This was really insightful to read over this morning. It was like reading over things that I had heard before but never pieced together in this particular context. Loved it.
"To which someone once disagreed, reminding me about the time that Jesus walks through walls in his resurrection. ... During the Easter narrative, Jesus walks through walls to surprise the disciples."
I find this comforting. He walked through the walls his disciples were hiding behind. These are people who already committed to following him and he didn't let any wall separate them.
"Too often, people report that Christian communities can be prime environments for manipulation, coercion, gaslighting, and forced “yesses.” The church, in part, has failed to capture this element of the life and ministry of Jesus."
Stanley Hauerwas says: "Blame it on the tents".
It has been hammered into the Christian communities over the better half of a century, predominantly in 21st century Protestantism, that there is a literal fire to save people from, and it's this very Christian community that has that responsibility to communicate the gospel with urgency and anxiousness, else non-believers are at risk of God's wrath eternally, and, even perhaps the Christian feels the dread of not "winning souls", psychologizing their own punishments that could come from the wrathful God that Jesus is standing in the gap and protecting them from.
The fact is, Christians have been convinced that they have no choice but to be the one barging through the door to convict people of their sin, their philosophy being, you can only know Jesus on the way out of your confession of guilt. Deep theological problems echoed in these spaces have birthed the culture of apathetic, anxiety ridden, reactionary, depressed, narcissistic, nationalist ideologues.
The good news is that many of us have divorced ourselves from the contractual law gospel and accept the grace covenant gospel where God's fullness and all His attributes are in the incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, full stop. Not by our own doing, but by the Holy Spirit correcting our path toward the kingdom, just as He always has been doing. Without a doubt, we are still very much the early Church and there is much to be done. We must believe in the promise that we will arrive there in His timing.
"Another lesson has been that when I trespass the boundaries God has established in my life, I find that the work I do tends to leave me utterly exhausted, drained, and frustrated."
I like to think about God being my boundary line from Psalm 16:6 "The land you have given me is a pleasant land. What a wonderful inheritance!" In verse 5 it says that God is the inheritance. So when I'm not in tune with the Holy Spirit and cross outside of God, I'm overwhelmed, but when I stay with him, I am satisfied and protected.
Thank you for this focus on the relational nature of the Triune God and the relational genius of Jesus. I'm really looking forward to this series. I love this quote by Buber. It has me thinking about the relational driving force of child and language development. For my final project in my DMin program I'm fleshing out what it means to be the beloved, with Jesus as our model and means. And being the beloved indicates first that there is relationship.
I'm looking forward to this close look at the way Jesus relates.
Always grateful for the Spirit filled insight and theological perspective. Thank you.
The Universe is an exchange of Love. Love being the expanding accelerating force defying Newtonian physics.
With out free will, true Love would not exist. Just puppets. And with out tests of free will, it would be useless.
Exchanges of Love is “willing the good in others”. Emotions driven by hormones are temporary affects of the force Love.
Allowing us as temporary images of quantized packets of Love with free will, mysteriously starts the expanding accelerating chain reaction. As the Origin is Truth and purity Goodness, we can’t have temporary experiences of love strung together, and bring shadows giving us temporary definition in our delusions of separateness, back into purity. In the Kingdom. So wax on, wax off, we temper our iron ore version of reality into hardened steel. Pressurize our clouded carbon into diamonds. All the allegories.
What a great way to start the new year! Thanks, A.J. So looking forward to this new series. Boundaries is an area worthy of self-reflection, yet in eternal context. Just in these few moments, I can see in my life where some boundaries should be drawn in and tightened. And there are boundaries in need of expanding. I’m sensing this deserves my time to plot some type of graph or matrix to view interchange and intersection of boundary redistricting. At the very least, it will bring focused thought.
This was really insightful to read over this morning. It was like reading over things that I had heard before but never pieced together in this particular context. Loved it.
Awesome! So glad it was helpful, Danielle!
"To which someone once disagreed, reminding me about the time that Jesus walks through walls in his resurrection. ... During the Easter narrative, Jesus walks through walls to surprise the disciples."
I find this comforting. He walked through the walls his disciples were hiding behind. These are people who already committed to following him and he didn't let any wall separate them.
A powerful reflection to start the new year! Thank you!!!
Good stuff AJ.
"Too often, people report that Christian communities can be prime environments for manipulation, coercion, gaslighting, and forced “yesses.” The church, in part, has failed to capture this element of the life and ministry of Jesus."
Stanley Hauerwas says: "Blame it on the tents".
It has been hammered into the Christian communities over the better half of a century, predominantly in 21st century Protestantism, that there is a literal fire to save people from, and it's this very Christian community that has that responsibility to communicate the gospel with urgency and anxiousness, else non-believers are at risk of God's wrath eternally, and, even perhaps the Christian feels the dread of not "winning souls", psychologizing their own punishments that could come from the wrathful God that Jesus is standing in the gap and protecting them from.
The fact is, Christians have been convinced that they have no choice but to be the one barging through the door to convict people of their sin, their philosophy being, you can only know Jesus on the way out of your confession of guilt. Deep theological problems echoed in these spaces have birthed the culture of apathetic, anxiety ridden, reactionary, depressed, narcissistic, nationalist ideologues.
The good news is that many of us have divorced ourselves from the contractual law gospel and accept the grace covenant gospel where God's fullness and all His attributes are in the incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, full stop. Not by our own doing, but by the Holy Spirit correcting our path toward the kingdom, just as He always has been doing. Without a doubt, we are still very much the early Church and there is much to be done. We must believe in the promise that we will arrive there in His timing.
"Another lesson has been that when I trespass the boundaries God has established in my life, I find that the work I do tends to leave me utterly exhausted, drained, and frustrated."
I like to think about God being my boundary line from Psalm 16:6 "The land you have given me is a pleasant land. What a wonderful inheritance!" In verse 5 it says that God is the inheritance. So when I'm not in tune with the Holy Spirit and cross outside of God, I'm overwhelmed, but when I stay with him, I am satisfied and protected.
Key takeaway for me: like Jesus, be willing to disappoint people in order to keep healthy boundaries.
Thank you for this focus on the relational nature of the Triune God and the relational genius of Jesus. I'm really looking forward to this series. I love this quote by Buber. It has me thinking about the relational driving force of child and language development. For my final project in my DMin program I'm fleshing out what it means to be the beloved, with Jesus as our model and means. And being the beloved indicates first that there is relationship.
I'm looking forward to this close look at the way Jesus relates.
Always grateful for the Spirit filled insight and theological perspective. Thank you.
The Universe is an exchange of Love. Love being the expanding accelerating force defying Newtonian physics.
With out free will, true Love would not exist. Just puppets. And with out tests of free will, it would be useless.
Exchanges of Love is “willing the good in others”. Emotions driven by hormones are temporary affects of the force Love.
Allowing us as temporary images of quantized packets of Love with free will, mysteriously starts the expanding accelerating chain reaction. As the Origin is Truth and purity Goodness, we can’t have temporary experiences of love strung together, and bring shadows giving us temporary definition in our delusions of separateness, back into purity. In the Kingdom. So wax on, wax off, we temper our iron ore version of reality into hardened steel. Pressurize our clouded carbon into diamonds. All the allegories.
Pray it Forward, 🙏🙏🙏 God Bless
What a great way to start the new year! Thanks, A.J. So looking forward to this new series. Boundaries is an area worthy of self-reflection, yet in eternal context. Just in these few moments, I can see in my life where some boundaries should be drawn in and tightened. And there are boundaries in need of expanding. I’m sensing this deserves my time to plot some type of graph or matrix to view interchange and intersection of boundary redistricting. At the very least, it will bring focused thought.