A Free and Fearless Space

Henri Nouwen summarized our calling (as followers of Jesus) this way:

"That is our vocation: to convert the enemy into a guest and to create the free and fearless space where brotherhood and sisterhood can be formed and fully experienced."

In my opinion, the dismantling of western evangelicalism of our day is a good thing. Over time, organized western Christian religion has become more about setting boundaries to determine who's in and who's out than about the kingdom (commonwealth) of God which is open to all, according to Jesus.

A number of young adults have come to me these days disillusioned with the "gospel" they were given and long for "a free and fearless space" to be part of. 

At the risk of oversimplifying things, I want to challenge the generations after my generation to do the hard work of finding and/or creating "free and fearless spaces" where anyone who sincerely cares about the outlandish message of Jesus (which includes the outsider and those who aren't 'productive') can experience genuine brotherhood and sisterhood. This will require a living imagination, hard work, perseverance, willingness to make mistakes, willingness to disagree, lots of inconvenience and humility....and more.

The more "free and fearless spaces" that are created (no matter how small), the more the ways of Jesus' commonwealth society will permeate the earth. 

God's Splendor Appears in the Crucifixion and in a Society of Equals

Matthew's account of Jesus' crucifixion in Matt. 27:45-54 includes the following dramatic and frightening happenings:

"At noon, a darkness fell over the whole land..."

"...the curtain in front of the Holy of Holies was ripped in half..."

"...the earth quaked"

"...boulders were split"

"...tombs were opened"

"Many bodies of holy ones who had fallen asleep were raised."

"(Those) standing guard over Jesus' body were terror-stricken at seeing the earthquake and all that was happening..."

Jesus' solidarity with those on the fringes of society resulted in his crucifixion; the impact of this radical face-off with man-made hierarchies and barriers caused the earth to quake in response. His refusal to bow to the oppressive religious and political powers made possible a new community of equals on earth; this new community was birthed out of the terrifying confrontation between Humility and Dominance, resulting in the Seed of humility dying and falling into the ground to bear fruit, and in the upheaval and ineffectiveness of the systems of dominance.

The prophet Isaiah alludes to this by declaring that the splendor and beauty of God will be seen when the systems of inequity and hierarchy are leveled/disrupted - the low will be raised and the high will be brought low:

A voice is crying out:
“Clear the Lord’s way in the desert!
Make a level highway in the wilderness for our God!
4 Every valley will be raised up,
    and every mountain and hill will be flattened.
Uneven ground will become level,
    and rough terrain a valley plain.
5 The Lord’s glory will appear,
    and all humanity will see it together;

    the Lord’s mouth has commanded it.” (Isaiah 40:3-5 CEB).

In Jesus' crucifixion we see the splendor of God (his humility, compassion, solidarity with society's 'undeserving') on full display. 

In our world today, the expression of the splendor of God is wherever a community of equals demonstrates compassion, humility and solidarity with whoever society labels as undeserving.

May his Common Society come, and his will be done on earth as in heaven... Amen.

Lent - Day 10

"Faith is not a matter of certainty but of courage...Nothing important can be imposed by coercion."

                                                                                              -- Catherine Keller

Lent - Day 9

"Popular Lent is too occupied with guilt and repentance...Lent is rather seeing how to take steps into God's future so that we are no longer defined by what is past and no longer distracted by what we have treasured or feared about the present..."

                     --Walter Brueggemann (A Way Not Our Own)

Lent - Day 8

"The only way to make rapid progress along the path of divine love is to remain very little and put all our trust in God."

                                                                                  --Therese of Lisieux

Lent - Day 7

                           LOVE

               JOY is Love revealed

               PEACE is Love received

               PATIENCE is Love waiting

               KINDNESS is Love extended

               GOODNESS is Love shared

               FAITHFULNESS is Love present

               GENTLENESS is Love listening

               SELF-CONTROL is Love suffering.

                                     --Nita Steiner (Galatians 5:22,23)

Lent - Day 6

 "God's affection for you runs deep 

...and you will never be forsaken."

                                                                                     ---Jonathan Foster