cairns

To be honest, in many ways I simply gave up on them.  But, most of this will be about where my hope rests.

Mathew 6:25-34 says I do not have to worry about man.  It is God who provides, and man cannot add anything by worrying about things he does not control.

Romans 8:37-39 says we are already the conquerors because nothing is capable of removing us from the love of  God.

The entire Bible confirms that God is profoundly interested in the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the helpless — all those who know they have no other hope but God.

So, I am firmly convinced that the gifts God gives are secure; and no man, government, circumstance, or terrorist can remove them.  I am also firmly convinced that what God chooses to withhold cannot be given by man.

And yet, the Word clearly calls on us to care for the widow and orphan, to love justice, and to provide for those in need.  Because the mystery of our resurrection in Christ through baptism places us as the current body of Christ on Earth, we are called to do those things that God does.  And, this brings me up short of over concern with government on another front.

When the conservatives are in power and want government to serve the interests of war and industry, I am tempted to complain that they do not do what the Biblical texts call on governments to do.  Then, I am brought up short.  It says that I am animated by the very Spirit of God and called to do those things.  I find no mention of the government as an entity experiencing the same grace or call.

When the liberals are in power and want government to step up and do the work of caring for those in need, I am tempted as much as my most conservative friends to grouse about everything the government does costing me more money while providing little to those who work for a living like my family.  Then, I am brought up short.  If I, if the Christian community — (Both Jews and Muslims also claim to believe in the same Old Testament God who compels justice for the powerless.  Native American practiced it most of the original cultures of this continent with no claim to the Gospel mandate. The list goes on.  But, my faith and hope are within the context of Christianity.) — again, if we who claim to know, love, and serve the God of mercy had taken care of the infirm and the destitute [to the measure of their need rather than the salving of our consciences] there would be no issue for the government to try to solve.  I have worked with families in these situations for most of my career, and I know they are real.  I have tried to give their children hope through education and exposure to Truth.  But, I know the issue is real.  I know my God calls us to minister to the need.  So, when my government tries its feeble best to do human engineered solutions the limit to my anger is conviction.  We were supposed to care for our neighbors and enemies as children of the same God.

I am a political cynic.  Whatever the government does will most likely cost me money and solve very few problems.  But, I am an optimist in faith that life does not come from governments.  It is by the ongoing gifts of God that we have our being, our meaning, our sustenance, and our hope.

The king is dead, long live the King.

peace

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I keep reading and seeing writings by American Christians about the gifts of God. They aren’t wrong… completely. God loves to give and everything that exists does so by the continuing gift of creation and grace of God.

But, there is a bottom line. No other gift compares to it in any way. And it should not be transformed to sound like any other gift by verbal gymnastics. To do so is nothing less than sacrilege.

God’s greatest gift is God.

not God’s healing, saving, blessing, wisdom, church, supposed war power, affluence, poverty, transforming love……………………….. or even life

God’s greatest gift to us is God.

But, God is by definition beyond our definitions, our grasp, our full comprehension even as revealed in Jesus. I am grateful that God is revealed in all other true gifts — the creation, the face of our loved ones, the face of strangers, when we do not blind ourselves even in the face of our enemies.

But, we must not confuse those glimpses as the ultimate, final, all transcending gift of God. I can do without many things. But, my only hope for tonight, tomorrow, or eternity is that God blesses me with God.

peace

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Israel’s articulation of creation faith is marked by God’s gift of the power for life, which has a relentless ethical dimension. Thus we have seen that creation is marked by justice, righteousness, and steadfastness, and that it is aimed at needy Israel in exile and, more generally, to the stranger, the widow, and the orphan.  How could it be otherwise?  For the God who is the subject of these verbs of creation is also the subject of more particular verbs in Israel’s own life.  Yahweh’s work in creation is the subject of more particular verbs in Israel’s own life.  Yahweh’s work in creation is never an act of raw, sovereign power, but is an act saturated with covenantal, ethical intentionality.  Yahweh characteristically intends not only to have a world, but to have a certain kind of world, one that generously and gladly attends to the goodness and extravagance of life.

Theology of the Old Testament.  p. 158

A little more emphasis on this nature of Creator and creation might result in far different treatment of friend, enemy, and planet.

peace

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