May 2010
29 posts
parenting!
Me: Do you want to watch TV?
Emery: No, let's jump in my room!
Me: Seriously?
Emery: It's going to be fun!
“There is an alternative both to being constricted by human rules and to having...”
– Miroslav Volf
“Perfect love is to love the one who made you unhappy…unhappiness is not to...”
– Søren Kierkegaard
The Kingdom of God looks like...
Denying instant gratification that whores our souls and rapes the image of God inside of us and others.
Sorry for the graphic language, but it sort of fits with the topic.
In Matthew 5, Jesus is driving home the intent of the Law—to re-create people & a community that is the reflection of the love, grace, justice, and even holiness of God in the midst of Creation.
Why? To be light...
“It is difficult to keep a revolution of freedom and justice under way when there...”
– Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination
“What gets most of us through the tough times, as well as through everyday,...”
– Kennon Callahan
The Kingdom of God looks like...
Humans affirming and even actively restoring the value of other humans.
After Jesus speaks to the Law/Torah/Prophets and re-ups their value in the Sermon on the Mount, he then proceeds to bring up and subsequently dismantle the commonly held views of some specifics of the Law: murder, adultery, retaliation, giving, etc.
In Matthew 5:21-26, Jesus is specifically taking on a command...
“Audacious prayer, which perseveres unflinchingly and ceases not through fear, is...”
– Martin Luther. Luther taught that prayer should be living, powerful, strong, mighty, earnest, serious, troubled, passionate, vehement, fervent and ardent. Overwhelmed yet?
“The centre of my responsibility is determined by the call of Jesus Christ which...”
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics
The Kingdom of God looks like...
The fulfillment of the intention of the Law & the Prophets.
In Matthew 5:17-20, Jesus proclaims that he didn’t come to abolish the Law & the Prophets (the whole of the Old Testament and it’s vision for life), but rather he came to fulfill it.
He then goes on to say that every single bit of the Law will come to fulfillment and that those who would seek Heaven-on-Earth would...
Less is More (My Superpower)
I have a weird, weird thought this morning. If I could have one superpower that helped me do my job better, it would be this:
I would have the power to shrink the Bible.
Two clarifications:
Yes, I realize that’s not really a superpower. Trust me, I’d rather be able to fly or walk through walls or grill quesadillas with my hands. Humor me.
No, I don’t mean shrink like that.
...
presenting an alternative to condemning
Condemnation is weird to us. What it often means is that one person condemns another:
“You’re going to Hell.”
“You’re worthless.” “You’ll never fall in love.”
“I’m better than you.”
We even get God in on the act sometimes.
But what if that’s not the root of what it means to condemn?
Consider Paul’s thoughts...
“What we need is a deeper insight into our practical relationship with God in...”
– Dallas Willard
“How different, really, are American Christians when it comes to assumptions and...”
– Christian Smith
“The issue is not “What must I do in order to secure my salvation?” but rather,...”
– Walter Wink
The Kingdom of God looks like...
After opening with a list of those who are actively participating in the blessings of the Kingdom (we call this list “the Beatitudes”), Jesus continues to describe the Kingdom of God (his primary Gospel message) by describing the calling and subsequent plight of Israel.
“You beloved, are the salt of the earth. But if salt becomes bland and loses its saltiness, can anything...
“Jesus did not tell his oppressed hearers not to resist evil. That would have...”
– Walter Wink
