The Church has its foundation in forgiveness. God, in Christ, has forgiven us. We, in turn, are called to forgive one another.
The underlying purpose of our forgiving one another is pragmatic. If we don't forgive, we waste an inordinate amount of time ruminating and seeking vengeance against those who we believe have wronged us. This accomplishes nothing. We only have a limited amount of time on this planet, and we are called to spend our time wisely. God wants us to spend our time becoming sanctified so that we can fulfill God's commission of making disciples of all nations and transforming the world. We cannot do so when we ruminate on the occasions when we have been wronged
We have a choice. We can choose to forgive and live in God's light, or we can choose not to forgive and live in misery.
Supporting the work and mission of Caney Spring United Methodist Church and Berlin United Methodist Church, two churches partnered in the ministry of making disciples of Christ for the transformation of the world, located in Marshall County, Tennessee.
Sunday, September 17, 2017
Sunday, September 3, 2017
What It Means to Take Up Our Cross
In the gospel lesson in the Revised Common Lectionary today, Jesus tells us that if anyone seeks to follow him, they must take up their own cross and follow.
In the ancient and medieval church, this was taken literally. What was considered an ideal Christian lifestyle was to become an ascetic and intentionally inflict torture and suffering upon oneself, intentionally mirroring the suffering that Christ endured. The modern Church just ignores the text and pretends that it does not exist because it stands contrary to the prevailing understanding that God seeks to take us away from suffering and trials.
The ancient and medieval church got it wrong; Christ did not undergo suffering, torture, and death as an end in itself. The modern church obviously gets it wrong by not engaging the text; whatever the text means, it means something.
The key to understanding the text lies in why Christ traveled to Jerusalem where he faced the cross, suffering and death; he did it to fulfill God's will of effecting the salvation and redemption of the world. We are similarly called to follow God's call, wherever it leads. Most of the time, it will lead us to places where we would choose not to go, requiring us to overcome our fear. If we live under the Lordship of Christ, we will go where God commands us to go, even to Jerusalem, because there are tasks that God must fulfill in our time, so that God's vision might be realized and the Kingdom of God might be revealed on earth as it is in heaven.
In the ancient and medieval church, this was taken literally. What was considered an ideal Christian lifestyle was to become an ascetic and intentionally inflict torture and suffering upon oneself, intentionally mirroring the suffering that Christ endured. The modern Church just ignores the text and pretends that it does not exist because it stands contrary to the prevailing understanding that God seeks to take us away from suffering and trials.
The ancient and medieval church got it wrong; Christ did not undergo suffering, torture, and death as an end in itself. The modern church obviously gets it wrong by not engaging the text; whatever the text means, it means something.
The key to understanding the text lies in why Christ traveled to Jerusalem where he faced the cross, suffering and death; he did it to fulfill God's will of effecting the salvation and redemption of the world. We are similarly called to follow God's call, wherever it leads. Most of the time, it will lead us to places where we would choose not to go, requiring us to overcome our fear. If we live under the Lordship of Christ, we will go where God commands us to go, even to Jerusalem, because there are tasks that God must fulfill in our time, so that God's vision might be realized and the Kingdom of God might be revealed on earth as it is in heaven.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)