God is the rose of immense beauty we behold -- we glimpse, then turn away because we feel ashamed. Yet, the rose of beauty that is God's love is for us.
Because we may feel unworthy of God's love, we run, hiding amongst the thorns and stones.
Yet, God follows after us in love, peering through the holes in the shack where we may hide. God is there, ever calling out to -- to love and be loved.
Dear God, you wait for me to return home to your love like a wayward son. You celebrate, picking up my tired body. You carry me through the gate, and your banner over me is love.
In love, you strengthen and nourish me with the raisins and apples that are the fruits of your Spirit.
Lord, protect me as I rest in your arms so I may rise and say I love you too.
Amen.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Reflections John 10:22-30
Jesus said, "I and the Father are one," in John 10:30.
God has many names in the bible because God is infinite, and beyond our mortal comprehension. Hebrew scholars have debated about the nature of God. In Jesus day, there was a strain of people who thought God wanted strict adherence to Levitical codes, which include rites of proper sacrifice of animals, and proper ritual cleanliness which ostracized many people from god. Conversely, John the Baptizer represented a line of thought that the only sacrifice God wanted was our hearts, complete with ongoing sacrificial acts of mercy and compassion. I tend to fall in line with John the Baptizer, as he was a harbinger of God's reign in Jesus. Both John and Jesus said, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!" Jesus himself quotes from Hosea 6:6 saying, "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings."
If Jesus "and the Father are one," then Jesus too is confusing, and beyond words. Jesus as a teach spoke in parabolic riddles, healed, asked his followers to become like children, was the living presence of God, and yet he confounded even his closest followers about what the fulfillment of the coming of the kingdom of God meant.
Yet, Jesus pointed out that God was not so much about belief, but an experience; of intention rather than thought. What is the experience of God? Isaiah 30:10 says that God longs to be gracious, is full of compassion, and a God of justice. Jesus as the gate to God (John 10:9), is full of graciousness, compassion, and longs for justice.
As Christians, when we enter into God's presence through Jesus, we enter into an experience of graciousness, forgiveness, mercy, and justice. As Christ takes root in our lives, we begin to practice these virtues of the Spirit initially with ourselves, but then with our friends, family, and neighbors as well.
Though Jesus and God are one Jesus is in us and we are in him. Though we are not God, in the words of Fr. Henri Nouwen, we become sign posts to God. As Christians, it is our mission to have others experience God's grace through us, through our compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and love. Amen.
God has many names in the bible because God is infinite, and beyond our mortal comprehension. Hebrew scholars have debated about the nature of God. In Jesus day, there was a strain of people who thought God wanted strict adherence to Levitical codes, which include rites of proper sacrifice of animals, and proper ritual cleanliness which ostracized many people from god. Conversely, John the Baptizer represented a line of thought that the only sacrifice God wanted was our hearts, complete with ongoing sacrificial acts of mercy and compassion. I tend to fall in line with John the Baptizer, as he was a harbinger of God's reign in Jesus. Both John and Jesus said, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!" Jesus himself quotes from Hosea 6:6 saying, "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings."
If Jesus "and the Father are one," then Jesus too is confusing, and beyond words. Jesus as a teach spoke in parabolic riddles, healed, asked his followers to become like children, was the living presence of God, and yet he confounded even his closest followers about what the fulfillment of the coming of the kingdom of God meant.
Yet, Jesus pointed out that God was not so much about belief, but an experience; of intention rather than thought. What is the experience of God? Isaiah 30:10 says that God longs to be gracious, is full of compassion, and a God of justice. Jesus as the gate to God (John 10:9), is full of graciousness, compassion, and longs for justice.
As Christians, when we enter into God's presence through Jesus, we enter into an experience of graciousness, forgiveness, mercy, and justice. As Christ takes root in our lives, we begin to practice these virtues of the Spirit initially with ourselves, but then with our friends, family, and neighbors as well.
Though Jesus and God are one Jesus is in us and we are in him. Though we are not God, in the words of Fr. Henri Nouwen, we become sign posts to God. As Christians, it is our mission to have others experience God's grace through us, through our compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and love. Amen.
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