Yesterday I wrote two posts in the morning… switching between one that was reblogged at oogenhand and one that was based on the lectionary. The historical one was popular. Theology less so.
Well, yeah. That was expected
However, the core of my analysis flows from my theological and philosophical position as a believer in the gospel, and more specifically reformed theology. Reformed theology is in part a reaction to the renaissance that (instead of retreating in pietism) continues to hold the world to the standards of the Law, and holds those who see human progress as something worthy as a bunch of fools.
For we are all fallen, and none of us live a life worthy of the calling we have.
1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
3In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 4for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel 6that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. 7This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, 8and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
9For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. 11May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Part of us living a life worthy of the calling is to avoid sin. We all need to continually look at our lives and consider what we are doing well, and more importantly what we are doing wrong, from fapping to eating too many carbs
But part of it is seeing yourself as someone who has been called by God, To proclaim the Gospel, using words if needed. Consider this conversation.
Elspeth
“Did God make me black and should I complain about it?”
No you shouldn’t complain about it. God knew what he was doing when he made you. Minorities who wreak havoc and destroy communities have nothing to do with me and I don’t wish I was someone or something else. I even married a lowly black man and managed to be happy. GO figure.
Vanessa
“Minorities who wreak havoc and destroy communities have nothing to do with me”
If only. They make you suffer guilt by association. I’m a German black person, which is a double-whammy.
Elspeth
“If only. They make you suffer guilt by association.”
Well sometimes, yes but I refuse to own that. And I am not built for self-hatred. I like me too much for that.
This brings me back to a comment I made on that thread, and that drove the post on white men being scarey. I’m white. A lot of people attribute all kind of evil upon me: some of which was indeed done by the British Empire — and I have a bunch of Army officers in my family tree. Along with teachers, farmers, postmasters, and a stablehand. But they were responsible for the wrong they did. And the good, for on balance the British Empire was a force for Good.
But we were not called in Christ to be tribal, but to be of Christ. If Paul said that there was no Jew or Greek in the congregation, but that we were one, then we all need to be one. We need to look not at skin colour or culture, but if we love God. Consider our example. Elspeth is married to a Black man, Vanessa is married to a man who would have been described as Aryan by those race monsters of the 1930s. For what it is worth, both Elspeth and Vanessa are called “black’ in the US. But both seek (most of the time) righteousness, for themselves and their families.
Which brings me to the final point for this morning. None of this comes automatically. We need to pray for ourselves, our families, and then our nation and our tribes. (For we are placed within nations, and within nations in ethnic categories). We need to pray that people will live according to the precepts of the Gospel, and those who call themselves Christians will act as Christians.
For it is this day that we have to live in a manner worthy of the price of our salvation.