To the Beloved in Christ:
I am being challenged at present by Eugene Petersons book “living the Resurrection!” A very Apt book to be reading as I start to think of the ministry of the church for 2012. He referred to Pope John Paul II who said something along the lines of “ Don’t look to western culture for models in development. They know how to make things, but they don’t know how to live with them. They have acquired mind boggling technology, but they have forgotten how to raise their children.”
Now isn’t that the truth. In my exam last week I had to write an essay on “an Authentic Spirituality for Modern South Africa.” In that essay I focused on the fact that we need to take responsibility for our own spirituality but live it out in the context of living with others. It is a central Christian principal that we are responsible to each other and for each other, but it begins with each individual taking responsibility for them selves and for making the world the place that we want to life in. I cannot stress it enough—we share in the task of creation, we have the ability to speak (act) good things into being or bad. The choice is ours will we be participators in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, the work of salvation of the creation, or will we be destructive and rob the earth, our children and the society of life, through our actions. A spirituality that is applicable for our time is one that liberates us from complacency and inspires us to urgency. We need to be leaders in our time. We need to be leaders in our communities we need to be the change that we desire. And we need to desire change! We need to fight against injustice, poverty, environmental degradation, and we need to be the agents of moral regeneration. We need to take charge of our lives and seek out the goodness of God, the mystery of God the challenges of God!
We need to create a new culture in our community a culture of respect for each other, a culture that treasures its children, a culture that respects the earth. We need to study the exilic (Babylonian) period and find ways to be as transformative as they were, and bring the love of Christ into the world. This is our calling.
In last weeks Gospel (Matthew 21:33-43) I found a wonderful truth, in the story of the King who called the people off the street to share in the banquet—we are among them the unworthy called to the feast—the challenge is that we need to respect the banquet hall we need to respect the king...Are we?
I felt God reminding me that we are invited to hos banquest fo life. A life that we do not deserve but recieve by grace. But very often we are not clothed correctly ( as teh man who was not wearing a wedding robe). When we are not clothed in compassion, when we are not clothed in righteousness that comes through repentance, when we are not clothed with mercy - then we are like that man. Happy to be there to enjoy the banquet- feasting on the goodnes of teh KIng but not appreciating our supproundings. Not appreciating , not preapriung ourselves not doing what is worthy of one in a banquet hall.
So I urge you brothers and sisters, do not live as one who does not know the significance of your calling from death to life. Clothe yourselves in the righteousness of Christ and feast at his banquet table. And remeber that we all who feast at the table of the Lord the gift of life, are here by grace and grace alone.
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