Happy New Year. We have made it to another year. The skeptical part of me wants to say, that we just made it to another day, and this entire New Year – New Me crap is really just the emotional hangover of our glut of commercialism. I can be rather cynical at times.
What if this year we did life differently?
What if this year we came to understand how much Jesus disagreed with the religious institutions of his time? Yes, he was a devote Jew. Obviously, he loved God. But, consider his comment, “They ties up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.” (Matt 23:4) We are not called to be religious, we are called to be of service, to offer up ourselves as a living sacrifice, of living life differently. Often, I think we play the game of ‘God loves me more’ when we enter into religion
What if this year we came to understand that we are called to work on our own righteousness and not that of those around us? We are told to remove the plank from our own eyes. I think by the time that I get my biases and prejudices out of the way, that I might just understand how to help those around me. Consider also, Romans 2:1, “You, therefore, have not excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.”
What if this year we came to realize that if we lived our faith, the message would be stronger? It seems to me that Christ was always more interested in how people acted, than what they believed. In the parable of the sheep and goats, he said this, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Matt 25:35-36
What if this year we started to take the words of Christ seriously when he taught that we are called into compassionate service of each other? How many different ways did he have to say that the greatest in heaven is of service here on earth? Faith is not about feeling good, it is about being of use.
What if this year we realize that our commitment to church is not just about attendance? It is not about attending the cool church with the edgy hipster pastor and great music. It is about coming together to say that these are the people that I stand with in Christ. And then, it is not about what we do when we are there, but what we do out in the world around us.
What if this year we came to realize the privilege that scripture affords us? It is not a reference book for demanding that other believe as we do, or act as we want them. If your morality is based on scripture, and not on the leanings of your heart, you are in serious trouble. The bible allows us a view of how other people lived their faith in a different time and culture. It is sad that the messages of the Creation Myth are lost in our insistence that the world was created only six thousand years ago, and that it was done only in 144 hours. We fail to grasp just how wonderful it is that we are an expression of love, and that women are of the very same fabric as men – a radical message for that time.
What if this year we understood that we are all works in progress? The person standing next to you in church, at the cashier, at the bus stop, or in the coffee shop is just trying to make their way through life the best they can. And this included the person you just thought who you don’t believe that they are. Maybe if our interest in them is in how we can help, rather than how good they are living up to our expectations, we might achieve something miraculous.
What if this year we asked why we are not doing something about (fill in whatever dastardly event you want)? We are the body of Christ, if we are waiting for God to do something, we are only waiting on ourselves to take action. It is up to us to take compassion measures. For may, we are the face of God.
This entry is not about living missional lives elsewhere in the world. It is about living ordinary lives in extraordinary ways. For me, it is realizing that how I treat those who work with me is more important than what I might say in prayer. It is realizing the generosity of spirit is more important that the financial arrangement of tithing I might try to make with God. It is realizing that this way of life can only start with me, if I wait for others, it might be a long wait indeed.
It is my wish for you that this year is filled with Joy, Love, Health, and PEACE.
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