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All one river
Sunday, December 4, 2016
Second Sunday of Advent
Romans 15:5-7
May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in keeping with Christ Jesus, you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it, now YOU do it!
Earlier in his letter to the Roman Christians, Paul writes that Jesus is the “firstborn” among many brothers and sisters. Heaven came down, and glory filled our souls. We are all in this together, Jesus and us. In our going in and our coming out, and to the very end.
Miles Tomita is just over three weeks old, and his brother is Jesus. My mother will be 95 next year, and she is the sister of Jesus. American malls and Syrian refugee camps and isolated cabins in the mountains are all inhabited by brothers and sisters of Jesus.
God gives up transcendence to be immanent. Not that he stops being the creator and sustainer of the universe, but he turns away from that part of himself to count the hairs on all our heads, and know each of us better than we know ourselves. He is nearer to me than my next breath. God is.
Jesus makes that clear by his being and his words. He is here to be our friend and family, to die for us and show us how to live.
In light of this, Paul’s action item is for us to sing God’s glory and open our arms to each other. Do not be afraid. Trust the brotherhood. We are all one people.
Tribalism is often our poor substitute. We are loyal to a certain few, and the others outside … well, we see them differently. We are afraid of each other, and then we hurt each other. Shut each other out. Turn inward. Get selfish. Lose sight of God, and replace God with our own chosen images of God. And justify what we’ve done any way we can.
The prophets of the Old Testament came against these self-protections, and got thrown into cisterns for their efforts. Most of us will not give up our righteous, redemptive violence. Jesus, and then John, said there is no fear in love. But we are afraid. We need God’s endurance and encouragement to live with each other in harmony.
It’s there for the asking.
Give me the courage to ask, Lord. Please show me how to live in love with people who are not my kin, not my color, not like me, don’t think like me, and who maybe don’t even like me. This is not an easy thing, is it, Lord? But you welcomed me. And so I am free to be a welcomer, too.
http://www.davesandel.net/category/lent-easter-devotions-2016/
http://www.christiancounselingservice.com/archived_devotions.php?article_id=1521
