Trust Enfleshed

If you want to be energized for your Christmas celebrations read the short article, Entwined with Us, by John Buchanan, editor of the Christian Century.  In just a few short words he reaches out to the essence of the Christian faith, trust in God who we meet in Jesus.  Whether young or old, rich or poor, when it comes down to crucial decisions about our lives and the way we will live our faith, the question of trust becomes the commons on which we meet.

It doesn't really matter how many Christmas presents you do or do not buy for people this year in an effort to love God first if you don't trust that the Christ child was born for you and your worst enemies.

It doesn't really matter if you would do anything for your own children and are the best parent in the world if you don't trust that God in Christ holds the lives of every child in holy arms of love that are greater than your own.

It doesn't really matter if you give away all your belongings and live on the edges of society to show your solidarity with those in need if you do not trust that God in Christ is at work raising up the lowly and sending the rich away without a thing.

Yesterday I watched a simulcast of a joint prayer service held by Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem and the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., (Washington National Cathedral).  I am certain that the richness of the shared prayers and homilies, the energy of choirs and congregational singing came from the depths of the participant's trust in Jesus, but the visual contrasts were hard to reconcile. You don't need to point out the simple, bare sanctuary of Christmas Lutheran and the elaborate accouterments of the National Cathedral, or the heartfelt choir music of children's and adult choirs in Bethlehem and the somewhat 'distanced' participation of worshippers in National Cathedral.  These contrasts speak for themselves. 

You don't need a translator to  know that the people who walk out of Christmas Lutheran Church never forget that trusting God is always personally challenging or that the challenge for the people who walk out of the National Cathedral is that of daily remembering that trusting Jesus with their lives is not about bank accounts or individual economic security.

Faithful trust in God's life-changing Word, Jesus Christ, brought the two communities together for prayer.  Can we who are accustomed to watching from a distance trust God's call to us to take the time and expend the energy needed to meet, know, and trust that flesh and blood relationships are not an add-on to faith in Jesus but the beginning and end of God's enduring, steadfast love in us?

Good News and Bad News

I was delighted to read the latest update on the website Churches for Middle East Peace that announced that Eastern and Western Christianity are working to find a way to actually celebrate Easter on the same date.  In a world that is literally dying for good news, perhaps a small victory in this area of agreement about the highest festival of the church year will at least symbolically assist us in our common work. 

On the other hand, I spent a portion of last night watching the movie, Jesus Camp. I know it's an older film (2006) but from all indications (blogs and letters to the editor from daily newspaper and websites) the temptation to use Jesus to indoctrinate and negatively form children and adults is alive and well. I can't help but wonder if we aren't all complicit with our unwillingness to give up "being right for being loving" (Good Friday bidding prayers today from St. Paul's Lutheran, Waverly, IA).

As the above experiences intersect with the Good Friday Veneration of the Cross service I attended at noon, I am drawn even move deeply into mystery of God's grace for in Jesus Christ, for it is indeed a mystery.  How can such a holy love endure when we refuse to live that love out in our life together as God's people?