The WORD MADE FLESH has dwelt among us. The Good News has been in circulation for 2000 years. The teachings, commands and examples of Jesus have been shared for 20 centuries and 50 generations. God's Will has been made known for the living of Agape Love and the Justice, Equitability, Peace, Equality and Shalom (well-being, wholeness, completeness) for all that is the fruit of that living of Agape Love in Grace for the whole creation that God loves.
And yet...
We have constant war.
We have horrible poverty, and mostly for children in the world.
We have inequitable treatment for many (mostly brown and black) in our world.
We have unequal opportunities in education, income, affordable housing, healthcare, food, drinkable
water, non-toxic land and air and peaceful life free from violence and exploitation.
We have injustice perpetrated purposefully and intentionally on some at the hands of others.
We have 1% owning 40% of the world's resources, while 99% struggle to survive.
We have hatred, greed, lust for power and desire for status that drive our values, our inequities, our
injustices, our wars and death.
Jesus as an icon is embraced, because people want a personal Savior.
Jesus as Lord of our lives, fulfiller of the Law and Prophets and authority on how to live within God's
Will is ignored.
So, we have what we have - politically, economically and ecclesiastically...
people who claim the name of Jesus, but who live by the empire values of greed, lust for power
over others and desire for personal status above others.
The future looks bleak for the planet because of the greed of a few and disregard for the planet that
we all share.
It looks bleak for millions of people because of that greed, who will die of diseases once thought
eliminated and wars over ever shrinking resources.
It looks bleak for most and eventually for all.
Yet, the drive for personal gain at the expense of others is strong, even to killing one's own future
family for one's own gain right now.
Understanding has been de-valued and chosen ignorance has been lifted up with myths over truth and
facts.
Wisdom has been thrown out and recklessness has been fully grasped.
Civility has been murdered and intolerance is the new norm.
Intelligence has been rejected for prideful ignorance.
The economic conditions that led to the world-wide economic disaster in 1929 and to the stock market crash in America are being replicated brilliantly. Greed and the inequities it produces are in full swing, as the very few rush to raid whatever resources they can for themselves, even toward the destruction of the whole economy, aided by the de-regulation of their greed and opportunities for the exploitation of others.
The political unrest across the world, the nationalism among seized governments by ultra-"right" extremists are reminiscent of the conditions just before both world wars. Hatred grows.
The climate has never been challenged this badly, so we will see more unprecedented extreme weather as a result. Drought, water surges, flooding, hurricanes, tornados, fires and earthquakes (due to fracking) will lead to war, famine, disease and extinction. All results of our own greed, lust for power over others and desire for personal status above the good of others, even ultimately of ourselves in the end. Empire values are a disease, an addiction in and of themselves. As such, they ultimately destroy the lives of their hosts.
Happy New Year, right?
Well, it could be.
If we were to heed the messages of Jesus in the Good News teachings, commands and examples He offered regarding a different value for living based on Agape Love for God, Neighbor (and the creation God loves), we would see a stabilization and restoration of Shalom on every level and in every aspect.
That would take a purposeful, intentional learning of what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled in the Gospels and a committed, and a faithful living of it.
I am convinced that it is the only hope for all of us.
The adoption and living of empire values (greed, lust for power over others and desire for personal
status above others) leads us to destruction, ultimately.
The embrace of the Good News of Jesus in Agape Love and Grace leads us to Shalom and life.
I am resolved to keep beating this drum for as long as I have breath.
I am resolved to lift it up above the filth and inevitable destruction of empire values.
I am resolved to put it in the face of those who claim Jesus' name but live empire values.
I am resolved to write, preach, teach and demand Agape Love as Jesus' Way for those who would
follow Him.
I am resolved to FB, Text, Email and blog for as long as I can afford the (commandeered for the profit of a few and the silencing of the many) internet.
I am resolved to follow Jesus' Way and grow in the living of Agape Love (active commitment on behalf of the other, even stranger and enemy and especially the most vulnerable) and Grace (undeserved loving mercy, given freely) in THIS PART of God's Kingdom, here and now.
What is your New Year's Resolution for 2018?
Pastor Jamie
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Sunday, December 24, 2017
Incarnation... Emmanuel... Hallelujah!!!!!!
I have been called an iconoclast. I suppose I have earned that.
I believe that at best, icons are a superficial image of God's reality in the world. I believe that at worst, they are graven images that attempt to shroud the truth of God with our limitations of belief and spiritual authenticity... even to being idols at times.
I believe that I am speaking through this mechanism to adults - not children or those who must be sheltered from reality or who must live an idealized and false view of reality for their comfort.
Jesus is God. Let me be clear on that. In my mind and heart, Jesus is God and speaks for God... represents God's will in how we live with God and those who God loves here and now, in this part of God's Kingdom.
Jesus' birth signifies, therefore an incarnation of God. God bothered to reach into our world. God who is all power, wealth and status reached into this ridiculous world of ridiculous folk, out of love for the humanity which God created and with which God has continued to have a relationship. It means that God is with us, all of us in this part of God's Kingdom, in love and grace, joy and peace. It is hope for us - our only hope.
Jesus was born in a stable because His parents had no bribe money for the Innkeepers. Jesus was born in relative poverty. It probably took all the resources they had just to travel to Bethlehem for the Census, because Rome had killed the middle, working class of craftsmen, artisans and other trades persons like fishermen, and smalltime shepherds. They took all the resources of those they occupied for empire and for the few elites who benefitted from empire. Jesus was laid, not in a bassinette, but in a feeding trough for animals, full of hay and grain and whatever secretions the animals left that were feeding on them out of the trough. Jesus was wrapped in rags.
Jesus, as more than one modern prophet has pointed out, was "born in blood between urine and feces." I know that we like to idealize the image, but it is the truth. It is how babies are born (naturally). Tears, blood, sweat, filth and the cold met Him at his birth in the stable.
Jesus was born, not in status, wealth or power but in scandal. His parents were not married. In a Roman dominated world in which one's status meant everything, and among the religious purists and therefore hypocrites of the time it would be a shameful thing and "beneath" many.
God loves us that much. God, who is above the ridiculous considerations of status-driven society, occupying and oppressive power and ill-gotten wealth at the expense of others, bothered to identify not with the Roman empire or the Temple Cult leaders of that time who were in collusion with them, the corrupt King of Israel or the wealthy in society, or even those who stuck their heads in the sand and went on believing in some pure, holy, iconic vision of God's presence - but with people who lived in utter poverty at their hands, and people who lived in scandal and shame.
God's son leaves the glory of heavenly status, wealth and power to be born on earth and in human form, NOT in the Temple or the Palace or the gated communities of the wealthy, but in a public stable in a little, insignificant town. And heaven broke forth with exaltations of joy, not to the royal or powerful, wealthy or elite, but to the night shift of shepherds who watched their precious few flocks in order to preserve them from the wolves, so that they could eat the next day from whatever Rome did not take away. It was they who got to announce this to the world.
Jesus is our hope. God loves us. Jesus' scandalous and messy birth, refugee status, itinerate life of poverty, message of justice in Agape Love and Grace and scandalous and messy death all signify how God identifies with those who have unjustly been held down, back and out by the rest in the world. God identifies with those who have been abused and victimized by Satan through the evils of humans out of their Greed, lust of power and desire for status "above" other human beings.
Jesus' presence should still mean hope to us because of the justice and peace Jesus' commanded through the living of Agape Love and Grace. For some, it has been twisted into a justification of their wealth, power and status as signs of God's blessings - a myth that Jesus Himself dispelled in His Gospel teaching. For others, it means that they can aspire to be the ones who hold others down, back and out for their own gain and rely on God's Grace even in that evil. For still others, it means that they can bask in the pleasant (and false) glow of ignorance, a reliance on supernatural intervention and/or an iconic joy and ignore the realities around them, while others suffer at the hands of some in society - ignoring reality through an insulating, personal and false spirituality. For many, even most in the world, it is meant to be the hope that God will bring the high lower and elevate the lowly, that God will even out the rough, even ruthless and straighten the crooked who do these things to others through those who will be faithful to God's will. That comes only in the living of Jesus' commanded Agape Love in the world, here and now, by those who profess to follow Jesus.
God is with us, and God's incarnation can be seen as a sweet, pure and quaint (though false) picture.
God is with us, and God's incarnation can also be understood as God reaching into the sinful world in a very real way, identifying with those who have been most victimized by it and commanding that we do better in how we love God with all that we have and love our Neighbors as ourselves. That is the Gospel message of Good News in the midst of the bad, light in the midst of darkness and hope in the midst of despair.
God does not stay in the glory, but gets down to it in the gore.
God rarely works in quaint, pure and sweet ways, but rather in Power and in Love, through us.
This begs the question - Do you receive THIS incarnate Emmanuel?
and perhaps another... Whose side are you on?
Pastor
I believe that at best, icons are a superficial image of God's reality in the world. I believe that at worst, they are graven images that attempt to shroud the truth of God with our limitations of belief and spiritual authenticity... even to being idols at times.
I believe that I am speaking through this mechanism to adults - not children or those who must be sheltered from reality or who must live an idealized and false view of reality for their comfort.
Jesus is God. Let me be clear on that. In my mind and heart, Jesus is God and speaks for God... represents God's will in how we live with God and those who God loves here and now, in this part of God's Kingdom.
Jesus' birth signifies, therefore an incarnation of God. God bothered to reach into our world. God who is all power, wealth and status reached into this ridiculous world of ridiculous folk, out of love for the humanity which God created and with which God has continued to have a relationship. It means that God is with us, all of us in this part of God's Kingdom, in love and grace, joy and peace. It is hope for us - our only hope.
Jesus was born in a stable because His parents had no bribe money for the Innkeepers. Jesus was born in relative poverty. It probably took all the resources they had just to travel to Bethlehem for the Census, because Rome had killed the middle, working class of craftsmen, artisans and other trades persons like fishermen, and smalltime shepherds. They took all the resources of those they occupied for empire and for the few elites who benefitted from empire. Jesus was laid, not in a bassinette, but in a feeding trough for animals, full of hay and grain and whatever secretions the animals left that were feeding on them out of the trough. Jesus was wrapped in rags.
Jesus, as more than one modern prophet has pointed out, was "born in blood between urine and feces." I know that we like to idealize the image, but it is the truth. It is how babies are born (naturally). Tears, blood, sweat, filth and the cold met Him at his birth in the stable.
Jesus was born, not in status, wealth or power but in scandal. His parents were not married. In a Roman dominated world in which one's status meant everything, and among the religious purists and therefore hypocrites of the time it would be a shameful thing and "beneath" many.
God loves us that much. God, who is above the ridiculous considerations of status-driven society, occupying and oppressive power and ill-gotten wealth at the expense of others, bothered to identify not with the Roman empire or the Temple Cult leaders of that time who were in collusion with them, the corrupt King of Israel or the wealthy in society, or even those who stuck their heads in the sand and went on believing in some pure, holy, iconic vision of God's presence - but with people who lived in utter poverty at their hands, and people who lived in scandal and shame.
God's son leaves the glory of heavenly status, wealth and power to be born on earth and in human form, NOT in the Temple or the Palace or the gated communities of the wealthy, but in a public stable in a little, insignificant town. And heaven broke forth with exaltations of joy, not to the royal or powerful, wealthy or elite, but to the night shift of shepherds who watched their precious few flocks in order to preserve them from the wolves, so that they could eat the next day from whatever Rome did not take away. It was they who got to announce this to the world.
Jesus is our hope. God loves us. Jesus' scandalous and messy birth, refugee status, itinerate life of poverty, message of justice in Agape Love and Grace and scandalous and messy death all signify how God identifies with those who have unjustly been held down, back and out by the rest in the world. God identifies with those who have been abused and victimized by Satan through the evils of humans out of their Greed, lust of power and desire for status "above" other human beings.
Jesus' presence should still mean hope to us because of the justice and peace Jesus' commanded through the living of Agape Love and Grace. For some, it has been twisted into a justification of their wealth, power and status as signs of God's blessings - a myth that Jesus Himself dispelled in His Gospel teaching. For others, it means that they can aspire to be the ones who hold others down, back and out for their own gain and rely on God's Grace even in that evil. For still others, it means that they can bask in the pleasant (and false) glow of ignorance, a reliance on supernatural intervention and/or an iconic joy and ignore the realities around them, while others suffer at the hands of some in society - ignoring reality through an insulating, personal and false spirituality. For many, even most in the world, it is meant to be the hope that God will bring the high lower and elevate the lowly, that God will even out the rough, even ruthless and straighten the crooked who do these things to others through those who will be faithful to God's will. That comes only in the living of Jesus' commanded Agape Love in the world, here and now, by those who profess to follow Jesus.
God is with us, and God's incarnation can be seen as a sweet, pure and quaint (though false) picture.
God is with us, and God's incarnation can also be understood as God reaching into the sinful world in a very real way, identifying with those who have been most victimized by it and commanding that we do better in how we love God with all that we have and love our Neighbors as ourselves. That is the Gospel message of Good News in the midst of the bad, light in the midst of darkness and hope in the midst of despair.
God does not stay in the glory, but gets down to it in the gore.
God rarely works in quaint, pure and sweet ways, but rather in Power and in Love, through us.
This begs the question - Do you receive THIS incarnate Emmanuel?
and perhaps another... Whose side are you on?
Pastor
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
The Advent of Joy (a week early for personal reasons)
I saved this for last. Apologies to liturgical purists.
Proverbs 21:3 "To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
21:15 "When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous, but dismay to evildoers."
I know some things about joy. I have my joy. I get unhappy about things, even often it seems, but I seem not to lose my joy because it is based on a faith in ultimate things of God. Ultimately, I believe that God is going to turn things right. Ultimately, I believe love will win, justice will win and peace will be known by all. God will restore shalom for all in this part of God's Kingdom and/or in the other part of it, ultimately.
I have been happy. I have desperately sought happiness for lengths of time in my life. It often left me empty and unhealthy. It made me hurt some very important people in my life. My happiness came at the expense of others at times, because I traded the things of justice and joy for fleeting happiness, regardless of the cost. What made me happy hurt others. Fleeting happiness is not what sustains me in my life. I am much less likely to run after fleeting happiness in what I can feel, do or obtain. I have deep, abiding joy. It is in my being. That is the state in which I live.
Can my joy be shaken? Sure! If I have devastating loss or if I suffer injustice at the hands of someone else or many others, I can lose my joy. It can be stripped from me.
I know a lot of folk, love a lot of folk who have systematically and intentionally had their shalom stripped from them by injustices perpetrated by others in our society. They have been held down, back and out from the "pursuit of happiness" which is supposed to be their right. They have been discriminated against. They have been judged unjustly. They have been exploited. They have been abused. Their loved ones have been destroyed and/or killed unjustly. Those who do such things to others can worship, praise, pray, tithe and even do mighty acts of healing and still not be right with God. The dismay they have produced is unconscionable and immoral. God is not pleased.
But when justice is restored and shalom with it, then joy is restored to those who have suffered injustice at the hands of unscrupulous, immoral and conscience-less folk. Then the dismay belongs to those who have perpetrated injustice, because it means that their efforts have not somehow elevated them in their own eyes.
How pathetic is it that someone would take joy in the dismay of others and dismay when justice is restored to others? How pathetic is it that for some it is only when others suffer that they can feel good about life? It is ungodly. It is evil. Getting much more than one needs off the backs of others who consequently will not have enough for shalom in their own lives is greed, which is evil idolatry. It wrongly presumes one's right to have more than they need. Obtaining power so that one can exploit, discriminate and abuse others around them for their own gain is evil idolatry. It wrongly presumes one's entitlement to hurt others for the sake of self. The notoriety of status gained by doing nothing good for others is also an expression of idolatry of self.
In what do you find your joy? What makes you happy? I pray that it is not found at the expense of someone else, or it is delight in evildoing. Advent is the time to make the crooked way straight, the rough places a plain and the high brought down and the lowly lifted up. Take joy in God's activity in Agape Love through others. Join in that activity. It is a new hope in love that could bring you a peace and joy that you have never had before now. Anticipate Joy in Joy, as you work to restore the joy of those who have had it stolen from them.
"When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous, but dismay to evildoers."
May you have Joy!
Pastor Jamie
Proverbs 21:3 "To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
21:15 "When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous, but dismay to evildoers."
I know some things about joy. I have my joy. I get unhappy about things, even often it seems, but I seem not to lose my joy because it is based on a faith in ultimate things of God. Ultimately, I believe that God is going to turn things right. Ultimately, I believe love will win, justice will win and peace will be known by all. God will restore shalom for all in this part of God's Kingdom and/or in the other part of it, ultimately.
I have been happy. I have desperately sought happiness for lengths of time in my life. It often left me empty and unhealthy. It made me hurt some very important people in my life. My happiness came at the expense of others at times, because I traded the things of justice and joy for fleeting happiness, regardless of the cost. What made me happy hurt others. Fleeting happiness is not what sustains me in my life. I am much less likely to run after fleeting happiness in what I can feel, do or obtain. I have deep, abiding joy. It is in my being. That is the state in which I live.
Can my joy be shaken? Sure! If I have devastating loss or if I suffer injustice at the hands of someone else or many others, I can lose my joy. It can be stripped from me.
I know a lot of folk, love a lot of folk who have systematically and intentionally had their shalom stripped from them by injustices perpetrated by others in our society. They have been held down, back and out from the "pursuit of happiness" which is supposed to be their right. They have been discriminated against. They have been judged unjustly. They have been exploited. They have been abused. Their loved ones have been destroyed and/or killed unjustly. Those who do such things to others can worship, praise, pray, tithe and even do mighty acts of healing and still not be right with God. The dismay they have produced is unconscionable and immoral. God is not pleased.
But when justice is restored and shalom with it, then joy is restored to those who have suffered injustice at the hands of unscrupulous, immoral and conscience-less folk. Then the dismay belongs to those who have perpetrated injustice, because it means that their efforts have not somehow elevated them in their own eyes.
How pathetic is it that someone would take joy in the dismay of others and dismay when justice is restored to others? How pathetic is it that for some it is only when others suffer that they can feel good about life? It is ungodly. It is evil. Getting much more than one needs off the backs of others who consequently will not have enough for shalom in their own lives is greed, which is evil idolatry. It wrongly presumes one's right to have more than they need. Obtaining power so that one can exploit, discriminate and abuse others around them for their own gain is evil idolatry. It wrongly presumes one's entitlement to hurt others for the sake of self. The notoriety of status gained by doing nothing good for others is also an expression of idolatry of self.
In what do you find your joy? What makes you happy? I pray that it is not found at the expense of someone else, or it is delight in evildoing. Advent is the time to make the crooked way straight, the rough places a plain and the high brought down and the lowly lifted up. Take joy in God's activity in Agape Love through others. Join in that activity. It is a new hope in love that could bring you a peace and joy that you have never had before now. Anticipate Joy in Joy, as you work to restore the joy of those who have had it stolen from them.
"When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous, but dismay to evildoers."
May you have Joy!
Pastor Jamie
Sunday, December 10, 2017
The Advent of Peace...
I pray that this is the advent of Peace.
We have seen enough conflict. We have seen enough chaos. We have seen enough turmoil and unrest. We have seen enough lack of well-being in the world that drives it all. We have seen enough disrespect, exploitation, occupation, oppression, xenophobia, ethnocentrism and nationalism that drive a lack of SHALOM.
The protesters are right - no justice; no peace.
If there are inequities of hope, of life sustenance, of respect, of acceptance, of equality, of dignity, of opportunity and life conditions then there cannot be Shalom.
SHALOM is well-being, completeness and wholeness.
If some have more than they need and others go without what they need at their hands, there can be no shalom.
If some have all the power and wield it over others, especially those different from themselves, then there can be no shalom.
If some falsely believe they are superior to others and act on that out of disdain for them, treating them as villains or sub-human beings, then there can be no shalom.
God wants Shalom.
The people of God who suffered under unjust kings, temple cult leaders and false prophets, as we have record of it in both the Old and New Testaments, were delivered by God out of their enslavement, their exile and their occupation. God acted on their behalf, having called prophets to proclaim the injustices and sending those who would help deliver them.
People falsely create "places" of shalom for themselves, far from the plight of those they have exploited and oppressed in order to have more for themselves. They wall themselves into compounds and communities. They move great distances from the squalor that they have created by inequitable treatments of others. They commute past those they have held down, back and out so that they and their children could have much more than they will ever need. They ignore the conditions of those who will never have enough to have Shalom because of their immoral, unconscionable and unscrupulous lifestyles built on the destruction of others.
It was true of old and it is true now.
Isaiah prophesied of a great turning around by God because of the oppression of the poor.
The Gospels tell of Jesus' message of hope for a people occupied and oppressed by Rome, in collusion with the Temple cult leaders and king of that time and place.
The message is the same. God does not like it and God will turn it around.
So, Paul had it right.
If we want peace, shalom for all humanity, we must "pursue then things that make for peace and for mutual up-building." (Romans 14:19) The divisions that WE have created are not honored by God. The excuses WE have made for treating others shamefully are not honored by God. The justifications we have manufactured for our elevation at the expense of others around us are not recognized by God. God wants shalom, for all of God's children and not just some. If we are working anything that does not bring about well-being, completeness and wholeness for ALL, then we are not living within God's will.
I pray that this is the advent of peace. We have had a lack of shalom for all people for far too long.
Let us ALL pursue the things that make for shalom, exposing the works of darkness that would withhold it from some of our sisters and brothers, children of God. Let us demand it, speaking truth to power and living the Good News of Agape Love as Jesus commanded, which when lived ultimately brings shalom to all around us in the world.
Let this be the Advent Season of Peace... when the restoration of Shalom to all is begun.
Pastor Jamie
We have seen enough conflict. We have seen enough chaos. We have seen enough turmoil and unrest. We have seen enough lack of well-being in the world that drives it all. We have seen enough disrespect, exploitation, occupation, oppression, xenophobia, ethnocentrism and nationalism that drive a lack of SHALOM.
The protesters are right - no justice; no peace.
If there are inequities of hope, of life sustenance, of respect, of acceptance, of equality, of dignity, of opportunity and life conditions then there cannot be Shalom.
SHALOM is well-being, completeness and wholeness.
If some have more than they need and others go without what they need at their hands, there can be no shalom.
If some have all the power and wield it over others, especially those different from themselves, then there can be no shalom.
If some falsely believe they are superior to others and act on that out of disdain for them, treating them as villains or sub-human beings, then there can be no shalom.
God wants Shalom.
The people of God who suffered under unjust kings, temple cult leaders and false prophets, as we have record of it in both the Old and New Testaments, were delivered by God out of their enslavement, their exile and their occupation. God acted on their behalf, having called prophets to proclaim the injustices and sending those who would help deliver them.
People falsely create "places" of shalom for themselves, far from the plight of those they have exploited and oppressed in order to have more for themselves. They wall themselves into compounds and communities. They move great distances from the squalor that they have created by inequitable treatments of others. They commute past those they have held down, back and out so that they and their children could have much more than they will ever need. They ignore the conditions of those who will never have enough to have Shalom because of their immoral, unconscionable and unscrupulous lifestyles built on the destruction of others.
It was true of old and it is true now.
Isaiah prophesied of a great turning around by God because of the oppression of the poor.
The Gospels tell of Jesus' message of hope for a people occupied and oppressed by Rome, in collusion with the Temple cult leaders and king of that time and place.
The message is the same. God does not like it and God will turn it around.
So, Paul had it right.
If we want peace, shalom for all humanity, we must "pursue then things that make for peace and for mutual up-building." (Romans 14:19) The divisions that WE have created are not honored by God. The excuses WE have made for treating others shamefully are not honored by God. The justifications we have manufactured for our elevation at the expense of others around us are not recognized by God. God wants shalom, for all of God's children and not just some. If we are working anything that does not bring about well-being, completeness and wholeness for ALL, then we are not living within God's will.
I pray that this is the advent of peace. We have had a lack of shalom for all people for far too long.
Let us ALL pursue the things that make for shalom, exposing the works of darkness that would withhold it from some of our sisters and brothers, children of God. Let us demand it, speaking truth to power and living the Good News of Agape Love as Jesus commanded, which when lived ultimately brings shalom to all around us in the world.
Let this be the Advent Season of Peace... when the restoration of Shalom to all is begun.
Pastor Jamie
Sunday, December 3, 2017
The Advent of (Agape) Love
"Love came down at Christmas, love all lovely, love divine; love was born at Christmas, stars and angels gave the sign."
Jesus ushered in Agape Love as the Standard of living for those who would be people of God. This committed action on behalf of the other, even stranger and enemy and especially the most vulnerable is preached, taught, commanded and modeled by Jesus as we see throughout the Gospels.
Paul wrote eloquently about it to encourage followers in Corinth (I Corinthians 13) and Philippi (Philippians 2:1-11) to live it in their communities, as followers of Jesus.
It is how we will be known as Jesus' disciples. John 13:35
It is the criteria upon which salvation is decided by Jesus, the judge. Matthew 25:31-46
From others and from me, you know the rest of much of the bulk of Gospel writing attributed to Jesus that shares this command to live Agape Love in the world as the central teaching, command and example of Jesus for any who would be Jesus' followers.
Over the generations, Agape Love has been buried as the central focus. It has been covered up with concern for self: personal salvation, personal prosperity, personal power and personal status. Preachers, believers and church bodies have focused on purity, holiness, worship, praise, tithes and have ignored Jesus' command to live Agape in the world. None of these things are expressions of Agape Love per se, and devotion to them has not been an expression of devotion to God and Neighbor out of Agape, but rather out of concern for and focus on self. Like the Word uncovered in the time of Josiah, buried in a treasury box in a wall of the Temple, we have buried this teaching of Jesus under all things wealth, power and status for self.
My hope is for a re-discovery as in the time of Josiah and dramatic, though less violent efforts to reform and return to a respect for and adherence to the Law of Agape in Jesus.
We need an Advent of Agape Love about now.
Hatred has become normative. Selfishness is the American Way. Apathy to the plight of others (the real opposite of love) dominates as we have been programed to focus on ourselves and those like us alone, while having no regard for the most vulnerable or regarding them as less virtuous, less deserving and less human. We have been conditioned to think this way by those who promote the values of empire, as opposed to the values of the Kingdom of God in Agape Love.
We need an Advent of Agape Love right now.
People have moved out of their racist reactions to our former President, to elect a person whose hateful, selfish, ignorant rhetoric made him stand out from other candidates for the office. People have promoted the intolerance, self-centered focus and greed of this President as being values both normative and virtuous for Americans to hold. The people who have been put in office and emboldened by our latest election have worked diligently to promote the intolerant deportation of resident aliens, strip away affordable healthcare for the most vulnerable and actively work to kill the middle and working classes with tax "reform". Many have voted for them and many of those in office have done these things while professing to be "Christian" followers of Jesus, who will judge us all in the end on how we have lived Agape Love with the most vulnerable (Matthew 25:31-46). Yet, by droves, "Christians" in America have voted for those who have been trying to do this for years, and voted for this President who promotes greed, hatefulness and ignorance as our new norms. Agape is reserved for God and Neighbor, not self and not "mammon, mars and Bacchus". Many "Christians" still believe you can serve two masters, however and they apply love to only themselves and those just like them, and actively hurt others in order to get more for themselves. It has become the norm in American "Christianity". They persist in supporting this kind of anti-Christ, anti-love behavior BECAUSE they say they are "Christians".
We need The Advent of Love.
Those who have not sold out to empire values completely and who desire only to follow Jesus by living what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us as God's Kingdom values in Agape Love, need to prepare the way for Agape Love... the Logos... to be born again among us. We need to expose the works of darkness that have been considered "light", and proclaim, demonstrate and live Agape Love in the world around us. We need to point to the Christ and His coming as a current phenomenon, heralded by the heavenly host. We need to give this Good News in an environment of bad news packaged as good, so that folk will not be able to ignore the truth of it according to the Word they claim to hold dear, and thus hold them accountable for the "biblical faith" they profess. We need to admonish those among us who have abandoned sound doctrine due to "itching ears", who have be "blown about by every wind of doctrine" that promised to get them what they wanted according to empire values, and help them see the error of their ways and find hope in the truly Good News of Jesus centered on Agape Love. We must act and we must act now, before the darkness permeates every corner of this part of God's Kingdom.
We are in The Advent of Love.
That means that we must prepare the way of the Lord in hearts and minds.
That means that we must exalt the lows, smooth out the rough and straighten the crooked.
That means that we must repent and believe in Jesus' Good News (Mark 1:15).
That means that we must change how we think and act in the world around us, this part of God's Kingdom.
That means that we must get ready all over again for the coming of Jesus, Word made Flesh, in our hearts and minds, in our teaching and in our living.
Jesus is witnessed as telling His followers that He will come again, and that He is with always to the end of the age. The Holy Spirit of God points, guides and drives us to the Christ everyday. Jesus comes to us still.
This is the Advent of Agape Love. Please, Lord, let this be the Advent of Agape Love.
Pastor Jamie
Jesus ushered in Agape Love as the Standard of living for those who would be people of God. This committed action on behalf of the other, even stranger and enemy and especially the most vulnerable is preached, taught, commanded and modeled by Jesus as we see throughout the Gospels.
Paul wrote eloquently about it to encourage followers in Corinth (I Corinthians 13) and Philippi (Philippians 2:1-11) to live it in their communities, as followers of Jesus.
It is how we will be known as Jesus' disciples. John 13:35
It is the criteria upon which salvation is decided by Jesus, the judge. Matthew 25:31-46
From others and from me, you know the rest of much of the bulk of Gospel writing attributed to Jesus that shares this command to live Agape Love in the world as the central teaching, command and example of Jesus for any who would be Jesus' followers.
Over the generations, Agape Love has been buried as the central focus. It has been covered up with concern for self: personal salvation, personal prosperity, personal power and personal status. Preachers, believers and church bodies have focused on purity, holiness, worship, praise, tithes and have ignored Jesus' command to live Agape in the world. None of these things are expressions of Agape Love per se, and devotion to them has not been an expression of devotion to God and Neighbor out of Agape, but rather out of concern for and focus on self. Like the Word uncovered in the time of Josiah, buried in a treasury box in a wall of the Temple, we have buried this teaching of Jesus under all things wealth, power and status for self.
My hope is for a re-discovery as in the time of Josiah and dramatic, though less violent efforts to reform and return to a respect for and adherence to the Law of Agape in Jesus.
We need an Advent of Agape Love about now.
Hatred has become normative. Selfishness is the American Way. Apathy to the plight of others (the real opposite of love) dominates as we have been programed to focus on ourselves and those like us alone, while having no regard for the most vulnerable or regarding them as less virtuous, less deserving and less human. We have been conditioned to think this way by those who promote the values of empire, as opposed to the values of the Kingdom of God in Agape Love.
We need an Advent of Agape Love right now.
People have moved out of their racist reactions to our former President, to elect a person whose hateful, selfish, ignorant rhetoric made him stand out from other candidates for the office. People have promoted the intolerance, self-centered focus and greed of this President as being values both normative and virtuous for Americans to hold. The people who have been put in office and emboldened by our latest election have worked diligently to promote the intolerant deportation of resident aliens, strip away affordable healthcare for the most vulnerable and actively work to kill the middle and working classes with tax "reform". Many have voted for them and many of those in office have done these things while professing to be "Christian" followers of Jesus, who will judge us all in the end on how we have lived Agape Love with the most vulnerable (Matthew 25:31-46). Yet, by droves, "Christians" in America have voted for those who have been trying to do this for years, and voted for this President who promotes greed, hatefulness and ignorance as our new norms. Agape is reserved for God and Neighbor, not self and not "mammon, mars and Bacchus". Many "Christians" still believe you can serve two masters, however and they apply love to only themselves and those just like them, and actively hurt others in order to get more for themselves. It has become the norm in American "Christianity". They persist in supporting this kind of anti-Christ, anti-love behavior BECAUSE they say they are "Christians".
We need The Advent of Love.
Those who have not sold out to empire values completely and who desire only to follow Jesus by living what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us as God's Kingdom values in Agape Love, need to prepare the way for Agape Love... the Logos... to be born again among us. We need to expose the works of darkness that have been considered "light", and proclaim, demonstrate and live Agape Love in the world around us. We need to point to the Christ and His coming as a current phenomenon, heralded by the heavenly host. We need to give this Good News in an environment of bad news packaged as good, so that folk will not be able to ignore the truth of it according to the Word they claim to hold dear, and thus hold them accountable for the "biblical faith" they profess. We need to admonish those among us who have abandoned sound doctrine due to "itching ears", who have be "blown about by every wind of doctrine" that promised to get them what they wanted according to empire values, and help them see the error of their ways and find hope in the truly Good News of Jesus centered on Agape Love. We must act and we must act now, before the darkness permeates every corner of this part of God's Kingdom.
We are in The Advent of Love.
That means that we must prepare the way of the Lord in hearts and minds.
That means that we must exalt the lows, smooth out the rough and straighten the crooked.
That means that we must repent and believe in Jesus' Good News (Mark 1:15).
That means that we must change how we think and act in the world around us, this part of God's Kingdom.
That means that we must get ready all over again for the coming of Jesus, Word made Flesh, in our hearts and minds, in our teaching and in our living.
Jesus is witnessed as telling His followers that He will come again, and that He is with always to the end of the age. The Holy Spirit of God points, guides and drives us to the Christ everyday. Jesus comes to us still.
This is the Advent of Agape Love. Please, Lord, let this be the Advent of Agape Love.
Pastor Jamie
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