day 37, lent 2009

greetings!

continuing from last night...

life and ministry is about Jesus' INCARNATION, DEATH and RESURRECTION...

i have reflected and written quite a bit on the INCARNATION as a missional model...

what about Jesus' DEATH?

what does this mean for my life and my mission as a Christ follower?

i want to list three things before hitting the sack tonight...

first of all, the death of Jesus makes a clear statement about embracing SUFFERING [not safety and ease] as a way of both life and ministry...

contrary to the view of the western church, the goal of our faith adventure is not to "confess" our way out of suffering or to escape difficulties of any and all kinds...

the cross makes an unmistakable statement about the efficacy of suffering...

there is mysterious value in the agony we encounter for a higher cause...

only through dying can one truly live...

secondly, the death of Jesus is a call to OBEDIENCE [not egoism and self-will]...

Jesus had to pass through gethsemane ["the place of crushing"] during holy week on his way to golgotha...

remember the lesson of Jesus' personal crushing in the place of the vats where grapes were mashed into grape juice for fermentation?

it came in Jesus' powerful prayer of submission to his Father: "not MY will, but YOUR will be done!"

there is a mysterious value in coming to the point of personal surrender...

only through obedience can love be fully manifested...

thirdly, the death of Jesus is a call to SERVICE [not privilege and position]...

nouwen says: "Jesus became like one of us so that we might become like him. he did not cling to his equality with God, but emptied himself and became as we are so that we might become like him and thus share in his divine life..."

there is a mysterious value in pouring ourselves out in loving service to those who can do absolutely nothing to return the favor...

not the way of the upwardly mobile "movers and shakers" of this world, but the preferred path of downward mobility for the sons and daughters of the burgeoning kingdom that will rule in the end forever and ever...

only through intentional service can this world be transformed...

"small things done with great love will change the world!" [mother teresa]

what do you think?

how does the DEATH of Jesus impact your life and mission???

i can "feel" that there is MUCH more -- death is about LIFE, SALVATION, FRESH STARTS, NEW BEGINNINGS, REMEMBERING, HOPE, TRUST, CHOICE, etc.

shalom!

guy

T.G.I.F.