Hearing the Music

The Gospel: Bad News Before Good News

Some of you may have heard that Fredrik Buechner passed away this week. Buechner was a pastor/writer/theologian who not only had a way with words, but who had a unique ability to see to the bottom of a thing and bring others along with him. The observations on the Gospel that follow should sound familiar if you have been around Christ Church for a while, as they capture the core of the truth that we seek to live into together:

The Gospel is bad news before it is good news. It is the news that man is a sinner, to use the old word, that he is evil in the imagination of his heart, that when he looks in the mirror all in a lather what he sees is at least eight parts chicken, phony, slob. That is the tragedy. But it is also the news that he is loved anyway, cherished, forgiven, bleeding to be sure, but also bled for. That is the comedy. And yet, so what? So what if even in his sin the slob is loved and forgiven when the very mark and substance of his sin and of his slobbery is that he keeps turning down the love and forgiveness because he either doesn’t believe them or doesn’t want them or just doesn’t give a damn? In answer, the news of the Gospel is that extraordinary things happen to him just as in fairy tales extraordinary things happen. ... Zaccheus climbs up a sycamore tree a crook and climbs down a saint. Paul sets out a hatchet man for the Pharisees and comes back a fool for Christ. It is impossible for anybody to leave behind the darkness of the world he carries on his back like a snail, but for God all things are possible. That is the fairy tale. All together they are the truth. (Originally published in Telling the Truth.)

As we look to Sunday we will bring our chicken, phony, slobbish, loved, cherished and bled for selves together to finish out what has become a three part series on communing with God. Two weeks ago we talked about resting. Last week our focus was on delighting in God. This week we will be looking at what it means to listen to God, to hear his voice. Over the years we lose women and men like Buechner who have and ability to speak into our lives, but the good news is our Father God will never stop speaking.

Photo by Vince Fleming on Unsplash

Warning: Intense Heat

Stepping back in to ministry has been interesting. As I said, both at the Wednesday night Welcome Fiesta and on Sunday morning, both Lisa and I were ready for reentry. Our sabbatical was good and necessary, but we still feel very much called to the work here and attached to you all as friends and we were ready to get back. But like with any transition from rest to work there are challenges. 

Some of you remember the 2003 tragedy that befell the space shuttle Columbia. Due to an accident that occurred during takeoff, the left wing of the shuttle sustained damage that ultimately compromised both the thermal suppression system and exposed the vehicle to the intense heat generated by reentering earth’s atmosphere resulting in the loss of all seven souls aboard. It was a tragedy in the moment as viewers watched on helplessly and doubly tragic in hindsight as there may have been steps to take in avoiding the disaster.

As indicated above, we face the heat of reentry in one degree or another throughout our lives as we transition from times of rest to work or more metaphorically, as we move from the mountaintop experiences of life back down into the valley. How do we navigate in such a way that we are not consumed by the intense heat? The prophet Jeremiah, in a teaching similar to Psalm 1 says:

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
  whose trust is the LORD.
  He is like a tree planted by water,
  that sends out its roots by the stream,
  and does not fear when heat comes,
  for its leaves remain green,
  and is not anxious in the year of drought,
  for it does not cease to bear fruit.” 
                               (Jeremiah 17:7–8)

For the one who is deeply rooted in the Lord there is neither fear of the reentry heat nor of the opposite extreme, drought. In Psalm 1 the psalmist speaks of delighting in the law of the Lord and meditating on it day and night (Ps. 1:2). This is the route to rest that the psalmist this past Sunday was urging us toward with the invitation to return to our rest (Ps. 116:7). Seeking this life in the Lord is where I find myself as I return to my duties. I am glad to be in a community where we can do this corporately as well as individually. 

Photo by Jeremy Bezanger on Unsplash

Stones and Rocks

Good Friday 

Am I a stone, and not a sheep,
That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross,
To number drop by drop Thy blood’s slow loss,
And yet not weep?

Not so those women loved
Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;
Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly;
Not so the thief was moved;

Not so the Sun and Moon
Which hid their faces in a starless sky,
A horror of great darkness at broad noon –
I, only I.

Yet give not o’er,
But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;
Greater than Moses, turn and look once more
And smite a rock.

by  Christina Rossetti

Christina Rossetti, a Victorian age poet, has given a beautiful reflection of her own heart as she engages the magnitude of Good Friday. "Am I a stone, and not a sheep", she asks. Is my heart hard? Do I truly appreciate the death of Christ?

These are deep and worthwhile reflections to be sure, but she also gives us a glimpse of the heart of God. God, "who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all" (Romans 8:32). Her imagery here captures Moses striking the rock to bring forth life sustaining water for the people (Numbers 20:11), as well as Paul's reflection that this rock speaks to us of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4). As we come to the end of the Sermon on the Mount this week, Christ entreats us to ensure that our lives are founded on that Rock (Matthew 7:21-29). I trust you will find this an appropriate invitation for Easter morning as we celebrate the stone being rolled away and new life emerging from the empty tomb!

Photo by Ondřej Matouš on Unsplash