“The Christian’s liberation is finally a liberation from anxiety to prayer. In prayer he may move towards his Lord and therewith out of anxiety, thus [...]]]> The following text is taken from Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics IV/3.2, pp. 671-3. Read it and be encouraged that God indeed has rescued us from our anxiety and fear! Cheers!

“The Christian’s liberation is finally a liberation from anxiety to prayer. In prayer he may move towards his Lord and therewith out of anxiety, thus expressing and reflecting that which God has caused to take place for all men and for the whole world in Jesus Christ. Anxiety is the shrinking of man, of the man who is not at peace with God, his neighbour or himself, from the compulsion under which, like one who is buried alive, he has to exist, wills to exist, yet cannot exist.

“It may take the form of fear of life, of the world or of death, but it is always the same in essence. It may express itself pathologically in sheer panic or very normally in ironic nonchalance, or somewhere between in the familiar alternation between elevation and depression, between partial and passing triumph and partial and passing defeat. It may stimulate to apparently fruitful exertion, or it may result in apparently the severest of overthrows. It may be more grievously felt by some, more lightly by others; more sincerely admitted by some, anxiously or defiantly silenced and stifled by others. But at some point and in some way this great fear of the necessity or impossibility of existence arises and operates in all men.

“Even the Christian can know anxiety. Who is so at peace with God, his neighbour and himself that he does not have some measure of anxiety, or is not possessed by it? And when it does possess a man, even a Christian, it does so totally. Whether he perceives and admits it or not, it embraces, darkens and calls in question not only his natural dispositions but even his Christian faith, love and hope, even his ostensibly assured knowledge, apprehension and appropriation of the revealed truth of God, even his ministry of witness. It makes everything uncertain in the whole circle of his experience, feeling and consideration of the many liberations which have come to him already, and do so continually, from God’s great work of liberation and its revelation. It shakes his whole relationship to this work.

“What then? And since anxiety in some form lurks in every man, even in the Christian, and snatches at him to possess him, what indeed? Well, even though the Christian certainly knows anxiety, he can and should always remember that, no matter how powerful its attack, it is limited by the authority and strength of the Lord whom he is summoned to attest. Did not the Lord call him irrespective of the state of his relationship to God, his neighbour and himself, irrespective therefore of his worthiness or ability, and irrespective therefore of the fact that he might know and be possessed by anxiety? Thus, even though it presses his most inward being, it cannot prevent him from thinking of his Sovereign who is also its own.

“Again, no matter how great it may be or seem to be, he need not regard it as so great that the lordship of his Lord in face of it can consist only in a static superiority and not one which dynamically sallies out against it at the point where it contains it. He can and should count and build far more on the fact that this Lord of his has in the place of all and therefore in his place, for the sake of all and therefore for his sake, resisted and indeed overcome in His own person the anxiety which threatens all and therefore himself as a consequence of their and his estrangement from God, their neighbours and themselves, disarming it and depriving it of all basis or relevance.

“At any rate, even though it does still totally embrace, darken and call in question his human and even his Christian being, it cannot prevent him from crying to Him like the sinking Peter: “Lord, save me.” It cannot prevent him from running to Him even in the midst of his anxiety like a child on the dark street running to meet its father as he returns home in the evening. He can and should pray to the God who encounters him in this Lord of his. His vocation is a vocation to prayer: not to particularly pious, fervent or beautiful prayer-the prayer of Peter could not be described as such-but simply to prayer.

“Nor can any anxiety, however great, impair, arrest or reverse this liberation for crying to God. It is not that by his prayer he liberates himself from anxiety, but that in prayer he confesses the dynamic lordship of God over all things and therefore over anxiety as his particular anxiety, and that he may trust the One who has only to stretch out His hand and grasp him to rescue him from anxiety, and of whom he may expect nothing other than that He wills to do this, and will do it.

“As the Christian prays, he actually anticipates his own liberation from anxiety even when engulfed by it. Praying to God, he can no longer have it, nor be possessed by it. If only he does not cease to pray, he necessarily breaks free from its embrace, chases its shadow and renders problematical, impotent and insubstantial its own evil problematising of his human and Christian being.

“In praying he gives evidence already that, though it may have shaken many non-essential and equivocal things, it has never shaken, nor ever will, his Christian existence as such, so that even though he may often despair and stumble he can never be reduced to desperation or completely laid low.

“As he prays, he comes to himself again in face of anxiety, finding the solid ground and the appointed path of his vocation. It is true enough that as often as I cry and pray all things yield before me. This is not because the Christian cries and prays, nor in the strength in which he does so. It is because he cries and prays to God who is greater than his anxiety and who does not will to leave him in it and will not do so.

“Liberated for this action he receives and has a real assurance that his liberation from all anxiety in all its forms is in process of accomplishment, so that even in the midst of it he can no longer be one who can and must succumb to it but rather one who strides out of the sphere in which it might become and be triumphant.”

- Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics IV/3.2, pp. 671-3.

As we all know, the Gospel writers tell us that Jesus came to bring life. Jesus speaks these words himself, declaring in John 10:10, “I have come [...]]]> I came across this passage in my reading. A friend of mine mentioned it in his blog, and I decided that it, too, must be mentioned here.

As we all know, the Gospel writers tell us that Jesus came to bring life. Jesus speaks these words himself, declaring in John 10:10, “I have come to bring life and life abundant.” And upon further study of these writings, especially continuing through chapter 11, we discover the what Jesus really means by a statement like this. The healing of Lazarus not only displays a miracle of Jesus’ power. This event, as well as his deeds, illuminates a more subtle, yet grander revelation of the heartbeat of God. God wants us to live life now with joy, peace, hope, and love. Next time you read Scripture and you come across a saying of Jesus that sounds a bit confusing or difficult to grasp, read on another chapter or two, and often you will discover the truth of the claim lived out within his own life! Enjoy reading this passage by my dear theologian, Karl Barth, and listen for the ways in which he speaks to the life that God longs to give you through Jesus Christ!

Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.2, pp. 227-228:

Above all we are reminded of the scene which precedes the raising of Lazarus in John 11:

When Jesus therefore saw her (Mary) weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. (John 9:33)

“What troubled Him in the first instance was this display of weeping, this tribute, as it were, to His opponent, death, this desire of men to grovel in their wounds, this tacit magnifying of the omnipotence of death which is really a murmuring against God But His vexation extended beyond this to His opponent, the prince of this world, who had succeeded in reducing to such abject slavery the man who was called to bruise his head” (F. Zundel, Jesus, new ed , 1922, p 236).

The short statement follows very oddly in v 35 : Jesus wept. He too? Yes, He too. We may perhaps recall at this point the Pauline : “Weep with them that weep ” (Rom 12:15). Jesus is not fighting sad and sorrowing men. He stands in solidarity with them,” sympathetically bearing the burden of the whole age.” But His weeping with them means that He is fighting for them It is therefore misunderstood by those who rather finely said: “Behold how he loved him,” as well as by those who more maliciously suggested “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?” (v 36 )

For on the way to the grave of Lazarus, weeping with those who wept in face of the unequivocally revealed reality of death, the “participation” of Jesus is not a compromise. His weeping itself is a strict repudiation of the cause of their and His weeping. It is itself a resolute No to this reality. Looking this death and its terror more soberly in the face than anyone else, He is already on the way to banish it from the world. That is why it continues in v 38 : “Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.” Just as David had faced Goliath, or anyone an enemy whom he himself as well as everyone else self-evidently recognised to be superior, but whom he is resolutely determined to destroy, and equipped to do so, and therefore confident; so Jesus confronted the closed grave, the corruption which had already set in, the sealed finality of death. What is meant by His promise : “Thy brother shall rise again” (v 23)? Just the orthodox belief : “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day” (v 24). No, “I am”-not merely life, but because life, because its presence and power in a world given up to death, “the resurrection and the life,” the life which asserts and maintains itself in face of death and overcomes it. “He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die” (v 25).

This is the Word which Jesus flings even into the sphere of death; and the tense is both present and future, and the saying itself both an indicative and an imperative. It is His Word as His act, for He speaks it right into the opened grave of Lazarus, crying “with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth” (v 43) This is the battle of Jesus for the cause of man as God’s creature ordained by God for life and not for death. And when Lazarus hears it, and does as he is commanded, it is the victory of Jesus in this battle. And we have to remember, of course, that what is unfolded in this dramatic and almost breathtaking way in John 11 is the secret which the New Testament tradition thought it saw in all His acts and primarily in the Word which found concrete form in His acts.

Well, we made it through another miscalculation of the end of the world. The Bible code [...]]]> I delivered this sermon at ORB Community Church in Red Bank, NJ, on Sunday, May 22. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed crafting and delivering it! May it bear witness to Jesus Christ! Cheers!

Well, we made it through another miscalculation of the end of the world. The Bible code must be harder to crack than we thought. Regardless, we’re still here, and it is good to be with each one of you today. I would like to welcome you to ORB Community Church! My name is Ryan, and this morning, I have the unique privilege of sharing with you the Good News of Jesus Christ. He is alive! The tomb is empty, and through Jesus, we have freedom and life! And this gives us cause to celebrate.

Whether this is your first time or you come week after week, let me welcome you this morning. I am glad you are here. I am not the Pastor of ORB. His name is Christian, and He is away today. However, I am very excited to share some thoughts with you this morning.

Currently, Christian is in the midst of a sermon series called, “Reclaimed Words.” In this series, he has identified 4 unique words that have become distorted and coated with generations of cultural muck and grime and connotations, and he is attempting to restore them to the true essence of their meaning.

During the first week of this series, he discussed the word, Church, and identified three misunderstandings of how our culture has defined this term.

I want to recall these three misunderstandings to your mind because I want you to notice how they correspond to the three tasks of the church, which is what we will consider this morning:

1. The first misunderstanding of the Church is that the Church is only a building. Now, we obviously know that this is not true because we meet in a movie theater. ORB, unlike most churches, does not own a building with a large white steeple. But also, when we take a closer look at the term Church, we discover that it comes from a Greek word called Ekklesia.  And at the root of this term is the verb ‘kaleo,’ which means ‘to call.’ Thus, the word church means ‘called ones,’ not building. This corresponds to the first task, which is the church is a gathered community.

2. The second misunderstanding of the Church is that the Church is only concerned about growth. When the church is mistaken for a building, then the church becomes merely about growing people so that it can grow a bigger building. Jesus, however, teaches something different. He is concerned about growth. But in one’s faith and knowledge of him, not buildings and budgets. He points to qualitative growth over quantitative. This relates to the second task, which is the church is called to become equipped.

3. And the last misunderstanding of the Church is that the Church is only for its members. Now, some people believe that their church only exists to meet their needs. However, we learned that the church ceases to be the church when its mission and purpose becomes turned on itself. Jesus calls the Church to look outside of itself, and to serve those beyond its walls! The Church fully lives into its purpose when it becomes disinterested in its own maintenance, and instead, turns its gaze upon others. This corresponds to the third and final task, which is the church is a sent community into the world.

Now let’s explore the first task of the church: the gathering of the community in unity.

When we observe the world around us, what do we see? Or perhaps a better question would be: what do you hear?

Any NPR listeners? I am, and I love it all. I love Leonard Lopate. I love Brian Lehrer.  I love Fresh Air. I love All Things Considered. And I especially love Soundcheck! Seriously, who does not enjoy John Schaefer? One, however, only needs to listen to NPR for a few moments – or read the newspaper – or watch the news – or talk to a friend – to realize that our world is broken. It is in disarray. Wars. Dictatorial regimes. Oppression. Genocide. Famine. Floods. The Red Sox sweeping the Yankees! I see a broken world!

But brokenness does not merely exist somewhere out there… It also smashes through our front door. We experience it in our own lives everyday. We feel it. We feel the burden. It is real. And it is personal. The brokenness of this world extends beyond just governments and dictators and floods. Rather, its ugliness penetrates our hearts. It reaches down into our very depths and imprisons us. It takes away our freedom. And it brings about sadness… despair… loneliness… depression. We may have not ever experienced the plight of a dictator, but we know what the emotions of a broken friendship feel like. Or the emotions of a lost loved one. Or the emotions of a divorce. Or of betrayal. Or of being disrespected. We know these feelings. We know what the discordant emotions of brokenness feel like, don’t we?

Yet in the midst of this tough reality, God calls a group of people, the Church, to gather in unity and love with one another. Ephesians 4:2-6 states, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”

Let me interject one thought here: The command that Paul gives in verse two completely contradicts every notion of brokenness. Listen to it again: Be completely humble and gentle – two actions that oppose brokenness and disunity.

Let’s continue, “Be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace! There is one Body and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope when you were called – one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

The Church can only accomplish its tasks – to gather, to equip, and to send – because God reconciled us through Jesus Christ. He draws us together in “one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all!” His grace and redemption unites us together into one, united community.

This does happen easily, though. In fact, we observe division and splits in churches all the time. But I think we can safely assume that these churches misunderstand the meaning of living as a reconciled community.

The Church is a united community, not divided. It is called to stand over the brokenness and division of the world. This unity is a radical, counter-intuitive witness against our tendency to dissociate from one another – to leave one another – and to tread our own path apart from one another. This witness totally abolishes every notion of individualism within the Church.

In the broken world in which we live, we may observe individuals who forsake one another. But Jesus says not so in the Church. Not so for those who claim to follow his way. He says that when someone feels sick, then we bring medicine and mama’s chicken soup. When someone hurts, then we go to where that person lives, bring flowers, and take care of them. When someone feels sad, then we bring pizza and a movie and laugh until the wee hours of the morning. And when someone is hungry, we don’t just give that person our second hand food from the pantry. Rather, we get together for a YAG potluck!

When the church remains united together, bearing one another in love, maintaining the bond of peace, then the world sees Jesus!

Now let’s move on to the second task: the equipping of the community for works of service.

The gathering of the community does not remain for itself, as we discussed, but the Church gathers for a purpose. The author of Ephesians goes on to write in verse 11 and following, “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare [we are going to return to this phrase] God’s people for works of service, so that the Body of Christ may be equipped until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

Notice how the author describes several offices within the community – apostles, prophets, teachers, and preachers – each different from one another – yet equal in accomplishing one task: to prepare and equip God’s people for service.

To become equipped requires preparation. And I believe that Scripture provides us with three instructions on how to prepare:

First, we must acknowledge our brokenness. We cannot accomplish these tasks – to gather, equip, and send – on our own. We cannot mature our faith by ourselves. Nor can we ‘stiff arm’ sin and reconcile our lives to God by our own initiative. It is impossible. Though we may try – I certainly have – we surely will always fail and further bring about pain, division, and separation in our lives.

In this regard, I have such great respect for the Anonymous initiatives – Alcoholics Anonymous, Sexaholics Anonymous, and Narcotics Anonymous – because each program begins with the simple, yet utterly profound acknowledgement: ‘I am powerless.’

John 3:30 states, “He must become greater; I must become less.” To acknowledge our brokenness demands a posture of humility. If I live in such a way that I am the Lord of my life, then who needs Jesus? I am the Lord. I foolishly think that I can take care of myself and become greater. Inevitably, however, as I do so, things in my life always begin falling apart. As my wife can tell you, it’s bad news. I become fruitless and undependable.

Yet, the one to whom we acknowledge as Lord can be depended upon, which leads us to our second instruction:

Trust Jesus. As we say “No” to our self, we say, “YES” to Jesus! We say YES to a God who is trustworthy. We can depend on him. We can lean on him. We can trust Jesus because he first loved us and gave his life for us! He recognized our despair, and he reached out for us, demonstrating that he will always be “For” us and never “AGAINST” us! My friends, this is GOOD NEWS!

Jesus gave his life for you because he loves you. He forgave you. He rescued you! He freed you! He restored you! He redeemed you! And, yes, His grace is sufficient for even you. It is free. It is unconditional. It is unmerited. It is unwarranted. It is unprecedented. And It is undeserving.

I can imagine that some of you may be sitting in your seat and thinking that you want nothing to do with Jesus, God, Faith, Bible, Church because at some point along the way, someone hurt you with these ideas. If you feel this way, then we can safely assume that whoever led you to think differently about Jesus and his Church misunderstood the message of his Good News. It is about life and life abundant! Jesus still loves you regardless of what you may think about him at this present moment! God is big enough to take anything you give him, especially your pain, hurt, and turmoil. This gift is still for you! No one and nothing can take it away from you. And neither can you do anything to separate yourself from it and the love of God.

Preparation instructs us to trust Jesus.

And the last instruction is that we remain disciplined to the task of serving Jesus.

Scripture provides great references to this:

1 Corinthians 9 – we must run the race in such a way that gets the prize – that is, freedom and life forever with Jesus Christ!

Philippians 3 – we ought to strain after that of which Christ took hold, and throw off anything that hinders us from accomplishing such tasks.

And Hebrews chapter 12 states, “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, [and this part boggles my mind!] who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, [talk about Good News!] scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

I love these illustrations of discipline because it gets into the blood, sweat, and tears of the human experience. It’s painful. These authors do not talk about preparation using abstract, ethereal terms. No, they get into the dirt and mess of life. Preparation is hard! The call of the church to become equipped is tough. It is long and hard and tedious.

A couple of years ago, I trained for and completed a marathon. Some of you here have done that. It was the most challenging physical event that I had ever experienced. Bar none! But I realized early into my training that the true challenge did not lay in the act of running itself, though painful and hard. Rather, I discovered that remaining disciplined to the task of running day in and day out posed the greatest challenge. Most days I would have preferred to eat pop tarts and mini muffins with my roommates, watching Dr. Phil and ‘The Price is Right.’

But then I would have never experienced the emotions of completing a marathon. It was absolutely amazing!

To become equipped requires our preparation, which begins with the instruction to first acknowledge our own brokenness, then to trust in Jesus and his message of Good News, and finally to remain disciplined to the task of serving him. Let’s continue with the final task: the sending of the community into the world.

The Church is gathered and equipped by Jesus Christ for an expressed and particular purpose: to be sent. Here, the rubber meets the road! Several passages in Scripture illustrate this task:

John says in chapter 21, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

Matthew writes in chapter 28, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

And Luke writes in Acts chapter 1, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth.”

In each account, Jesus basically tells us ‘to get the heck outta here!’

One theologian, in fact one that many of you know, the Good Rev. Dr. Darrell L. Guder, describes this act of the church going out using the image of a centrifuge. If you need a refresher on what this means, think of a merry-go-round that children ride in a playground. As a kid, I loved this ride. My friends and I used to spin it as fast as we could to see who would be the first to fly off! Each time we rode it, we took our life into our own hands! It was awesome!

Now, imagine at the end of every ORB worship service, the theater begins spinning and spinning and spinning and launches us out into the world. I can envision a bizarre sight of all of us flying out the doors and walls, being flung throughout the city of Red Bank, into New Jersey, and around the world. Jesus does just that, if you’re willing to let him! He flings us into the world. The Gospel compels each one of us to leave the security of this place and meet Jesus at work in the lives of others!

The church must carry forth its task as a sent community in such a way that reflects the character and nature of a missionary God, who sent his only Son as a servant to live among his people – to love them and thereby restoring them into a relationship with him. Jesus invites us to participate in this work and become agents of his transformation and grace! What a privilege!

Now, this may conjure up questions within you about what this looks like – about what it means to live as a sent person into the world. Well, there is no one-word answer. It may look different for every person. So, let me share a story with you that will give you a brief picture of what this has looked like in my life.

About a year and a half ago, I encountered an incident that unexpectedly reminded me of my call as a sent follower of Jesus.

I sat down next to a man on a plane from Orlando to Newark. He seemed nice. We smiled and gave each other a little nod, but I had no interest – none whatsoever – in beginning a conversation with him or anyone else around me. In fact, I was intentionally avoiding it. I know it sounds awful, but hear me out. I had just finished a long visit with some friends and family, and then right after, attended a conference. I was butched. I needed some quiet relaxation, so I fully intended to kick back with a movie and enjoy the ride.

I got about as far as one ear bud in my ear before the man next to me leaned over, and asked, “Here for business or pleasure?”

I slowly turned my head and said, “A little bit of both,” giving him every nonverbal indication not to follow up with another question.

He turned away. I put my other ear bud in, thinking I had juked and jived a conversation, but then, you know what happens. He turned to me again, and he asked, “What do you do?”

This time, not making any eye contact, I continued setting up my computer and answered under my breath, “I am a student.” To which he responded, “What field of study?”

Now, let me pause for a moment right here. For seminary students, pastors, and people who serve in the ministry, we learn quickly that nothing kills a conversation faster than revealing either our field of study or chosen vocation. So, I decided to give him both!

I replied, “I am a seminary student studying to become a pastor.”

He said, “Oh.” And then turned away.

I thought, VICTORIOUS! I just turned someone away from talking to me. YES! This is EXACTLY the response into which Christ has called us to live!

However, after about a minute, he turned to me and asked if I considered myself spiritual. I said, yeah, I consider myself spiritual. He looked away for another moment, and I could sense the wheels beginning to churn. I knew something was going on inside of him. And then he turned to me again – but this time with tears welling up in his eyes – and simply said, “I don’t know whether or not I believe in God, but I am going through a tough time right now.”

I took my ear buds out, put away my computer, and did what I should have done all along – make myself available to this man. Before we reached cruising altitude, both of us were in tears. In fact, when the flight attendant came with the snacks, she looked at us with this bewildered, concerned look on her face. I told her we needed a moment. It must have been a bizarre sight!

My friend and I talked all the way to baggage claim. We exchanged information, and a year and a half later, I feel privileged to consider him a dear friend! He began attending church with me, and in December, he and I both traveled together on our first international mission trip. He even attended my wedding about a month ago, and in fact, he is praying for me right now, knowing that I am giving a message at ORB.

I love telling this story because I did everything wrong. I attempted to shun away a man who desperately needed to hear a bit of good news in his life! In that moment, I forgot what it meant to live as a sent follower of Jesus Christ. This man reminded me. And perhaps most important, I realized that as I shared the good news of Jesus with this perfect stranger, Jesus reminded me of this reality in my own life. We am always sent followers. Jesus invokes each one of us to come alongside his mission, as a sent one by God, to accomplish his tasks.

So, may you, ORB Community Church, recognize and live into your call as ones gathered in unity, equipped for works of service, and sent into the world so that your lives may bear witness to Good News of Jesus Christ for all people! Amen.

Now, imagine if she would have stopped here. Right now I can identify with her. I, too, desire to give to the poor. I [...]]]> Mother Teresa once wrote, “I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich would get for money. No, I wouldn’t touch a leper for a thousand pounds…”

Now, imagine if she would have stopped here. Right now I can identify with her. I, too, desire to give to the poor. I wish for ‘them’ to live healthy productive lives just as much as the next Christian idealist sitting beside me at the corner coffee shop. And sure, I also will confess that I would prefer not to touch a leper either. Who does, right?

Upon first reading her statement, I paused and let go a deep sigh of relief, for her words touch upon an inner desire deeply seated within many of us not to be responsible or obligated to other human beings, and thereby even revealing a bit of her own humanness. Here, Mother Teresa appears less like a saint and more like one of us. We can understand this kind of Mother Teresa. We can explain her, unlike those times when she trots into leper camps and gives last rites to the dead. What kind of a person does that?

This honest side of Mother Teresa seems real to us, that is if ‘us’ refers to us middle class professionals chasing after some amorphous dream set within a societal system of power that seemingly purchases for us an illusion of personal security, wealth, and seclusion at the eventual expense of… ‘us’. She continued writing, saying:

“Yet I willingly cure him for the love of God.” A Gift of God by Mother Teresa

I believe that what sets Mother Teresa apart from ‘us’, leading some to consider her a saint, was not her ‘saintly deeds,’ but rather her honest admission of her own brokenness and her earnest desire to chase after God in despite of it. She forsook her inner human desires of chasing after those ‘things’ that always lead to a costly expense.

May we come to admit our own prejudice and hate so that we may give wholly to God what belongs to God: us! Amen.

As we journey through the season of Lent, exploring both paradox and certainty, tension and release, and the personal tumult of living between the Resurrection and the Parousia, consider the wider implications for the Christian community in the following passage by Carlo Carretto in The God Who Comes:

“How baffling you are, Oh Church, and yet how I love you!

How you have made me suffer, and yet how much I owe you!

I should like to see you destroyed, and yet I need your presence.

You have given me so much scandal and yet you have made me understand sanctity.

I have seen nothing in the world more devoted to obscurity, more compromised, more false, and I have touched nothing more pure, more generous, more beautiful. How often I have wanted to shut the doors of my soul in your face, and how often I have prayed to die in the safety of your arms.

No, I cannot free myself from you, because I am you, although not completely.

And where should I go?”

May we continue to pray for the Church, for the Church is all of us, as spoken in the final days of Oscar Romero before his death. We must discern and live together the reality of the love of Christ for the world. We must keep loving! We must keep bearing the witness of our Savior to a world in desperate need of Good News!

May this be our prayer for the Lenten season, calling all of us into a time of preparation and contemplation for the work God has for us.

Dear Master, in whose life I see
All that I would, but fail to be,
Let thy clear light forever shine,
 

May this be our prayer for the Lenten season, calling all of us into a time of preparation and contemplation for the work God has for us.

Dear Master, in whose life I see
All that I would, but fail to be,
Let thy clear light forever shine,
To shame and guide this life of mine.

Though what I dream and what I do
In my weak days are always two,
Help me, oppressed by things undone,
O thou, whose deeds and dreams were one! Amen!

- John Hunter