Texts:
Psalm 119:81-88
Ezekiel 2:8-3:11
2 Corinthians 11:16-33
It takes a fair bit of stubbornness to be a leader in the church. Now, don't get me wrong; stubbornness does not imply "impossible to work with" or "unwilling to compromise" or "my way or the highway". Perhaps "intrepid" is a more politically-correct term, but I like the shock-value of stubbornness:
8See, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads. 9Like the hardest stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not fear them or be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.
It isn't necessarily that I think we are prophets speaking to a rebellious house. We might just be crazy preachers speaking to an apathetic society. Sometimes, I wonder what it takes to inspire community; to facilitate faith; to get at what, exactly, is at stake in this Gospel. How can we proclaim a Gospel in which everything is at stake yet communicate the reason that everything is at stake is because of the Gift that is proclaimed? How do we preach that we are saved by grace through faith apart from works yet point to the truth that our apathy toward our neighbor means we refuse to serve those who are hungry, thirsty, and naked? How do we serve the least of these yet recognize we are the least of these?
It takes a fair bit of stubbornness to proclaim this message of paradox, to get at the core of what it is to be a person of faith. It takes stubbornness to continue believing that the Christianity presented in mainstream media (Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy) is not the only expression of Christianity. For those of you who have experienced life and situations which cannot be easily swept away into a glib theological statement; there is hope. For those of you who have experienced the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer outside of dogmatic descriptions of belief; there is hope.
We might sound like fools, but what a joy to sound like fools in our proclamation: You, who have run away, you are beloved of God. You, who think the church is no longer for you, you are chosen by God. You, who cannot remember what it feels like to have a family, you are a child of God.
We might be stubborn, and we might be fools, but I am hard-pressed to think of traits that would serve us better in life, in faith, and in the church.
Psalm 119:81-88
Ezekiel 2:8-3:11
2 Corinthians 11:16-33
It takes a fair bit of stubbornness to be a leader in the church. Now, don't get me wrong; stubbornness does not imply "impossible to work with" or "unwilling to compromise" or "my way or the highway". Perhaps "intrepid" is a more politically-correct term, but I like the shock-value of stubbornness:
8See, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads. 9Like the hardest stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not fear them or be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.
It isn't necessarily that I think we are prophets speaking to a rebellious house. We might just be crazy preachers speaking to an apathetic society. Sometimes, I wonder what it takes to inspire community; to facilitate faith; to get at what, exactly, is at stake in this Gospel. How can we proclaim a Gospel in which everything is at stake yet communicate the reason that everything is at stake is because of the Gift that is proclaimed? How do we preach that we are saved by grace through faith apart from works yet point to the truth that our apathy toward our neighbor means we refuse to serve those who are hungry, thirsty, and naked? How do we serve the least of these yet recognize we are the least of these?
It takes a fair bit of stubbornness to proclaim this message of paradox, to get at the core of what it is to be a person of faith. It takes stubbornness to continue believing that the Christianity presented in mainstream media (Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy) is not the only expression of Christianity. For those of you who have experienced life and situations which cannot be easily swept away into a glib theological statement; there is hope. For those of you who have experienced the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer outside of dogmatic descriptions of belief; there is hope.
We might sound like fools, but what a joy to sound like fools in our proclamation: You, who have run away, you are beloved of God. You, who think the church is no longer for you, you are chosen by God. You, who cannot remember what it feels like to have a family, you are a child of God.
We might be stubborn, and we might be fools, but I am hard-pressed to think of traits that would serve us better in life, in faith, and in the church.
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