Big huge glorious youth group flashbacks from this message, nadia. My use-ta-church had always gone from glory to glory and not done a Good Friday service then I/we talked them into letting the youth give it a try.
We had about a 10 year run before i left and it was incredible (and most humbling) to watch them (God) take ownership (thru them). Good powerful stuff. Thanks.
So powerful: “ The Word made flesh hangs from the cross as though God is saying “I would rather die than be in your sin accounting business anymore”. ”
I've been thinking lately that in the Garden of Eden God built a world of union with creation, maybe especially us. And we went our own way instead. And God kept trying and trying and trying to remind us of what union could look like (ah, all those prophets) but we kept not getting it. So God say "OK, fine, I'll SHOW it to you but this time maybe you'll see it because I'll look like you" and became human.
And he full-on *committed* to being human, all the way to execution by a corrupt system or two. And those final words? They were God saying "y'all still seem to be not getting it but I won't stop loving you and offering union because THAT is what this is all about."
That's where I am with the whole crucifixion thing so far.
Being in the process of shedding evangelical Christianity and trying to move toward what I think might be more what it was intended—it spoke to me that we shouldn’t forgo the difficult part.
I keep asking, here on occasion, when my church had a priest (Episcopal but I'm not choosy), and other places. The question is : salvation from *what* and for *what*. Rabbis will tell you our OT is *story*! So why do we need salvation? I understand early human need to explain nature and hard life by creating gods. I understand we don't judge other centuries and millennia by 21st century standards. They needed sacrifice, often human sacrifice.
My question will keep searching: salvation for and from WHAT!
“Those who know don’t have the words to tell. And the ones with the words don’t know too well.”
Your question made me think of this line from a song I like...because there aren’t good words for things in this realm. I feel like we need salvation from the grip despair over death/impermanence has on us that makes it hard to live. I think the salvation that comes during life is what we need most, rather than some post-life destination. I don’t know what is fact or fiction about the Jesus story, but I don’t see it as being primarily about God providing salvation from death after life, but about God saving us from death within life...from our own humanity so that we can live. Whether the story is factually true, I feel Truth within it...if that makes sense. 🙏🏻
I like the direction your thinking goes. I understood death before my memory kicked in because of multiple generations of death before age 50.
Life in general for our country and my life in particular is crazy right now. I think I need salvation for myself. I've received my second Covid shot but I realized this morning that should my 9 year older should husband die, I no longer have local friends, partly the shutdowns and partly other things too long for here.
Bless you MJ, where ever you are! 💗 and thank you!
Amen! I also came from a fundamentalist background that caused me to look at the cross with fear and shame and horror. How liberating and awesome it is to realize that God is not above the cross but on it and that it is not about us but for us all. Praise and gratitude come together.
Thank you. I needed these words today. These truths are why I am still, in spite of everything, a Christian, and I really needed to hear someone who is not me say them. So, thank you. ❤
Earlier this week my fiancé asked me, "Should we plan something for Easter coming up (read: even though we won't be able to see family)?" and I think I responded, "ugh, more death?" Thanks for changing my mind Nadia.
After a lifetime of uneasily believing in substitutionary atonement and finally clawing my way out of that abyss into a sunlit view of a loving God, the cross began to make sense to me when I heard Dr Curt Thompson in an interview present the idea that on the cross God embraced shame on our behalf. This was profoundly liberating to my soul.
Your meditation here is the perfect compliment to that idea. I’ve been wondering what I would share as our family and friends gather on Easter to celebrate the resurrection. I will be reading your words with the prayer and hope that it will help us all reframe Easter in a way that truly glorifies God. As you write, Hosanna in the highest indeed!
I wish we did not combine Palm and Passion into one Sunday. It feels as artificial and forced to me as daylight savings time. I need the days to shift gradually from darkest winter to bright summer; I need those few days after the jubilation of the entry into Jerusalem to come down off the high, and experience and move through the Last Supper to the betrayals, the horror of the crucifixion, and the glorious resurrection. I understand the stated argument for piling everything onto the one Sunday. I understand it, yet it still feels very Reader’s Digest Condensed to me.
None of that negates anything you and the comments here have said, which are true and beautiful, and for which I am grateful.
Yes. This.
The cross as love. Not the cross as punishment for how sinful I am. The cross as love, as God with us & for us.
Not an image that makes me hang my head in shame. An image that makes my broken heart feel healed & seen.
Beautiful!
Big huge glorious youth group flashbacks from this message, nadia. My use-ta-church had always gone from glory to glory and not done a Good Friday service then I/we talked them into letting the youth give it a try.
We had about a 10 year run before i left and it was incredible (and most humbling) to watch them (God) take ownership (thru them). Good powerful stuff. Thanks.
So powerful: “ The Word made flesh hangs from the cross as though God is saying “I would rather die than be in your sin accounting business anymore”. ”
Never has Holy Week made so much sense!
I've been thinking lately that in the Garden of Eden God built a world of union with creation, maybe especially us. And we went our own way instead. And God kept trying and trying and trying to remind us of what union could look like (ah, all those prophets) but we kept not getting it. So God say "OK, fine, I'll SHOW it to you but this time maybe you'll see it because I'll look like you" and became human.
And he full-on *committed* to being human, all the way to execution by a corrupt system or two. And those final words? They were God saying "y'all still seem to be not getting it but I won't stop loving you and offering union because THAT is what this is all about."
That's where I am with the whole crucifixion thing so far.
I sometimes wonder how things would be if we had just tended the garden like we were supposed to
Being in the process of shedding evangelical Christianity and trying to move toward what I think might be more what it was intended—it spoke to me that we shouldn’t forgo the difficult part.
I keep asking, here on occasion, when my church had a priest (Episcopal but I'm not choosy), and other places. The question is : salvation from *what* and for *what*. Rabbis will tell you our OT is *story*! So why do we need salvation? I understand early human need to explain nature and hard life by creating gods. I understand we don't judge other centuries and millennia by 21st century standards. They needed sacrifice, often human sacrifice.
My question will keep searching: salvation for and from WHAT!
Thank you.
“Those who know don’t have the words to tell. And the ones with the words don’t know too well.”
Your question made me think of this line from a song I like...because there aren’t good words for things in this realm. I feel like we need salvation from the grip despair over death/impermanence has on us that makes it hard to live. I think the salvation that comes during life is what we need most, rather than some post-life destination. I don’t know what is fact or fiction about the Jesus story, but I don’t see it as being primarily about God providing salvation from death after life, but about God saving us from death within life...from our own humanity so that we can live. Whether the story is factually true, I feel Truth within it...if that makes sense. 🙏🏻
I like the direction your thinking goes. I understood death before my memory kicked in because of multiple generations of death before age 50.
Life in general for our country and my life in particular is crazy right now. I think I need salvation for myself. I've received my second Covid shot but I realized this morning that should my 9 year older should husband die, I no longer have local friends, partly the shutdowns and partly other things too long for here.
Bless you MJ, where ever you are! 💗 and thank you!
"...relentless, terrifying love..." thank you. love the Dali painting too.
Thank you for this powerful reflection. The cross is for us, the cross as love, are thoughts I hope I can one day fully grasp.
Amen! I also came from a fundamentalist background that caused me to look at the cross with fear and shame and horror. How liberating and awesome it is to realize that God is not above the cross but on it and that it is not about us but for us all. Praise and gratitude come together.
Your sermons are like food for my soul. This message healed so
many wounds. You are so gifted with words. Thank you for gifting us with your words and nourishment for our poor weary souls ❤️
Thank you. I needed these words today. These truths are why I am still, in spite of everything, a Christian, and I really needed to hear someone who is not me say them. So, thank you. ❤
Just. Yes. What you have put into words makes so much sense to me. This week holds so much meaning for me. Thank you for your ministry.
Earlier this week my fiancé asked me, "Should we plan something for Easter coming up (read: even though we won't be able to see family)?" and I think I responded, "ugh, more death?" Thanks for changing my mind Nadia.
After a lifetime of uneasily believing in substitutionary atonement and finally clawing my way out of that abyss into a sunlit view of a loving God, the cross began to make sense to me when I heard Dr Curt Thompson in an interview present the idea that on the cross God embraced shame on our behalf. This was profoundly liberating to my soul.
Your meditation here is the perfect compliment to that idea. I’ve been wondering what I would share as our family and friends gather on Easter to celebrate the resurrection. I will be reading your words with the prayer and hope that it will help us all reframe Easter in a way that truly glorifies God. As you write, Hosanna in the highest indeed!
Grace and peace to you and to all those you love.
All this is both beautiful and true. Thank you.
I wish we did not combine Palm and Passion into one Sunday. It feels as artificial and forced to me as daylight savings time. I need the days to shift gradually from darkest winter to bright summer; I need those few days after the jubilation of the entry into Jerusalem to come down off the high, and experience and move through the Last Supper to the betrayals, the horror of the crucifixion, and the glorious resurrection. I understand the stated argument for piling everything onto the one Sunday. I understand it, yet it still feels very Reader’s Digest Condensed to me.
None of that negates anything you and the comments here have said, which are true and beautiful, and for which I am grateful.