So what is the meaning of Easter for us today?
The crucifixion, which plays a pivotal role in the victory of God, is not the end. If Jesus had not been raised from the dead he would have been forgotten. He would have been another of a long line of Jewish prophets and political agitators, and we wouldn’t know of him today. But we do. Something incredible happened, the culmination of Jesus’ work on earth led him to be raised again after three days of death. This is the greatest rebuttal to those who don’t believe that Jesus rose again. If it were untrue, why is it still remembered today – why is it the turning point of the Jesus movement which turned into the global church today? Something amazing happened.
The resurrection represents the vindication of Jesus by God and the power of the two statements - Jesus lives and Jesus is Lord!
Jesus Lives
The resurrection at its most basic point is a miracle. The greatest miracle that has occurred. Jesus was dead – and the he was alive. The witnesses saw a tomb that was empty. Jesus had indeed risen from the dead. The power of the resurrection exists in the fact that it is also a metaphor for us. We too must die to our old selves to be raised anew in Christ – this is the basic act of being a Christian. This is the power of Easter – this is where we say ‘Jesus Lives’. Jesus lives in us because not only did he rise from the dead, but he lives in me and has raised me from the dead. The death of my old life, the old way of doing things. The old way of living. And now I’m alive in Christ and Jesus is alive in me.
There is something genius in the idea of transformation – in the reality of the experience of being raised into a new life with Christ. This genius lies in the fact that transformation not only requires belief and acceptance of the supreme love and rule of God in our lives, but that there is new action that takes place too. If a butterfly tried to crawl on the ground like the catepillar it was, it wouldn’t survive. So too our lives with Christ, our rebirth will falter if there isn’t a change in how we act.
Many of the people we walked with in their recovery from addictions would come to believe in God at some point. But this didn’t result in a change of action and perception of themselves, which would unfortunately result in them returning to their old life. But when transformation impacted action amazing things happened.
This new life, this transformation is echoed throughout the new testament as Paul writes – ‘its no longer I that live, but Christ who lives in me’ and ‘If anyone is in Christ there is a new creation.’ In the gospel of John he talks about being born again. It is this that leads us to salvation and Jesus is the path to salvation.
Salvation is often thought of as being ‘saved for heaven’, and while this is a way of understanding it, in the Bible, salvation is mostly concerned with something that happens in this life. Even in the New Testament, the primary meaning of the word "salvation" is transformation in this life. One can see this in the roots of the English word salvation, which comes from "salve," which is a healing ointment. Salvation is about healing. We all grow up wounded, and salvation is about the healing of the roots of existence.
Salvation is about light in the darkness, liberation from bondage, return from exile, or reconnection with God. It's about our hunger being satisfied, our thirst being quenched.
This salvation can only be experienced through the death of our old self and the raising of our new lives in Christ.
Jesus is Lord
While it is a basic statement, it’s a statement that has many implications. You see if we say Jesus is Lord then we are saying that everything else in our lives isn’t. Our job, family, friends, hobbies and political leanings are not what is Lord of our life. Jesus is. And with Jesus as Lord we must then follow and participate in what he was passionate about, which takes us to being builders of his Kingdom on earth.
Jesus had been executed by the imperial power of Rome. And God had said no, you cant kill him. Because Caesar isn’t Lord – Jesus is Lord. As Colossians puts it: ‘God disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in the cross.
If we are to be a Jesus is Lord Christian, a prophetic Christian, we are to have a faith and practice that is not adjusted to greed hatred and fear and that bears the fruits of justice, love and hope.
We need to make sure that the message of the cross and the reality of the resurrection doesn’t become diluted in a world that doesn’t look favorably on words such as sacrifice, grace, justice and peace. As a Jesus is Lord Christian we need to make sure that every part of our life is connected to something bigger then ourselves – is it connected to what God wants you to do? Ultimately is it connected to prayer? Not the type of prayer that says ‘what can you do for me or lets make a deal’, but the prayer of Jesus in the Garden, the place of Victory. The prayer of ‘let your will be done’. Don’t move the mountain Jesus, give me the power to climb over the mountain.
If we say Jesus Lives and Jesus is Lord, we are making very profound and powerful statements. Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow him. To lead a life that lets love rule, to have as our very core the principles of the Kingdom of God. A life that can be transformed continually as our relationship and awareness of him continues to grow.
Today I thank God for walking the path of the cross, for standing before all of the sin, the anger, the hatred and violence of the powers that be, and conquering them all with love. Today I also am fearfully awed at his call to follow, and to take up the way of the cross (John Jensen via Facebook)
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
The Agony of Jesus
(non-referenced sources include Marcus Borg, Gardner Taylor and NT Wright)
Today is a very important day in the life of the church. It is the day we remember the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and the beginning of reality of the Resurrection. The importance of these events has produced so much potential teaching points that I have found it difficult to decide on exactly what to give the message on. So I have decided on something that is a little less common.
The Easter period has two Catholic sayings which encapsulate Good Friday – The Passion and The Agony. The Passion is the crucifixion of Jesus and The Agony is his time in the Garden after the last supper and just before the crucifixion. While traditionally The Passion receives the most attention on Good Friday, and no wonder, I want to focus on The Agony of Jesus. Instead of focusing on the graphic nature of the events and the sometimes macabre reality of what took place, I want to take slightly different path - and when I do we will find that the place of Agony was really the place of victory.
Most great public events have their origins in private, intimate struggles. All sporting coaches will tell you games are won on the practice field, and this sermon took many hours of thought and consideration to prepare. So to for our spiritual lives. The time we put into private spiritual development through prayer and bible study are what holds us in good stead when faced with the trials of life. Many times we may think that singing loudly or praying in public with vigor contributes to our spiritual growth. But the truth is when crisis comes, if there hasn’t been a deep spiritual journey taking place in the private of our own homes, then our faith can be easily shaken.
The crucifixion is the place of Gods great victory through Jesus. It is the centre point of our faith, the culmination of the gospels and the divine turning point in the history of humanity. The crucifixion is the ultimate public expression of the supreme purpose of God.
This momentous and public event of the great victory of God had at its starting place the very private and soul searching moment of the Garden of Gethsemane, where that great victory begun though a night of lonely, tortured prayer.
Jesus has just spent the last supper with his disciples. A night of reflection and celebration which would be the last night of peace and serenity before he rose again on Sunday. Then they head for the garden.
Here, Jesus asks for his three closest followers to come away with him. Then he speaks openly with them about his deepest feelings. How much do we hold back what we are feeling from those closest to us? We need people who we can share our innermost thoughts – people who will accept us and understand us. There will always be the dark night of the soul, and we need people who can give us hope and a bit of joy through this experience. Jesus exposed his heart to these disciples and showed his loneliness. We all have a need to stand near people, to be with people. When you experience this, don’t think its silly or that you need to be more self sufficient – Jesus felt this way too.
In a study done on critically ill patients about to pass on, the main want of these people was to have someone come into their room, not as an expert, not to offer opinions, but to come as a human being and to offer themselves. In our greatest time of need we want to have someone with us, whether or not they can actually do anything for us.
The need for people is an important part of being human. Jesus wanted his friends to be with him, near him, in his time of need. There weren’t many of them at this point. The public entrance of Palm Sunday must seem like an eternity passed as Jesus called for his closest disciples to stay with him. He had so few with him at the end. As with us though, it is important to understand the limitations of even those closest to us. This is the tension we have as humans. We rely on others to be with us, to the point that if there not, we can fade away to nothingness. But these same relationships can cause us great pain. People are flawed – despite the fact that we need them so much, they can let us down. Being connected to community is essential, yet if we place our hope in people – rather then in God, then we are bound for heartache. The tension has to be eased through the existence we find in God. God is the ground of all being and in this we must find a connection deeper then we can find with the people around us.
Jesus loved his disciples and wanted to place some of his burdens on them – to stay with him at his final hour. Yet the three closest to him couldn’t do it. After Jesus went away to pray he came back to find the disciples asleep. He had carried them, ministered to them, taught them and shown them his love and when he needed them, they fell asleep.
Jesus asked them if it were too much to ask them to wait for him a short time. He continues to do this today. Is it too much to ask us to read his word, to pray, to give to those who have need, to love, show kindness to the sick, the poor.
The final victory of God found in the garden was not found in the support of his friends. People will fail us in times of trial, when we need them most. He found it in God. He revealed his deepest fears, the fear of being humiliated and beaten and killed so publically. He begs God, twice to take away the future which awaits him. He shows us through his own struggle that it is ok for us to not want to go through harsh trials and sad times. It is natural to want to turn away. Jesus sweated drops of sweat that were like blood – he loved life and didn’t want to leave it. But in the end, the victory is won right there in the garden when he utters the words – not my will but yours.
God heard and responded. Men failed and slept, But God who never sleeps heard Jesus. God prepared him for the great trial ahead of him. When Jesus got up from his prayer, he had won the victory – he was ready – let his enemies come. This is the victory of God – the victory that we too can have in Jesus. If friends neglect and abandon us – its alright now. If governments oppress and leaders lie – its alright now. The heavy cross awaits us, just as it waited for Jesus. Lets go and meet it – prepared by prayer we can face the times of trials and testing confident that the victory has been won, in the quite moments, when no one is watching, no one is around. Just like a musician who practices hours alone to perform a few beautiful notes. In prayer we kneel before God that we may stand strong before the world. In prayer we enter heaven that we may face the battles of earth.
Today is a very important day in the life of the church. It is the day we remember the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and the beginning of reality of the Resurrection. The importance of these events has produced so much potential teaching points that I have found it difficult to decide on exactly what to give the message on. So I have decided on something that is a little less common.
The Easter period has two Catholic sayings which encapsulate Good Friday – The Passion and The Agony. The Passion is the crucifixion of Jesus and The Agony is his time in the Garden after the last supper and just before the crucifixion. While traditionally The Passion receives the most attention on Good Friday, and no wonder, I want to focus on The Agony of Jesus. Instead of focusing on the graphic nature of the events and the sometimes macabre reality of what took place, I want to take slightly different path - and when I do we will find that the place of Agony was really the place of victory.
Most great public events have their origins in private, intimate struggles. All sporting coaches will tell you games are won on the practice field, and this sermon took many hours of thought and consideration to prepare. So to for our spiritual lives. The time we put into private spiritual development through prayer and bible study are what holds us in good stead when faced with the trials of life. Many times we may think that singing loudly or praying in public with vigor contributes to our spiritual growth. But the truth is when crisis comes, if there hasn’t been a deep spiritual journey taking place in the private of our own homes, then our faith can be easily shaken.
The crucifixion is the place of Gods great victory through Jesus. It is the centre point of our faith, the culmination of the gospels and the divine turning point in the history of humanity. The crucifixion is the ultimate public expression of the supreme purpose of God.
This momentous and public event of the great victory of God had at its starting place the very private and soul searching moment of the Garden of Gethsemane, where that great victory begun though a night of lonely, tortured prayer.
Jesus has just spent the last supper with his disciples. A night of reflection and celebration which would be the last night of peace and serenity before he rose again on Sunday. Then they head for the garden.
Here, Jesus asks for his three closest followers to come away with him. Then he speaks openly with them about his deepest feelings. How much do we hold back what we are feeling from those closest to us? We need people who we can share our innermost thoughts – people who will accept us and understand us. There will always be the dark night of the soul, and we need people who can give us hope and a bit of joy through this experience. Jesus exposed his heart to these disciples and showed his loneliness. We all have a need to stand near people, to be with people. When you experience this, don’t think its silly or that you need to be more self sufficient – Jesus felt this way too.
In a study done on critically ill patients about to pass on, the main want of these people was to have someone come into their room, not as an expert, not to offer opinions, but to come as a human being and to offer themselves. In our greatest time of need we want to have someone with us, whether or not they can actually do anything for us.
The need for people is an important part of being human. Jesus wanted his friends to be with him, near him, in his time of need. There weren’t many of them at this point. The public entrance of Palm Sunday must seem like an eternity passed as Jesus called for his closest disciples to stay with him. He had so few with him at the end. As with us though, it is important to understand the limitations of even those closest to us. This is the tension we have as humans. We rely on others to be with us, to the point that if there not, we can fade away to nothingness. But these same relationships can cause us great pain. People are flawed – despite the fact that we need them so much, they can let us down. Being connected to community is essential, yet if we place our hope in people – rather then in God, then we are bound for heartache. The tension has to be eased through the existence we find in God. God is the ground of all being and in this we must find a connection deeper then we can find with the people around us.
Jesus loved his disciples and wanted to place some of his burdens on them – to stay with him at his final hour. Yet the three closest to him couldn’t do it. After Jesus went away to pray he came back to find the disciples asleep. He had carried them, ministered to them, taught them and shown them his love and when he needed them, they fell asleep.
Jesus asked them if it were too much to ask them to wait for him a short time. He continues to do this today. Is it too much to ask us to read his word, to pray, to give to those who have need, to love, show kindness to the sick, the poor.
The final victory of God found in the garden was not found in the support of his friends. People will fail us in times of trial, when we need them most. He found it in God. He revealed his deepest fears, the fear of being humiliated and beaten and killed so publically. He begs God, twice to take away the future which awaits him. He shows us through his own struggle that it is ok for us to not want to go through harsh trials and sad times. It is natural to want to turn away. Jesus sweated drops of sweat that were like blood – he loved life and didn’t want to leave it. But in the end, the victory is won right there in the garden when he utters the words – not my will but yours.
God heard and responded. Men failed and slept, But God who never sleeps heard Jesus. God prepared him for the great trial ahead of him. When Jesus got up from his prayer, he had won the victory – he was ready – let his enemies come. This is the victory of God – the victory that we too can have in Jesus. If friends neglect and abandon us – its alright now. If governments oppress and leaders lie – its alright now. The heavy cross awaits us, just as it waited for Jesus. Lets go and meet it – prepared by prayer we can face the times of trials and testing confident that the victory has been won, in the quite moments, when no one is watching, no one is around. Just like a musician who practices hours alone to perform a few beautiful notes. In prayer we kneel before God that we may stand strong before the world. In prayer we enter heaven that we may face the battles of earth.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Jesus or Rome
Today is an important day in the Christian church, Palm Sunday, the beginning of the week of Easter. Easter is the time to remember the sacrifice and victory of Christ, but today on Palm Sunday we get a view of the catalyst that started the story, really the events that sealed the fate of Jesus. When I read about the moment of the triumphal entry I cant help to continually be impressed by the courage of Jesus.
But I am also drawn to the correlation between spiritual and religious thought and politics and law, which in the gospels are inseparable. Living in the 21st Century in the West we have clear separation between the state and the church. Law and religion are separate. In the worldview of Jesus this wasn’t’ the case – the bible was the law, it was political
Jesus had come to the gates of Jerusalem, with the message that had been the basis of his life’s ministry, that of The Kingdom of God. This was what Jesus had lived for, and ultimately what he came to Jerusalem to die for.
I am going to look at a couple aspects of the triumphal entry which Rachel read earlier. Firstly, what was the significance of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem and what happened after he got off the colt. Next I will look briefly at a prophecy that Jesus speaks that is often overlooked or misunderstood and what this means to us today.
Luke 19:28-44
28After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29As he approached Bethpage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30"Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it.' "
32Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?"
34They replied, "The Lord needs it."
Background: Jesus had not been to Jerusalem for a few years up to this point. He had been forced to leave the city and teach and heal in towns around it. This was because of the controversy his work had caused in the past had meant he had to keep away from the centre of power – which is what Jerusalem was, the political, religious centre of that part of the world.
The act of sending his two disciples was the fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecy which pointed to the arrival of the Messiah. All Jewish people would have understood the symbolism of this act.
35They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.
37When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
38"Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!"[b]
"Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"
39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!"
40"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."
This time of year was the Passover, which is the celebration of the time when the Angel of God passed over the Jewish slaves houses in Egypt. It is a special time of celebration for them, and was the time Jesus had deliberately chosen to make his way into Jerusalem. The Roman Empire, which was the occupier of Israel and was aware of the importance of this celebration for the Jewish people and the potential for violent uprising. So at about the same time Jesus entered the city, on the opposite side, a different procession was taking place. The Romans would send Imperial Cavalry and foot soldiers adorned with banners, as a show of force, with the Governor – Pontius Pilate leading the Army.This was a deliberate act by Jesus to once again emphasize that his mission was different. On one side of the city, the world empire, the political power of the time was entering the city prepared for war. Jesus came into the city on a donkey – which was the traditional way a king would arrive in times of peace. Jesus was while signaling to the Jewish people he was the Messiah, also in effect putting on a political demonstration. The message he gave was clear – it was a message that he continuously spoke about in his ministry – that of The Kingdom of God - a choice between the Kingdom of Man, or the Kingdom of God. Understanding that when Jesus spoke about the Kingdom of Heaven, referred to in Matthew, that he was in fact talking about the Kingdom of God on earth.
What is the Kingdom of God: in Luke 17 – it says20Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, 21nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you./among you"
This Kingdom is both the present reality and the future Hope. Jesus brought the message of the Kingdom of God as a way of life in the here and now. Not something that can be attained through religious zeal or practice, but something that starts within us, through application of the message of Jesus. It is this Kingdom that must be begun on earth to be continued into eternity, so that we are recognizing the reign of God on earth. Recognizing that this is His Kingdom and we will act in accordance with the principles of this Kingdom, building through the power of the Spirit until the time when the earth is made new. He offered a choice between two ways of life – two visions of how life could be on earth. The Kingdom of God, the way of peace, love and sacrifice or The Kingdom of Imperial Domination – The Kingdom of Man, a life of death, fear, war and upheaval – The Empire of Rome was included in this, but so too was the Religious system of the time – the Temple, which was the centre of Judaism, was a much a part of the Kingdom of Man as was Rome.
Jesus followed up his assault on these institutions, particularly the Temple, in the next few days by causing more disturbances. We must remember that all these events weren’t random, on the spot type actions. They were very deliberate, thought out actions taken by Jesus. Reading Mark – which has the most accurate chronological order of events of all the gospels – Jesus cleared the Temple of money changers and had tipped over tables. Jesus’ act was an indictment of the Temple and in essence of the entire religion of Judaism. It was at this point that the desire to kill Jesus was at its height – the priests and Pharisees had to address the issue by eliminating Him or by embracing Him. The next day – Jesus has several verbal battles with the authorities. These took place in the Temple courtyard, which at the time of the Passover would have had thousands of people coming in and out. These encounters would have drawn a crowd and as Jesus had the best of these exchanges the animosity would have grown. Jesus knew what would happen to Him, but he had to give the people the opportunity to see what the Kingdom of God was about, and give them another chance. The courage Jesus showed by these acts are incredible. He had preached the Kingdom of God his whole ministry and knew they wouldn’t join Him in building it, which led to the next part of the scripture – and the realization by Jesus of the tremendous suffering Israel had ahead of it.
The next passage is an unusual and often misunderstood piece of scripture. In each of the gospels, there is a section on what is called variously ‘signs of the end of the age’. In Luke we have the image of Jesus looking over Jerusalem and uttering this prophetic word. It has been often thought of as a prophetic word about the end of the world, but its actually referring to something that happened about 40 years after Jesus had been crucified. Jerusalem revolted against the Roman rulers in about AD 66, and fought a war that lasted about 4 years. This war happened around the time most of the books of the bible were written and heavily impacted the early Christian church. Revelations has its development in this time period and conflict. Jesus elaborated on this in other passages, but for today lets look at what he said:
41As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you."
Josephus Account of sack of Jerusalem AD 70
This was the account recounted by the famous Jewish Historian Josephus.
Most of the slain were peaceful citizens, weak and unarmed, and they were butchered where they were caught. The heap of corpses mounted higher and higher about the altar; a stream of blood flowed down the Temple’s steps, and the bodies of those slain at the top slipped to the bottom.
When Caesar failed to restrain the fury of his frenzied soldiers, and the fire could not be checked, he entered the building with his generals and looked at the holy place of the sanctuary and all its furnishings, which exceeded by far the accounts current in foreign lands and fully justified their splendid repute in our own.
As the flames had not yet penetrated to the inner sanctum, but were consuming the chambers that surrounded the sanctuary, Caesar assumed correctly that there was still time to save the structure.
Then, when the flames suddenly shot up from the interior, Caesar and his generals withdrew, and no one was left to prevent those outside from kindling the blaze. Thus, in defiance of Caesar’s wishes, the Temple was set on fire.
While the Temple was ablaze, the attackers plundered it, and countless people who were caught by them were slaughtered. There was no pity for age and no regard was accorded rank; children and old men, laymen and priests, alike were butchered; every class was pursued and crushed in the grip of war, whether they cried out for mercy or offered resistance.
Through the roar of the flames streaming far and wide, the groans of the falling victims were heard; such was the height of the hill and the magnitude of the blazing pile that the entire city seemed to be ablaze; and the noise – nothing more deafening and frightening could be imagined.
There were the war cries of the Roman legions as they swept onwards en masse, the yells of the rebels encircled by fire and sword, the panic of the people who, cut off above, fled into the arms of the enemy, and their shrieks as they met their fate. The cries on the hill blended with those of the multitudes in the city below; and now many people who were exhausted and tongue-tied as a result of hunger, when they beheld the Temple on fire, found strength once more to lament and wail.
The Temple Mount, everywhere enveloped in flames, seemed to be boiling over from its base; yet the blood seemed more abundant than the flames and the numbers of the slain greater than those of the slayers. The soldiers climbed over heaps of bodies as they chased the fugitives.”
Jesus had seen this future, and knew that although he was bringing a way of avoiding this path, by people embracing the Kingdom of God, the life of peace, love, service and sacrifice – that they would reject his message and embrace a violent path, the Kingdom of Man. They wouldn’t recognize Him as the Messiah and that the outcome would be what it was…And he wept.
The fact that Jesus said they have the chance for peace but they don’t see it indicates that this outcome didn’t have to take place. If they had embraced Jesus’ message and begun to join with Him to build the Kingdom of God, Israel would have been on the path ordained by God once again, and perhaps the world would be a different place. The Kingdom message is the message of loving God with all our hearts, mind and soul and loving others as we love ourselves. Do to others as we want done to us. It is the Kingdom of love, hope and faith. A commitment to peace and justice. A life of service and sacrifice – of taking up our cross and being like Jesus. Taking the life and words of Jesus to heart every day we are alive. This is the Kingdom of God. It is not something that is far away, or distant and airy fairy. But it can be felt today. Jesus was offering it to Israel, as an alternative to the destruction that fell Jerusalem. The Kingdom of God is here , within us, around us and amongst us– if we are committed to living our lives with it as our great aim and purpose. This message today, is quite heavy in a lot of ways and it has many layers. Its an important message though, as it speaks to the beginning of the last days of Christ. Really a last ditch effort by Christ to bring his Kingdom message to fruition and acceptance. It’s a message that’s still valid today, we have the choice between following The Kingdom of God, the way of peace, love and sacrifice or The Kingdom of Man, a life of death, fear, war and upheaval.
As Christians we have to take seriously Christ’s call to be the Kingdom of God, to build the Kingdom of God. Palm Sunday reminds us of the fact that despite the danger that Jesus knew awaited Him, The Kingdom message was too important not to sacrifice himself for. Palm Sunday is a wake up call for us as Christians that have placed anything ahead of being and building the kingdom of God. Our bibles must not sit idle on our bookcases or by our beds. Prayer must not be something that is reserved for special occasions. For it is in these acts that we draw the strength and courage to be the message of Jesus, to start the work of the kingdom in our lives. Easter defines Christianity as a movement of sacrifice, its not easy, but as Jerusalem discovered, the alternatives are far worse. Christianity isn’t a passive movement. It is organic and fluid and alive. The kingdom of God is amongst us, here at Berwick. Lets build and create it further in our lives and the lives of our community. Lets make a commitment to Gods Kingdom.
But I am also drawn to the correlation between spiritual and religious thought and politics and law, which in the gospels are inseparable. Living in the 21st Century in the West we have clear separation between the state and the church. Law and religion are separate. In the worldview of Jesus this wasn’t’ the case – the bible was the law, it was political
Jesus had come to the gates of Jerusalem, with the message that had been the basis of his life’s ministry, that of The Kingdom of God. This was what Jesus had lived for, and ultimately what he came to Jerusalem to die for.
I am going to look at a couple aspects of the triumphal entry which Rachel read earlier. Firstly, what was the significance of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem and what happened after he got off the colt. Next I will look briefly at a prophecy that Jesus speaks that is often overlooked or misunderstood and what this means to us today.
Luke 19:28-44
28After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29As he approached Bethpage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30"Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it.' "
32Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?"
34They replied, "The Lord needs it."
Background: Jesus had not been to Jerusalem for a few years up to this point. He had been forced to leave the city and teach and heal in towns around it. This was because of the controversy his work had caused in the past had meant he had to keep away from the centre of power – which is what Jerusalem was, the political, religious centre of that part of the world.
The act of sending his two disciples was the fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecy which pointed to the arrival of the Messiah. All Jewish people would have understood the symbolism of this act.
35They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.
37When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
38"Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!"[b]
"Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"
39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!"
40"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."
This time of year was the Passover, which is the celebration of the time when the Angel of God passed over the Jewish slaves houses in Egypt. It is a special time of celebration for them, and was the time Jesus had deliberately chosen to make his way into Jerusalem. The Roman Empire, which was the occupier of Israel and was aware of the importance of this celebration for the Jewish people and the potential for violent uprising. So at about the same time Jesus entered the city, on the opposite side, a different procession was taking place. The Romans would send Imperial Cavalry and foot soldiers adorned with banners, as a show of force, with the Governor – Pontius Pilate leading the Army.This was a deliberate act by Jesus to once again emphasize that his mission was different. On one side of the city, the world empire, the political power of the time was entering the city prepared for war. Jesus came into the city on a donkey – which was the traditional way a king would arrive in times of peace. Jesus was while signaling to the Jewish people he was the Messiah, also in effect putting on a political demonstration. The message he gave was clear – it was a message that he continuously spoke about in his ministry – that of The Kingdom of God - a choice between the Kingdom of Man, or the Kingdom of God. Understanding that when Jesus spoke about the Kingdom of Heaven, referred to in Matthew, that he was in fact talking about the Kingdom of God on earth.
What is the Kingdom of God: in Luke 17 – it says20Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, 21nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you./among you"
This Kingdom is both the present reality and the future Hope. Jesus brought the message of the Kingdom of God as a way of life in the here and now. Not something that can be attained through religious zeal or practice, but something that starts within us, through application of the message of Jesus. It is this Kingdom that must be begun on earth to be continued into eternity, so that we are recognizing the reign of God on earth. Recognizing that this is His Kingdom and we will act in accordance with the principles of this Kingdom, building through the power of the Spirit until the time when the earth is made new. He offered a choice between two ways of life – two visions of how life could be on earth. The Kingdom of God, the way of peace, love and sacrifice or The Kingdom of Imperial Domination – The Kingdom of Man, a life of death, fear, war and upheaval – The Empire of Rome was included in this, but so too was the Religious system of the time – the Temple, which was the centre of Judaism, was a much a part of the Kingdom of Man as was Rome.
Jesus followed up his assault on these institutions, particularly the Temple, in the next few days by causing more disturbances. We must remember that all these events weren’t random, on the spot type actions. They were very deliberate, thought out actions taken by Jesus. Reading Mark – which has the most accurate chronological order of events of all the gospels – Jesus cleared the Temple of money changers and had tipped over tables. Jesus’ act was an indictment of the Temple and in essence of the entire religion of Judaism. It was at this point that the desire to kill Jesus was at its height – the priests and Pharisees had to address the issue by eliminating Him or by embracing Him. The next day – Jesus has several verbal battles with the authorities. These took place in the Temple courtyard, which at the time of the Passover would have had thousands of people coming in and out. These encounters would have drawn a crowd and as Jesus had the best of these exchanges the animosity would have grown. Jesus knew what would happen to Him, but he had to give the people the opportunity to see what the Kingdom of God was about, and give them another chance. The courage Jesus showed by these acts are incredible. He had preached the Kingdom of God his whole ministry and knew they wouldn’t join Him in building it, which led to the next part of the scripture – and the realization by Jesus of the tremendous suffering Israel had ahead of it.
The next passage is an unusual and often misunderstood piece of scripture. In each of the gospels, there is a section on what is called variously ‘signs of the end of the age’. In Luke we have the image of Jesus looking over Jerusalem and uttering this prophetic word. It has been often thought of as a prophetic word about the end of the world, but its actually referring to something that happened about 40 years after Jesus had been crucified. Jerusalem revolted against the Roman rulers in about AD 66, and fought a war that lasted about 4 years. This war happened around the time most of the books of the bible were written and heavily impacted the early Christian church. Revelations has its development in this time period and conflict. Jesus elaborated on this in other passages, but for today lets look at what he said:
41As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you."
Josephus Account of sack of Jerusalem AD 70
This was the account recounted by the famous Jewish Historian Josephus.
Most of the slain were peaceful citizens, weak and unarmed, and they were butchered where they were caught. The heap of corpses mounted higher and higher about the altar; a stream of blood flowed down the Temple’s steps, and the bodies of those slain at the top slipped to the bottom.
When Caesar failed to restrain the fury of his frenzied soldiers, and the fire could not be checked, he entered the building with his generals and looked at the holy place of the sanctuary and all its furnishings, which exceeded by far the accounts current in foreign lands and fully justified their splendid repute in our own.
As the flames had not yet penetrated to the inner sanctum, but were consuming the chambers that surrounded the sanctuary, Caesar assumed correctly that there was still time to save the structure.
Then, when the flames suddenly shot up from the interior, Caesar and his generals withdrew, and no one was left to prevent those outside from kindling the blaze. Thus, in defiance of Caesar’s wishes, the Temple was set on fire.
While the Temple was ablaze, the attackers plundered it, and countless people who were caught by them were slaughtered. There was no pity for age and no regard was accorded rank; children and old men, laymen and priests, alike were butchered; every class was pursued and crushed in the grip of war, whether they cried out for mercy or offered resistance.
Through the roar of the flames streaming far and wide, the groans of the falling victims were heard; such was the height of the hill and the magnitude of the blazing pile that the entire city seemed to be ablaze; and the noise – nothing more deafening and frightening could be imagined.
There were the war cries of the Roman legions as they swept onwards en masse, the yells of the rebels encircled by fire and sword, the panic of the people who, cut off above, fled into the arms of the enemy, and their shrieks as they met their fate. The cries on the hill blended with those of the multitudes in the city below; and now many people who were exhausted and tongue-tied as a result of hunger, when they beheld the Temple on fire, found strength once more to lament and wail.
The Temple Mount, everywhere enveloped in flames, seemed to be boiling over from its base; yet the blood seemed more abundant than the flames and the numbers of the slain greater than those of the slayers. The soldiers climbed over heaps of bodies as they chased the fugitives.”
Jesus had seen this future, and knew that although he was bringing a way of avoiding this path, by people embracing the Kingdom of God, the life of peace, love, service and sacrifice – that they would reject his message and embrace a violent path, the Kingdom of Man. They wouldn’t recognize Him as the Messiah and that the outcome would be what it was…And he wept.
The fact that Jesus said they have the chance for peace but they don’t see it indicates that this outcome didn’t have to take place. If they had embraced Jesus’ message and begun to join with Him to build the Kingdom of God, Israel would have been on the path ordained by God once again, and perhaps the world would be a different place. The Kingdom message is the message of loving God with all our hearts, mind and soul and loving others as we love ourselves. Do to others as we want done to us. It is the Kingdom of love, hope and faith. A commitment to peace and justice. A life of service and sacrifice – of taking up our cross and being like Jesus. Taking the life and words of Jesus to heart every day we are alive. This is the Kingdom of God. It is not something that is far away, or distant and airy fairy. But it can be felt today. Jesus was offering it to Israel, as an alternative to the destruction that fell Jerusalem. The Kingdom of God is here , within us, around us and amongst us– if we are committed to living our lives with it as our great aim and purpose. This message today, is quite heavy in a lot of ways and it has many layers. Its an important message though, as it speaks to the beginning of the last days of Christ. Really a last ditch effort by Christ to bring his Kingdom message to fruition and acceptance. It’s a message that’s still valid today, we have the choice between following The Kingdom of God, the way of peace, love and sacrifice or The Kingdom of Man, a life of death, fear, war and upheaval.
As Christians we have to take seriously Christ’s call to be the Kingdom of God, to build the Kingdom of God. Palm Sunday reminds us of the fact that despite the danger that Jesus knew awaited Him, The Kingdom message was too important not to sacrifice himself for. Palm Sunday is a wake up call for us as Christians that have placed anything ahead of being and building the kingdom of God. Our bibles must not sit idle on our bookcases or by our beds. Prayer must not be something that is reserved for special occasions. For it is in these acts that we draw the strength and courage to be the message of Jesus, to start the work of the kingdom in our lives. Easter defines Christianity as a movement of sacrifice, its not easy, but as Jerusalem discovered, the alternatives are far worse. Christianity isn’t a passive movement. It is organic and fluid and alive. The kingdom of God is amongst us, here at Berwick. Lets build and create it further in our lives and the lives of our community. Lets make a commitment to Gods Kingdom.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
The Pursuit of Happiness
‘I only want my children to be happy’. This is a common statement made by parents, well intentioned and full of love. Yet most parents would say if they are happy there living a good life, a life of being and doing good – for their family and those around them. This is not necessarily the case. Bad people can be very happy.
Comics show us that the villains are usually ecstatically happy, the riddler, the joker etc… Yet the superheroes are tormented souls who are hardly ever happy. In the real world, our saints such as mother Theresa, Martin Luther King and Gandhi were all troubled souls. Many very rich and corrupt people are very happy. Why is it that bad people can be happy?? This doesn’t make fit with our natural sense of justice.
The reason this has happened is that we connect happiness with pleasure, and not with goodness. Obesity is a growing epidemic throughout the western world, not because we eat too much and don’t exercise. Its because we eat what gives us pleasure – what makes us happy! Sugar and fat taste much nicer then broccoli and tofu. We can all learn to like healthy foods, but it takes time, whereas the gratification of chocolate is instant. Exercise is far less appealing to kids then playing Xbox and Playstation. We have lost sight of the truth that says real happiness or Joy is usually the result of doing hard, but good things over and over. Whether this is exercise, healthy diet, reading our bible, praying or living a life of sacrificial Christianity, Joy will be the by product, and life will be far more satisfying because of it.
The pursuit of happiness is consider such an important ideal that the American declaration of Independence has given it special prominence. "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". These are considered in this document as absolute human rights. If happiness then is associated with pleasure then the pursuit of pleasure becomes very important. This is reflected by the fact that we can associate a good meal, a holiday and our footy team winning with our happiness. Conversely if we have a bad meal, can’t afford a vacation and our footy team is losing then we are unhappy.
More extremely the pursuit of happiness as pleasure is a key cause of addiction – whether that be alcohol, drugs, gambling or sex – the first encounter with these things can bring great pleasure, and subsequently people begin to ‘chase’ that pleasurable experience. Interestingly, our bodies are created to adapt, so the more pleasure we give ourselves, the less appreciative our brains become. Therefore addicts need more and more of the action which brings pleasure to reach the high they received originally. While it does a job, that same experience that is attained when first using is never reached again. Eventually, the brain needs the pleasure experience to feel normal, so the act of addiction becomes about the person just trying to feel normal.
Don’t get me wrong, pleasure is important for us to experience, but it becomes damaging when we associate our sense of wellbeing and happiness with the amount of pleasure we are receiving.
It is not just people who struggle with addictions that the distorted view of happiness affects – the consumer culture we live in thrives on orienting pleasure with happiness.
Consider this advert in the Westifeld shopping centre in Bondi ‘If it makes you happy, it’s a bargain…..Its not your fault you love everything, your just a positive person. In fact we have so many pro-purchasing customers at Westfield that we’ve created hands free shopping. You can now shop, shop, shop without carrying a single bag….
Our houses are bigger then ever, with less people living in them. Our children are wearing designer clothes before they can read, we spend more on pet products per year then the entire expenditure of Australia’s overseas aid. We have bought into this concept of pleasure as happiness.
Happiness in our culture is pleasure, and pleasure is inherently selfish. Joy is goodness and goodness transcends. Pleasure points us inwards, while joy points us to others and God.
So in an age where happiness is associated with pleasure, how can we find true Joy? Joy is not a state of being, but a vital activity. It is a feeling, but more importantly it is a transcended way of living – an action. Joy is not someone who comfortably enjoys the possessions they have, content with the riches, success or even the type of family we have. Joy is an activity where an individual with his heart, mind and soul is oriented towards something that is greater then ourselves. This is a life of self cultivation, of study and discipline.
The word Joy in its translation from the Greek in the bible has several derivatives. One of these is the word Blessed. There is an obvious passage of scripture that uses this word very frequently – the beatitudes:
Matthew 5:1-12 (New International Version)
1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying:
3"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Taking a bit of writing and theological license I will now break down the beatitudes to reveal a sort of how-to guide for having Joy – remembering that Joy is an action not just a feeling:
Joy comes to those who side with, and give love and service to the marginalized, persecuted and outcast or our society.
Joy comes to those who can feel sadness for the tragedy and pain that strikes your neighbor and all humanity.
Joy comes to those who are restrained and calm, like a powerful horse who has been tamed, when adversity comes – confronting problems head on without resorting to anger or violence.
Joy comes to those who hate injustice and work towards bringing Gods justice to this world.
Joy comes to those who show grace and mercy to others who harm them.
Joy comes to those who only want good to come to everyone they meet, and strive to do good to everyone they can.
Joy comes to those who create – and reject the idea of inflicting war, violence and destruction – both through word and action on anyone.
Joy comes to those who are attacked but do not attack back because they love peace.
Joy comes to those who love God and follow Christ, despite the pressures of this world.
This life we live is so short. How we want to live it remains up to us. You see there’s a price to pay, literally for pursuing happiness as pleasure. To afford the things we need to keep us happy requires us to work long and hard, often neglecting family and friends, just so we can be happy. With this comes stress and worry. Jesus tells us to put this aside, not to worry about anything. We can only do this if we realize that our happiness, our joy, is centered on Christ and is a joy that is beyond pleasure – but is about goodness. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, because it must be produced over time. But as all the fruit of the Spirit, once we have it – the transformation it brings is unmistakable.
Occasionally we have decisions that inform our lives, and how we decided where happiness comes from is one of these decisions. Will it come from pursuing pleasure or will it come from pursuing Goodness.
Comics show us that the villains are usually ecstatically happy, the riddler, the joker etc… Yet the superheroes are tormented souls who are hardly ever happy. In the real world, our saints such as mother Theresa, Martin Luther King and Gandhi were all troubled souls. Many very rich and corrupt people are very happy. Why is it that bad people can be happy?? This doesn’t make fit with our natural sense of justice.
The reason this has happened is that we connect happiness with pleasure, and not with goodness. Obesity is a growing epidemic throughout the western world, not because we eat too much and don’t exercise. Its because we eat what gives us pleasure – what makes us happy! Sugar and fat taste much nicer then broccoli and tofu. We can all learn to like healthy foods, but it takes time, whereas the gratification of chocolate is instant. Exercise is far less appealing to kids then playing Xbox and Playstation. We have lost sight of the truth that says real happiness or Joy is usually the result of doing hard, but good things over and over. Whether this is exercise, healthy diet, reading our bible, praying or living a life of sacrificial Christianity, Joy will be the by product, and life will be far more satisfying because of it.
The pursuit of happiness is consider such an important ideal that the American declaration of Independence has given it special prominence. "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". These are considered in this document as absolute human rights. If happiness then is associated with pleasure then the pursuit of pleasure becomes very important. This is reflected by the fact that we can associate a good meal, a holiday and our footy team winning with our happiness. Conversely if we have a bad meal, can’t afford a vacation and our footy team is losing then we are unhappy.
More extremely the pursuit of happiness as pleasure is a key cause of addiction – whether that be alcohol, drugs, gambling or sex – the first encounter with these things can bring great pleasure, and subsequently people begin to ‘chase’ that pleasurable experience. Interestingly, our bodies are created to adapt, so the more pleasure we give ourselves, the less appreciative our brains become. Therefore addicts need more and more of the action which brings pleasure to reach the high they received originally. While it does a job, that same experience that is attained when first using is never reached again. Eventually, the brain needs the pleasure experience to feel normal, so the act of addiction becomes about the person just trying to feel normal.
Don’t get me wrong, pleasure is important for us to experience, but it becomes damaging when we associate our sense of wellbeing and happiness with the amount of pleasure we are receiving.
It is not just people who struggle with addictions that the distorted view of happiness affects – the consumer culture we live in thrives on orienting pleasure with happiness.
Consider this advert in the Westifeld shopping centre in Bondi ‘If it makes you happy, it’s a bargain…..Its not your fault you love everything, your just a positive person. In fact we have so many pro-purchasing customers at Westfield that we’ve created hands free shopping. You can now shop, shop, shop without carrying a single bag….
Our houses are bigger then ever, with less people living in them. Our children are wearing designer clothes before they can read, we spend more on pet products per year then the entire expenditure of Australia’s overseas aid. We have bought into this concept of pleasure as happiness.
Happiness in our culture is pleasure, and pleasure is inherently selfish. Joy is goodness and goodness transcends. Pleasure points us inwards, while joy points us to others and God.
So in an age where happiness is associated with pleasure, how can we find true Joy? Joy is not a state of being, but a vital activity. It is a feeling, but more importantly it is a transcended way of living – an action. Joy is not someone who comfortably enjoys the possessions they have, content with the riches, success or even the type of family we have. Joy is an activity where an individual with his heart, mind and soul is oriented towards something that is greater then ourselves. This is a life of self cultivation, of study and discipline.
The word Joy in its translation from the Greek in the bible has several derivatives. One of these is the word Blessed. There is an obvious passage of scripture that uses this word very frequently – the beatitudes:
Matthew 5:1-12 (New International Version)
1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying:
3"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Taking a bit of writing and theological license I will now break down the beatitudes to reveal a sort of how-to guide for having Joy – remembering that Joy is an action not just a feeling:
Joy comes to those who side with, and give love and service to the marginalized, persecuted and outcast or our society.
Joy comes to those who can feel sadness for the tragedy and pain that strikes your neighbor and all humanity.
Joy comes to those who are restrained and calm, like a powerful horse who has been tamed, when adversity comes – confronting problems head on without resorting to anger or violence.
Joy comes to those who hate injustice and work towards bringing Gods justice to this world.
Joy comes to those who show grace and mercy to others who harm them.
Joy comes to those who only want good to come to everyone they meet, and strive to do good to everyone they can.
Joy comes to those who create – and reject the idea of inflicting war, violence and destruction – both through word and action on anyone.
Joy comes to those who are attacked but do not attack back because they love peace.
Joy comes to those who love God and follow Christ, despite the pressures of this world.
This life we live is so short. How we want to live it remains up to us. You see there’s a price to pay, literally for pursuing happiness as pleasure. To afford the things we need to keep us happy requires us to work long and hard, often neglecting family and friends, just so we can be happy. With this comes stress and worry. Jesus tells us to put this aside, not to worry about anything. We can only do this if we realize that our happiness, our joy, is centered on Christ and is a joy that is beyond pleasure – but is about goodness. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, because it must be produced over time. But as all the fruit of the Spirit, once we have it – the transformation it brings is unmistakable.
Occasionally we have decisions that inform our lives, and how we decided where happiness comes from is one of these decisions. Will it come from pursuing pleasure or will it come from pursuing Goodness.
Monday, March 8, 2010
The Problem of Holiness
Holiness is a complicated concept and as such is open to misinterpretation. It is this misinterpretation that can lead to problems within our lives and the life of the community we worship in. You see holiness when not understood within the context of our humanity can lead to hypocrisy and at worse it can lead to pride and arrogance. We dearly want to avoid this because holiness can be the centre point of our faith if applied well.
Rather then ignoring it, we must remember that the bible says that we are to be Holy as God is Holy. Its an important part of being a follower of Christ, so regardless of its complexities we must try to understand it.
The Salvation Army believes "holiness" is justification worked out in the daily life of the believer. It is a divine work for wholeness that requires human response, in a lifelong process that includes crisis. Basically its what you do as a Christian day to day.
As soon as holiness begins to be talked about, our minds can wander to imagine people of great spiritual depth and saints such as mother Theresa or William booth etc. Yet holiness is a matter which according to the scriptures has been given to us from God and as followers of Christ can have access to. It is hard to imagine that as human as we are, that we can be Holy. This is due to the misconception of what holiness is.
This has been taken to extremes through various enthusiastic believers activities to be Holy. Monks lived in the desert starving themselves trying to remove every earthly desire so as to be holy. In the medieval age flagellation was very popular as a means to be holy. These are outcomes of genuine people trying to be true to their understanding of what holiness is, but probably have lost the plot a little…
It sounds odd, but pursuing holiness can lead us to sin. When we read the scripture the word sin has several different meanings – but the vast majority of its use has the meaning of missing the point – the Hebrew word refers to an archer who takes aim but misses the desired target. So when we sin and when the bible talks about this sin, it is about us missing the point.
It is quite common begin to have a list of ‘don’ts’ as our holiness check list: don’t swear, don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t be rude, don’t wear a unironed shirt on Sunday…. It is the beginning of morality rather then holiness. And while morals are not necessarily a bad thing, they can move us away from true holiness and make us miss the point. It is very easy to mistake morality for holiness. God operates outside of morals. The Spirit of God is not limited by any boundary - which is the Hebrew definition of Holiness – Living without bounds….If we live with the spirit we do not need a list of things to do or not to do, because the spirit of God is within us, guiding us and directing us, as indviduals within our own context.
As uniform wearing Salvationists, we can fall into the appearing Holy trap. We don’t drink, smoke – but if these were pre-requisites for holiness then most catholic and Anglican priests could never be holy, as they are able to do both. There is a reason we don’t drink and smoke etc. but it is not about our holiness or our standing with God. Understand what I am saying – I’m not saying that we should not have a personal standard of living – but holiness is more then these things.
When we become pre-occupied with what we think we see and what is presented as holiness we can miss the truth when we see it.
There are people who go to church on Sunday, do the obligatory church based activities during the week, pray loud and long, don’t swear, give their tithe and can’t wait to grab someone to gossip about whoever is their target that week. Not only friendly banter gossip, which is at best unhelpful, but real ugly and severe tearing people down gossip. The kind of talk that can rot communities. The words – you will know them by their love for each other certainly doesn’t apply in these cases. And unfortunately holiness is used as a cover for this viciousness.
Transformation comes from the inside out, not the outside in. Holiness is complete transformation within ourselves and resulting in action. The fruit of the Spirit is the revelation of the Holy life - "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." (Galatians 5:22).
We are all humans. We make mistakes, we fall, we hurt people. That is part of who we are. Yet through Christ, that is not all we have to be. We can share love and peace, bring hope and kindness, show patience and self-control in tough times, faithfulness and goodness to others who are hurting. Joy when there is none. This is what holiness is. Holiness is not the denial of our humanity, in many ways it’s the embracing of it – remember Jesus was called a drunkard and glutton, and wept when he had to leave this life. Being human is more then ok – it is good. Our experiences of being human shapes who we are and how we treat others and understand God. It is vital that we stay connected to our humanity. But we can be more. Too often we think to be holy we need to deny our humanity – this is what many monks have done for hundreds of years. But if we embrace our humanity and the spirit which works in us, we can be Holy people of God, despite the fact that we will fall, all the while showing the fruit of the Spirit and the transformation Jesus has brought about in us.
So what is Holiness…Holiness is who we are in Christ day to day. The real you – transformed by the power of Christ into someone who produces fruit. Holy people are people who create, build and give love. Holiness is giving love and service despite the mess that surrounds us.
Rather then ignoring it, we must remember that the bible says that we are to be Holy as God is Holy. Its an important part of being a follower of Christ, so regardless of its complexities we must try to understand it.
The Salvation Army believes "holiness" is justification worked out in the daily life of the believer. It is a divine work for wholeness that requires human response, in a lifelong process that includes crisis. Basically its what you do as a Christian day to day.
As soon as holiness begins to be talked about, our minds can wander to imagine people of great spiritual depth and saints such as mother Theresa or William booth etc. Yet holiness is a matter which according to the scriptures has been given to us from God and as followers of Christ can have access to. It is hard to imagine that as human as we are, that we can be Holy. This is due to the misconception of what holiness is.
This has been taken to extremes through various enthusiastic believers activities to be Holy. Monks lived in the desert starving themselves trying to remove every earthly desire so as to be holy. In the medieval age flagellation was very popular as a means to be holy. These are outcomes of genuine people trying to be true to their understanding of what holiness is, but probably have lost the plot a little…
It sounds odd, but pursuing holiness can lead us to sin. When we read the scripture the word sin has several different meanings – but the vast majority of its use has the meaning of missing the point – the Hebrew word refers to an archer who takes aim but misses the desired target. So when we sin and when the bible talks about this sin, it is about us missing the point.
It is quite common begin to have a list of ‘don’ts’ as our holiness check list: don’t swear, don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t be rude, don’t wear a unironed shirt on Sunday…. It is the beginning of morality rather then holiness. And while morals are not necessarily a bad thing, they can move us away from true holiness and make us miss the point. It is very easy to mistake morality for holiness. God operates outside of morals. The Spirit of God is not limited by any boundary - which is the Hebrew definition of Holiness – Living without bounds….If we live with the spirit we do not need a list of things to do or not to do, because the spirit of God is within us, guiding us and directing us, as indviduals within our own context.
As uniform wearing Salvationists, we can fall into the appearing Holy trap. We don’t drink, smoke – but if these were pre-requisites for holiness then most catholic and Anglican priests could never be holy, as they are able to do both. There is a reason we don’t drink and smoke etc. but it is not about our holiness or our standing with God. Understand what I am saying – I’m not saying that we should not have a personal standard of living – but holiness is more then these things.
When we become pre-occupied with what we think we see and what is presented as holiness we can miss the truth when we see it.
There are people who go to church on Sunday, do the obligatory church based activities during the week, pray loud and long, don’t swear, give their tithe and can’t wait to grab someone to gossip about whoever is their target that week. Not only friendly banter gossip, which is at best unhelpful, but real ugly and severe tearing people down gossip. The kind of talk that can rot communities. The words – you will know them by their love for each other certainly doesn’t apply in these cases. And unfortunately holiness is used as a cover for this viciousness.
Transformation comes from the inside out, not the outside in. Holiness is complete transformation within ourselves and resulting in action. The fruit of the Spirit is the revelation of the Holy life - "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." (Galatians 5:22).
We are all humans. We make mistakes, we fall, we hurt people. That is part of who we are. Yet through Christ, that is not all we have to be. We can share love and peace, bring hope and kindness, show patience and self-control in tough times, faithfulness and goodness to others who are hurting. Joy when there is none. This is what holiness is. Holiness is not the denial of our humanity, in many ways it’s the embracing of it – remember Jesus was called a drunkard and glutton, and wept when he had to leave this life. Being human is more then ok – it is good. Our experiences of being human shapes who we are and how we treat others and understand God. It is vital that we stay connected to our humanity. But we can be more. Too often we think to be holy we need to deny our humanity – this is what many monks have done for hundreds of years. But if we embrace our humanity and the spirit which works in us, we can be Holy people of God, despite the fact that we will fall, all the while showing the fruit of the Spirit and the transformation Jesus has brought about in us.
So what is Holiness…Holiness is who we are in Christ day to day. The real you – transformed by the power of Christ into someone who produces fruit. Holy people are people who create, build and give love. Holiness is giving love and service despite the mess that surrounds us.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Hope
Hope is a fundamental Christian attribute. It is one of the three virtues mentioned by Paul along with faith and love, and it is an essential part of our human existence. Yet as is prone to happen in our society, the word hope has lost its power. Often hope is associated with something like – ‘gee I hope my footy team wins’, or ‘I hope I win lotto tonight’. Hope is so much more then mere wish fulfillment or vague fantasy thinking. It is the confident expectation of a future good. It is critical to our survival as humans both physically and spiritually. Yet despite the desperate need for hope, life has a way of diminishing it. Hope is vital, precisely because of the subversive increase in hopelessness which is pervading our culture.
Unresolved hopelessness leads to depression, burnout, apathy, anger and in extreme cases, suicide. By these measures, we clearly live in a society of growing hopelessness, but as Christians we have the answer to hopelessness, and that is the hope we find in God through Jesus.
Hope can be divided into two types of Hope – present hope, which is about having hope in the day-to-day and future hope, which is the hope of a new future. I am going to focus this talk on present Hope, and I will bring the second part of the talk on future hope next time I preach. To start with, though I think its important to look at how hopelessness can take hold in the Christian life.
For Hope to be real, it must be in the midst of pain and suffering that it reveals its truth. GK Chesterton wrote – ‘Hope means having hope when things are at their worst or it is nothing. As long as matters are going well hope is merely flattery or platitude. It is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength’. As Christians we are called precisely to bring hope to people during these times and be agents of hope. Often when faced with overwhelming circumstances, hope is the first casualty.
Unfortunately, it is a rare thing to find a Christian who is full of the present Hope of God. They are out there, but it is rare and we know it when we see it. There are two outcomes which I want to focus on today, cynicism and apathy.
Hate isn’t the opposite of love – apathy is. Apathy is complete inaction and indifference; concerned only with those they care about in their immediate family and not with the suffering of others. There are many people who call themselves Christians but do not do anything that shows that they are. We are called to love and serve others. Love and service being the very essence of what it is to be a Christian – You cant lead the people if you don’t love the people, you cant save the people if you don’t serve the people! (Cornell West). When we lose sight of this, generally it is because we don’t have an active sense of hope. The apathetic Christian has become so warn down by the materialism of our society and the mixed messages this brings about life and family, that who we are as Christians is forgotten.
They aren’t providing hope to anyone and so they forget what hope is really about. It’s a catch 22 situation. Usually Christians who are apathetic had hope at some point, but were so overwhelmed or numbed by the tremendous need, incredible pain and ever present evil of this world that apathy seemed the only way out. Rather then helping out and being agents of Hope, they decided to avoid it, retreat to what was comfortable and became apathetic.
The bible says some pretty harsh things about apathy Revelations 3:16 – ‘So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth.’. God so despises when we are apathetic that he will spit us out, the ultimate form of insult.
The other outcome of the Christian life with the loss of hope is cynicism. Cynicism is a common result of the Christian who is passionate about social justice and works hard trying to live love through service. These Christians begin with great intentions, but after being disheartened by the constancy of human sorrow, they begin to become cynical. The drug and alcohol worker who doesn’t think addicts can recover long term, the outreach youth worker that thinks the kids they work with are all headed for prison, the social worker who has completely lost faith in all men because of the level of domestic violence and sexual abuse towards women and children that they encounter. Or the leader living in Christian communities who are so taken for granted by the community they serve that no one can see the pain in them as depression and burn out sets in. Cynicism is a result of the loss of hope. Although these Christians continue to persevere, they do it without the assurance of hope and begin to become separate from God. It is this that the loss of hope in Christian is most damaging. Both through apathy and cynicism, we can begin to hear fainter and fainter the whisper of The Spirit, until we hear nothing.
Of the two of these, let me say, it is easier to regain hope when you become cynical then when your apathetic. This is because once you shake off the pain of burnout and dissapointment you can begin to see hope in the people you serve. It is true within any type of ministry that even though the initial motivation may be to help others, we always are helped ourselves. So while we see hopelessness time and time again, when reaching out, we also come across moments of grace which gives us hope and allow us to invest this hope back into others.
We must be re-united to hope, and have faith in God that through suffering if we preserver we will have a hope that will not disappoint us. It is so easy to be sarcastic and cynical and be a critic of everyone. I have known so many people who love to tear down and break up. It is tough to create and build. We will fail, and we might never have the validation or positive affirmation for our actions that we are looking for, but hope needs to remain. It has to for the good of our souls and of others.
Hope is valuable, its not cheap like optimism. ‘When your optimistic you can stand apart to see how things are going. But when your full of hope, your in the midst of the muck. Your working it out with love power and a commitment justice.’ (C. West)
hope is seldom used in the Gospels, for Jesus, Who is the personification of hope, was present! It is Paul who most fully develops the New Testament theology of hope.
So it is us who are followers of Christ, who are now trying to be ‘little Christ’s’ as the word Christian actually means, who must be the personification of hope to our communities, each one of us.
You may be thinking that you are neither apathetic or cynical. That you are a person of hope. I pray that it is true, but experience tells me that if we look at our life of faith, we can come to realize that perhaps we haven’t been doing what God has been asking us – avoiding a call on our hearts which reveals apathy. Or that we have secretly desired someone fail at something so they would ‘learn a lesson’, as is the disease of cynicism. It is these thoughts, that lead us away from hope and ultimately, away from God
Unresolved hopelessness leads to depression, burnout, apathy, anger and in extreme cases, suicide. By these measures, we clearly live in a society of growing hopelessness, but as Christians we have the answer to hopelessness, and that is the hope we find in God through Jesus.
Hope can be divided into two types of Hope – present hope, which is about having hope in the day-to-day and future hope, which is the hope of a new future. I am going to focus this talk on present Hope, and I will bring the second part of the talk on future hope next time I preach. To start with, though I think its important to look at how hopelessness can take hold in the Christian life.
For Hope to be real, it must be in the midst of pain and suffering that it reveals its truth. GK Chesterton wrote – ‘Hope means having hope when things are at their worst or it is nothing. As long as matters are going well hope is merely flattery or platitude. It is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength’. As Christians we are called precisely to bring hope to people during these times and be agents of hope. Often when faced with overwhelming circumstances, hope is the first casualty.
Unfortunately, it is a rare thing to find a Christian who is full of the present Hope of God. They are out there, but it is rare and we know it when we see it. There are two outcomes which I want to focus on today, cynicism and apathy.
Hate isn’t the opposite of love – apathy is. Apathy is complete inaction and indifference; concerned only with those they care about in their immediate family and not with the suffering of others. There are many people who call themselves Christians but do not do anything that shows that they are. We are called to love and serve others. Love and service being the very essence of what it is to be a Christian – You cant lead the people if you don’t love the people, you cant save the people if you don’t serve the people! (Cornell West). When we lose sight of this, generally it is because we don’t have an active sense of hope. The apathetic Christian has become so warn down by the materialism of our society and the mixed messages this brings about life and family, that who we are as Christians is forgotten.
They aren’t providing hope to anyone and so they forget what hope is really about. It’s a catch 22 situation. Usually Christians who are apathetic had hope at some point, but were so overwhelmed or numbed by the tremendous need, incredible pain and ever present evil of this world that apathy seemed the only way out. Rather then helping out and being agents of Hope, they decided to avoid it, retreat to what was comfortable and became apathetic.
The bible says some pretty harsh things about apathy Revelations 3:16 – ‘So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth.’. God so despises when we are apathetic that he will spit us out, the ultimate form of insult.
The other outcome of the Christian life with the loss of hope is cynicism. Cynicism is a common result of the Christian who is passionate about social justice and works hard trying to live love through service. These Christians begin with great intentions, but after being disheartened by the constancy of human sorrow, they begin to become cynical. The drug and alcohol worker who doesn’t think addicts can recover long term, the outreach youth worker that thinks the kids they work with are all headed for prison, the social worker who has completely lost faith in all men because of the level of domestic violence and sexual abuse towards women and children that they encounter. Or the leader living in Christian communities who are so taken for granted by the community they serve that no one can see the pain in them as depression and burn out sets in. Cynicism is a result of the loss of hope. Although these Christians continue to persevere, they do it without the assurance of hope and begin to become separate from God. It is this that the loss of hope in Christian is most damaging. Both through apathy and cynicism, we can begin to hear fainter and fainter the whisper of The Spirit, until we hear nothing.
Of the two of these, let me say, it is easier to regain hope when you become cynical then when your apathetic. This is because once you shake off the pain of burnout and dissapointment you can begin to see hope in the people you serve. It is true within any type of ministry that even though the initial motivation may be to help others, we always are helped ourselves. So while we see hopelessness time and time again, when reaching out, we also come across moments of grace which gives us hope and allow us to invest this hope back into others.
We must be re-united to hope, and have faith in God that through suffering if we preserver we will have a hope that will not disappoint us. It is so easy to be sarcastic and cynical and be a critic of everyone. I have known so many people who love to tear down and break up. It is tough to create and build. We will fail, and we might never have the validation or positive affirmation for our actions that we are looking for, but hope needs to remain. It has to for the good of our souls and of others.
Hope is valuable, its not cheap like optimism. ‘When your optimistic you can stand apart to see how things are going. But when your full of hope, your in the midst of the muck. Your working it out with love power and a commitment justice.’ (C. West)
hope is seldom used in the Gospels, for Jesus, Who is the personification of hope, was present! It is Paul who most fully develops the New Testament theology of hope.
So it is us who are followers of Christ, who are now trying to be ‘little Christ’s’ as the word Christian actually means, who must be the personification of hope to our communities, each one of us.
You may be thinking that you are neither apathetic or cynical. That you are a person of hope. I pray that it is true, but experience tells me that if we look at our life of faith, we can come to realize that perhaps we haven’t been doing what God has been asking us – avoiding a call on our hearts which reveals apathy. Or that we have secretly desired someone fail at something so they would ‘learn a lesson’, as is the disease of cynicism. It is these thoughts, that lead us away from hope and ultimately, away from God
Thursday, December 24, 2009
The Salvation Army and Anarchism
I love Christmas. It is my favourite time of year, which has now extended to the whole of December, due to my wife and daughter having their birthdays during this month. It has become almost like a month long party. Christmas allows us to reflect on Jesus, even if it is only briefly through the haze of last second shopping and the myriad dinner functions that we need to be at. It is in a reflection such as this that I began to think about the role of Christians and anarchism. A bit abstract perhaps, but bear with me. I’ve always been drawn to anarchism as a philosophy, particularly as a Christian. Anarchy has a bit of a bad rap. It’s associated with lawlessness and crime, often portrayed as chaos and mayhem, but the philosophy behind it is different to this common misconception. Anarchism is the philosophy of a new social order based on liberty unrestricted by man-made law; the theory that all forms of government rest on violence, and are therefore wrong and harmful, as well as unnecessary (Thank you Emma Goldman). Being a salvation army officer I have struggled with reconciling the two apparently polar opposite ways of thinking that is present within the structure and autocracy that is the salvos and anarchism. So can The Salvation Army embrace anarchism as a philosophy and vice versa? Can The Salvation Army be an anarchist movement? Well the initial answer has to be no with a ‘but’! The way the salvos are set up now with an emphasis on structural integrity and administration, along with the reliance of the government for continued funding and reluctance to take a stand politically on hot potato topics due to the reliance just mentioned, creates an environment where anarchy cannot work. In fact it is in many ways the anti-anarchism movement. But if we take a look at two foundational elements of the salvos then perhaps we can say, ‘The Salvation Army isn’t an anarchist movement, BUT it should be/could be’.
The first foundational point I will look at is Jesus, considering he’s the reason for the whole deal after all. Around the Christmas period we hear many carols that talk about a baby Jesus lying down his sweet baby head blah, blah. This shows quite a poor view of the messiah really and I could go on another rant on how these pictures of Jesus have affected the psyche of many Christians and informed how they worship and do mission, but I wont yet. Rather then these carols I prefer the song that quotes Isaiah 9:6-7, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And the Government shall be on his shoulders”. This is talking about Jesus having his rule reign above all else. A close look a the life and ministry on Jesus reveals a revolutionary who raged against the machine, while bringing healing and love wherever he went. Jesus was trying to bring about a new social order, based on liberty not restricted by the rule and law of man. Sound familiar? Bingo, perhaps Jesus was an anarchist, or more likely, this original Christianity was at its core essentially anarchism in its purest form. With every generation of church leadership this initial social order was eroded a little in exchange for order and conformity, until at last it became the Roman religion of Constantine and became the law. On and on I can go, but needless to say, to embrace anarchism is not to turn from Jesus but to turn towards him. Therefore a foundational point of The Salvation Army is centred around an anarchist movement – albeit one that has lost its way. The second foundational point is the military metaphor that is used by The Salvation Army. I recently asked my mate Jarrod McKenna, about the appropriateness of the salvos military motif considering the amount of war and devastation caused by war that we see today. He said that it was ok as long as it was used subversively. The subversive use of military metaphor in the salvos has been lost. To regain it I think we need to realise that we aren’t an actual army, but we are an anti-army. A group that looks, runs and facilitates like the army, but produces different outcomes – peace, healing, love, reconciliation and joy. If we can use the army’s strengths to achieve these things we subvert the original intention of a military army and became an agent for change and a subversive influence for good.
So with these foundational points established, Jesus as our guide – revolutionary, possible anarchist icon and a strong connection to the subversive influence of the Army culture, The Salvation Army can and should be an anarchist movement, an extremely well administered one!
The first foundational point I will look at is Jesus, considering he’s the reason for the whole deal after all. Around the Christmas period we hear many carols that talk about a baby Jesus lying down his sweet baby head blah, blah. This shows quite a poor view of the messiah really and I could go on another rant on how these pictures of Jesus have affected the psyche of many Christians and informed how they worship and do mission, but I wont yet. Rather then these carols I prefer the song that quotes Isaiah 9:6-7, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And the Government shall be on his shoulders”. This is talking about Jesus having his rule reign above all else. A close look a the life and ministry on Jesus reveals a revolutionary who raged against the machine, while bringing healing and love wherever he went. Jesus was trying to bring about a new social order, based on liberty not restricted by the rule and law of man. Sound familiar? Bingo, perhaps Jesus was an anarchist, or more likely, this original Christianity was at its core essentially anarchism in its purest form. With every generation of church leadership this initial social order was eroded a little in exchange for order and conformity, until at last it became the Roman religion of Constantine and became the law. On and on I can go, but needless to say, to embrace anarchism is not to turn from Jesus but to turn towards him. Therefore a foundational point of The Salvation Army is centred around an anarchist movement – albeit one that has lost its way. The second foundational point is the military metaphor that is used by The Salvation Army. I recently asked my mate Jarrod McKenna, about the appropriateness of the salvos military motif considering the amount of war and devastation caused by war that we see today. He said that it was ok as long as it was used subversively. The subversive use of military metaphor in the salvos has been lost. To regain it I think we need to realise that we aren’t an actual army, but we are an anti-army. A group that looks, runs and facilitates like the army, but produces different outcomes – peace, healing, love, reconciliation and joy. If we can use the army’s strengths to achieve these things we subvert the original intention of a military army and became an agent for change and a subversive influence for good.
So with these foundational points established, Jesus as our guide – revolutionary, possible anarchist icon and a strong connection to the subversive influence of the Army culture, The Salvation Army can and should be an anarchist movement, an extremely well administered one!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Would you like Love with that?
As a non-drinking, non-smoking, vegetarian pacifist, I do not have many visible vices. However, one of them is my addiction to McDonalds (as a vego I eat the cheeseburger without the meat – don’t knock it till you try it!!). This is a source of guilt for me as they are shamelessly a multi-national corporation, which does little good and much harm. Yet, I have a problem and find myself eating their food at least once a week. Recently, I was appalled to find on the bag of my purchase in big bold letters the words; COURAGE, HOPE and LOVE. On closer inspection it was referring to its work with cancer patients etc. While I am not trying to diminish the work that happens with this branch of the corporation, what is behind the master stroke of advertising that is trying to market non-purchasable commodities such as courage, hope and faith and subversively putting them out there for retail? There really isn’t room in this blog for indepth discussion on the topic of hyper reality and the tricks advertisers play, I would advise you check out Mark Sayers blog http://marksayers.wordpress.com/ and his book called ‘The Trouble with Paris’. What I want to have a look at is the devaluing of the terms that Maccas casually has used to advertise itself. Faith, Hope and Love are 3 of the essential traits of Christianity and many of the worlds religions. Yet these spiritual attributes, which any spiritual leader of any worth would advise you takes years to develop, are cheapened by association with the popular culture of the day. The word love is so overused that it has no real or tangible meaning. The notion of romantic love which is pushed so hard in most media outlets is a pasty imitation of what love should be. When looking at love within the context of Judeo-Christian thought, what we have presented to us as love today is a lie which creates a sense of dissatisfaction and subsequently fuels our drive to consume arbitrary and unfulfilling things to fill that aching dissatisfaction in our souls. Part of the issue is the lack of a word to sufficiently describe what love is. The Hebrew and Greek meaning of the word love was classified in many different words to express what type of love was trying to be conveyed. When the average Christian thinks of love though, they think of the love Jesus spoke about. A better word for love that was used in earlier translations of the bible is ‘charity’. I think that this word more fully describes love. Love in this form ceases to be a self indulgent, self-serving, personally gratifying experience and becomes about compassion, justice, service, hope, courage and faith. This type of love fills us with a sense of purpose and connects us with other people, enhancing our lives and giving us resilience during suffering….Hmm, now how can we market that??
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