Choosing Life or Death.........Deut 30.
Todays’ lesson from the Book of Deuteronomy has Moses, calling into the mind of Israel, the covenant between God and His people. This covenant set forth by God sets out the commitment of both parties and reminds each that they have a duty to be fulfilled, should the covenant remain valid. Moses tells the people of the blessings and growth that come from God when they have committed with all their hearts and minds to follow the God that delivered them from bondage into freedom. In the same breath Moses details the loss and curse, the choice of death that will fall on them should they turn away and break the covenant by serving other gods and attending only to themselves.
It is clear, from todays’ lesson that a choice must be made. There can be no half hearted relationship with God or a passing nod of acknowledgement to the God who is jealous for a relationship with His people. The people must choose to live out the covenant in its fullest, which means life and blessing, or turn away and live into the self service and self worship that will bring upon them the curse of death. This is the moment of decision to trust fully in God and enter the promised land with all its promises or choose the chaos and defeat of denying themselves the grace of being the ones chosen by God.
These moments of commitment and decision are also ones that face us in the life of the church. To follow God, as we are called into the life of Christ means a total reorientation of our lives from self centeredness to God centeredness. It is a decision of life or death for ourselves, the church, our nation and our world. What we decide, to accept and embrace or not the love of God and His gifts of grace will determine our future and those around us leading all into a blessing or a curse, life or death. This is a decision that cannot be made half heartedly, it is either a yes or no, a total self giving to the covenant God offers us or a radical self destruction that sends all of us as a people into the abyss. In the words of Christ, we will take up our crosses and follow and be lead to life or we will not.
The turmoil of todays world gives us a clear example of what happens when we reject Gods covenant and set up other gods for ourselves where we are the ultimate judge. It is not a coincidence that the rise of strife and division of our current age correspond with the fall of faith and commitment to Gods covenant. Our society is plagued by a death of our own choosing. Yet, Moses tells the people of his own days as he does us, that should we turn back to God and choose life, the covenant promise with its blessings and promise can be regained.
In this age when we are faced on all sides by hatred and darkness, when culture screams out in a rage devoid of love or hope, I pray that we remember we are called to be Gods people. I pray we remember that God is not far off, that all we need to live is laid out by God before us. I pray for all, with the powers of heaven as our witness that we turn away from the voices of death and choose life.
Body and Blood of Christ Becoming what we receive
Todays’ lesson from Pauls' letter to the church at Corinth address confusion and malpractice of the celebration of the Eucharist. Instead of being a sacrifice of self and a thanksgiving for all God has done through Christ it has devolved into open drunkenness and rebellion. It would appear that the Corinthians are no longer receiving the Body and Blood of Christ but are openly celebrating themselves.
While, I hope, we have ironed out Eucharistic practice and decorum, we all do well to be reminded of what is happening during the liturgy of Holy Communion. We receive from Christ all that He is as an act of extreme love and we in turn offer the sacrifice of ourselves to Him so that we can follow Him as the model of the godly life. Through this mystery Christ becomes physically present and gives Himself to us to bring about in us eternal life. Such giving and receiving transforms us so that we what eat we than become. In turn we rejoice in what we so undeservedly have received.
The mark of those who have received the gift of Christ is joy and so we are called to reflect at what those who will not receive this gift, who turn away from Christs offer themselves become and what they show forth to the world. If having Christ is joy then it follows that rejecting Christ is pain, grief and ultimately anger and even eventually wrath. Without an inpouring of grace and mercy from God we are left to ourselves and quickly are disillusioned at who we are and what we have become. I see so many full of wrath and quickly come to see that they are to be prayed for, for they have rejected Christ, refuse to be healed and rebuke this gift of life. The joy of God builds up and renews while wrath always tears down, fractures and destroys, bearing with it the manifestation of death.
Those who reject God and refuse His love and grace can become like another who refused God and turned away from His life. Satan fell from the sky like lightening to the earth, and Jesus bemoans this fall for the world is now subject to satans paramount characteristic, which is wrath. Wrath, anger is after all a result of grief that is unresolved, the product of realizing you have cut yourself off from the divine and have nothing left but yourself to worship and adore. This ultimately is a cycle of agony with no end, a devouring of yourself that leaves being meaninglessness and a sense of self loathing that cannot be contained.
We all know people who have turned away from God and what He offers us all through Christ. They are certainly not Satan, but they do stand at the abyss of his kingdom and are falling prey to his empty promises and deceit. As the people of God, we are armed with prayer and we are called to engage the angry and hateful in compassion and love. With prayer all is possible and one subjected to care, compassion and love cannot long distain the source from which it has come. In this age of wrath our prayers are needed and I pray that you engage yours so that some hearts hardened by this wrath might be changed.
May we, this day, receive Christ into ourselves and in turn become Christ to the world.
Trinity Sunday "Into all Truth”
An authentic life well lived has at its center a search for truth. This quest for truth can lead us down many pathways as so many counterfeit truths cry out for our attention and allegiance. The search for the ultimate truth gives as meaning and purpose, often leads us into community and gives us a solid ground on which to stand. The truth we seek sets our lifelong agenda and so the search for the real truth will decide the outcome of our lives. Can we, in our fallen human form find this truth on our own and what happens when we decide our truth for ourselves?
When we contrive truth from our own inner resources and imagination the results can and will often be catastrophic. On our own we will always devise our own truths based on our own desires and passions. Since any such imagined truth is based ultimately on pride, envy, anger or even sloth what we usually are left with is great disappointment. Imposing our created truth on others , a nation or a world will end up in a blind alley that history shows us will be strewn with the death of millions and the silencing or destruction of any who counter our self made illusions. Russian history is one such example of how one mans imposition of truth on a nation led to 50 plus million deaths and the destruction of a civilization.
The truth will always come from a source outside ourselves. The truth is something we must be lead into, grow into and toward because it can never come from ourselves or be sourced from who we are. This raises the question do we want the truth and if not why? If not its because we prefer the illusion we ourselves create, and if so we may be asked to let go and even lose ourselves, what we currently are for the truth of who we are meant to become.
Jesus tells us that He will send the Spirit to lead us into all truth. The Spirit alone will lead us into what we on our own cannot know or experience and then teach us how to not just be but become. This is such a gift and sounds so simple and so I wonder why so few allow themselves to live into this truth when it is so freely offered. Why do we prefer the illusion of living a life, why do we prefer frustration and disappointment, sorrow and pain, why do we strive in our denials for what is offered, and turn toward death?
The only answer that I can see is that we as a people are too unwilling to not be the center of our own lives. To receive and be led into the truth that the Spirit offers we must be willing to let go, to allow another to be the center and cast off our own desires and passions to the side for what they are, just so much dross that takes instead of giving life. The church will remain the church as long as it proclaims the ultimate truth the Spirit offers. We proclaim the truth of Christ, the truth of forgiveness and reconciliation, the truth that all must die to their sinful self so that we can be raised up with Christ and live in His life.