Scripture:

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 21 "But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us, 22 by putting his seal on us and giving us his Spirit in our hearts as a first installment." 

Observation:

As followers of Christ of the Lutheran persuasion we posses this dogged, disciplined confession: that we receive salvation as God's gift freely offered. We have been given this gift to bear to the rest of the church universal and through it into the ends of the Earth. Our theology of justification is richly Christocentric; and that is almost unfailingly a good thing. Almost. 
I believe the shadow cast by this theological mountain darkens much of what God would otherwise bring to light for us about the invitation into life abundant (Sanctification) through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. 

Well, that's a mouthful, but what's my point?

 I wonder if paying more attention to the 

dynamic and expansive love travelling between the 

Father and the Son 

- gathering others in as She weaves back and forth - 

could enliven our experience of faith 

on a day to day basis.  

And, maybe that is the Holy Spirit's point too.

Passages like 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 invite and challenge us to move beyond our staid dogmatic assertions (even cherished ones like Justified by Grace alone through Faith alone) towards the messiness demanded to engage the real questions and problems of our neighbours and communities. 

Application: 

I am tempted to be an observer of faith, content to sit on the sidelines of life assured that salvation is a done deal. I cherish the security and humility of the faith tradition I have grown up in and I am not advocating throwing away this beautiful understanding of how God stoops to conquer and rescue. But, it seems to me that not too many people I know are wresting with a sense of insecurity with respect to salvation. Rather, the fundamental questions of our time are existential, asking not "how can I survive?" but, "what does it all mean?"
It's a move from head to heart that I sense God's Spirit of live inviting me to embark upon. Care to join me?

Prayer:

Veni sancte Spiritus! Catch me up in your grace and take me where you will. Amen.

What If?

I don't have a lot of time or energy for reading the "rapture-index" to see how close (or not) we are to the "end-times".  It seems a fools errand.  For thousands of years, people have looked at the "disasters of the world" and longed for God to intervene in a definitive way.

I get the longing.  I mean, the world can be a pretty brutal place, what with earthquakes ravaging Nepal, systemic racism and violence taking out people of colour in the US and Canada, loved ones suffering overtly or secretly from diseases of the body and of the mind ...  What else can we do but to cry out: "How long, Oh Lord!"?

But here's the thing: although scripture is full of promises -  including the promise that God will act to bring all of creation to its fulfillment in a mighty act of redemption, judgement and restoration - no where are we led to believe that we can know when or where this will take place.  It simply is not ours to know.

So, what if, rather than measuring the temperature of the disease and chaos of our surroundings to try and predict when God will finally have had enough, what if we choose to live like the kingdom of God is already here?  What would it look like for us to embrace and to enact the hope we have for ourselves, our loved ones, our neighbours ... the whole cosmos?

What if, instead of waiting on the rapture, we wait upon the Lord?  What if, instead of waiting to be rescued and delivered from this world, we lean into the hope that we have already been rescued from sin and death and all empty promises?  What if, we have been rescued in order to aide and abet the delivery of this world as its wise, servant mid-wives?

Lord,  what if I stop wondering when You will act?  Please, open my eyes to see that You have acted, and that Your actions of invitation (redemption) and challenge (judgment) are ongoing.

Amen.