Resurrection and Rejoicing

 

Monday, April 5, 2021

The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.  This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.  This is the day the Lord has made.  We will rejoice and be glad in it.  Psalm 118:22-24

“Cornerstone” is used often in Scripture.  A cornerstone is the first building block for a foundation, that from which every other part of a building takes its reference. 

The cornerstone[1] of which Jesus spoke in the Gospel accounts (and later the apostles) is a reference to the Psalmist’s Messianic prophecy, a sign of how wrong humankind can get God’s plans.  Jesus, being born in a manger, living a perfect, sinless life, offering healing and help for all, was rejected by the powerful leaders of Israel, as well as the crowds.  He was nailed to a cross on Good Friday, tossed away like a misfit for the building.  On Sunday morning the entire meaning of life, death, and resurrection, along with every reason to rejoice, took on new significance when the women discovered the stone had been rolled away.  The builders of Israel’s earthly kingdom had failed miserably in recognizing the chief cornerstone, Christ, upon whom all of God’s eternal Kingdom, would depend.

Movements throughout the history of humankind always begin with an idea, often righteous and lofty.  Just as often they come unglued because selfish people snatch the momentum of a movement to turn a profit.  The old saying about the corrupting influence of power culminating in absolute corruption is never truer than in religion.  Steeped in mystery and fear, religious movements hold common sense prisoner.  But, just as the grave could not hold Jesus captive, neither can any human-constructed systems stand in the wake of God’s choosing.  Death had to flee for its existance in Jesus’ tomb; so the corruption of men’s plans.

There are many movements afoot today, along with knee-jerk counter movements.  (Black and Blue Lives Mattering, Gender line-crossing, Racial, ethnic, and women’s issues, just to skim the highlights.).  Among all of these are a germ of resusscitation for those on the margin who have been beaten-down, tossed-out, and forgotten.  There are also (as in every other human-driven movement) those willing to push an agenda that has nothing to do with righteousness.  If you look below the surface, past the silliness of self-aggrandizement, you will find the gold and control such hucksters really seek.  Every time there is a moment to be seized to further a “cause” the sharp-tongued manipulators can be found in front of a microphone.

That being a commentary on our time, or any other time in human history, consider the resurrection of Jesus.  His followers began announcing it to anyone who would listen.  Over the past two thousand years God’s fulfillment of his promise of restoration have caused untold millions to rejoice and turn to Christ for forgiveness and healing.  But the announcement has also been co-opted to fuel humankind lust for power in pseudo-righteous movements, crusades, and political manipulation.  This is the darkest of tragic evil which Jesus spoke concerning what man does with God’s light, tossing the cornerstone out with the bath water.  He also named the source of such evil:

For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.  Ephesians 6:12

So…why rejoicing in the face of such evil times?  The short-answer is that it is a stark reminder of how our God is in control.  There is nothing happening, or that can happen, of which Jesus is not aware.  Neither is God worried; when the time is fully-ripened, this field of harvest will be reaped.

For You Today

There are many things going on in movements, disease, weather and climate worries, church numbers dwindling, culture wars, and the continuing madness of evil in our day.  But the resurrection promise still stands, no matter who or what attempts to manipulate its power. 

The one word about resurrection which can never be disingenuous is rejoice!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com      Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

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[1] There are 12 uses of this term in the New Living Translation…see them all HERE

Essential Rivals

 

Thursday, September 3, 2020

The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body.  1 Corinthians 12:12a
The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.”  The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”  1 Corinthians 12:21
If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.  1 Corinthians 12:26

It is all so very connected; politics, religion, love, sex, money, breathing, or anything else you care to name.  The muse for this post is from a Facebook post of a friend, the pictured Native American’s wisdom about wings of the bird as part of the same body.  Of course, the older source would be Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church.  We are, indeed, the body, albeit connected in some very strange ways.  Yup...that same crazy bird in the middle is us…humanity.  We are an incredibly complex dodo bird!  And we need every part!

What plucks this analogy string so annoyingly resonant, today, is this time of year in a quadrennial political season.  Pandemic notwithstanding, the political push has been quieter, but lurking, nonetheless.  It seems to have ramped up lately, as the push toward November elections draws near. 

With limited space, and a huge subject (especially for a 5-minute devotional), let me get right to the point:

If we are so connected, how can we think anyone is useless?

Yet, you hear it every day: 

·       Republicans think Democrats belong in recycling. 

·       Democrats demonize Republicans. 

·       With every mention of, or sighting of Black Lives Matter, the Blue, White, Red, Asian, Gender-specific, Straight, or Whatever Lives cry for equal time. 

Preferential treatment, by definition, places one person’s value over another’s. 

And here’s the rub, in any arena, with any part of the analogy you care to push: 

Wings on the same bird were designed by our Creator to balance each other, to support each other, and keep us moving along, soaring, going higher.

But, when the wings on that bird are so busy swatting each other, that bird is going down!

From a Christian perspective, with all the backing of Holy Scripture to strengthen that previous statement, and empower the church to live it, even with the power to shame us into living it, we still can’t get it right.  Traditional-thinking Christians demonize Progressive-leaning Christians…and the blessing is returned.  And we get better at swatting each other as time passes. 

What a pitiful example of Christ’s love!

For You Today

If you’re of age, and inclination, this November you’ll cast a vote.  The election will be over, there will be a President.  Four years later (if the eagle hasn’t crashed and burned) we’ll do it again.

Keep the perspective that governments, movements, news cycles and your 401K are all temporary; the soul of another person is permanent.  Act with care accordingly!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

VIDEO

Title image Facebook post from a friend, Fran Grabowski 9/1/20  The title for this post borrows on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s work, Team of Rivals, how Abraham Lincoln turned his political opposition into a team that helped save America as a union.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on 1 Corinthians 12 see: We Are the Body of Christ and Holy Mixtures - Part 5

 

A Little Lower Than the Angels

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Thursday, June 14, 2018

And furthermore, it is not angels who will control the future world we are talking about.  For in one place the Scriptures say, “What are mere mortals that you should think about them, or a son of man that you should care for him?  Yet for a little while you made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.  You gave them authority over all things.”  Now when it says “all things,” it means nothing is left out.  But we have not yet seen all things put under their authority.  What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was given a position “a little lower than the angels”; and because he suffered death for us, he is now “crowned with glory and honor.”  Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone.  Hebrews 2:5-9^(NLT)

I love this picture of an angel covering a city for two reasons:

a.      It displays God’s design for angels to protect God’s creation

b.      It shows the angel as Scripture depicts them, strong, warrior-like, and not effeminate little wimps, like a Hallmark™ Christmas ornament

Now, don’t get me wrong (save the cards, letters, and emails), I, who have zero artistic abilities, would not willingly trample the artistic interpretation of those who do possess such gifts; it takes a lot of time and talented skill to create pictures or sculptures.  But this is just one of those theological pet-peeves of mine.  How can you assign gender to that which God hasn’t?

Gender is a base, necessary to reproduction here on earth, but not in heaven.  Just as God is without bodily gender distinction, the angels neither marry, nor procreate.  No amount of text-proofing can change that.  But all that attention to whether (or not) angels interacted with female humans to create a race of giants in pre-recorded history misses the point.  Angels are God’s servants.

So, what is it like to be a little lower than the angels?  Look in the mirror!  Our flesh, including its limitations and its dependence on gender for reproduction, along with those human frailties (just to mention a few, there is age, our bodies need sleep and food, susceptibility to disease, and let us not leave out the big one – death,) are what’s lower in the sense of physical prowess; the angels need none of this.  But the redeeming, set-apart quality humans possess is that stamp of God’s image on our souls, that which possesses free will.  In this, the angels can only wonder.

And therein is the glory and the rub.  Our free will opens the possibility of pathos, feelings and deeds of love or hate.  Angels aren’t exactly automatons, incapable of independent action (remember Lucifer was an angel who led a third of the heavenly host in a rebellion against the Father).  But angels who rebel are not quite free agents like humans, but also, those who serve at the throne above are not touched by the darkness of sin, as are we sons and daughters of Adam.

In all, Scripture declares humans a little lower than the angels…for the time being.  The writer of Hebrews declares that in the order which is still to come, angels will not rule with Christ; those humans who have given their hearts to follow Jesus will be transfigured, changed in the twinkling of an eye to be with Christ, and also rule with Him.  The angels will be a little lower than the redeemed of God’s family.  Considering the picture that we see of this mighty angel standing guard over the city, that’s going to be quite a change!

For You Today

Your day will include some kind of training that God has laid-out for you to be ready to be just a little higher than the angels.  Don’t waste it!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day. 

Go to VIDEO

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

Living in a Dumpster

[i]

Friday, July 15, 2016

There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female.  For you are all one in Christ Jesus.  Galatians 3:28^(NLT)

Separation, arguments, prejudice, unfairness; what a tangled existence we human beings create for each other.  When it comes to things that separate or divide people, the list is pretty long:

·       Race – that’s always a big one these days.

·       Lifestyle – there are messy people, clean people, fast and slow people; there are skinny people and generously piled “high and wide” people.

·       Language – Press one to continue in English

·       Region – I am one of the few “Yankee preachers” to ever have an ordination certificate signed by one Jefferson Davis!

·       Age – the young person complains the adults have it made, while the aged shake their heads in disdain over the way youth is wasted on the young.

·       Economics – the poor and rich seldom rub elbows.

·       Religion – Our creeds have created more different kinds of separation and distrust than 9/11.

·       Gender – there is a whole war going on to determine who has the power, or even if you will stay the gender you were born; whew!…tangled mess, indeed!

Separation…you stay over there, don’t get in my space!  Anger, contention, strife, games-playing, backbiting.  This is the stuff of which legalism is made.  This is what Jesus came to forgive…and what he expects us to forsake.

While the list of things that separate us is quite long, there is only a very short list of that which unites people.  There are two:  family and love.  That’s it…just family and love.  I tried to think of anything else that will truly unite people, and, other than accepting one another in this human family with love, there is nothing. 

In 2007 we added two rooms to our house so my Mom and Dad could live with us.  During the 8 month project there was an 8’x25’ dumpster next to the house full of scrap wood, shingles, discarded Pepsi bottles and sandwich wrappers. 

Other inhabitants included millions of fly larvae, mice and roaches, not to mention the odd family or two of black snakes.  (Don’t tell Elizabeth I said that!)

If I were to have asked Mom and Dad if they preferred to live in the new rooms or the dumpster, the only question would be if I have been drinking.  Nobody in his right mind lives in a dumpster if there’s a new house waiting. 

Yet, when it comes to living in faith, accepting others, we human beings would rather live in the “dumpster of separation” our prejudices and fears create, rather than the new rooms of joy Jesus is building for us.

For You Today

Paul calls to us to make a decision about the dumpster.  How do we live like Paul said – in Christ, with Christ living his life through our life?  It’s living together in love, in the faith family.  That’s what Jesus came to die for, that we might have a together life; we call it communion.  Sin separates us from God and each other.  Jesus came to break down the barriers that separate us, so that we can walk together. 

He came to tow away the dumpster of separation.  He’s building a new house full of love and family.  And there’s room for everybody!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

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NOTES

[i] Title Image: Russell Brownworth