[I have decided that writing notes as I do lectio divina helps me to stay focused—most of the time. Anyway I will post these when I can especially if you find my ramblings helpful.]
Ephesians 2
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Powers and principalities-ruler of kingdom of the air
Twas mercy and grace
Cravings of the flesh-self-centered survival living-Randian individualism. I’ve got mine and I want to amass more-not about pelvic morality issues but about the community and the common good
We are alive in the Cosmic Risen Christ in whom we live and have our being. The Spirit of the Cosmic Christ is present in every atom in the cosmos-the primeval stardust still flares forth as the New Order Reign of Christ moves toward the Omega Point.
How blessed we are to live in the pure gift infinite mercy of the God who is love incarnate.
Indeed, we are God’s handiwork. We are created and sustained in love to do good works.
The Spirit empowers us to move beyond what Bishop Spong calls survival toward living in love. We certainly cannot do this on our own.
Luke 12
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
Watch out, guard against greed. Deal with overcoming selfishness. It is not all about me. It is about us.
We are not about eating, drinking and making merry (or making Mary-sorry I could not resist a pun). The Kin-dom proclaimed by the Risen Cosmic Christ is not about consumerism and amassing more. We have to ask, “How much is enough for TODAY?” Remember that when the Israeites gathered more than a one-day supply of manna in the desert, the manna spoiled.
Christ empowers us to be rich toward God.
Right after this passage comes the passages about God caring for us like God cares for the sparrows of the air ansd the flowers of the field.
I am beginning to understand through my new found involvement with GreenFaith (www.greenfaith.org) that it is about us. It is about us and our carbon footprint as it impacts other people and the cosmos. Christogenesis is all about bringing ourselves nd the cosmos to fulfilled completion, not to greedy ruination.
Come, Christ, come. Grace me. Empower me to live love this day.
When I finished lectio divina, I found this refllection fromRichard Rohr waiting in my inbox. Thank you, Richard:
THE IMMORTAL DIAMOND OF THE TRUE SELF (New book coming out soon.)
The question the three women ask in [the] first moment of would-be resurrection is still ours: “Who will roll away the rock?” (Mark 16:3). Who will help us in this mining operation for True Self? What will it take to find my True Self? How do I even know there is an “immortal diamond” underneath and behind all this rock of my ego, my specific life experience, my own culture?
Up to now, it has been common, with little skin off anyone’s back, to intellectually argue or religiously believe that Jesus’ physical body could really “resurrect.” That was much easier to ask than whether we could really change or resurrect. It got us off the hook—the hook of growing up, of taking the search for our True Selves seriously.