Today we begin reading Romans. It's one of my favorite of Paul's letters - there are some of the most comforting words I've ever read in this letter, and also some of the most challenging. Got to say one thing for Paul: he's not lukewarm. As he opens the letter, he defines very clearly what it means to be a Christian. 1. We've been given the gift of new life, and 2. we've been called to an urgent task of sharing this new life with others. He says to his readers, "You are who you are through this (1. gift) and (2. call) of Jesus Christ!" What defines us as Christians is what we've been given by God and by what we are called to do through that gift.
In another letter (to the Galatians), Paul famously says that "it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." When Paul says that we are granted new life through Christ, he doesn't mean that Jesus' life just enhances our own - he means that it completely replaces it. We ourselves, our egos and desires and wills, must die - be crucified - so that Christ's new life can enter into us and take us over. Paul says we need to let go of ourselves completely and allow Christ to live in and through us. This is both a fearful and wonderful thing - to fully let go and let God. But if you've ever experienced a taste of it, you know how liberating it is.
Many have felt this awesome love and liberation from God and then tried to vigorously promote it to others. But I don't think Paul means that we need to shove our experience of God down other peoples' throats. If we have found ourselves awakened to the liberation of God, others will be attracted to us, and we are then called to find ways to share the strangely good news of God's liberation with others who are struggling. Paul says this is an urgent task - to reach out to others in this broken world and assure them that they don't have to struggle under the burden of self, but can lay their burdens down and have a whole new life in this way of Jesus. Paul described this in another way in a different letter: As Christians, we become Christ's ambassadors.
I was really struck by the words "Urgent Task" in the reading today, because as I've been praying the news in these days of Lent, I've come up against a lot of urgency. Take, for example, the meteorologists that have decided to give winter storms provocative names and seem to relish predicting horrendous disasters. "Go out and get your milk and eggs and rev up those generators right now - you're going to be trapped under a snowdrift for weeks!"
And this morning, once the news about the Oscars had been reported, the main story was that the sequester is looming. This is the last week to avoid it and it's looking likely that we won't. If this is the case, by the end of March there will be spending cuts across the board that may cause disruptions in many services and the loss of a number of jobs. Government agencies are already making their layoff plans.
The whole sequester proposal was meant to create a huge sense of urgency - it was thought that no one in congress would be able to abide such random cuts and would therefore be forced to work together across the aisle to create a better solution together. But it seems that political rancor and drawing lines in sand are more important to politicians than true cooperation on this issue. It is speculated that politicians, while unwilling to make concessions yet, might actually be hoping that the effects of the sequester will be so awful that no one will be able to blame them for finally "having to" cooperate. But this morning one commentator said that the worst thing that could happen is that nothing happens - that the cuts take place and there's no real outcry. Sure, a lot of services and jobs will be lost, but if people don't get up in arms about it, then politicians won't need to do anything differently in the future. And of course, the people who will suffer most will be those who already rely on public funding. The poor just get poorer.
The potent combination of partisan politics and public apathy are not good news for our nation. And I think our leaders are missing what the real urgent task here is. I know we're not all Christians in this country, but I think the idea of allowing something greater than yourself to take the place of your own ego is a common ideal. In the realm of politics, this has traditionally been called "working for the common good." I believe that our leaders need to be ambassadors - not for their own interests - but for the common good. If the common good were really our most urgent task, our leaders would have to get beyond their own personal or partisan needs for power, influence and getting re-elected to offer true selfless service as the "public servants" they are elected to be.
Today's readings: Jer. 1:11-19; Rom. 1:1-15; John 4:27-42
Elsa is reading The Message translation this year.
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