2023-05-06 A Meditation on Cusp of Change
“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” (2 Co 4:3–5 ESV)
Many voices converge on today’s talking point: religion, for those undefiled, for those of pure heart, a religion cautiously advertised, spoken of in hushed tones, used to greet a neighbor or to speak deeply to a family member. In the mad dash of our times, many decisions are made and many revelations occur to individuals, inspired setting out, motivated testimony, hastened fulfillment of the promises made over each of us.
For the rules and the commands are “out there”, in immeasurable time and space, quantity untold, for each individually and corporately to discern: was it said such-and-such, or was it this-and-so? We do what plain religion inspires us “to do”. We are each of us confronting an obelisk of hatred, discovered early or late depending on who we are, and riled up by our testimony. This is no-man’s land. This is a world on a cusp, a world not constrained by diminutive ideas of what religion is up to, what it is about, what it is capable of. No, parables of stark subsistent living meet boastful parables of dominion and turf war, authority and respectful submission, new latitudes of creaturely arising, us as beloveds called to stand tall.
Therefore we invest in word and deed in the untold capacities of man, no legislated nor top-down circumstances, but a blessing for those coached and knowing heart change, coached in religion, in faith in a God above, in a “Today” mentality that hears all life trustingly handed back to its originators, individual men and women in their gardens, in their “Today, if you hear His voice” mindset; “Today, salvation has come for this house” (Lk 19:9); “Today, we dare to believe, dare to act, dare to make the good deed”.