Are You In Unity With Christ’s Radical Innovation And Means Of Justice?

Are You In Unity With Christ’s Radical Innovation And Means Of Justice?

Good Morning Friends,

Friends, the process by which we discern an answer to today’s question is caught up in our reaction to God’s love that can, if we let it, change us, bind us together and build us up collectively while freeing us from the boundaries in our own minds. And it is in this universal love that we have hope in Jesus’ prayer we join with a purpose to be one. But when we are called to this dance we must think in a new way. We must give up something to get something beyond access to computers, information, commerce and entertainment. We need purpose. Are You In Unity With Christ’s Radical Innovation And Means Of Justice?

Scripture: I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

Ephesians 4:1-6 (NRSV)

He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? “And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? Thus, when you go with your accuser before a magistrate, on the way make an effort to settle the case, or you may be dragged before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you in prison. I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.”

Luke 12:54-59

Message: Ever look at a brick. They are all slightly different and have little holes in them. My relatives up North made bricks in a place called Little Egypt. They were promoted as a safer building material when fires burned down wooden structures. My Grandfather helped to build a church building from reused bricks, containing the blood and sweat of the parishioners who scrapped off the mortar, so they could be placed one on top of the other connected and made straight with new mortar. The history of it reminds me that we must stick together as a team…as bricks held together with His mortar. We must build each other up as a body made up of many parts. We must be plumbed and justified to be safe and functional. But we also must be radically changed. And so, following the innovation of Christ we in our own unique development need to reflect the image of God in the Spirit of God’s sacrificial love. For it is the Holy Spirit comforting and convicting who builds community and cements unity, founded on the cornerstone that is Jesus… one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. This is about building unity in the body of believers whether it is seen or not…this is our work and it needs a lot of love and creativity to reach the world. Friends, we have been called out as an assembly to a great hope of strength and unity in the Holy Spirit. We have been called out, so we might take our brick lives, forged in passion and turn them into living stones bound to one another in love with Christ as the Cornerstone. Friends, only by knowing the Lord we can discern what is going on in this world and choose what is right over with is wrong…what is the way of the greater good. We must judge the world in the sense of discerning what is better and best…right and wrong and to do what is just in this world. Friends, Jesus is the light of the world, so we might see what is right. And here love and forgiveness, the innovation that Christ brings into the world, changes the status quo. And here if we are in the power and purpose of this radical innovation of existence we make meaning out of our lives, we jump over the next hurdle to new ground, we risk intelligently, we move forward in faith and our own imperfection to give Christ’s efforts a chance to blossom. Friends the world is divided into what we know and what we do not know, and the innovation of the Holy Spirit can indeed bring unity and dignity even though it can still divide and polarize people because it transforms in a way that changes the way people have been living. And so, if we embrace this relationship of change some will not like it and yet we exist for this very purpose. So, friends, discover your value and uniqueness and share it in a way that glorifies God who gave it to you in the first place.

Pray we realize that we are justified by grace through faith. Pray we realize that it is the grace of the Holy Spirit that gives us the strength to love. Pray we realize that love, this act of adoration has the power to bind us together. Pray therefor we not be so eager to judge others we hope will be in relationship with the one true God. Pray we know Jesus and mature in the one true faith. Pray we have a passion that burns in us baptizing us and forging our very souls into a community of love. Pray the One Word made flesh inform us how to portray this passion. Pray we judge the ways of the world but not the people of the world. Pray our thoughts take us far with dignity and alternatives to the way things are and ultimately to the way God would have them be. Pray we allow divergent information to give us new ideas.

Blessings,

John Lawson