I went through several peer mediation, conflict resolution, and discussion facilitating workshops while in college. As a resident adviser and house director you need these skills. I even ended up using them on several occasions. As Christians, are we not called to mediate between God and the world the light of Christ? Those whose eyes are veiled (2 Corinthians 4:1-12) from seeing God need interpretation or mediation. They need a Moses to stand in between God and the people who are afraid of the fire of God on Mount Horeb (Zion, Deuteronomy 5:1-22).
Gotcha. It's not up to us to act as the mediator. How foolish to think that we are the ones who know exactly what God wants to speak to God's people. You first have to know God, fully in God's essence. We are not the great mediators, we are the great witnesses. We do not instruct with words, but commit to a way of life by the power of the Holy Spirit that we turn from the things of this world to Christ. For Christ is the mediator; not a bridge over some canyon, as we see in many evangelical tracts. Christ, fully God and fully man, is already on both sides of the canyon. Thank God our ways are not the LORD's ways, and our thoughts are not the LORD's thoughts.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Smoke and Mirrors
Deuteronomy 4:32 reminds me of a rock/love ballad. My first thought was that these words are often asked in response to a love. Question: "For ask now about former ages, long before your own, ever since the day that God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of heaven to the other: has anything so great as this ever happened of has its like ever been heard of?"
Answer: A greater love was never known...
Deuteronomy is recounting God's acts, and recalls God's presence in the burning bush. In fact, it marks it right up there with the whole Exodus. No mention directly of the Red Sea parting, but the burning bush gets precedent. That's because it is the beginning of the story. That is because the bush is burning, but there is no smoke.
Magicians like to use smoke and mirrors to perform their tricks (Illusions.) Yet Paul reminds us that our image is veiled, not because of a trick, but because our vision is not able to see the mirror reflected correctly (2 Corinthians 3, 1 Corinthians 13). To see God, to be a part of the wonders of God's work do not need our vision. God does not perform tricks. God works and we become reflections of God's work. Some may hide behind smoke and mirrors to get their point across. These are gimmicks and plays to trick people into believing their power. Our God offers the mysterious without answers, just formation into God's likeness for us, not our likeness for ourselves.
Answer: A greater love was never known...
Deuteronomy is recounting God's acts, and recalls God's presence in the burning bush. In fact, it marks it right up there with the whole Exodus. No mention directly of the Red Sea parting, but the burning bush gets precedent. That's because it is the beginning of the story. That is because the bush is burning, but there is no smoke.
Magicians like to use smoke and mirrors to perform their tricks (Illusions.) Yet Paul reminds us that our image is veiled, not because of a trick, but because our vision is not able to see the mirror reflected correctly (2 Corinthians 3, 1 Corinthians 13). To see God, to be a part of the wonders of God's work do not need our vision. God does not perform tricks. God works and we become reflections of God's work. Some may hide behind smoke and mirrors to get their point across. These are gimmicks and plays to trick people into believing their power. Our God offers the mysterious without answers, just formation into God's likeness for us, not our likeness for ourselves.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
The Dramatic "Yes"
Let your "no" be "no" and your "yes" be "yes." Where is the room for the maybe? Where is the time for "Let me wait and see?" This is not an argument for "Your Best Life Now?" or "Getting the most out of life now." God's Yes is dramatic, but sometimes it is so constant, so persistent, is awesomeness and magnitude is missed. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:19-20, "For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you...was not "Yes and No"; but in him it is always "Yes." For in him every one of God's promises is a "Yes." "
We look to the story, and find that even in our disobedience as a people of God, our LORD remained faithful to the LORD's people. That is the Yes. The Yes of God is not the material blessings of this world. It is not spiritual or physical empowerment to conquer the Goliaths of the world. It is these things, but when we proclaim that God's yes is empowering us for the sake of us, then we have missed the point of God's "Yes." God's Yes is one that follows us as it followed the son(s) in Luke 12. God's "Yes" is a promise, but a promise that God will follow us, even to the point of our death. God's "Yes" will follow us even to death. When we trust in our own knowledge or power, then we miss the Yes, and it becomes a "No," because we reject God's Yes. That "Yes" demands our obedience.
We look to the story, and find that even in our disobedience as a people of God, our LORD remained faithful to the LORD's people. That is the Yes. The Yes of God is not the material blessings of this world. It is not spiritual or physical empowerment to conquer the Goliaths of the world. It is these things, but when we proclaim that God's yes is empowering us for the sake of us, then we have missed the point of God's "Yes." God's Yes is one that follows us as it followed the son(s) in Luke 12. God's "Yes" is a promise, but a promise that God will follow us, even to the point of our death. God's "Yes" will follow us even to death. When we trust in our own knowledge or power, then we miss the Yes, and it becomes a "No," because we reject God's Yes. That "Yes" demands our obedience.
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