Glowing embers remain. Flickering as though their very soul is leaving them slowly
whisping away in waves of heat expired.
Shadows creep, wrapping their tendrils around the spirited remains of a fire once proud-
once tall and vivacious
Yet here- hudled in solidarity- confined to ashen dark- are all that have not been given over to the naught.
Perspiring light in auburn hue-
Flashing white and yellow with any that venture too near.
So they linger- fierce - but not immune to entropy's fatal coarse.
Unless we blow- sending the very breath of life into this remnants ranks
unless we feed them pine and oak
As they evangelize with heat wood that is dead
unlocking all the heat hidden within
but they still flutter and fade- impeded
drowned in onyx waves- pressing from all sides
seen and unseen
the theif of the night
So we who breathe, let us whisper
to these huddled orbs of fire true
And listen as they whisper back
Fore we listen to the spirits voice
repeating these whispers back in vigor renewed
So that we do not suppose that heat found us alone
but rather we were found first by those remnants of flames long past
These cherished embers flicker
shrouded in ashen waste
But incline an ear and you will hear
Whispers
So we might whisper back.
Monday, 4 January 2010
The Decade Beast
Decades are funny creatures- they roam and luber - as if never an imposing threat.
Yet as you let this beast meander and grow, it is all at once upon you!
With eyes like Crystal balls, showing all that was once dreamed- all that is and , alas is not.
But I look into its eyes now- this ugly beast so it is , and voyage on into its gaze the victor.
Few are the dreams not fulfilled- in fact few are the dreams not surpassed
but lonesome am I in triumph-few can speak words as joyful and true
Fore it's rancor has belayed this beast's pestilence
Fangs tha have sunk deep and tore wide the world of victors past.
I wonder now- as it slowly births its child upon us all- small and cute and hopeful- will those crystal eyes treat me as kindly as its mother's did?
Yet as you let this beast meander and grow, it is all at once upon you!
With eyes like Crystal balls, showing all that was once dreamed- all that is and , alas is not.
But I look into its eyes now- this ugly beast so it is , and voyage on into its gaze the victor.
Few are the dreams not fulfilled- in fact few are the dreams not surpassed
but lonesome am I in triumph-few can speak words as joyful and true
Fore it's rancor has belayed this beast's pestilence
Fangs tha have sunk deep and tore wide the world of victors past.
I wonder now- as it slowly births its child upon us all- small and cute and hopeful- will those crystal eyes treat me as kindly as its mother's did?
Wednesday, 23 December 2009
Best Companies Ever
In this blog I have critiqued the nation-state system and capitalism- favoring the counter logic of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
However,
I too am a sinner and there are a few companies that I think ROCK! These companies represent the best of innovation-embody beauty and strive for perfection in their products. In short- they make products that don't just dominate markets- they create new ones; changing the way live our lives.
These Companies are :
1)APPLE
2)GOOGLE
3)AMAZON
4)FACEBOOK
5)NETFLIX
However,
I too am a sinner and there are a few companies that I think ROCK! These companies represent the best of innovation-embody beauty and strive for perfection in their products. In short- they make products that don't just dominate markets- they create new ones; changing the way live our lives.
These Companies are :
1)APPLE
2)GOOGLE
3)AMAZON
4)FACEBOOK
5)NETFLIX
Friday, 18 December 2009
California Christmas Delight
Christmas time is here,
No snow, but sun and cheer
No sleigh bells ringing or church bells singing
But to light and joy, we are all clinging
Mike and Jen’s hot tub beckons
A fair trade for frigid air I reckon
Snowscapes sculpted by the winds are traded
For palm trees and bowls of roses paraded
No icicles hanging in jagged array
Yet the food and merriment goes without say
So it is, a California Christmas delight
Where the very memories of past Christmas’ might
Only blind us too all that is true
Joys of true Christmas, found here with you.
Jovial laughing, skating, sledding and more
The old ways of Christmas fade into just lore
Where old snowy December’s
Drift and fog and mire in forgot
But sorrow we do not set loose,
For here the Christmas feast is Alive, Fear not!
For it was not to snowy hills that Jesus was born
He was not surrounded with deer, bear and moose
But it was a desert plane that welcomed
All heavens opening up, pronouncing, “ The King is here”
A desert, quite cold in the night, but warm in the day
Not so unlike California- Ill say
So it is our California Christmas delight
To share more in what that first Christmas was like!
Those east coasters can keep all that snow
Keep all their cold air and frost toe
Where you can’t feel your ears should you forget a hat
Because Here in California is where Christmas is at.
So it is, a California Christmas delight
Where the very memories of past Christmas’ might
Only blind us too all that is true
Joys of true Christmas, found here with you!
No snow, but sun and cheer
No sleigh bells ringing or church bells singing
But to light and joy, we are all clinging
Mike and Jen’s hot tub beckons
A fair trade for frigid air I reckon
Snowscapes sculpted by the winds are traded
For palm trees and bowls of roses paraded
No icicles hanging in jagged array
Yet the food and merriment goes without say
So it is, a California Christmas delight
Where the very memories of past Christmas’ might
Only blind us too all that is true
Joys of true Christmas, found here with you.
Jovial laughing, skating, sledding and more
The old ways of Christmas fade into just lore
Where old snowy December’s
Drift and fog and mire in forgot
But sorrow we do not set loose,
For here the Christmas feast is Alive, Fear not!
For it was not to snowy hills that Jesus was born
He was not surrounded with deer, bear and moose
But it was a desert plane that welcomed
All heavens opening up, pronouncing, “ The King is here”
A desert, quite cold in the night, but warm in the day
Not so unlike California- Ill say
So it is our California Christmas delight
To share more in what that first Christmas was like!
Those east coasters can keep all that snow
Keep all their cold air and frost toe
Where you can’t feel your ears should you forget a hat
Because Here in California is where Christmas is at.
So it is, a California Christmas delight
Where the very memories of past Christmas’ might
Only blind us too all that is true
Joys of true Christmas, found here with you!
Thursday, 17 December 2009
Hope
What is hope but the beauty of the impossible.
Fading whispers of the dream that could never be
And yet is more beautiful in its impossibility
For where the ocean roars and horrid beasts of our nightmares roam
The cracks and creavases of our whole being resound in a constant and impossible reality
We dare not whisper it,
It is too beautiful to hope and fail
Too much to long for upon the empty contours of our world
And yet it shows itself
Breaking in, flaming and true and whole
Announcing itself as more than our dreams could ever belay
Here the despair is all too near
Carrying with it the radical potency of what we deem indubitable
What is hope but the fantasy, that which we can never truly expect
It is too beautiful to speak
Too beautiful for our eyes to take hold of
Yet it takes hold of us
Making itself known as the good beyond our fears and plots and expectations.
Hope that conquers the trouble of our soul
It sits and breaths into us anew- light and love
Not in those places we expect the most,
But in those places we despair the most
Fading whispers of the dream that could never be
And yet is more beautiful in its impossibility
For where the ocean roars and horrid beasts of our nightmares roam
The cracks and creavases of our whole being resound in a constant and impossible reality
We dare not whisper it,
It is too beautiful to hope and fail
Too much to long for upon the empty contours of our world
And yet it shows itself
Breaking in, flaming and true and whole
Announcing itself as more than our dreams could ever belay
Here the despair is all too near
Carrying with it the radical potency of what we deem indubitable
What is hope but the fantasy, that which we can never truly expect
It is too beautiful to speak
Too beautiful for our eyes to take hold of
Yet it takes hold of us
Making itself known as the good beyond our fears and plots and expectations.
Hope that conquers the trouble of our soul
It sits and breaths into us anew- light and love
Not in those places we expect the most,
But in those places we despair the most
Monday, 2 November 2009
Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save!
Isaiah 59:(1-4)9-19
[See, the LORD's hand is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.
Rather, your iniquities have been barriers
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.
For your hands are defiled with blood,
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies,
your tongue mutters wickedness.
No one brings suit justly,
no one goes to law honestly;
they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,
conceiving mischief and begetting iniquity.]
Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not reach us;
we wait for light, and lo! there is darkness;
and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
We grope like the blind along a wall,
groping like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
among the vigorous as though we were dead.
We all growl like bears;
like doves we moan mournfully.
We wait for justice, but there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.
For our transgressions before you are many,
and our sins testify against us.
Our transgressions indeed are with us,
and we know our iniquities:
transgressing, and denying the LORD,
and turning away from following our God,
talking oppression and revolt,
conceiving lying words and uttering them from the heart.
Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands at a distance;
for truth stumbles in the public square,
and uprightness cannot enter.
Truth is lacking,
and whoever turns from evil is despoiled.
The LORD saw it, and it displeased him
that there was no justice.
He saw that there was no one,
and was appalled that there was no one to intervene;
so his own arm brought him victory,
and his righteousness upheld him.
He put on righteousness like a breastplate,
and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
and wrapped himself in fury as in a mantle.
According to their deeds, so will he repay;
wrath to his adversaries, requital to his enemies;
to the coastlands he will render requital.
So those in the west shall fear the name of the LORD,
and those in the east, his glory;
for he will come like a pent-up stream
that the wind of the LORD drives on.
Brandon Walsh
11/2/09
Preaching
Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save!
The New Testament calls us to die to the world and be raised into the Body of Christ, becoming a new reality. In Eucharist the Church sign acts unity, our oneness in the flesh as well as in spirit.
That is what Scripture tells us.
That is what our prayer books and Manuals testify to.
Yet in 1994 the people of Rwanda, a group that is statistically 90% Christian, took the elements on Easter, and three days later began to kill each other with machetes. In the years preceding these bloody circumstances people marveled at Christianity’s widespread adoption in the country. Some used it as a model for future evangelism. And despite them being the Church, despite them sign acting their unity in Christ they turned on each other in bloodshed.
But we don’t have to look across oceans to see the brokenness of the Church. Here in San Diego there are Churches that are suing each other for their land. How many of our bothers and sisters in Christ go hungry on the streets of San Diego? It is easy to write off our world as being broken and fallen, but when we see the Body of Christ, the Church, in shambles we cry out LORD WHY?!
WE CRY OUT “LORD, HAVE YOU NOT MADE US NEW? WHAT DOES SALVATION MEAN IF NOT THAT WE WILL STOP KILLING EACH OTHER AND SUEING EACH OTHER?!”
(Pause)
The words of the Prophet Isaiah call out to us from this text.
The Book of Isaiah tells us a story about Israel, but from the perspective of God’s messenger. The story goes like this.
1) God calls Isa. To preach judgment to the people of Israel. – And Israel does what they do best; ignore God’s warning.
2) The Babylonian Army invades Jerusalem, destroys the Temple and drags the Israelites off into Exile.
3) Isaiah tells the Israelites that God has not forgotten them, and that one day God will save them and send them back to Israel.
4) Seventy Years later the Israelites witness the Army of Cyrus conquer Babylon. Cyrus sends the Israelites back to Jerusalem.
For seventy years the Israelites were strangers in a foreign land. As they were growing up their families would tell them of the old Kingdom, stories of the greatness of the Temple and the beauty of Israel. I can almost picture the scene, where children were kissed goodnight and told that one-day God would save them and bring them home.
Then it happens, the mighty conqueror Cyrus is raised up as God’s tool for the destruction of Babylon; it must have been a dream come true. Their Salvation had finally come. God’s Judgment of God’s people was over…
They packed up their things and venture off to see the land that their parents and grandparents had told them of. A land flowing with milk and Honey! I land where young David’s kill Goliath.
But when they get to Jerusalem it is desolate. Is their Salvation leaving the great city of Babylon to see this pile of broken rubble?? They start to rebuild the city, but they people of Israel soon find themselves in the midst of war, and political destabilization. They fall into disobedience and take matters into their own hands, acting like everyone else in order that they survive, crying out GOD IS THIS THE SALVATION YOU PROMISED US?! LORD HAVE YOU NOT RELEASED US FROM YOUR JUDGEMENT?
To which the Prophet Isaiah replies:
Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save! It is your Sins that separate you from your GOD.
The Prophet leans into his pulpit and says “Your SIN is the thing messing you up- you are wondering why things are not going so well and you still have blood on your hands! You Beg God “WHY?” with your tongue one moment and with that same tongue murmur deceit the next.”
Then the prophet starts to confess for his community-
“Heck- We can all see, our eyes work but we are acting like blind people – groping around as if we were impaired somehow.
We know what Truth is, We God’s People, know what righteousness looks like and still we are violent! Still we are liars!
We act like Bears, roaring for Justice and still eating each other…expecting that Justice will just fall into our laps as we lick our lips.”
Then turning upwards the Prophet Repents,
“LORD, we have sinned against you. We have sinned against you, we acknowledge our iniquities – how badly we have messed up.
Our Sin makes us turn from Justice, God. And even when someone does try to be righteous, they become prey to our system of injustice.
TRUTH IS NOWHERE PEOPLE!”
If the Prophet had ended there this would be a very different message. However there are two words my good Friend Zach Ellis once repeated in a sermon that change everything- BUT GOD
“ But God saw this- God saw and acted
God will come to make new those who repent.
God will send a Redeemer for those who repent.
Note that the prophet uses the past tense- showing his total confidence in the coming salvation of God, but also pointing his people to the salvation God has already completed in freeing them from Exile.
God does not leave God’s people, he sends them the prophet to lead them in repentance- and into the fullness of Salvation when one day “The Redeemer” will come.
But that Redeemer has come! Come as God in flesh- the Savior of the world Jesus Christ!
The Church claims that in Christ it enters the narrative of Israel. So then, when the text speaks of a suffering servant, or The Redeemer, the Church can say that God’s fulfillment of this Prophet’s words are in the person of its savior. In light of the Cross-and the hope of resurrection, this text speaks to YHWH’s people anew.
So when We – The Church- The Body of Christ have been freed from our Exile of Death, but do not live up to the holiness we are called to…
WE CRY OUT GOD WHY!?
(Pause)
To which the prophet replies:
“Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short of save.”
We too are an obstinate people. Like Israel we are a sinful People.
Like Israel we see the holiness of God and still stumble as if blind.
Like the remnant people of Israel we beg for explanation, a while we have sinful blood on our hands. We are given the Holy Spirit and we still participate in a world that sets up bitter systems of injustice. All the while Christians wait for God to renew us, trusting “cheap grace” to replace repentance.
Recently I brought my Youth group to a retreat run by the Diocese. On the surface it seemed like your typical weekend, equipped with acoustic guitar music and emotional singing. Yet as the weekend progressed I realized that the message being preached was this… “Sin is not loving yourself- Jesus Loves you and forgives you- you need to feel God’s love for you and know that you are beautiful in God’s sight.”
At no point were the kids called to REPENT, at no point were they charged with their sin. This truly is cheap grace, a grace that seems sugary sweet and at the same time will give you cavities.
Bonheoffer Spoke about this “cheap grace” in describing Nazi Germany. The German church preached it as a justification for their Genocide.
Like Israel we long for God to fix everything for us, without turning our hearts to God. Yet we do not have a Deus ex Machina- a God that comes in to erase our blunders
But God…
But God saw that God’s church participates in a world without Justice! God sent the Spirit that will not depart from us.
Before the Church in Rwanda slaughtered, before the Church of England justified colonialism, before the Church in Galatia was deceived. God had already moved for the ultimate salvation of God’s people.
Like the People of Israel we must repent! Like the people of Israel we must wash our hands of our violence and cry out to God for Forgiveness.
- Because one day the Redeemer will come again. May we repent of our sin- turn to God and reach out to the world- to the Body of Christ in Love.
Lord Forgive us your Church, for you have already moved mightily on our behalf.
[See, the LORD's hand is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.
Rather, your iniquities have been barriers
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.
For your hands are defiled with blood,
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies,
your tongue mutters wickedness.
No one brings suit justly,
no one goes to law honestly;
they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,
conceiving mischief and begetting iniquity.]
Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not reach us;
we wait for light, and lo! there is darkness;
and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
We grope like the blind along a wall,
groping like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
among the vigorous as though we were dead.
We all growl like bears;
like doves we moan mournfully.
We wait for justice, but there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.
For our transgressions before you are many,
and our sins testify against us.
Our transgressions indeed are with us,
and we know our iniquities:
transgressing, and denying the LORD,
and turning away from following our God,
talking oppression and revolt,
conceiving lying words and uttering them from the heart.
Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands at a distance;
for truth stumbles in the public square,
and uprightness cannot enter.
Truth is lacking,
and whoever turns from evil is despoiled.
The LORD saw it, and it displeased him
that there was no justice.
He saw that there was no one,
and was appalled that there was no one to intervene;
so his own arm brought him victory,
and his righteousness upheld him.
He put on righteousness like a breastplate,
and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
and wrapped himself in fury as in a mantle.
According to their deeds, so will he repay;
wrath to his adversaries, requital to his enemies;
to the coastlands he will render requital.
So those in the west shall fear the name of the LORD,
and those in the east, his glory;
for he will come like a pent-up stream
that the wind of the LORD drives on.
Brandon Walsh
11/2/09
Preaching
Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save!
The New Testament calls us to die to the world and be raised into the Body of Christ, becoming a new reality. In Eucharist the Church sign acts unity, our oneness in the flesh as well as in spirit.
That is what Scripture tells us.
That is what our prayer books and Manuals testify to.
Yet in 1994 the people of Rwanda, a group that is statistically 90% Christian, took the elements on Easter, and three days later began to kill each other with machetes. In the years preceding these bloody circumstances people marveled at Christianity’s widespread adoption in the country. Some used it as a model for future evangelism. And despite them being the Church, despite them sign acting their unity in Christ they turned on each other in bloodshed.
But we don’t have to look across oceans to see the brokenness of the Church. Here in San Diego there are Churches that are suing each other for their land. How many of our bothers and sisters in Christ go hungry on the streets of San Diego? It is easy to write off our world as being broken and fallen, but when we see the Body of Christ, the Church, in shambles we cry out LORD WHY?!
WE CRY OUT “LORD, HAVE YOU NOT MADE US NEW? WHAT DOES SALVATION MEAN IF NOT THAT WE WILL STOP KILLING EACH OTHER AND SUEING EACH OTHER?!”
(Pause)
The words of the Prophet Isaiah call out to us from this text.
The Book of Isaiah tells us a story about Israel, but from the perspective of God’s messenger. The story goes like this.
1) God calls Isa. To preach judgment to the people of Israel. – And Israel does what they do best; ignore God’s warning.
2) The Babylonian Army invades Jerusalem, destroys the Temple and drags the Israelites off into Exile.
3) Isaiah tells the Israelites that God has not forgotten them, and that one day God will save them and send them back to Israel.
4) Seventy Years later the Israelites witness the Army of Cyrus conquer Babylon. Cyrus sends the Israelites back to Jerusalem.
For seventy years the Israelites were strangers in a foreign land. As they were growing up their families would tell them of the old Kingdom, stories of the greatness of the Temple and the beauty of Israel. I can almost picture the scene, where children were kissed goodnight and told that one-day God would save them and bring them home.
Then it happens, the mighty conqueror Cyrus is raised up as God’s tool for the destruction of Babylon; it must have been a dream come true. Their Salvation had finally come. God’s Judgment of God’s people was over…
They packed up their things and venture off to see the land that their parents and grandparents had told them of. A land flowing with milk and Honey! I land where young David’s kill Goliath.
But when they get to Jerusalem it is desolate. Is their Salvation leaving the great city of Babylon to see this pile of broken rubble?? They start to rebuild the city, but they people of Israel soon find themselves in the midst of war, and political destabilization. They fall into disobedience and take matters into their own hands, acting like everyone else in order that they survive, crying out GOD IS THIS THE SALVATION YOU PROMISED US?! LORD HAVE YOU NOT RELEASED US FROM YOUR JUDGEMENT?
To which the Prophet Isaiah replies:
Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save! It is your Sins that separate you from your GOD.
The Prophet leans into his pulpit and says “Your SIN is the thing messing you up- you are wondering why things are not going so well and you still have blood on your hands! You Beg God “WHY?” with your tongue one moment and with that same tongue murmur deceit the next.”
Then the prophet starts to confess for his community-
“Heck- We can all see, our eyes work but we are acting like blind people – groping around as if we were impaired somehow.
We know what Truth is, We God’s People, know what righteousness looks like and still we are violent! Still we are liars!
We act like Bears, roaring for Justice and still eating each other…expecting that Justice will just fall into our laps as we lick our lips.”
Then turning upwards the Prophet Repents,
“LORD, we have sinned against you. We have sinned against you, we acknowledge our iniquities – how badly we have messed up.
Our Sin makes us turn from Justice, God. And even when someone does try to be righteous, they become prey to our system of injustice.
TRUTH IS NOWHERE PEOPLE!”
If the Prophet had ended there this would be a very different message. However there are two words my good Friend Zach Ellis once repeated in a sermon that change everything- BUT GOD
“ But God saw this- God saw and acted
God will come to make new those who repent.
God will send a Redeemer for those who repent.
Note that the prophet uses the past tense- showing his total confidence in the coming salvation of God, but also pointing his people to the salvation God has already completed in freeing them from Exile.
God does not leave God’s people, he sends them the prophet to lead them in repentance- and into the fullness of Salvation when one day “The Redeemer” will come.
But that Redeemer has come! Come as God in flesh- the Savior of the world Jesus Christ!
The Church claims that in Christ it enters the narrative of Israel. So then, when the text speaks of a suffering servant, or The Redeemer, the Church can say that God’s fulfillment of this Prophet’s words are in the person of its savior. In light of the Cross-and the hope of resurrection, this text speaks to YHWH’s people anew.
So when We – The Church- The Body of Christ have been freed from our Exile of Death, but do not live up to the holiness we are called to…
WE CRY OUT GOD WHY!?
(Pause)
To which the prophet replies:
“Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short of save.”
We too are an obstinate people. Like Israel we are a sinful People.
Like Israel we see the holiness of God and still stumble as if blind.
Like the remnant people of Israel we beg for explanation, a while we have sinful blood on our hands. We are given the Holy Spirit and we still participate in a world that sets up bitter systems of injustice. All the while Christians wait for God to renew us, trusting “cheap grace” to replace repentance.
Recently I brought my Youth group to a retreat run by the Diocese. On the surface it seemed like your typical weekend, equipped with acoustic guitar music and emotional singing. Yet as the weekend progressed I realized that the message being preached was this… “Sin is not loving yourself- Jesus Loves you and forgives you- you need to feel God’s love for you and know that you are beautiful in God’s sight.”
At no point were the kids called to REPENT, at no point were they charged with their sin. This truly is cheap grace, a grace that seems sugary sweet and at the same time will give you cavities.
Bonheoffer Spoke about this “cheap grace” in describing Nazi Germany. The German church preached it as a justification for their Genocide.
Like Israel we long for God to fix everything for us, without turning our hearts to God. Yet we do not have a Deus ex Machina- a God that comes in to erase our blunders
But God…
But God saw that God’s church participates in a world without Justice! God sent the Spirit that will not depart from us.
Before the Church in Rwanda slaughtered, before the Church of England justified colonialism, before the Church in Galatia was deceived. God had already moved for the ultimate salvation of God’s people.
Like the People of Israel we must repent! Like the people of Israel we must wash our hands of our violence and cry out to God for Forgiveness.
- Because one day the Redeemer will come again. May we repent of our sin- turn to God and reach out to the world- to the Body of Christ in Love.
Lord Forgive us your Church, for you have already moved mightily on our behalf.
Saturday, 12 September 2009
Glorified in Particularity
“In the beginning was the Word,” so ring the words of John proclaiming that through the divine logoß all creation came into being. That same divine logoß took on flesh and dwelt among us that we may know the love of God the father and be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, freed from death and given new life in Christ.
I think that it is also fitting that we call scripture the word of the Lord, for in this word we come to know the Gospel of Christ, the counter logic of the Kingdom and the Life everlasting. Yet too many here miss something, they miss that it is not within the text that the true Word dwells, it is in the Body of Christ. That body, which was broken, given over to death , invites us to die, to rise and become one in Christ. It is from this Body of Christ that we have received the text, which testifies to God’s everlasting faithfulness. The Bible reveals to us the Nature of God and the sinfulness of man; not in axioms or propositions but by weaving the fabric of our reality up into the ultimate Truth which is God.
If a man loves a woman and desires to tell her that love, would he write her a propositional analysis of his acute euphoria? NO! The lover would speak in lyrical potency his love, and in so doing this love is made manifest to her. So just as through God’s Divine Logos creation came into being, through The Body of Christ God speaks to us with the lyrical composition of a lover. With jealousy, fury and passion God’s word calls us to repentance.
This love note of God’s, made palpable through the Church, is only the witness to God’s love, not the salvation itself. The Bible is not A Priori, because we are not a people who are A Prioi. We live and bleed our own experience and particularity into this text. The authors wrote within their particularity and we also read within our particularity. Yet the scriptures are not mired in our own carnal realities, but are glorified in them. God’s calling does not sound in spite of our pitfalls and struggles but rather because of them. When the Logos became flesh in Christ, he was not the holy one of God in spite of his flesh, but rather the scandalous particularity of Christ is what shows us God.
The Bible, our canon, our Scripture, must always and forever be bound tightly to our Body of Christ. The Bible is from God through the Body, for the Body and in the Body finds its Glory.
I think that it is also fitting that we call scripture the word of the Lord, for in this word we come to know the Gospel of Christ, the counter logic of the Kingdom and the Life everlasting. Yet too many here miss something, they miss that it is not within the text that the true Word dwells, it is in the Body of Christ. That body, which was broken, given over to death , invites us to die, to rise and become one in Christ. It is from this Body of Christ that we have received the text, which testifies to God’s everlasting faithfulness. The Bible reveals to us the Nature of God and the sinfulness of man; not in axioms or propositions but by weaving the fabric of our reality up into the ultimate Truth which is God.
If a man loves a woman and desires to tell her that love, would he write her a propositional analysis of his acute euphoria? NO! The lover would speak in lyrical potency his love, and in so doing this love is made manifest to her. So just as through God’s Divine Logos creation came into being, through The Body of Christ God speaks to us with the lyrical composition of a lover. With jealousy, fury and passion God’s word calls us to repentance.
This love note of God’s, made palpable through the Church, is only the witness to God’s love, not the salvation itself. The Bible is not A Priori, because we are not a people who are A Prioi. We live and bleed our own experience and particularity into this text. The authors wrote within their particularity and we also read within our particularity. Yet the scriptures are not mired in our own carnal realities, but are glorified in them. God’s calling does not sound in spite of our pitfalls and struggles but rather because of them. When the Logos became flesh in Christ, he was not the holy one of God in spite of his flesh, but rather the scandalous particularity of Christ is what shows us God.
The Bible, our canon, our Scripture, must always and forever be bound tightly to our Body of Christ. The Bible is from God through the Body, for the Body and in the Body finds its Glory.
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