Galatians 1:11-24

Galatians 1:11-24New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus.

Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days; but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord’s brother. In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie! Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; they only heard it said, “The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they glorified God because of me.

Two things stand out for me here: the ongoing nature of revelation and the fact that God can do absolutely anything with anyone.

Paul claims his ability to receive the revelation of Christ comes despite everything he had going against him. Despite that he had been an enemy, not just of the church, but of Christ himself.

If Paul can end up being the first theologian of the Church - the founder in so many ways indeed of our church - what can God do with me? With you?

With the person you might think least likely to be a follower of Christ?

Nobody gets written off.  God makes all things possible for anyone.

And God doesn't stop revealing either. The Bible didn't close and shut down God's activity in the world.

I've appreciated for a while the United Church of Christ's "God is Still Speaking."  God still has something to say to the world and to us.  God is still glorified despite all that we make wrong and all that we see wrong in others.

Who is it that perhaps you have written off that maybe it's time to take a second look at?

God of mercy and revelation: help us to see each other as you see us, in perfect love and understanding.  Amen.

Galatians 1:1-10

Galatians 1:1-10New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Paul an apostle—sent neither by human commission nor from human authorities, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— and all the members of God’s family who are with me,

To the churches of Galatia:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed! As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed!

Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Well, it's been a bit longer than I said it would be.  Since writing last I have been to Italy and back and then been struck with writer's block, as like most Americans I've been transfixed by social and mainstream media with both the tragic events in Charleston as well as many different rulings by SCOTUS.  All of those have been swimming in my head and made me wonder where to go next with these devotions.  Less and less am I finding the ELCA daily lectionary to be helpful for my particular context in devotion writing, and for a while I've thought it might be good to dive into reflecting on a whole book of the Bible.  

So with this past Sunday being named a day of "Repentance and Mourning" in the ELCA by our Bishop after the racially motivated murders in Charleston, Galatians 3:28 has been playing in a loop in my head: "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus."  For me, this is a good verse with which to start any discussion on race - which, I believe, is a discussion we need to be having in our churches.

So, with that in mind, Galatians seemed like a good book to begin with.  It's a book I haven't read in its entirety in a while, and am eager to see what jumps out of the page for me I write it.

A brief note about the Galatian church: the Galatians, according the my handy Lutheran Study Bible, "insisted that to be acceptable to God, the non-Jewish believers must observe the laws of Moses."  Paul, needless to say, was not good with that.

By Paul's language just in this introduction, we can see that coming up with such an idea is clearly counter to the gospel for Paul. So interpretation was an issue back then...as it is for us as well.

For me, as I read verse 10, it occurs to me that there are times when the proclamation of the Gospel isn't going to be pleasing to people in congregations or in the world. And that often, anything to do with radical inclusivity - letting people in as they are - is still just as much an issue today as it was in the early church. 

So, as we work as a church against the sin of racism, it is a good idea to remember that radical inclusivity is in our DNA.

God of all, help us to accept your gospel even when it may run counter to our natural inclinations.  Amen.

Break

Time for a little break!  Will post again in mid-June!

Human of Dust/Human of Heaven

1 Corinthians 15:42-49New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Have you ever thought about what it means that we will also bear the image of the man in heaven?

Paul's theology is often weighty to sort through. It has it translation issues I think at times, and sometimes his word choice is problematic. 

When we think of Jesus, we must think of the man who is not simply the "man of heaven." Jesus was also a (hu)man of dust. A man of dust who redeemed other "(hu)men" of dust. 

But Jesus' last name wasn't Christ. Instead, Jesus WAS the Christ. The Cosmic Christ who was from time eternal and who came to us as dust to be like us. That human of heaven is who brings all things into one. Who creates unity. Who is one with the creator.

How this all happens has been debated and debated and theologized since the first century. And the truth is, our language will always fall short of explaining just how the man Jesus and the Cosmic Christ make it possible in his one being to redeem creation.  

To be one not just with God, but with each other.

To unify all things.

However Paul explains it, or a theologian explains it or your pastor explains it or however right or wrong we get the correct "belief" of it, one thing is clear.

God takes weakness and makes it strong.

God takes limited physical beings and makes them eternal.

God takes suffering and redeems it.

God takes what we have broken and makes it whole.

God completes everything God started.

And we bear God's image.

Remember that next time you feel weak, or limited, or suffering, or broken.

God's got more story to tell in you yet.

God, I am dust and to dust I shall return. But I also bear your image and your promise of completion. Remind me always to whom I belong.  Amen

Completion?

Philippians 1:6New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.

This is a passage I need to remind myself of frequently.

I'm someone who likes to get something done and be able to sit back, look at it and be satisfied with the fruits of my labors. I'm guessing you might have the same inclination. It's a common one in our culture.

Yet Paul reminds us here of the part we play in the whole puzzle of God's plan for the Kin-dom.

We might not get to finish things.

Each of us has a role to play - a calling - in service and in ministry to help further the Kin-dom of God.

And yet for many of us, as much as we might not like the idea, we won't get to see our labors come to fruition.

We might not live to see what the church will become.

We might not see hunger ended in our lifetime.

Or poverty.

Or justice.

Or an end to all violence.

And yet on we go. On we serve. On we pray and worship and love and hope.

And know that God will ultimately bring all things to completion even though it most likely won't be in our lifetime.

This concept I think was most beautifully stated in a prayer attributed to Bishop Oscar Romero, which I'll conclude with:

"The kingdom is not only beyond our own efforts, it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s word.

Nothing that we do is complete.

The kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.

No prayer fully expresses our faith.

No confession brings perfection.

No pastoral visit brings wholeness.

No program accomplishes the church’s mission.

No set of goals includes everything that we are about.

We all plant the seed that one day will grow.

We water the seeds already planted, knowing that they hold promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces efforts far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything.

Knowing this enables us to do something, and to do it well.

Our work may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way.

Our actions present an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are the workers, not master builders.

We are ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.

Amen."

Priests in the World

Numbers 8:14-22New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

[The Lord said:] "Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the other Israelites, and the Levites shall be mine. Thereafter the Levites may go in to do service at the tent of meeting, once you have cleansed them and presented them as an elevation offering. For they are unreservedly given to me from among the Israelites; I have taken them for myself, in place of all that open the womb, the firstborn of all the Israelites. For all the firstborn among the Israelites are mine, both human and animal. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated them for myself, but I have taken the Levites in place of all the firstborn among the Israelites. Moreover, I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, to do the service for the Israelites at the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the Israelites, in order that there may be no plague among the Israelites for coming too close to the sanctuary.

Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation of the Israelites did with the Levites accordingly; the Israelites did with the Levites just as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning them. The Levites purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes; then Aaron presented them as an elevation offering before the Lord, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. Thereafter the Levites went in to do their service in the tent of meeting in attendance on Aaron and his sons. As the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did with them.

Do we still separate our "priests" from the rest of the congregation?

Maybe. Sometimes, despite the fact that this is not a tenet of our Christian faith as it was for the Jews and the Levites.

In our Christian life, we are all made "priests" through our baptism. Ministers, pastors are called to a special way of service, but it is not one that is separate. It is one that is placed in the heart of the congregation.

Yet all of us are priests - baptized and sent out to beyond the doors of our congregation.

To the world.

These days, as we read about more and more distrust of the institution of the church, and see more folks who claim to be "spiritual but not religious" or call themselves "Nones," having no religious affiliation, we might do well to wonder if we ourselves our separating ourselves as priests from the world.

Maybe our congregation IS the world.

We are not Levites, sent to do service in a tent of meeting.

We are the people of God, sent to serve the world. A world that is hungry to see the love we are equipped to share.

God send us out to do your work of love and service to the world. Amen.

Dumb luck?

Acts 1:21-26New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

This passage has always struck me as a bit odd.

First, Matthias might be the one picked, but he certainly doesn't get mentioned with as much flourish as Joseph (or Barsabbas or Justus, whichever you prefer).

And second, it seems perhaps that this whole endeavor might be premature. This happens before the coming of the Holy Spirit, and later we will find out that the Christ's choice for the twelfth apostle is none other than Saul, who becomes Paul. 

Is that the point? That the Holy Spirit hasn't come yet, and so Matthias gets his place at the table by dumb luck (or drawing lots)?

It makes we wonder if perhaps sometimes we do the same things.

There probably wasn't anything wrong with Matthias. Likely he served well (although we are never told one way or another). And yet, this group gathered rather hastily to get the correct committee in place with the right number of folks...

Before the Holy Spirit came.

I wonder if sometimes we are in such a hurry to get things done - with meetings, deadlines, constitutions, budgets and the like all nipping at our heels - that we forget to slow down and discern the work of the Spirit in our midst to see which way the wind is really blowing?

Lord help us to discern your plans by looking and listening for your Spirit's work in our lives. Amen.