The internet's biggest blessing is that it opens to us an incredible diversity of knowledge, opinion and insight. The internet's biggest curse is that it opens to us such an incredible diversity of knowledge, opinion and insight that we can't sort through it all. Below are some postings online I've found worthwhile and/or provokative:
The Devil's Sermon
God Does Not Play Games with Us
Is the Church Like a Family?
The Church's Real Competition
The Problem with Leadership Today
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
Into Your Hand I Commit My Spirit
It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last.
Luke 23:44-46
The Heidelberg Catechism, part of the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s Book of Confessions, begins this way:
Q. 1. What is your only comfort, in life and in death?
A. That I belong—body and soul, in life and in death—not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who at the cost of his own blood has fully paid for all my sins and has completely freed me from the dominion of the devil; that he protects me so well that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that everything must fit his purpose for my salvation. Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.
At his death, Jesus commends himself to God's care. He commends not just the moment of his death but the fullness of his life: the joy of raising his friend Lazarus from the dead, the sorrow of feeling abandoned at his own death; the joy of being surrounded by his disciples, the frustration he felt when they didn't understand him; the comfort and strength of being surrounded by God's presence and the grief and loneliness of feeling forsaken by God on the cross.
In our prayers we are tempted to bargain with God, especially in times of need and distress. "If I survive this illness, I promise I'll be a better person," "If this plane lands safely I'll go to church on Sunday," "If I get this promotion I'll be more charitable with my money." We think if we give God something he wants – a moral life, church attendance, money to church or charity – we can be assured of a safe and prosperous life. This is what we tend to think of when we commend our lives to God.
But the promise of the Gospel is not that if we give God something God values then God will give us what we value – often safety, health or prosperity, whether for us or for others. The promise is that we belong to God – body and soul, in life and in death – and that nothing in heaven or on earth can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ. This is not a promise that we will never know suffering, hardship or grief. It is the promise that by the grace of God in Jesus Christ that none of these things, no matter how difficult, will be our undoing. The promise of the Gospel is not a successful life where tomorrow will be better than today. The promise is resurrection, that as we bear the cross and its sufferings we will be granted eternal life. The Gospel does not promise us freedom from suffering, but the strength to enter into suffering, both our own and that of others, because we are confident that suffering will not rob us of the life we have in Christ Jesus.
When we commend our life, our Spirit into God's hands we are not bargaining with God, but making ourselves available for God to work through us, even in the midst of hardship, fear and suffering, trusting that God does make everything fit God's purpose for our salvation and the salvation of the world.
What does it mean for us to commend our lives to God? You are invited to listen to these passages of Scripture as we commend our lives to God's hands:
It is Finished
Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
John 19:28-30
It seems that every generation imagines itself at the turning point of history. World War I was the war to end all wars, until we fought World War II, which then led straight to the Cold War. When the Soviet Union collapsed some proclaimed "the end of history" because democracy and capitalism had triumphed over totalitarianism, believing this brought an end to the conflicts that fueled human history. In our times we are told the decisive struggle is with terrorism, but before the war on terror we waged war on poverty, drugs and cancer. Within the Church there are some who proclaim that the end is near, that many who are alive today will witness the return of Christ and be eyewitnesses to the most decisive event in all of time and eternity.
But part of the scandal of the cross is that the most decisive event in the history of the universe happened almost 2,000 years ago when Jesus Christ was "lifted up for all to see and glorified," which is John the gospel writer's way of speaking of Jesus' death on a cross. When Jesus said, "It is finished" he was not talking about his life nor about his earthly ministry. He was talking about the redemption and salvation of the world being completed in his death. By submitting to death Jesus shattered death's hold on us. By dying at the hands of sinners – both Jew and Gentile – Jesus broke the power of sin. In Jesus' death the old order of sin and death has come to an end, and the new creation has begun.
For those of us who live in the most powerful nation in history this can be hard for us to wrap our minds around. We enjoy being the leaders of the free world, of setting the tune that the rest of the world has to follow. We believe that when history turns the corner we will be in the driver's seat. But, in the words of Paul, what we experience now are not decisive turning points in history, but birth pangs and labor pains that remind us that the work accomplished in Jesus Christ will soon be fulfilled, and until this consummation we live in the tension of the now, when sin and death still have a foothold in the world, and the not-yet arrived kingdom of God, where sin and death will be no more.
In the words of Stanley Hauerwas, "It is finished, but its not over." While we believe that Jesus accomplished the salvation of the world in his death, this does not mean we wait quietly until God's kingdom comes in full. What we are called to do is live out the fullness of Christ's salvation in the present so the world can see that sin and death have been dethroned, that the emperor has no clothes. We demonstrate the forgiveness of sins by the way we forgive one another. We demonstrate the abundance of God by our generosity. We demonstrate the reality of Christ's reconciliation by including people of all nations, languages, races and social classes in the fellowship of the church. We, the church, are proof of Christ's salvation as we live lives shaped not by sin, but by God.
How do we live in this way? You are invited to listen to these passages from Scripture as we seek God's salvation in Jesus Christ:
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