Archive for March, 2013

Jesus died on a cross. He rose from the dead. And He did it for us.

There can be little doubt that Christ’s resurrection is important for Christians. In fact, Paul explains it pretty clearly when he says:

if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. -1 Corinthians 15:17

Christ did rise from the dead, and He did it for us. He did it so that we who are in Christ could be raised into newness of life along with Him.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ . . . and raised us up with Him -Ephesians 2:4-6

For those who are in Christ, this has happened, this is happening, and this will happen.

We got new life

It is because of Christ’s resurrection that we were born again.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again . . . through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead -1 Peter 1:3

Christ’s resurrection means we got new life. This new life came by the Spirit, and brought us back into fellowship with God and with His family.

We are getting new life

The purpose of this new birth, is to grow and live — for Christ — daily.

Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” -John 4:13-14

This “water” that Jesus was referring to is the Spirit (cf. John 7:37-39), and “springing up” implies an ongoing process. God’s people are led by the Spirit; we move in the the gifts of the Spirit; we bear the fruit of the Spirit. And at the end of the day, it is all for the purpose of growing in fellowship with God and His family, the “body of Christ”.

We will get new life

If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. -1 Corinthians 15:19-20

Just as Christ rose from the dead, Christians who die will also be raised from the dead (cf. Romans 8:11). In fact, everyone — alive or dead — will rise (and be transformed)…

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. -1 Thessalonians 4:14-17

…”and so we shall always be with the Lord.” This final resurrection to new life will be one giant family reunion. We will be with the Lord, and we will be with one another — forever.

Communion

It may be apparent by now that this post contains many instances of “we” and “us,” and not many instances of “you” or “I”. Scripture speaks almost solely of the people of God as one unified entity; one fellowship, one body, one bride, one nation, one spiritual house. Christ’s resurrection enabled us to come back into His fold; back into His family. Everything in Scripture points toward this final reconciliation to God and His people in Christ, and when all is said and done, Christ and His bride are the only artifacts from this life that we will see in eternity. This has major implications for how we view our relationships with one another.

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. -Ephesians 4:1-6

This is worth remembering when we consider the significance of communion. When we take communion, it is a shared communion. It is communion with God and with His family.

And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves -Luke 22:17

Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? -1 Corinthians 10:16

Communion does not just represent the death of Jesus, and it does not just represent fellowship with the people in your congregation. Communion signifies the reunion we have in Christ to God and to His people — all of His people — regardless of doctrine or creed.

Habemus Papam!

and welcome back to a fairly exciting day for Catholics, news junkies and chimney sweeps.

I, like hundreds of millions of Catholics and billions of other awesome people, had never heard of Jorge Mario Bergoglio; he didn’t appear to be one of the elite front runners the Vatican pundits had put forth.  I remember calling it in 2005, telling my English professor that I “Hoped it would be Ratzinger”.  Thought I was pretty smart stuff, so this time I told everyone that I “Hoped it would be Burke” just to see if luck would bring us a pontiff from the Sconnie Nation, no such luck…

But in the last few hours, I’ve heard hundreds of opinions of him.  Time Magainze has a list of fun facts that start out light and end up making him sound like the heir of Toruemada not Peter.  But it would seem that he’s a man of contradiction:

1.  He’s a Jesuit priest who takes the name of Francis (maybe St. Francis Xavier, but probably St. Francis of Assisi)
2. He allegedly had something to do with kidnapping of Jesuits during the Dirty War when he, himself, was superior of the order in Argentina.
3. His name, Francis, is the first wholly new papal in a really long time
4. Also, considering Papal nomenclature, Francis means “The Frenchman” which neither he is nor St. Francis was.
5. and lastly, “The Frenchman” means “The Freeman” whereas, as accepting the papcy, he made himself the least free slave of Jesus on the face of the Earth.

Beyond that, he appears to be a man of great interior unity and simplicity:

1. He appears to live a devout life while being “of the people” by taking some sort of public transportation,  I’ve seen it reported as “The Subway” and “The Bus” (but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a sidewalk).
2. He’s written a few books, some of which are on spirituality (and there’s another, interview book I found that you can go add to wikipedia and be a hero).
   

   Pope Francis’ first book
   typeset by Abbe Everly*

3. His mother was a stay-at-home mom and his father was an Italian Immigrant.  One shouldn’t assume this means anything even though it seems to be enough humility to qualify someone to run for President of the United States. But, knowing that he has humble roots should still mean something.

So, that’s my take on the Pope. If you have any questions about what a new Pope can or can’t mean for the Catholic Church or the whole Christian world, might I suggest christianity.stackexchange.com?

*I was going to say E.E. Cummings but I’ll give the guy a break, it’s his first day on the job!