mosaic

tonight was a great night with the mosaic crowd. the evening began with a jim wallis interview with john stewart on the daily show. very powerful, very well-received, and very funny. we talked about amos and God being sick of israel's lip-service juxtaposed with their blindness to injustice and cruelty. God's imagination of a "new way," i.e. the kingdom. will we participate in bringing it in or just talk about it? we ended with the hymn to Christ passage from philipians. "He took the form of a servant..." God incarnate. God with us.

i also read a chapter in a n.t. wright book today that foreshadowed what i would hear tonight. it was on john's gospel and the Word made flesh. "...dwelt among us." we believers, followers, seekers of Jesus. we are to do what He did. incarnate the love of God for the lost, the marginalized, the weak, the "least of these." and this requires sacrifice. and this is where i wimp out.

for quite some time now i've been very good at talking kingdom... and i think i'm often afraid to try it because i don't fully understand it. living the kingdom, pursuing justice, striving for peace, reaching out to the "least of these," doing to others as i would have them do unto me, feeding the starving, clothing the naked, standing up for the marginalized, taking the burdens of the world on my shoulders - it's easier to just talk about it. it feels too huge.

for many of us i fear our christianity is only the context in which we all hope to realize our hopes and dreams, our full potential, our life's purpose. not that there's anything wrong with these. it's just that we forget. my life is not for me. the cross was for the sins of the world. not Jesus' personal ambitions. and though it's scary, the promise of Jesus is that if we seek his kingdom first, the rest will work itself out.

this is a dawning realization. not an admonition. i am not there, but i want to be. this is a prayer. + Jesus save me from self-centeredness. don't let fear keep me from the cross. help me to know your love and to love others in turn. lead me out of prayers to discover "your will for my life," and into prayers for the grace to love my neighbor as myself. lead me into love. kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. +