God afar off comes IN

The Incarnation, wouldn’t you say, is more than a baby in a manger?To me the incarnation is God going the distance. The incarnation surely includes Bethlehem, but it also reaches as far as Golgotha too and out to places and hearts in between.

R. S. Thomas writes:

And God held in his hand
A small globe. Look, he said.
The son looked. Far off,
As through water, he saw
A scorched land of fierce
Colour. The light burned
There; crusted buildings
Cast their shadows; a bright
Serpent, a river
Uncoiled itself, radiant
With slime.
……        ………..On a bare
Hill a bare tree saddened
The sky. Many people
Held out their thin arms
To it, as though waiting
For a vanished April
To return to its crossed
Boughs. The son watched
Them. Let me go there, he said.

– RS Thomas, ‘The Coming’, in Collected Poems, 1945–1990

(London: Dent, 1993), 234.

“as if no one had ever said Yes like that…”

 

As if until that moment
nothing real
had happened since Creation

As if outside the world were empty
so that she and he were all
there was — he mover, she moved upon

As if her submission were the most
dynamic of all works: as if
no one had ever said Yes like that

As if that day the sun had no place
in all the universe to pour its gold
but her small room

– Luci Shaw, ‘Virgin’ in Accompanied By Angels: Poems of the Incarnation (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2006), 15.

Shall we do CPR on Mr. Pelagius?

Apparently Pelagius, hero to the health wealth, prosperity and let’s spread groovy vibes crowd, still has a following. Despite the philosophy of Pelagius being soundly defeated by Augustine over 1,000 years ago, it seems that some Pelagian hold outs have migrated to the State of Georgia.

enter the

The Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

* * * * * * *

R11-7

Contributions of Pelagius

Whereas the historical record of Pelagius’s contribution to our theological tradition is shrouded in the political ambition of his theological antagonists who sought to discredit what they felt was a threat to the empire, and their ecclesiastical dominance, and   whereas an understanding of his life and writings might bring more to bear on his good standing in our tradition, and  whereas his restitution as a viable theological voice within our tradition might encourage a deeper understanding of sin, grace, free will, and the goodness of God’s creation, and   whereas in as much as the history of Pelagius represents to some the struggle for theological exploration that is our birthright as Anglicans,   Be it resolved, that this 105th Annual Council of the Diocese of Atlanta appoint a committee of discernment overseen by our Bishop, to consider these matters as a means to honor the contributions of Pelagius and reclaim his voice in our tradition  And be it further resolved that this committee will report their conclusions at the next Annual Council.

Submitted by the Rev. Benno D. Pattison, Rector, the Church of the Epiphany

* * * * * * * *

What else might this Committee of Discernment be able to discern?

grace the DIY way?

I heard a sermon recently (not at my church) teaching that Christians need to eventually move beyond the Gospel. I used to think that too. BUT, I’ve been taking a closer look at Jesus and His Gospel. I’m seeing that the Gospel is not just for the lost. It’s for Christians.

What happens when we move beyond the Gospel? We go back to being Do It Yourselfers – holy Do It Yourselfers (yish, the worst kind I might add).

So also did Pastor Tullian Tchividjian proclaim (and continues to do so):

“My hope is that we would never become a church that thinks about the Gospel of grace as simply being the ABCs of Christianity – that once God saves us He then moves us beyond the Gospel of grace into something bigger or deeper.

“There is nothing bigger. There is nothing deeper than the Gospel of grace. Once God saves He doesn’t then move us beyond God’s Gospel of grace. He moves us more deeply into God’s Gospel of grace. It is the one ever flowing fountain that your weary soul and mind need on a daily basis.

“There is nothing…more difficult for us to get our minds around than the grace of God…as one writer put it, ‘We are seasoned do it yourselfers.’”

you can listen to the rest of that sermon here

(number one in a series called ‘Pictures of Grace’)

Forgiveness on a starry night

Mark 2:5, When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

“I said in a previous chapter that chastity was the most unpopular of the Christian virtues. But I am not sure I was right. I believe there is one even more unpopular. It is laid down in the Christian rule, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ Because in Christian morals ‘thy neighbor’ includes ‘thy enemy’, and so we come up against this terrible duty of forgiving our enemies.

“Every one says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive, as we had during the war. And then, to mention the subject at all is to be greeted with howls of anger. It is not that people think this too high and difficult a virtue: it is that they think it hateful and contemptible. ‘That sort of talk makes them sick,’ they say. And half of you already want to ask me, ‘I wonder how you’d feel about forgiving the Gestapo if you were a Pole or a Jew?’”

So wrote C. S. Lewis in his book, Mere Christianity.

Wouldn’t you agree? – forgiveness is rather easy if it is a minor offense; more difficult when the offenses grow more…well, more offensive.

But forgiveness is nearly impossible to give straight out of the bottle, not when the offender won’t seek your forgiveness, but when the offender wants your forgiveness, but wants just as much to make excuses for their “mistake.” Don’t you really, really dislike (insert ‘hate’ if you prefer) forgiving someone who thinks it was just a small matter? You’d rather they had never approached you in the first place.

This is you. That is me. That is us before Great God, El Shaddai, who is more perfect than any of our best conceptions of perfection. Consider the position God is in when He forgives. He is not one person offering forgiveness to another individual, one here, one there and so on. His forgiveness is not even like one nation forgiving another nation. His forgiveness is not peer to peer.

He is God and what He does He does on the grand scale. When God forgives He forgives worlds. He forgive whole planets of people. He forgives across centuries of people, across millennia of people. When He forgives He forgives humanity.

Billions and billions of forgiveness receipts are in His storehouse ready to be granted to all who will come.

This comes at a cost. Have you considered the price of that kind of forgiveness?

Massive, simply massive.

At age 17 the now famous astronomer, Tycho Brahe, wrote:

* * * *

I’ve studied all available charts of the planets and stars and none of them match the others. There are just as many measurements and methods as there are astronomers and all of them disagree. What’s needed is a long term project with the aim of mapping the heavens conducted from a single location over a period of several years.

* * * *

“several years”?

Tycho wrote that in the later part of the 1500s.

We’re still mapping the universe.

Have you stared into the universe of God’s forgiveness lately?

Have you tried to map God’s forgiveness in your small life?

In my experience it makes the difference between a bad day and a good day.

It will make the difference between a happy, blessed, rich life and a life…

…just a life.

to worship – divine frivolity?

A friend who recently returned to Christ sent me a copy of an unpublished essay by Jonathan Edwards on the Trinity. He was quite elated about what he read. I see now what got him so excited.

I have enjoyed reading Edwards over the years, but was not aware of this piece. The whole essay is a sight to below (with the minds eye), yet it doesn’t take long to find out where this typically verbose Puritan is going.

In the very first sentence Edwards knocks you over with the utter sacredness of Divine Frivolity.

How could worship every be dull after knowing God in this way?

Haaa Haaaa Haaaaaaa Haaaaaa Haaaaaaaaaaaa

*   *   *   *   *   *

“IT IS COMMON when speaking of the Divine happiness

to say that God is infinitely happy

in the enjoyment of

Himself,

in perfectly beholding and

infinitely loving,

and rejoicing in,

His own essence

and

perfection,

and accordingly it must be supposed that God

p e r p e t u a l l y

and                                     eternally

has a most perfect idea of Himself,

as it were an exact image and representation of Himself

ever before Him

and in actual view,

and from hence arises a most

pure

and

perfect

act or energy in the Godhead,

which is the Divine love,

complacence

and joy.”

Jonathan Edwards, Essay on the Trinity

the Kingdom of God Prezi

click on the pic to go to a Prezi presentation of some basic concepts that explain why the Kingdom of God has ALREADY begun, though it is YET to be fully consumated.

TIP – Don’t study the Kingdom in isolation. The key to understanding the Kingdom of God (timing? where? how do I get in? what’s my role in it? etc) is to keep looking at and learning about and getting to know The King. You will then see that His Domain is a reflection of Who His is and of His Gospel.

Did you know Luther prayed for the KoG to come?

In an earlier post I asked whether we should pray “Your Kingdom come…” or not?

If your hairdresser or your barber asked you this question what would you say – “yes” or “no” and how would you explain your answer? While you are sitting in the chair you’ll have plenty of time. You have a captive audience in your hairdresser or barber. So what would you say?

Martin Luther’s barber asked him how to pray in general.

So he wrote a book, ‘A Simple Way to Pray’

Maybe Luther might have answered the KoG question this way:

Say: "O dear Lord, God and Father, thou seest how worldly wisdom and reason not only profane thy
name and ascribe the honor due to thee to lies and to the devil, but how
they also take the power, might, wealth and glory which thou hast given
them on earth for ruling the world and thus serving thee, and use it in
their own ambition to oppose thy kingdom. They are many and mighty;
they plague and hinder the tiny flock of thy kingdom who are weak,
despised, and few. They will not tolerate thy flock on earth and think
that by plaguing them they render a great and godly service to thee. Dear
Lord, God and Father, convert them and defend us. Convert those who
are still to become children and members of thy kingdom so that they
with us and we with them may serve thee in thy kingdom in true faith
and unfeigned love and that from thy kingdom which has begun, we may
enter into thy eternal kingdom. Defend us against those who will not turn
away their might and power from the destruction of thy kingdom so that
when they are east down from their thrones and humbled, they will have
to cease from their efforts. Amen."

the KoG – what is it?

In our Sunday Bible class we are going thru the Gospel of Mark but haven’t gotten out of chapter 2 yet. As I said in an earlier post – I wasn’t expecting so much interest in discussing the Kingdom of God. So we are taking a little time to answer the basic question: “What is the Kingdom of God?”

This past Sunday I wrote suggestions from the class that we want to pursue in answering this question. Looks messy, but it’s full of good suggestions.

A couple of guys hung around after class and offered more good thots. They asked me if I was planning to erase the marker board. I said that I thot I would. Then they said I should keep it up for next week. (again more surprise that there is such an interest in the KoG topic).

I told them I was thinking of moving to a different aspect of Mark’s Gospel for next week. They said, “Oh no – you should keep going with this. There’s more to fill in here. We’ve just gotten started.”

.

I created a graphic of the above so we can work through each of these ideas in an organized way. I’ll try to update in future posts how we progress through each of these. What ideas would you add to this?

why is baptism an image of New Life?

The imagery in Baptism pictures what?

First – You can’t baptize yourself. Salvation is a work of God, not of a church or of man. You can’t make yourself spiritually new. God does it. You can’t purchase a position into the Kingdom of God. You come in empty handed and you humbly lay yourself in His hands.

Second – Baptism re-dramatizes the Gospel by picturing New Life in Jesus. When we are baptized we are announcing that we have willingly joined ( gone into) the Way of Divine Forgiveness, that we want to live the life of forever forgiveness (see Mark 1). 

Dunking – I see a dead man coming up alive. Christ brings us from a spiritual grave into new life.

or

Pouring – I see a man standing under the waterfall of cleansing. To make completely clean is to make as new. Christ and His Gospel make new from the inside out.

or

Sprinkling – I see a thirsty soul alien from God, parched and weak, now revived by divine forgiveness. This once withered soul grows in New Life by being watered with the bottomless grace of the Messiah.

Maybe the Baptism of Jesus showed more than that He was receiving divine approval. Maybe it also showed us that Jesus brings New Life raining from above.