or "not merely as." Here it means "no longer as." The ouketi...alla ("no longer...but") contrast emphasizes that the former condition is to stop and that the latter condition exceeds and supersedes it. To suggest that receiving Onesimus "no longer as a slave" has no social implications and that Paul is merely saying what we hear in 1 Corinthians 7 (the Christian slave is actually the Lord's freedman) is to underestimate totally the force and content of Paul's rhetoric here. There was already a sentiment among the Stoics that all persons were created equal by God....Paul certainly believes that all persons in Christ are new creatures and of equal sacred worth. This clearly has implications for the way he treats Jews and Gentiles and men and women, and there is no reason to doubt it would have social implications for his views about relationships between Christian slaves and masters. Paul is perhaps here offering a statement of fact: when God sets people free, they are free indeed, no matter how people view them. Paul seeks, then, to persuade Philemon to view the matter from God's point of view. "The reality of the world as seen from within the world is replaced by the reality seen from within the church. For Paul there is only one reality."

(the quote at the end is from N. R. Petersen) (pages 79-80)

Ben Witherington III on Philemon 15, 16 from his book, The Letters to Philemon, the Colossians, and the Ephesians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on the Captivity Epistles

"Christmas Coal - shame" from L.L. Barkat

In chapter 2 ("Christmas Coal - shame") of L.L. Barkat's new book, Stone Crossings: Finding Grace in Hard and Hidden Places, we read of shame heaped on a nine year old girl by her stepfather in front of his sons and her mother. Then we see how God helped L.L. to cope with that and overcome it.

As is the whole book it is written with no ordinary prose. One gets taken in, but not too much into any sordid detail. Two chapters following continue this part of L.L.'s life during those years. We get a glimpse into L.L.'s story which can help each one of us with our own shame. How in Jesus we can address this and move on in spite of a shameful past. And how she unfolds the Scriptural analogy of the worm is one to remember. It helps me in addressing shame that is thrown at me sometimes even now.

I tried to avoid giving a summary of this chapter which gives too much away because I'd like to encourage you to read it for yourself.

Shame has been a big part of my own life. One memory that stands out is how there was a group at my very first church who used to make fun of Dad. Dad being the oldest son had worked with his own father on the farm and while intelligent, did not have the social skills one gets from living in society. By extension our whole family was shamed. I remember vaguely now getting thrown in the bushes probably by a couple older boys. I was hurt and angry, but also ashamed myself, and still feel a little angst in telling this.

Shame in my life extends beyond that as well, experienced through the meanness of others, but also through my own ill reactions and actions. As well as my not fulfilling the dream of my life in being ordained and serving as a pastor. Though at this late date in my life I could easily think of myself as a teacher or even an editor, though not so sure on that last one!

L.L.'s chapter helps me, both by her own sharing of her life as well as the powerful analogy fulfilled in and by Jesus for us. Our shame is covered by Jesus through his death for us, Psalm 22 a key passage from which L.L. draws. Two key quotes to leave us with from this chapter: "I'm glad God delights to make things right, to cover our shame so we can stop trying to cover it ourselves." (p 20) "And the shame of my past, though real, cannot keep me earthbound." (p 22)

How has shame been a factor in your own life and what help in Jesus have you found for that? Or any other thought you'd like to add to this either from your reading of the book or of this post.

1. Stepping Stones - conversion

Next week: chapter 3: "Tossed Treasure: messiness"

how do we look at others?

Yesterday in our "devotions", as we were considering "enemies" from Psalm 23, I made a rather half-baked statement to the effect that Scripture distinguishes certain ones as wicked or (I meant, special) enemies of God's people (seen in the psalms and prophets, and elsewhere). This brought about a debate, as a brother made the point that all outside of Christ are enemies of God, and therefore enemies of God's people. I then tried to get some discussion going as to how we are to look at those who are not in Jesus. Without going into the details of it, my brother and I ended up disagreeing.

Jesus teaches us to look at those not in him as valuable, in his stories or parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. Enemies in Scripture are usually those who are hostile to the faith and actively oppose it. If we say that the theological truth that we are all enemies of God outside of Christ applies to Jesus' sayings in Matthew 5 and Luke 6 as to how we're to look at our enemies as in loving and praying for them, turning the other cheek, etc., then we water down Jesus' teaching.

Yes, apart from grace we are enemies of God. But in Christ and in the Cross or death of Christ, God has reconciled the world to himself, so that in a true sense, because of this, we can say, "God has nothing against you. Therefore, because of Jesus and what he has done for you, be reconciled to God."

The Pharisees made a big deal out of those who were in and out. But Jesus refused to live by their code, eating and drinking openly with the outsiders. We can't look at such as enemies, since we don't know people's hearts and what God may be doing there. And besides, we know we all stand on the same level; grace alone, that is the gift of God in Jesus, is only what brings us back to God, taking care of our sins and the fact that we are sinners, and bringing us to relationship with God and with all that this reconciliation brings.

Much to say here, and not an easy subject. What input might you like to give us on this?

friends don't let friends

We know the slogan over here: "Friends don't let friends" which can be for a whole host of reasons. One bumper sticker I saw from someone on our street: "Friends don't let friends vote Republican." Not to get into politics here, at all, today.

In Jesus we're meant to be there for each other, and also for those in the world. We need a humility and senstivity, along with discernment from God, to know what is best and what is needed, in any given situation. Perhaps we must major on listening, then offering some words that may be helpful. Our goal must be to help the other to Jesus, and that all of life and relationships would be seen and experienced through Jesus.

This is not easy, because we're all too accustomed to seeing all of life and relationships through our own eyes, and with our own interests in view, even if included is the interest of someone else. Instead, we in Jesus need to set ourselves to radically begin to see more and more through Jesus. Something like Jesus being between me and anyone or anything else. (from a poem of Celtic Christianity, which I can't recall, but sung by John Michael Talbot on this album; from the song, "Betwixt Me")

This will result in God being at the center of our lives, displacing us as the center, or maybe even something or someone else, in ways that are not good, since none of us are good for anything in such a place, as idols. God in Christ must be at the center and heart, and the way to do that is to help ourselves by prayer, and each other to seek to go through Christ in all of our thoughts and relationships. Taking every thought captive, by prayer and faith, to obey Christ. Not just for ourselves, but with humility and sensitivity, being open and ready with God's help to help others do the same.

What thoughts do you have to help us better understand and practice this? Or any thoughts.

when treated unjustly

We're told repeatedly in the New Testament that our calling in Jesus is a call to return evil with good, to refuse to retaliate for any wrong done to us, and thus to follow in Jesus' steps.

I have found this helpful for my own life. Who doesn't become angry over an injustice or sin done to them, particularly from those who should know better, that is from other Christians.

We don't want to be walking around with any martyr complex, but life does dish out some nasty little offerings sometimes, which do hurt. A typical worldly way of handling it is just to brush it off in a tough manner. Where is that way found in Scripture? The psalms are full of complaints to God over human enemies in view of the fact that these problems are not right. And God is the God of making things right in the bringing in of his salvation. This is evident in places in the psalms (one prime example).

And Jesus challenges his enemies, yet he goes on, embracing God's will for him in loving his enemies, and in his unique death, dying for them so that they might be saved. And we're to take the same path- so that sinners can be brought to the Savior and other Christians can be drawn closer to God and all of us to each other, in Jesus- yes, right in the face of the trouble.

And we must remember that God will make things right as we trust in him. He will vindicate us as his children, and he will vindicate himself and the truth as found in Jesus, in our lives, as we trust in him to do so.

This is an important aspect of the gospel we're called to proclaim, that we're to live out in this world. By God's grace in Jesus, we can do this. And grow in it, and thus be a blessing of God to others.

What thought might you have on this?

truly a good Friday

The Friday which we Christians call Good Friday is truly a good Friday. It is the day we remember in awe with both tears and celebration what our Lord did for us in dying on the Cross. A most wonderful day in which God's "Amen" sounded clear and unmistakeably that first Easter Sunday in our Lord's resurrection from the dead.

On the Cross just prior to his death (I capitalize "cross" because of the One who was nailed on it and died, and because of the significance of his death for us, for humankind, and for all of creation- in God's redemptive plan) Jesus declared these words: "It is finished."

What was finished? All that Jesus came to accomplish. By his death he would destroy death forever and the one who held the power of death, the devil. By his death all sinners could be set free from God's judgment, since Jesus himself took all of sin's curse and just claim on himself. By his death God offers to us a new life in Jesus, a life that begins in living out Christ's life here and now. And by his death there is complete, full reconciliation. God has reconciled the world to himself in Christ, not holding people's sins against them, and has broken down the barriers that separate humanity into so many hostile groups, to make us all one in Christ, in the communion of the Trinity.

What a terrible day that Friday was! But God took what was terrible, and what was actually his plan for this: the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This was redemptive in the Father buying back in the Son all that had been lost to his good plan in creation, for the new creation. In this, Jesus made all things new.

But for any of us to know the goodness of this Good Friday for ourselves, we must look to the One on that cross, and repent and believe this good news. Yes, it's good news for us. And then we begin on a track that continues in this life: God turning what is bad into something good, through Jesus Christ and by his work for us that dreadful day, and yet by that act making it a most wonderful day, especially as we know the end of the Story.

What "Amen" or thoughts might you add here?

the last supper

When we read of the last supper in the gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) we see it is around a table of fellowship with Jesus at the center. It was a meal in anticipation of his death. But also looking forward to the marriage supper of the Lamb, in which Jesus will eat and drink again with them, and with all of us, in his Father's kingdom.

The question of the real presence of Jesus at the Lord's Table (communion or the Eucharist) is an issue in which Christians are divided. But one thing for sure which we can agree on: Jesus is at the center. He is our Redeemer, Savior and Lord. We bow to him in worship, and give him thanks for his great and awesome sacrifice for us, for the world. We are in awe of this and of him. And that we can actually participate together in the receiving and partaking of this great salvation found in Jesus.

The Lord's Table or communion is more than a ritual; it is reality. What Jesus has done for us in dying for our sins, that we might, through his broken body and shed blood, have new and eternal life. What a wonderful salvation! What a wonderful Savior!

I know that just from my daily experience. God is good to us even in this fallen and broken down world of which we are a part. We begin now, by faith in Jesus to taste of this great salvation, to taste and see that the Lord is good. And we live with the anticipation of the completion of what we're experiencing now, in Jesus. Drawn up even now into that communion of the Father, Son and Spirit.

So let's not live on our feelings or be held back by our failures and weaknesses or the problems we'll ever face in this life. Let's realize in the midst of it all, Jesus is here. And this great salvation in him is for us beginning now, to impact every part of our lives, as we come just as we are to God through Jesus.

What might you like to share here?

loving Jesus and the gospel

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their
life for me and for the gospel will save it.

Mark 8:35

What does it mean for us to love Jesus and the gospel? In comparison to our love for Christ, all other loves are to be like hatred. We believe this ironically makes our other loves stronger and better, since our hearts are at last in the right place, not centered on ourselves, but on God.

This is often thought of in terms of making the ultimate sacrifice, and in many cases even in recent years, this has indeed taken place. We need to stand with and pray for both our brothers and sisters in Jesus who are being persecuted or are in danger and do what we can to help them, and pray for their persecutors as well. What would enable Elisabeth Elliot to go back to the Aucas and share the gospel after her beloved Jim was killed by them? Love for Jesus and the gospel.

But what about us in our freedom of religion we enjoy, in our soft existence in which many of us live? I believe to love Jesus and the gospel means that we love God by obeying him in all things in our lives. It means that first things must always be first. Yes, we like to enjoy life and we are grateful for all the blessings of life. But our number one passion and love is for Christ and the gospel. Knowing God's love through Christ we love God: Father, Son and Spirit, and we seek to be faithful to the end, in the grace of our Lord Jesus.

This is a new life, a resurrected life in Jesus to which we're called. A life we live now, as we renounce ourselves: our loves, passions and desires, so that we can follow Jesus and be true to his gospel to the very end.

What might you like to share on this?

the gospel is big

The gospel is much bigger than most all of us were taught or realize, much bigger from the pages of holy Scripture. Take a look at this excellent post from Bob Robinson on the gospel.

Yesterday in devotions we were in Psalm 103 (still), and in trying to bring out how big this salvation is, not only from that passage, but from the whole of Scripture and the story therein, I broached a topic (what a sidetrail!) from an article I recently read (if you lack time then read only the post from Bob Robinson noted above, and this article; neither are that long, and well worth the time), which conjectures what may have been if humanity would never have sinned. Would we have lost something precious, that be grace comes in the Incarnation and union of God with humanity in Jesus. The article taking the line that indeed, the Incarnation was still necessary even apart from sin, necessary within creation and in realizing the goal God has for humankind.

Such conjecture and theological discussion is in itself rather pointless as we should be thinking on what Scripture says, not what it doesn't say. But it does bring up a most worthy point from Scripture. What is involved in this salvation in Jesus, that goes beyond- without minimizing the importance- the forgiveness of sins? For one thing, humankind is realizing in Jesus the goal there from the beginning, that in God's terms, humankind, made in God's image, would become increasingly conformed and also confirmed in that image. A loss, and increasing loss of God's image due to sin, and letting humans have their way in sin with sin's consequences might be what the heart of hell is all about.

And this is only taking a glance at what salvation is for us individually. Salvation in Christ is much bigger than that, not to minimize the importance of the former. It is cosmic in scope, since all creation is involved, including all things visible and invisible, whatever dimensions exist. And this comes down to earth for us in us looking at how we can bring this salvation to bear on systemic evil around us. A great example of this kind of work is found in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that occurred in South Africa. A work that never would have taken place apart from Jesus coming, his teaching and the gospel.

The gospel has import for all we do in life. We need to think of the gospel in relation to all we do, and pray to God for creative ways of it making inroads into our work and culture, and out from that to the world. Big words, and really beyond me. And I have it easier that way, working for a fine Christian nonprofit organization and ministry.

I'm working on this. Going through again Scot McKnight's recent book, Community Called Atonement, and I'd also highly recommend his earlier book on this as well, Embracing Grace.

I'm not sure everyone in our "devotions" yesterday appreciated the discussion, but I thought it was good for us, to stretch us a bit, in things that are hard to understand. To help us begin to just get a glimpse into the truth of just how big the gospel in Jesus, really is.

What thought might you have on this?

we are deserving of wrath

We read in Ephesians 2 that before faith in Christ, "like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath." Humankind was created by God from whom all good comes. Of course a big part of the good is love, and this is a love that God freely gives, of course God is love (true, but also needs to be read in its context). God made Adam and Eve free beings so that they would return his love freely.

Of course humankind sinned in the garden, in Adam and through Eve- both guilty- and therefore became sinners deserving of God's wrath, which means God just judgment. Of course wrath includes anger; God is not an unemotional Being. And I take it that God's anger and wrath, along with everything else about God, is an expression of God's love. God's love is violated, therefore he is angry. God sees sin as destructive to others, therefore he is angry with the wicked.

But back to us plain, ordinary sinners, if there really is such a thing; isn't all sin great in a bad sense, and in light of the holiness of God? God's standard is for us to obey him. In the beginning there was only one prohibition, not to eat of the one tree, while all the rest was theirs to so enjoy. But now that we are bent on disobeying God there are a good number of prohibitions, quite well summarized in the Ten Commandments. And we've broken them all, if not in actions than in our hearts (also here).

We are deserving of God's wrath. But one truth of God's atoning work in Christ, and I say just one, not the only one, and not even necessarily the main one, though I think it's important and at least part of the heart of what God has done, is that God, in becoming human- one of us, takes our just punishment on himself at the cross. Yes, Jesus is God having become human, and he took that punishment for us, so that we might not be under God's wrath and just judgment any longer, even though still deserving it, and might come into full fellowship again with God. God has done that. By faith we must accept this verdict and truth about ourselves and God's remedy in Jesus for it. And return to the God whose arms in Jesus are opened for us. Then we are accepted.

Have you accepted this, in Jesus, for yourself? Have you come back, in Jesus, to God?

the gospel

Gospel means "good news". This is the message of the Story we read from Scripture, from Genesis through Revelation. It is the Story of creation, fall, redemption, new creation. It is a Story of a love that will not let us go, and that would have everyone repent and believe this good news.

God in Christ comes, becomes one of us- fully human. To bruise, or crush the serpent's head, to take our death on himself- paying the penalty for our sins by his death on the Cross. Resurrected to new life so that all who put their faith in him can begin to know this new life even now and forever. Ascended to the right hand of the Father, so that the Holy Spirit can be poured out on those who believe, so that they can be a witness. And to return so that what has begun now in Jesus, in God's kingdom coming to earth in him, can be completed and fulfilled, in all its glory.

This must begin with each one of us. There is a law in ourselves that we can't escape. We would like to, but we can't. We know that how we live and how we ought to live are more often than not, two different things. It does no good to say that, "No one can be perfect." That's true. But beside the point, here.

The point is that we don't measure up to what we know is right and good. We are special as human beings, created in God's very image. Yet we have departed from living accordingly, and violate what we know to be true. We often neither do the good we should do, or refrain from doing what we shouldn't.

The remedy for us is Jesus Christ. He is the perfect image of God, and by faith in him we are being renewed back into that image. This involves getting back to what we were created for, in the first place. For relationships, with God and with each other. For good work, doing what God has designed for each one of us to do, in our unique, God-given capacities.

The gospel is good news, and it's an ongoing good news for us all. That there's forgiveness for our sins, that we're not left to ourselves and the dead end ways we take. All found in Jesus.

See this excellent post: Is Our Gospel Too Small? from Bob Robinson.

against a privatized faith

Often what we hear as to what faith in Jesus amounts to in living in this world, is some kind of personal, privatized faith, kept to oneself without interfering into the personal, private lives of others. But this is not the faith of the Bible, or of Jesus.

When Jesus said his kingdom is not of this world, the Greek translated better in this case in the NRSV means that his kingdom is not from this world. But in Jesus this kingdom has already entered into this present age. And it's a kingdom that has to do with the holy nation in Jesus, scattered throughout the earth. Not with any one recognized nation.

Jesus along with the apostles following, and the prophets in the Old Testament, beginning with Abraham there- the faith they held from God was not meant to stay with them, but to bless all nations, all peoples. And not only that, but to bless in terms of taking care of the land, being God's caretakers of it, and in the favor of God seeing their work overflow into blessings for all peoples, and even for the good earth and God's good creatures on it. This is something of what I see when it comes to the kind of faith we in Jesus actually have.

This gives meaning and value to all we do in helping others in any way. When done in the Lord there will somehow be meaning and value not only for this life, but also for the life to come in the resurrection of all things.

For too many people, Christianity is some kind of otherworldly religion that has nothing really to do with the down to earth, practical matters and existence here, except maybe to make people better so they can serve the status quo here and now. But in Jesus there is nothing less than a different dynamic, shaping different stories and outcomes than what would have been possible prior to Jesus' coming. This is why, while we see the Old Testament as foundational for what was to come, the fulfillment in Jesus in the New Testament, brings a new, living dynamic into the world. Of course the complete fulfillment won't occur until Jesus returns, but it begins now in us- in the people of God in Jesus.

So let's beware of any individualized, privatized faith. Yes, our faith is personal, but it's meant to become public. And in so doing bring God's new creation in Jesus to bear, in all of creation here and now.

What do you think about this? What would you like to share here?

the love of God in Jesus

The love of God in Jesus has reached down to the world, down to us, to each one of us to lift us out of ourselves to find our true selves in God, to find our true home in him and in his good world among others. This happened through God coming down to earth, right where we live, and actually becoming one of us in his Son, in Jesus. Living a human life, then dying for us and for our sins. Resurrected to a new life, a new creation. Ascended and having poured out the Spirit through whom we live and know this love of God in Jesus.

This love changed my life radically, years ago. I was a renegade, angry at the world, angry at everything including God. But God gently did his work to bring me to repentance and faith in Jesus. One day I put my faith and trust in God through Jesus, simply commiting my life to God because of what Jesus did for me, for us, in dying on the cross. People saw overnight that the old Ted was gone, a new Ted had come.

Over the years this love of God in Jesus continues God's work in me. To love God, to love others, even to love myself as one created and loved by God. To grow involving ongoing change, so that I can more and more know this love with others of God's people. And that we can make that love known to the world.

This is a love that will not let me go. Not in my own sin and deceit; God has had to rescue me both directly and through his people. It's a love that we learn more and more to accept, to treasure, and to live in. A love that loves us, even when we're unloving and unloveable. The love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3

May we by faith come to know this love in Jesus, for ourselves, and for each other, and for the world. Through Jesus our Lord.

What might you like to share here about the love of God in Jesus?

community (and blogging)

Community is inherent in us being made in God's image. God is a relational being: Father, Son and Spirit. So humankind wants community, because this is inherent in our makeup as Eikons (meaning, image-bearers) of God.

God knew it was not good for Adam to be alone; the animals weren't sufficient. From one of Adam's ribs, God made Eve. At last he was complete. We indeed are made for the Lord, and for each other.

Sin has messed up, or probably better- disrupts true community. Adam and Eve did not know how good they had it, until they lost it, in their shame and alienation from God and from each other. But this part of our humanity, this longing for relationship won't let us go, unless we're too far gone in our sin and living as less than human.

Sin is inherenly "me-centered" and therefore not relational since it's anti-God and therefore anti-human. Jesus came to bring us back to God and to each other. This is what the gospel is all about: God in Christ reconciling the world to himself, and breaking down the walls that divide humanity. Bringing us to himself and to each other. Christ having becoming sin (or made a sin offering) for us, that in him (by simple faith) we might be made the righteousness of God (or made right with God in every way, ultimately).

We're to proclaim this good news, and implore others to so be reconciled. First in how we live, but part of that is words we say, after listening well- first to God, and then to the other.

I realize blogging has its limitations in that none of us have really met. We've met through words, sometimes through pictures, but we've neither seen each other or heard each other, face to face. Yet when we read Paul, we see his heart went out to believers he hadn't met, in the love of Jesus.

For me blogging is about sharing with each other God's work in our lives, and about helping others who may not know, by faith, this God for themselves. For me blogging is not only about dispensing truth, but about fellowship and community in the truth. In the Truth himself, who is Jesus. And in Jesus, finding our way back to the relationship with God and with each other in God, that can begin even now, as we await its completion and perfection to be realized when Jesus returns. What a wonderful day that will be!

What are your thoughts on community (and blogging)?

Advent and the holy stump

Eugene Peterson, in his wonderful book Subversive Spirituality has a chapter entitled, "The Holy Stump." This is taken from this passage in Isaiah 11:

1A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD—

This originates in a spiritually destitute time, in which at the end of Isaiah's faithful proclamation of the magnificient revelation he had received from God, due to God's judgment- all that would end up being left of God's people would be a nation of stumps.

God had promised Isaiah the same at Isaiah's commission after the life shattering and changing vision and the thrice proclaimed holiness of God (6):

13 And though a tenth remains in the land,
it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak
leave stumps when they are cut down,
so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.

Wonderfully we find holiness, a holiness which changes us, bringing the real life from God in place of the counterfeit life pressed in on us from every side: from the world, the flesh and the devil. Wonderfully this life from God in Jesus appears at the most unlikely places. In seeming desolation and ruin often among those who are castoffs and of no regard to this world. And if we look, we can find it in the stump of our own lives.

Holiness in the form of judgment begins this process. Yes, Jesus took the judgment on himself, but we also read that judgment must begin in the house of God. We can receive this salvation from God only by acknowledging both God's righteous judgment against our sin, as well as God's gracious salvation in the Savior. From this the holy seed, Jesus, comes life, life that takes hold in the most unlikely places of our lives, as we submit to the Holy God- receiving the revelation of his presence and ourselves in light of that, and submitting ourselves to his just judgment on ourselves and his accompanying salvation in Jesus.

This is part of the Immanuel ("God-with-us") promise in Isaiah, fulfilled in Jesus, and coming true even in the most devastated, dead places of our lives, and likely especially there. Look for the life, the life of the holy, changing us surely, as we seek to worship and live faithfully, before him.

What does this bring to mind? Why should this encourage us?

Advent and the cross

Christmas is about Christ and his coming. God becoming flesh to take on himself a death that we as sinners were, and in ourselves are doomed to die. Jesus took that on himself at the cross that we might in exchange receive a new start in the new humanity in Jesus.

The cross. It should never be forgotten that it is through the cross that God accomplishes everything that is to be done, in the coming of his Son. And in Jesus, by faith, especially together we're to become part of the solution, as we live a cross-formed life in Jesus, a humanity like what he lived. But not by mere imitation, but by very participation through the Spirit, as by Jesus' atoning work we're taken up into this new way of living.

Jesus, and everything about his coming is somehow related to his cross and his death for us. It speaks God's word to and about everything. All is judged but also redeemed and saved through that death. Through this death alone comes our real life. Not in the world's terms of life, but in God's terms.

This is part of God's word to us this Christmas season: it's the word of the cross. God's gift to the world in his love, his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Do we see this season in terms and through the cross? Do we see everything through the lens of the cross? And with that the resurrection. But resurrection means life out of death, accomplished for us and for the world by Jesus.

What might you like to add or say here?