For those of you who check in from time to time and have noticed our distinct slack off feel this week, yes, yes we are absent. It's mid-term week at The Protestant Episcopal Seminary in Virigina which means lots of work and not much time for "spiritual disciplines."
Seems ironic I know, but hey, nobody said you'd find God at seminary.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
And Yet (BCP)
They burned the house of God, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious vessels.
What a difficult reading from 2 Chronicles. God was mighty in his righteous indignation. God used outsiders to let his people know he was not happy with their actions, their decisions, their worldview. God went to the point of allowing his own house (the temple in Jerusalem) to be destroyed.
And Yet.
And yet, after 70 years of cooling off, God decided to give it another go. He worked again through outsiders, but was to retrun to his home. He fulfilled his promise to Jeremiah. God does not forget his promises. God does not forget us. No matter what we do, if we have the faith in/of Christ in our hearts and on our lips, by grace we have been saved through faith.
The weight of the quarter sits upon my shoulders. I'm so greatful for the "And Yet." I need God to remember me for by my own works I will surely fail.
What a difficult reading from 2 Chronicles. God was mighty in his righteous indignation. God used outsiders to let his people know he was not happy with their actions, their decisions, their worldview. God went to the point of allowing his own house (the temple in Jerusalem) to be destroyed.
And Yet.
And yet, after 70 years of cooling off, God decided to give it another go. He worked again through outsiders, but was to retrun to his home. He fulfilled his promise to Jeremiah. God does not forget his promises. God does not forget us. No matter what we do, if we have the faith in/of Christ in our hearts and on our lips, by grace we have been saved through faith.
The weight of the quarter sits upon my shoulders. I'm so greatful for the "And Yet." I need God to remember me for by my own works I will surely fail.
BCP- Ephesians
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God-- not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
Right now as I write I am in class. As a final session this quarter the prof invited three of our African seminarians to speak of their experience in Africa watching the Pentecostal movement and the massive birth of Christians in Africa. One of the Kenyan Seminarians spoke of his Bishop in the Anglican Church who is excited about being a Bishop. The Bishop wanted to get a bike and ride around his province wearing his Miter and wearing a large cross.
The Bishop was excited because he said " I was a nobody and in Christ I became a somebody" The seminarian then when on to say, "that's the point isn't it. We were nobody's but then in Christ we become something"
Powerful...For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God-- not the result of works, so that no one may boast.
Right now as I write I am in class. As a final session this quarter the prof invited three of our African seminarians to speak of their experience in Africa watching the Pentecostal movement and the massive birth of Christians in Africa. One of the Kenyan Seminarians spoke of his Bishop in the Anglican Church who is excited about being a Bishop. The Bishop wanted to get a bike and ride around his province wearing his Miter and wearing a large cross.
The Bishop was excited because he said " I was a nobody and in Christ I became a somebody" The seminarian then when on to say, "that's the point isn't it. We were nobody's but then in Christ we become something"
Powerful...For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God-- not the result of works, so that no one may boast.
Monday, March 13, 2006
BCP- Topsy Turvy
God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-- by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
This will be short as it is exam week. I was struck by the upside down nature of what we perceive and the action of Jesus in the world. I am alive. My writing this is testimony to my actually being alive. I live yet the epistle says that I am dead. I am dead in my trespasses...the implication is that I can not approach the God head by my own power. Jesus is alive and then crucified. He dies and I am baptized into his death. Jesus death removes me from death into life. Alive I am dead. Jesus dies and I enter into his death. By entering into Jesus death I am made alive. Topsy Turvy.
This will be short as it is exam week. I was struck by the upside down nature of what we perceive and the action of Jesus in the world. I am alive. My writing this is testimony to my actually being alive. I live yet the epistle says that I am dead. I am dead in my trespasses...the implication is that I can not approach the God head by my own power. Jesus is alive and then crucified. He dies and I am baptized into his death. Jesus death removes me from death into life. Alive I am dead. Jesus dies and I enter into his death. By entering into Jesus death I am made alive. Topsy Turvy.
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