Abundant Life, pt. 1

I have found a lot of gems in Kelly Munro Kuhlberg's book, Finding God at Harvard. (published by Intervarsity Press, 1996) I suggest you read it slowly, a few articles at a time. The one that keeps speaking to me was written in the last half of the eighteen hundreds by Philip Brooks, who led a voluntary chapel time at Harvard. He died in 1893.
The article, "On Abundant Life" is too long to type into this, but I want to share some sections.
"What art thou here for, O wonderful, mysterious, bewildering Jesus? ' I am here that men may have life, and have it more abundantly.'"
He goes on to say that God wants to call the dead to life...and he asks, "In every circle or community where you have ever lived, has there not been some man whom you knew as the life-giver?...he increased vitality...All other men do their best because of this."
"Sometimes people count up Christ's acts and stand with the little group of jewels in their open hands, looking at them with something like puzzled wonderment and saying, 'Is this, then, all he did?' Other people gather Christ's words together and feel, through all their beauty, a bewildering sense that they do not account for the marveloous power of his life. But sometimes there comes a truer apprehension. The things he did, the things he said, were only signs and indications of who he was. He was not primarily the Deed-Doer or the Word-Sayer. He was the Life-Giver. He made men live. Wherever he went, he brought vitality. Both in the days of his incarnation and in the long years of his power which have followed since he vanished from man's sight, his work has been to create the conditions in which all sorts of men should live. He hates death. He hates death everywhere. He took men in Jerusalem and poured in behind their torpid faculties the fiery vitality which stung them all to life. This was his redemption of mankind."
" ..the way in which he is to give life to men, to complete the vitality of hte world. It is not by stirring up the powers of each individual, as if each carried his own vitality lodged within himself and could live as an independent unit of life. Not that but something different. He is always religious, always the preacher of a great religion. There is a great reservoir and source of life with which each being is to be brought into contact, into which each being is to be bound, so that its vitality can be poured through the channels of the bound, the related, the consecrated, the religious being. All life is God's life. This is Christ's splendid doctrine of the fatherhood of God. He realized it first in himself. He was the Son of God. His life was God's life. What, then, he would do for every man was to set that man's nature into the divine nature so that the divine life could live in it. He would put the tree into the soil. He would put the star into the system."

My comments:
This seems to really open the door to understanding better the parable of the vine..."without me, you can do nothing." If we as the followers of Jesus offered people abundant life, and showed the power of the life in our own lives, the gospel would be good news indeed. I hear so often, the faint boredom and discomfort of "Is this all there is?" No, there is more, an entering into the life of God, the life and adventure of the Spirit.
The church has often focussed on two substitutes. The first is condemnation and judgment. What God offers is a forgiveness from the guilt and shame of sin. That is part of the good news. But the better part of that news is that we let that behind so we can live a new life. We don't try to get into heaven as the main reason for our faith. Rather, we start to live in heaven on earth, as we bring to earth the reality of the Kingdom of God. The second is to try to give people better physical lives. We emphasize social justice and feed the hungry and help the needy. That, too, is admirable. But there is a life that springs from inside that makes life wonderful in the midst of suffering. That is even better news! The poor in Latin American and Africa have churches that celebrate God with great joy and gladness. There is no, "when life goes my way, I will praise you." All their life is lived in God's life, and the suffering and poverty become roads to knowing God better.
Maybe part of this reflection is to say that we short change what Jesus did for us...and the love that God has for us. As Jesus said, "In this world, you will have trouble, but I have overcome the world." New life.

coming back to blogging

I have decided to try to be in dialogue with other people who have blogs and it seems like I need to have a blog to do this??
Life has been totally filled with school, and it is a relief that my graduate degree is done!
I have so much enjoyed my conversations with young adults for my thesis and am eager to find ways to be in ministry with them. I see my role as encourager, listener, and story teller. I also love to connect people with other people.
Right now, we are awaiting a call from churches in Pennsylvania so we can move east and be closer to our adult children. The first grandson is due in the next few weeks.
Maybe I can be better about blogging this time!

Things left undone

I noticed the other day that my house was dusty. So I left the computer and started dusting. After it was cleaned, I sat at ease. Later that day, my husband came home and never said a word. I realized then how much easier it is to see that which is undone, not that which is done. We notice the clothes on the floor, the dirty laundry hamper piled up. We do not notice a clean house.
Spiritually as well, we notice the person who continues to use prejudiced language, but don't really remark, "Wow, that person is not a bigot!" And we worry often about what is undone, the cards not sent, the phone calls not made.
Working to do that which is right may not get noticed. But what we do that is outside of whom we claim to be, will be noticed! We are called to live accordingly. We want to be transformed from the inside out, to be the unspotted bride of Christ.