It’s business as usual at Cornerstone University. Fall has arrived. New students have come; old students have returned. People whizzing by campus on the East Beltline don’t notice anything different. They don’t know about the eight faculty members who were summoned to video conferences and summarily fired last summer, despite having signed contracts in their hands. They don’t know that this was only the most recent and egregious example of administrative malpractice that values pragmatic program makeovers more than people made in the image of God.
We’re told to pray for the school, and of course we should. But it’s time to do more than pray.
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Pursuing Life and Ministry in 2023 (Colossians.4)
We don’t need a spiritual fad diet to start off 2023. Jesus keto-gummies aren’t going to cut it for us. What we need is to get re-centered on our role in God’s grand narrative to reconcile the world to himself by forming a new humanity in Christ.
Paul’s pastoral concern in Colossians 1:24-2:5 does just that. Paul summons us to grasp the amazing revelation of God’s grace in bringing all humanity—Jews and Gentiles alike—into the family of God through Jesus the Jewish Messiah. Have you given serious thought lately to the sheer grandeur of God’s plan to bring messianic shalom to the whole world? Have you prayerfully reflected on the part God is calling you to play in that plan?
Giving Thanks with Paul: Colossians.2
While we should always give thanks for the blessings God gives us, our gratitude should ultimately be for the grace that has opened our eyes to realize our need of Christ. Whatever material blessings we have or lack are from the providence of a good and faithful God. Our bounty is not the fruit of our hard work, self-sufficiency, and national superiority.
The Blessed Virgin, a Wedding Party with Problems, and a Lesson on Prayer.
It’s helpful to understand the language that different churches use to describe Mary, and it’s fun to ponder what she was thinking when she told Jesus the wine had run out at the wedding feast. There’s even more value for us when we think of Mary’s request as a model of prayer. Are we mindful of the hour of Jesus’ passion when we pray, or do we just blurt out prayers assuming that God exists to meet our personal needs in the way we want them met? Hopefully we’re learning, as Mary was, about cruciform praying. Our requests, like hers, need to be in step with the hour of Jesus’ passion, when he prayed three times, “I want your will to be done, not mine.”
Famous Last Words: Jesus Speaks from the Cross
Many Christians are familiar with the tradition of remembering Jesus’ Seven Last Words from the Cross during Passion Week. The seven last words tell us what the cross meant to Jesus. They also ask us what the cross means to us. Jesus’ last words confront our deepest fears, and call us to face them in the power of his victory.
Speaking Truth to Power on Good Friday
In this post we focus again on the Gospel of John, where power figures largely into the story of Jesus before Pilate. The Jewish leaders were not empowered by Rome to carry out capital punishment on their own, so Pilate the governor enters the story. Frustrated by Jesus silence, powerful Pilate threatened him with crucifixion (John 19:10). That’s when Jesus spoke truth to power. When Jesus spoke truth to power, Pilate spoke power to truth. But Jesus true truth trumped Pilate’s false power. There are many ancient remains in the Mediterranean world that testify to Rome’s powerful past. There are living churches all over the planet that testify to Jesus’ past, present and future power. That’s the truth.