H,
There has to be a practical
side to our approach to God. I do not mean that we get practical about it or
that we can attain it by effort. I mean that it has to speak to all of reality
and not just a part of it. In bringing the spirit back to life, the gospel must
have some real things to say on how we survive and thrive in this plain before
the other plain of glory. There is a huge part of it that tells us to simply
stay the course and encounter the latter glory. There is also a huge part of it
that tells us that a light begins in the dark and there must be witnesses to
the life to come in the bent out of shape life of now.
There has to be an answer
for the pain of now besides “bear it”. Can a child be expected to bear hunger
and want and violence of all kinds? Is there not a light that can shine upon
these events and speak to them the message of peace to the victims and strength
to the oppressors? It is not a gospel of consolation but of utter reality that
speaks of an impending kingdom and a glorious king over all.
I keep thinking of that
means for the here and the now. I want to make my way through the fear and
doubt of what acts can mean to something real. An answer for the fool of
hatred, death, oppression, greed, poverty, loss, hopelessness, hunger,
indifference and endless emptiness. This holy gospel must speak to the whole
man and not in the sense of the varied excuses for conferences and preaching
events of our Church system. We have surely had enough of “manifestation”
conferences and “takeover” seminars.
Even a cursory look at the bible will show
that when Jesus came to change the whole nature of reality and become king of
kings He did not go to the palace but to the pauper. He was not adorned in
white but in the brown dust of the commoner. He did not wear a bespoke suit or
curl his hair or have some compressed foreign accent. He did not start
consulting with Pontius Pilate or Herod on how to deliver gains to the people
using “Christian Principles”. He did not sit back and ignore suffering but he
did not exploit victims by telling them tithes and offerings were the key out
of the slavery of a failing nation-state. He told them: “The kingdom of God is
at hand!”
We will do well to begin to
think and pray and read all over again what that must mean in our time and
space.
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