7/5/12- The Day After Freedom

³¹ To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³² Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
³³ They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
³⁴ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵ Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Thoughts: Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying after the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, "We must all hang together or we will assuredly all hang separately."  
This is also a great principle of the Church.  United we stand, divided we fall.  Yet there are many who seek to divide the church in order to achieve their own ideal.  Our common enemy, evil and sin, is always lurking a the door- like a roaring lion looking to devour those who stray away.
    The Church is not a perfect place, nor a place where everyone agrees.  We put up with a lot in patience and love in order to further the kingdom of God.
     We must also adhere to our constitution- our basic document- the Bible.  To stray from this in the name of any ideal means our demise.  We have seen this in the Church for the last thirty years in America.  It is the truth that sets us free.  Ignoring the truth or skirting around the truth does not frees us- but traps us.  Covering up the truth and excusing untruths take much more energy than following the truth- keeping our eyes on the northern star- our true north- Jesus.  
     It is time to be honest with ourselves.         
It is time to get honest with Jesus- humbling ourselves before His truth- His person- His love.  In humbling ourselves we put up with each other and hang together. 


Prayer: Help us, O Lord, to balance a thirst for truth with grace and patience with each other.  Help us to know it is your truth that frees us, but it is patience with each other that preserves us.  

4/13/12- Union with Christ

WSC Q 30- How does the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?

A: The Spirit applies Christ's purchased redemption to us by working faith in us, and thus uniting us to Christ in our real calling.


 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:44)


remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

 ¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, (Ephesians 2:12-14)

Thoughts: The Holy Spirit draws us to Christ.  The Holy Spirit unites us to Christ.  We who were far away from Christ, and far away from each other, are drawn to each other in a special communion- a tie that binds.  We become one in Christ and one with Christ.  He is the head of our body.  He is the pioneer for the rest of us. He is the elder brother who goes before us- clearing the path- the path through the gate of death into life.  He is the cornerstone of our building- of which we are building blocks.  We are a part of the same building- the same movement.  We link ourselves to Him, and He leads us to salvation.  

We become one with Him when we accept Him into our lives- which is in itself a gift.
      We do not come to Christ in a vacuum-- all on our own.  We know the choices we make are complicated with influences of our environment (do we get to hear about Christ- which is not usually up to us), and our tendencies and preferences (often shaped from our genes- again of which we have no control).  But when we are drawn to choose Christ, we unite ourselves with the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church- His body- of whom He is the Head.  Communion- or the Eucharist- is a sign of our oneness.  Singing together, praying together, focusing together in worship are also signs of our oneness with Him that makes us brothers and sisters with each other.  We are all in the same stream, all in the same family, all pulling in the same direction. We not only have the same Lord and Head.  But all of us are under the same-one- baptism.  We share the same trust and faith with each other- but that He shares.  We share our mutual burdens and sorrows but also our joys and blessings.  We are drawn to each other as a magnet draws steel together.
     We are of one mind and one communication and in agreement.  Despite what the world sees of the divisions, in Christ's eyes the invisible church is one- different branches on the same tree.  We pray to the same God, and know the same Great Friend in conversation, sharing even the same Word from Him.  We abide in Him and He in us, and thus we abide with each other.  The unity in Christ is deeper and longer than any earthly union.  In heaven this invisible unity will be seen.  He is the center- on the throne at the vortex of the circle of love in heaven.  

Prayer: Help me, O Lord, to cherish my union with you and with others who believe in you.