The noble knight has a study about humility posted that looks at the text from today. I have done too may rants on self esteem, and why it is bad for you.
What interests me is what drives the path of setting aside. The Psalmist says that the LORD is his portion: the implication is that he has no inheritance of land: there will be nothing returned in the Jubilee. This is the position of the priests and the Levites: they dwelt in towns had received the tithes, so that they could serve in the temple.
But Christ chose in a similar way, and so must we.
The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep your words.
I entreat your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise.
(Psalm 119:57-58 ESV)So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The public theology of NZ is syncretic: we have a founding treaty (which in my view is over-honoured) and as part of that the Crown pays attention to Maori, particularly traditional Maori, and they had been converted by the Missionaries before the same treaty, and during a genocidal war (which the Missionaries stopped largely. Those Victorian Anglicans lacked neither faith nor courage: some of them advised against trusting the British despite being British themselves).
But in the USA the religion and cultus of this time is becoming more pagan: the courts are actively anti Christian. There is much that can be posted on this. The portions of our land, the places that our ancestors built, are being invaded, and we may not be tolerated.
We may be expelled.
Now, we should prepare a bit: get our debt down, have cash available, get our physical health sorted, obtain a passport and keep the car fueled. We may lose our jobs. We may have to run.
For while we cam. we must witness. We must speak and live the gospel. Regardless of the fashion. Regardless of if this disinherits us. Because our portion is the LORD.
I am not one to defend feminists–and the young lady cutting down the crucifix showed abyssmal form with a chain saw and is lucky not to have lost multiple appendages in the process–but it strikes me that Femen is probably right to object to the Russian Orthodox Church’s support of Vladimir Putin. It’s really a good reminder that the Church ought not align herself too tightly with the earthly king, lest She devalue herself and be seen as the mistress of the king instead of the Betrothed of the King.
Not much I appreciate about Femen, but if the best that the Russian Orthodox patriarch can do is to cozy up Putin, I can’t blame them for assuming that they’re the enemy, no matter what other errors they make.