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Wednesday 16 August 2017

"In Accordance with Truth... Seek for Glory and Honour."

I ask for integrity for my community of faith, that while we are condemning the show of racial violence south of our boarder, we do not ignore and justify our own white privilege.  I pray that we hear with ears of truth.  I pray that we  continue to strive to know and follow Jesus more closely, seeking justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly, even - especially - when that walk takes us to our own death.


Romans 2:2-11
2You say, ‘We know that God’s judgement on those who do such things is in accordance with truth.’ 3Do you imagine, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgement of God? 4Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgement will be revealed. 6For he will repay according to each one’s deeds: 7to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honour and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8while for those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. 9There will be anguish and distress for everyone who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10but glory and honour and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11For God shows no partiality.


1) "in accordance with truth;" "...and yet do them yourself;" "...the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience;" "...God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance;" "...hard and impenitent heart;" "storing up wrath for yourself;" "...seek for glory and honour and immortality;" "...eternal life;" "...wickedness;" "...wrath and fury;" "...God shows no partiality."


2) If I believed in hell, I know who would be burning in it.  Paul's message seems so clear to me, "stop judging other people."  It isn't even "stop doing the things you are condemning others for doing."  Paul is clear, we can only stop doing what we don't want to do by the grace of God.  Here, Paul is only concerned about one "side" condemning the other "side."  Stop it, he says.  God shows no partiality.  We are all condemned and only redeemed through God's enduring love.  Seeking glory and honour and immortality means not taking the responsibility of condemning other people onto ourselves, but rather loving them back into community.  So how do we apply this to "white nationalists" and 45?  I know that we should use them as a mirror to see the ways in which we too support white privilege and supremacy.  To dismantle white supremacy at its very roots... our own hearts.  Do we really believe that every human being is made in the image and likeness of God?  I don't witness that belief in my day to day workings.  I witness a lot of behaviour that proclaims, "God is more in this person than that person."  We have a healthy dose of works righteousness going on here.  But I witness a great deal of latent racism in our community.  We do a lot of "charity" rather than "relationship."  But how do I model "relationship" rather than "charity?"


3) What is the invitation in all this?  To make my relationships with diverse people more visible?  To model egalitarian relationship more explicitly?


"Holy One, we are struggling through this transformation.  Keep us kicking.  Give us what we need to break free from the cocoon into a transformed life."


Breathprayer: "in accordance with truth... seek for glory and honour."

1 comment:

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