Grace
Because I am not and could never cure the disease of myself.
"there ain't no drug that they could sell" - Switchfoot
Only Christ's shed blood has made the way.
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Forgiveness
Add your comment"Forgiveness doesn't merely mean I am saved from hell and have been made ready for heaven. Foregiveness means I am forgiven into a newly created relationship which identifies me with God in Christ." - Oswald Chambers
"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding." Ephesians 1:7-8
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shalom
Peace. Things as they should be. Creation intent. "You will lie down and you will not be afraid." (Leviticus). "Take my yoke upon you and I will give you rest and you will find SHALOM for your soul." (Matthew). We are reconciled to Christ and brought into shalom, we are given the ministry of reconciliation to the world to bring God's shalom to others. Shalom is personal salvation and peace and justice. Shalom Happens. ...more »
Add your commentPeace. Things as they should be. Creation intent. "You will lie down and you will not be afraid." (Leviticus). "Take my yoke upon you and I will give you rest and you will find SHALOM for your soul." (Matthew). We are reconciled to Christ and brought into shalom, we are given the ministry of reconciliation to the world to bring God's shalom to others. Shalom is personal salvation and peace and justice.
Shalom Happens.
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Mystery
The intricate dance of faith has some fundamental steps: Creation. Incarnation. Crucifixion. Resurrection. Grace. Forgiveness. Generosity. These steps are intelligible to a certain degree: after all they must be comprehended and communicated, experientially and communally. But faith also admits the knowledge of human reason and intelligence. This humility in the face of an infinite God is called mystery. God's presence ...more »
Add your commentThe intricate dance of faith has some fundamental steps: Creation. Incarnation. Crucifixion. Resurrection. Grace. Forgiveness. Generosity.
These steps are intelligible to a certain degree: after all they must be comprehended and communicated, experientially and communally. But faith also admits the knowledge of human reason and intelligence. This humility in the face of an infinite God is called mystery.
God's presence at creation, in the burning bush, on Mount Sinai: cloaked in mystery, surprise, and darkness. Despite a book-length rational argument, Job is confronted by the mysterious God out of the whirlwind, who asks the questions. Jesus' parables are enigmatic, and he cloaks his Messianic nature in secrecy during most of his ministry. Paul writes that we only have partial understanding now, and that the fullness of meaning comes in eternity.
The gifts of grace the Church calls "sacraments" originated in Greek as "mysterion." Mystics such as Teresa of Avila and St John of the Cross describe the "dark night of the soul" from which a profound trust in God is established. Charles Wesley's 16th century hymn "And Can It Be," speaks of God's self-giving: "'Tis mystery all: th' Immortal dies! Who can explore his strange design?" Even in today's liturgical language, we "proclaim the mystery of faith: Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again!"
The mystery of which Christians speak is not a puzzle to be solved but the tensions and paradoxes which we inhabit, knowing that our scripture and shared history invite us to not just learn the steps but revel in dancing and trusting with God!
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Grace
Grace. Plain and simple. Beuchner describes grace in tears of tears and rain. Falling from above and a sense of release, Grace is what frees us from ourselves, bringing forth new life and new hope. Grace enables us to be more than the sum total of our actions on the earth and in our minds. For the broken and lost, grace is there. For the over-indulgent, seemingly self-efficient, grace is there too. In an "I love you" ...more »
Add your commentGrace. Plain and simple. Beuchner describes grace in tears of tears and rain. Falling from above and a sense of release, Grace is what frees us from ourselves, bringing forth new life and new hope.
Grace enables us to be more than the sum total of our actions on the earth and in our minds. For the broken and lost, grace is there. For the over-indulgent, seemingly self-efficient, grace is there too.
In an "I love you" without reference to conditions, reservations or exceptions, the word and gift of Grace takes us beyond who we are and moves us towards resembling who we might be.
What makes it distinctly Christian is it was not cheap or without cost. Created with a plan and a hope, with expectations and guidelines, creation had rules as well as consequences. In fact Scripture begins and ends with this story. The One, YHWH, Father, Elohim, Who made the rules also set the consequences. Live in creation, within this Order, outside of the Chaos, or leave and be separated from The Creator. When we failed, over and over to abide by the Order prescribed, even after additional guidelines were offered, Grace came down.
Walking and living among us, Grace viewed humanity not as we acted, but as we could be, fully human. We were not the scoundrels we had chosen to be, rather, we were the Children of God. And with the love that could only come from above, tears fell from the cross in the form of blood from Christ that we might live. Accept that God loves you more than anything we might claim as an object of desire in our life, and live.
Grace, you see, enables someone who has seemingly lost it all, to gain what matters again. Grace means you matter, we matter, I matter. Grace re-aligns us to face God because as we look to Christ, we see the love of the Father, the Creator. At this encounter, we understand there is nothing that can separate us from the Love of God through Jesus Christ, AND it is not by our own means we attain this restored, re-aligned, relationship, it is simple by and because of Grace.
"None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us." (Romans 8:38-39, The Message)
"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." (2 Corinthians 9, NIV)
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Hear
Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God is one LORD. -- Deuteronomy 6:4 Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship. -- Psalm 89:15-16 Answer me when I call to you...have mercy on me and hear my prayer. -- Psalm 4:1 How can they hear if nobody tells them? -- Romans 10:15 I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. -- Revelation ...more »
1 commentHear, O Israel: the LORD our God is one LORD. -- Deuteronomy 6:4
Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship. -- Psalm 89:15-16
Answer me when I call to you...have mercy on me and hear my prayer. -- Psalm 4:1
How can they hear if nobody tells them? -- Romans 10:15
I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. -- Revelation 3:20
Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. -- Revelation 2:7
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Relationship
1 commentEverything in our Christian lives is built around relationships. God cared so much about having an everlasting relationship with us that he was will to sacrifice Jesus. We are designed to be in relationship we each other and with God.
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Faith
Faith becomes a reality inside of us first, then we have to let it out to our lives. We walk, we wait, we give, but without faith we explode. Faith in Him is the root, the basic exercise of a christian. Faith becomes a reality inside of us when we put revelation over the information we receive. When our experience of God is stronger than information we have the go, the flow to live the life that He planned for us. Faith ...more »
1 commentFaith becomes a reality inside of us first, then we have to let it out to our lives. We walk, we wait, we give, but without faith we explode. Faith in Him is the root, the basic exercise of a christian. Faith becomes a reality inside of us when we put revelation over the information we receive. When our experience of God is stronger than information we have the go, the flow to live the life that He planned for us. Faith makes me a christian, without faith in Him (Jesus) all of christianity is like receiving directions from a GPS in a unknown language. We are receiving the right directions but we can't get it. Faith is our translator.
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Resurrection
Add your commentResurrection: It means renewal, life and love. As Christians we are in the resurrection business.
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Community/Connected
We are a communal people in Christ. Because we are "joint heirs with Christ" we are connected to all people. We are connected through time and space by the love we have received and which we are called to share. In Christ, all people are equally valid, equally loved, equally welcome to the Kingdom, which makes us take seriously the notion of sin as that which separates us from God. Although we often don't agree, we are ...more »
Add your commentWe are a communal people in Christ. Because we are "joint heirs with Christ" we are connected to all people. We are connected through time and space by the love we have received and which we are called to share. In Christ, all people are equally valid, equally loved, equally welcome to the Kingdom, which makes us take seriously the notion of sin as that which separates us from God. Although we often don't agree, we are family: we worship together, and in our worship time find that God's presence brings us closer and helps us reconcile our differences.
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humility
Add your commenthumility - becoming a Christian means joining Christ in his example of humility and giving up your needs, wants, and desires for those of God and in-so-doing giving yourself for the needs, wants, and desires of others above your own.
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Justice
Add your commentDo justice, love mercy, and walk humbly before your God. The coming of the kingdom that we're living into will bring justice to all. This should be one of the most central things to the Christian faith.
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Redeemed
Add your commentRedeemed
Delivered by the power of Jesus from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light. Freed from slavery. Eternally reconciled to my Dad, my Creator, my God. Rescued from apathy and sin; taken onto the narrow path to learn love.
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Trinity
Add your commentFather, Son and Spirit. The three in one. One of the most mysterious words in the Christian faith highlighting both unity and diversity.
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Scandalous
To be labeled a "Christian" has become a hard handle for many folks to use anymore. And just as it was scandalous to be a Christian some 2000 years ago, we are in a world and culture that finds many Christians caught up in one kind of scandal or another. Perhaps the time is right for us to adopt the scandalous nature of the Gospel, that dares to live out what it truly means to be Christ in the world today. The radical ...more »
Add your commentTo be labeled a "Christian" has become a hard handle for many folks to use anymore. And just as it was scandalous to be a Christian some 2000 years ago, we are in a world and culture that finds many Christians caught up in one kind of scandal or another.
Perhaps the time is right for us to adopt the scandalous nature of the Gospel, that dares to live out what it truly means to be Christ in the world today. The radical nature of a God, coming to us in flesh and blood, not to condemn the culture or world we live in, but simply to love it completely. Isn't that rather scandalous?
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BLESS
to BLESS others. to BLESS our community. to BLESS our world. Blessing our community is more than just loving our community. Through our actions in cooperation with the Holy Spirit, we express God’s grace, the love of Christ. Blessing involves God. Many citizens love and serve their community. But the church, specifically Christians, are the only ones that can bless their community. Genesis 12:1-2 Now the Lord said…I ...more »
1 commentto BLESS others. to BLESS our community. to BLESS our world.
Blessing our community is more than just loving our community. Through our actions in cooperation with the Holy Spirit, we express God’s grace, the love of Christ. Blessing involves God. Many citizens love and serve their community. But the church, specifically Christians, are the only ones that can bless their community.
Genesis 12:1-2 Now the Lord said…I will bless you…so that you will be a blessing.
A Blessing is a particular goodness received or given…an expression of God’s graciousness and love. (Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms by Donald K. McKim)
Blessing stands as a gift of God (mediated through a human or nonhuman agent) that issues in goodness and well-being in life. (Terrence E. Fretheim in The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary: Genesis)
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Irreligious
Using the definition of religion as a reliance on systems or institutions, rules, or rituals as our way to God, I would submit that at the heart of Christianity, a word to describe Christians is "irreligious". If we replace Jesus Christ with any rules, systems, rituals, or methods, and think that by or in them we somehow can reach the Father, then we have sorely missed the point of Jesus Christ and the heart of the word ...more »
1 commentUsing the definition of religion as a reliance on systems or institutions, rules, or rituals as our way to God, I would submit that at the heart of Christianity, a word to describe Christians is "irreligious". If we replace Jesus Christ with any rules, systems, rituals, or methods, and think that by or in them we somehow can reach the Father, then we have sorely missed the point of Jesus Christ and the heart of the word "Christian"
It is the irreligious nature of Christ that sets us apart from other religions. Following Jesus, and not the religious system, will move us toward a counter cultural way of limitless forgiveness, radical acceptance, non-violent peacemaking, and sacrificial love. It will also move us away from dependence on religious systems as our pathway to God, defining us as thoroughly different from other religions and thoroughly Christian.
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Joy
1 commentThe human experience of an overwhelming sense of wellbeing found in relationship with our Creator through Christ's presence in our lives. A feeling that is uniquely Christian, and full of grace and peace. Joy connects you with every aspect of yourself, with every creature through the pulse of compassion, and with God's hopes for Creation as demonstrated in Jesus Christ.
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Incarnation
Add your commentAs mysterious as this is, it is foundational to our faith that Christ is both human and divine.
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Fellowship
Add your commentIt is in the act of fellowship with other Christians that my faith journey is enhanced to better know God; learn from one another; and, in fellowsip, we lift our prayers for one another, share our concerns with one another, and celebrate in one another's joys anda ccomplishments.
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Emptied
By emptied, I mean the word that Paul uses in Philippians 2:7 to describe Jesus' self-emptying of all the rights that he could have claimed for being fully God. Though the fullness of God dwelled in Jesus, He emptied himself so that others would be filled. He came to serve not to be served. He died so that we may live. As a result of his self-emptying he experienced God-filling and was exalted to the glory he experienced ...more »
Add your commentBy emptied, I mean the word that Paul uses in Philippians 2:7 to describe Jesus' self-emptying of all the rights that he could have claimed for being fully God. Though the fullness of God dwelled in Jesus, He emptied himself so that others would be filled. He came to serve not to be served. He died so that we may live. As a result of his self-emptying he experienced God-filling and was exalted to the glory he experienced with God before all of creation was spoken into existence.
This Greek word "kenosis" has massive ramifactions for me as a Christian because Paul informs me to have the same emptying attitude of Jesus. Only when I empty myself of my needs, my rights, and my plans will I then be able to be filled by God's Spirit as Jesus is manifested in me.
Self-emptying leads to God-filling.
I have never seen a word like it in any other religion, worldview, or way of living. It is entirely counter-cultural in a world that promotes upward mobility, looking out for #1, and being a winner. This enables us to go beyond merely mimicking Jesus to actually making manifest Jesus in the unfolding narrative of our lives.
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Disciple
En vogue? No. But I think it completely sums up what it means to be a "Christian." The very word "Christian" has been co-opted to mean so many things, ranging from a political conservative to a person who affirms the existent of some supernatural being. But disciple is relatively unscathed. It's the word used by Christ Himself to describe those who are committed to walking in His footsteps. And even today, if you were ...more »
Add your commentEn vogue? No. But I think it completely sums up what it means to be a "Christian." The very word "Christian" has been co-opted to mean so many things, ranging from a political conservative to a person who affirms the existent of some supernatural being. But disciple is relatively unscathed. It's the word used by Christ Himself to describe those who are committed to walking in His footsteps. And even today, if you were to answer the question of your faith/beliefs by saying, "Actually, I consider myself a disciple of Christ," even without solid definitions, the least-spiritually informed person around can have a sense of the gravity and determination of your faith commitment.
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