A Prayer of Invocation

O God,
we dare to speak your name at the threat of having our mouths stopped,
for your name is holy,
and wherever we are we ought to take of our shoes,
for all ground everywhere is sacred.

Still, we pray for your presence here,
that our spirits be joyous, our words inspired and true, our works hereafter be just.

Renew our minds and bodies to be fresh and vital as the morning light,
and grant us peace within as deep as the starry night.

Open our eyes to your glory in the subtle dazzle of everything,
in the lives of every living thing,
that everywhere and at all times we assuredly be mindful of you.

Deliver us from captivity to comfort and property
that we may be free to risk for you at every turn and circumstance.

Make us brave and bold and scrupled enough
to know that to love our enemies does not mean to be afraid to make them
in a daily thrust toward justice and in the bold venture of saying what we mean
and meaning what we say, in a trustworthy strive toward intimacy.

Awaken us to the task of becoming beautiful in spirit, mind, and heart,
and so in face, that our gifts might be worthy of your grace.

Arouse us to pay the price of being merciful
that our lives reflect your mercy in us.

Empower us to dare to be compassionate that your dreams for our humanity come true,
to be imaginative that your kingdom come in and through us,
to be disciplined yet flexible that we may prepare the way for you in our hearts
and in your world, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


"We Dare to Speak Your Name," by Ted Loder in My Heart in My Mouth
Innisfree Press, 2000.

Salvation

What is "salvation?" Members of our Saturday morning group said:
--Forgiveness
--Freedom
--Eternal Life
--Peace
--Saving
--Accepting
--Hope
--New Life
--Completeness
--Closeness
--Understanding
--Jesus
--"Taking a bath"
The New Testament Greek verb, sozo, translated "to save," can mean:
--to deliver
--to rescue
--to keep from perishing
--to make well, to heal, to restore
"Eternal life" is given commentary in all of the other responses. When we understand "eternal" as a reference to unbreakable communion with God, it enhances our perceptions. It is a sharing of life with Christ which has no boundaries.
More later!

Unbounded Love

The power of God is the power of unbounded love. In biblical language, agape love. The most common expression for this in the New Testament is the verb agapao. This is the the self-giving, other-focused, ever-welcoming love of God that we see and experience in Jesus. It is God's creative power--that from which we come, the fullness of which we live toward, the grace of which we are immersed in every moment. Unbounded love is the only power that can save us.

As we considered it, we described such love this way:

1) No limits; unboundaried

2)Releases

3) unconditional

4) infinite

5) it transforms desire (coveting reshaped into giving)

6) creative, imaginative

7) means anyone can love anyone

We discussed real-life examples of people who have embodied this kind of love in our life, and we witnessed to their impact.

We listened to and reflected on several texts. Specifically, we considered at some length Jesus' teaching of the love of enemies (Matthew 5;43-45). He begins with, "You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." One participant described this as "our default mode." But Jesus eliminates the boundary to loving: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven . . ." When we love our enemies, we love as God loves. There is an embodied experience of salvation for all parties in such love. A bit later, when Jesus says, "Be whole/complete, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is whole/complete (5:48)," he is speaking of completion in God's love. Quite a bit of "lab work" for the community of Jesus to faithfully explore!

We also considered Mark 10:21, in the story of Jesus and the rich man: "Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have a treasure in heaven; then come, and follow me." It is compelling to consider Jesus' difficult invitation as an expression of deep love, and a beckoning to live a life joined with our Lord's. The man's possessions are barriers, and Jesus is one who removes barriers!

We also noted John 13:1: "having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end." Jesus lived fully the life of agape love in deeply personal expression, without ever compromising that love or colluding with the powers that would limit it.

A Jesus-Centered Faith

"John's Gospel tells us: No one has ever seen God. It is the Only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known (John 1:18). Which suggests that we really have no categories for God except what is derived from Jesus, and that leaves the question much more mysterious and mystical. We are called to encounter God as the endless gentleness of love, so profound and so radical we can hardly imagine it. In order to come anywhere near we must hang around Jesus continually. The incommunicable God is communicated only by the absolutely powerless one." --Anthony Bartlett, "Millenial God"

"The person who sees me sees the Father."--Jesus, in John 14:9

Each participant was asked to offer terms that described Jesus. What do we know about him?
--Patient
--Healer
--Son of Man (True Human)
--Loving
--Caring
--Teacher
--Leader
--Example
--Path
--The Way
--Determined
--Simple
--Assured
--Assured powerlessness
--Generous
--More than himself
--Living Word
--"All of it"
--King without paraphanalia
--Love that pisses people off
It is a rich list that can be added to.
Here is our discipline: to receive all of our concepts of God through Jesus --"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by me (John 14:6)." A key manifestation of that discipline will be to read all the scriptures through the lens of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
A simple example: Jesus says, "You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," But I say to you . . . " and goes on to describe an assertive nonviolence. No one who is taking our interpretive principle seriously can continue to say, "The Bible says an eye-for-an-eye" and consider that authoritative. Rather, after receiving the teaching and example of Jesus, we then are freed to go back and re-read the Old Testament text with new eyes and a different appreciation of what it is showing us.
Discipleship is the exploration, individually and communally, of the radical love of God and the life we are called to live within it.
We will hear Jesus' invitation to us, "Follow me," and we will indeed seek to, commitedly and joyfully!

Faith Is a Way of Life

It is helpful to consider faith as a way of life. Faith is not a "thing" we have or need to get ; it is a quality of relationship lived out each day with God and with one another.

Let these statements stimulate your thinking:

--"A life of faith is a life free to welcome the kingdom of God."

--Faith is "living in God's promises, and living toward God's envisioned future."

--"Faith" concerns attentive engagement in a promissory relationship (Brueggemann).

--"Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not (yet) seen." --Hebrews 11:1

The terms in the New Testament Greek translated "faith" are "pistis" (noun) and "pisteuo" (verb). They convey: belief to the extent of complete trust and reliance; fidelity; to be entrusted. They are relational terms.

In Luke Chapter 17, the disciples respond to Jesus' teachings, which they perceive as too difficult, by demanding, "Give us more faith." Jesus says, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to ths mulberry tree, "Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would obey you."

So the disciples recongize that our faith comes from the Lord. Jesus tells them that they don't need "more" faith; any faith will do. The image of the tiny mustard seed, which Jesus sues elsewhere, intimates that faith is something planted within us that is nurtured and grows in healthy relationship.

There is much to study in the scriptures about faith, and much fidelity, entrusting, careful attention, and fruitfulness to experience in our relationships with God. Feel free to comment and add!

Down to Earth

What an excellent setting (with a great name) for Foundations of Faith! We will spend our eight sessions exploring essential dimensions of our life in Christ. The elements on the following list are deeply interrelated, and the numbered order is interchangable, with one notable exception: In the life of discipleship, Jesus always comes first.

Here is our list:

1) Jesus (a Jesus-centered faith)

2) Unbounded Love/For-giveness

3) Salvation

4) The Kingdom (Realm) of God

5) Resurrection

6) Learning

7) The Bible

8) Worship

9) Prayer and Reflection

10) Sacramental Life

11) Gratitude

12) Missional Community

We will come with anticipation, believing that the Spirit will be moving among us any time we gather. We will bring ourselves as fully as we possibly can. We will lift all that we share in gratitude to God.