And
so my first week of the Master of Ministry Module (mmm good) comes to an end.
My
“final” for the Synoptics (Matthew, Mark & Luke) portion will be to take
everything I've just learned, process it all and come up with a way to tell you
all about it in paragraphs rather than pages.
To condense it all down into the kind of conversation I might have with
someone over a pint at our local pub. If
I can just get my brain cells to stop exploding it shouldn't be a problem.
The
thing I've enjoyed most about Bill Jackson’s teaching has been his telling of
the Text in a way that motivates us to get moving off this page and into the
ongoing Story. It’s not nearly enough to
know how the Story goes, I want to play my part, I want to actively participate
in writing the chapter I’m in.
One
of the big ideas from this afternoon was the way in which Israel had turned the
Temple into a dark den instead of a city on a hill, a light to the
nations. They’d turned God’s grace into
a license to smugly hoard YHWH rather than carry His presence to the
Gentiles. Rather than embrace their
Samaritan family they used the Temple to exclude. Instead of being humbled by the grace of God
to be Torah people they became arrogant about a Law that only proved they fell
hopelessly short of God.
And
it leaves me wondering how it’s happened that we who are the new Temple have
followed in their steps, created our own ghetto, bottled Jesus and stocked our
shelves with him for profit and rather than live on mission we choose to send
missionaries and pay their electric bills rather than be the light of the
world. God have mercy on me and keep me
from following the well traveled path.
God have mercy on us and transform us yet into grace givers, water
walkers, heart menders, life releasers, sight restorers, captive freers and
storm stillers.
Tomorrow
morning we start week #2. Pray for us
weary pilgrims!
Thanks
to all of you who have supported this adventure with resources, prayer and
encouragement. Thanks as well to all who
have read and are reading these ramblings that tell the story of educating
brian.
"And pay their electric bills" Great line.
ReplyDeleteWriting aside, great message too.
Thanks for reading and leaving some encouragement!
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