Pastor Don’s Corner . . .
An angel
of the Lord appeared to Peter, tapped him on the side and said, ““Get up
quickly!”
And the
chains fell off his wrists.” (Acts 12:7
NRSV)
I believe with all
my heart that, in Jesus Christ, God is shattering the chains which bind and
enslave us, most of which are of our own choosing and design . . . much like
those of Charles Dicken’s, A Christmas
Carol, worn by Marley and
Scrooge. They are chains . . .
Ø
Of wealth, of
bling, of being better than others;
Ø
Of power,
experience, of age and maturity;
Ø
Of right,
entitlement, of assumed place and privilege;
Ø
Of bank accounts,
investments, or interest to be made;
Ø
Of color, race,
ethnicity, nationality and journey;
Ø
Of politics,
party, platform and perceived self-righteousness;
Ø
Of religion, of a
corner on God’s goodness, of certainty how God approves or disapproves;
Ø
Of running water,
indoor bathrooms, refrigerated food, and a purchased food supply;
Ø
Of technology
which demands our every moment and instant communication which mutes our mind;
Ø
Of Sabbath which
offers no rest, worship which serves no God but you . . . and the mindless
drivel of prayers offered more for your money than your soul;
Ø
Of dependency on
bombs for peace, of bullets for power and landmines for domination;
Ø
Of acceptable
body shape, clothing needs and fitness of body and mind, yet lack of soul;
Ø
Of spirituality
without community, of religion without mission and faith without mercy;
These, and so many
more, are the chains which bind us . . . and it is far easier to see them in
and upon others than it is to recognize their binding power in our own lives.
Still, they are there. Still, they cling. Still their heaviness weighs our
every step down. Still, God is at work in Jesus Christ, shattering the chains
which bind. The empty tomb is God’s formidable, stark Witness of that truth.
But, the haunting question lingers on, ‘For what?’ Why is God, in being God, so
determined to shatter the chains we forge and design for our own lives? In ‘releasing
us from’, what is God ‘moving us towards’?
I believe, too,
there are ‘thin places’ between the Realm of God and the realm of earth – and
every so often we glimpse here on earth a vision through the thin places of
what already is in the Realm of God . . . and when we see it, we know it and
God is in it. The chains are left shattered on the ground. We see such things .
. .
Ø
When, regardless
the poverty, everything is shared;
Ø
When national
boundaries mean less than human need and safety;
Ø
When faith matters
more than religion and faithfulness more than dogma or certainty;
Ø
When personal
resources are the catalyst for communal health;
Ø
When personal
contact takes priority over technological touches;
Ø
When the only
advantages society seeks are those which build stronger communities;
Ø
When diversity is
embraced, cultural differences valued and ethnic histories are considered
sacred;
Ø
When the politics
of nationalism are considered the handmaiden of the world community;
Ø
When the tail of
popularity, wealth and power no longer wags the shared human experience;
Ø
When Sabbath is
rest in God, worship feeds the soul and prayers invite the heart to be
truthful;
Ø
When the ‘challenges’
of first world living giving way to humble sharing of available resources;
Ø
When the journey
of faith is one of responsiveness to God in tending to the other with honor,
integrity and respect;
Ø
And, When
acceptability has nothing to do with the clothes one wears, the shape of one’s
body or the level of fitness one maintains but, rather, in the mission and
mercy in which one engages each day.
Our chains are being
shattered that we might offer ourselves as servants, one to the other, all for
the sake of serving the Vision of the One who sent Christ to lead us on the
way. It is as simple as that, it is as difficult as that, for it requires that
we humbly receive the Gift of freedom, embody the freedom of the Giver and,
then, free others that they might glimpse the Realm of God in the places we
dwell together on earth.
In the places of our
temporal imprisonment on earth, God is guiding God’s angels to wrestle us out
of our lethargy and indifference in the midst of our captors and is moving us towards
change and possibility, allowing the chains of this world to fall off, now
ultimately useless, and take up our cross to follow Jesus. For such freedom we
are set free, for such a vision we have been given the sight of Jesus, and for
such ministries we are empowered in the Spirit to serve.
God’s is not an idle
freedom, neither is the Church birthed in the Spirit to be an unmoving Body,
nor are we to be mute witnesses to an empty tomb. We are set free for dynamic,
transforming servanthood, authentic in Love, committed in Soul and ongoing in a
Joy no grave could ever contain.
It is time to stand
up and let the chains fall off. It is time to move forward, allowing tradition
to bury its own dead. It is time to witness to that for which we pray, “. . .
in earth as it is in Heaven.” For such we are born anew each day and for such
we pledge ourselves in every moment that the ‘thin places’ between the Realm of
God and the realm of earth are made visible in Whose we are and in Whom we are
becoming.
Have a blessed
Easter . . . as the chains fall off your wrists and you are led to new life in
Christ!
Pastor Don
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