Texts:
Psalm 34:1-8
1 Samuel 28:20-25
Romans 15:1-6
... so that by the steadfastness and encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope...
I think this might be my theme for this year. As I have reflected on the daily texts, some days I have found myself arguing with the text; others I found myself awestruck by the stark beauty of Scripture; others still it met me on the road to Emmaus, leaving me wondering if I would ever see a thing for what it was or whether I would simply see the mask of God and never the God behind the mask.
As I engaged the RCL texts daily, the texts seeped in, complicating how I understand myself and how I understand Scripture. Now, this should not come as a surprise to a seminarian who will be applying to PhD programs to study New Testament. On the other hand, I think the way in which Christ meets us in Scripture is always surprising because Christ meeting us is surprising. That God would choose to meet us, to encourage us, and to give us hope, is staggering. There have been days that I did not want the encounter. It is scary to open myself up to the text, to engage it as it is, to allow it to engage me as I am, but I think this one of the fundamental ways in which Christ has met me this year.
When we come with our defenses and our weapons to protect ourselves from our flickering faiths, we paradoxically do the very thing that prevents us from seeing ourselves as we are. This, in turn, prevents us from meeting God as God is. Removing the veil, we see ourselves without our masks and protection. We see our vulnerability and all of the things we do to make ourselves impervious to threats. It is in this very moment that the cross confronts (yes, confronts) us. Christ himself comes to us as a stranger on the road to Emmaus, a known stranger who meets us in our sorrow and vulnerability and enters our hearts with hope.
I will probably continue to blog every now and again, though likely not with any of the regularity with which I blogged this past year. Continue to engage the text, dear friends, and continue to allow it to engage you. It might be messy, and it might be scary, but to have faith is to do nothing other than to enter the fray of the messy, scary world, into which Christ came so that, though the way be dark, we might grasp the promise that darkness will someday become as light (Psalm 139).
God's peace,
Mandy
Psalm 34:1-8
1 Samuel 28:20-25
Romans 15:1-6
... so that by the steadfastness and encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope...
I think this might be my theme for this year. As I have reflected on the daily texts, some days I have found myself arguing with the text; others I found myself awestruck by the stark beauty of Scripture; others still it met me on the road to Emmaus, leaving me wondering if I would ever see a thing for what it was or whether I would simply see the mask of God and never the God behind the mask.
As I engaged the RCL texts daily, the texts seeped in, complicating how I understand myself and how I understand Scripture. Now, this should not come as a surprise to a seminarian who will be applying to PhD programs to study New Testament. On the other hand, I think the way in which Christ meets us in Scripture is always surprising because Christ meeting us is surprising. That God would choose to meet us, to encourage us, and to give us hope, is staggering. There have been days that I did not want the encounter. It is scary to open myself up to the text, to engage it as it is, to allow it to engage me as I am, but I think this one of the fundamental ways in which Christ has met me this year.
When we come with our defenses and our weapons to protect ourselves from our flickering faiths, we paradoxically do the very thing that prevents us from seeing ourselves as we are. This, in turn, prevents us from meeting God as God is. Removing the veil, we see ourselves without our masks and protection. We see our vulnerability and all of the things we do to make ourselves impervious to threats. It is in this very moment that the cross confronts (yes, confronts) us. Christ himself comes to us as a stranger on the road to Emmaus, a known stranger who meets us in our sorrow and vulnerability and enters our hearts with hope.
I will probably continue to blog every now and again, though likely not with any of the regularity with which I blogged this past year. Continue to engage the text, dear friends, and continue to allow it to engage you. It might be messy, and it might be scary, but to have faith is to do nothing other than to enter the fray of the messy, scary world, into which Christ came so that, though the way be dark, we might grasp the promise that darkness will someday become as light (Psalm 139).
God's peace,
Mandy
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