Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
psalm 1
1 John 5:9-13
John 17:6-9
Lesslie
Newbigin's insight on John 17 captures the heart of what I would like to
meditate on with you today. ("The Light has Come, p 228)
"The work of Jesus is the communication of the name of God to a community.
He does not bequeath to posterity a body of teaching preserved in a book--like
the Qur'an. He does not leave behind an ideal or a program. He leaves behind a
community--the Church.
This
community exists not because of decisions which its members have made. It is
not constituted by the faith, insight, or moral excellence of its members. It
exists because God has called its members out of the world by His own actives
and given them to Jesus."
Wow, this
is an amazing thought: God sent Jesus to make the church--a community participating
in the love of God. Jesus’ declaration, “I love you,” and His command, “so love
one another,” open us to a new way of understanding salvation. The
transformative union with God—theosis—consists
of godly communal love. Yes, only the Holy Spirit make us holy, but we work
with God in holy synergism*. As we abide in Jesus, we are slowly purified of
the sin which darkens our nous (mind/soul) and the passions which kill
our heart.
We must,
however, understand our situation: "I am no more in the world," says
Jesus, "but they are in the world and I am coming to you." At the
beginning of the eucharist today we
should have said “Alleluia! Christ is gone! But He will return, alleluia!” We
are in the world, but Jesus is gone. The world hates Him so it hates us. He is
not of the world, nor are we… Well, in reality we are of too much of the world,
but we are not supposed to be. Jesus prays for the Father to protect us because
we need protecting. Satan's Kingdom is sin, sickness and suffering. Division,
doubt and despair are the fruits of the enemy. Jesus is gone, but the power of
God's Name protects us.
Communion
with God in Jesus is communion in His church. Uniting with God is not the
heroic battle of a solitary soul. Jesus reminds us that loving God means being
one with each other. IF He is gone, He has not left us alone. The Power of God’s
name is the "absent-presence" of Jesus and His Father. Yes the world
hates us—for our beliefs about marriage, our beliefs about Jesus—and charges us
with hate crimes—but we are not alone. We belong to Jesus. We also have one
another.
Like
Israel, we are an exodus people. We have diverse beliefs and values. We
struggle to be one. Diversity is a fact of existence and a source of conflict. The
world offers us diversity training, but it does not work. In my training days
the HR Director told me that diversity training increases hostility (+). That
is because Satan is the prince of division. He inspires us to clamor for our
rights and brood over every injustice which we experience. Diversity training cannot
heal divisions because it focuses on what divides us. Sinners all, we blame
others. We are seduced by power.
Only the
true church—that authentic community of Jesus where every life matters and all
are loved—can heals division and unites us in our diversity. Jesus had a zealot
and a tax collector among His apostles—bitter enemies become one in His love. Someday,
in His Kingdom, we will learn to be the church He has called us to be. This
day, let us pray, for that slow process of theosis
and love to continue to transform us all.
+ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-we-work/201203/diversity-training-doesnt-work
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