After Jesus is baptized, he is driven into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted, tested and tempered. After that he begins his ministry, and his first ministry action is to proclaim through the countryside: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."
I hate that. I don't want God's kingdom, the kingdom of peace and justice, to come near. I want it to be here. Why can't what I long for be in my grasp?
Most theologians think that when Jesus says the kingdom has come near, he is saying that the kingdom has come, in some sense, with his coming and will come fully in the near future. Jesus was an apocalyptic preacher. He believed that God's rule, the supernatural interruption of the natural order, was coming quickly, so people should get ready. The early church got the message and believed the same way. Jesus who had died and was resurrected and ascended would return imminently.
Maybe it's just my way of trying to understand Jesus' words 2,000 years later, but I think he's talking more than about time. I think he's speaking to the human longing for God's presence which is never fully satisfied. Our finite selves daily bump up against the infinite, the great mystery of existence, and we are frustrated, figuring there must be some method for experiencing the great Shalom, unity with God. But we can't find it. We are left with our craving and brokenness. Getting up for work in the morning. Helping the kids with homework.
The kingdom is near. Or to continue the U2 theme from last week: "I still haven't found what I'm looking for."
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Bleak Winter, Psalm 40:1-11
Ah, world, what lessons you prepare for us
even in the leafless winter,
even in the ashy city.
I am thinking now
of grief, and of getting past it.
Mary Oliver
I hate January. Have I mentioned this before?
I hate the perpetual darkness that just hangs low over your head, pressing down on you, threatening to pin you to the ground like a heavy boot. Sure, there are the sporadic glimpses of sunshine, but then everything is frozen solid including your fingers as they fruitlessly scrape the windshield of your car in which the heater doesn't work and a new heater core costs more to put in than to get a new vehicle, almost.
The church becomes unbearable in January as the charm and spiritual warmth of Christmas has given way to ordinary time and beginning-of-the-year administrative tasks that you just have to plow through by sheer act of will. Our church, like any church nowadays, is constantly processing change, adapting to new realities in the American religious landscape. This constant change requires constant energy and attention. In January, that can be hard to muster.
Do I sound grumpy? I'm grumpy. January will do that to me. Psalm 40 is perfect January reading, or not, depending on your feelings about being patient:
I waited patiently for the Lord;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the desolate pit,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock;
making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
How are you feeling this winter? Does Psalm 40 resonate with your 2011 winter experience?
even in the leafless winter,
even in the ashy city.
I am thinking now
of grief, and of getting past it.
Mary Oliver
I hate January. Have I mentioned this before?
I hate the perpetual darkness that just hangs low over your head, pressing down on you, threatening to pin you to the ground like a heavy boot. Sure, there are the sporadic glimpses of sunshine, but then everything is frozen solid including your fingers as they fruitlessly scrape the windshield of your car in which the heater doesn't work and a new heater core costs more to put in than to get a new vehicle, almost.
The church becomes unbearable in January as the charm and spiritual warmth of Christmas has given way to ordinary time and beginning-of-the-year administrative tasks that you just have to plow through by sheer act of will. Our church, like any church nowadays, is constantly processing change, adapting to new realities in the American religious landscape. This constant change requires constant energy and attention. In January, that can be hard to muster.
Do I sound grumpy? I'm grumpy. January will do that to me. Psalm 40 is perfect January reading, or not, depending on your feelings about being patient:
I waited patiently for the Lord;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the desolate pit,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock;
making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
How are you feeling this winter? Does Psalm 40 resonate with your 2011 winter experience?
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Baptism of Jesus Sunday
In the liturgical calendar, January 9 is Baptism of Jesus Sunday. At WPPC this Sunday, we'll baptize and confirm six youth. What a great way to celebrate the baptism of Jesus!
When Jesus came up out of the water at his baptism, according to the gospel writers, the Holy Spirit descended on him and a voice pronounced, "This is my son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased." With this knowledge of his identity, Jesus is empowered to launch into ministry.
At their baptism and confirmation, I will anoint the youth this Sunday and pronounce that they have been sealed by the Holy Spirit in their baptism and marked as Christ's own forever. Those are pretty powerful words. Wonder what would happen if each one truly took those words to heart. How would it change their lives? What could they accomplish?
Freedom is a wonderful thing. We have a lot of it in this country, and we should be thankful. The dark side of freedom though is that we think we can go though the world making up our life as we go along. We have no sense that we are chosen or claimed, that we have a destiny or mission. We are left to wander, following our own appetites. Life lived in this kind of freedom can be very unfufilling.
Do you have the sense that you are claimed by God and that that claim matters in your daily life?
When Jesus came up out of the water at his baptism, according to the gospel writers, the Holy Spirit descended on him and a voice pronounced, "This is my son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased." With this knowledge of his identity, Jesus is empowered to launch into ministry.
At their baptism and confirmation, I will anoint the youth this Sunday and pronounce that they have been sealed by the Holy Spirit in their baptism and marked as Christ's own forever. Those are pretty powerful words. Wonder what would happen if each one truly took those words to heart. How would it change their lives? What could they accomplish?
Freedom is a wonderful thing. We have a lot of it in this country, and we should be thankful. The dark side of freedom though is that we think we can go though the world making up our life as we go along. We have no sense that we are chosen or claimed, that we have a destiny or mission. We are left to wander, following our own appetites. Life lived in this kind of freedom can be very unfufilling.
Do you have the sense that you are claimed by God and that that claim matters in your daily life?
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