Jason's Blog

Sorry that I haven’t been writing for the last few days!  I’m sure that you all know about the string of church events that stretched into last week.  Also, during the middle of last week I was sick for a day or two.  And I had a little trip that I take every year down to St. Amant, Lousiana (at the Parish Hermitage).  All that added up to no blogging!I have been thinking a lot about friendship these days.  This is not only because of some recent deaths in our congregation – which weigh on us on all – but also because of the trip this weekend.  I simply love Judy and Eddie and the ministry that the are doing at the Hermitage.  It was great to renew some friendships and deepen others.  I’ll share more about the trip later. . . Back to friendships.

God has just made us to cherish these relationships and his glory is seen most clearly in them. The heavens do indeed declare God’s wonder, but people really do because they are God’s image. But there is nothing like sweet communion with friends. . . And there is nothing like the pain of departed friends or broken relationships. But whatever we do, our friendships are to be folded into that deep relationship that exists between Jesus and the Father.

This has all been on my mind as I’ve been reading and studying John chapters 5 and 6.  Jesus shares the glory of the Father and gives that glory away to all those around him.  From a lame man to the crowds by the shore, he is willing to create signs.  But what he wants more than anything is for us to see the greater significance of his coming.  Will we let Jesus be who He really is in our life?

“As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” – John 17:21

I had a guest teacher in my class last night– Derran Reese from Abilene.  He is part of the Thai Mission team that our congregation is supporting right now.  They look to go to the field by Fall 2009.

His text was Philippians 2:5-11 (the Christ Hymn) and we looked at how Christ emptied himself (kenosis) and became human (incarnation).  We then explored the question if this is how God has revealed himself in the world, how can we minister and serve in a similar way?  I hope you’ll be thinking about that and if you have any ideas or illustrations of kenotic/incarnational living, post one as a comment. Here’s one that came to mind for me.

I was talking with Virginia about our English Second Language Program yesterday.  We’ve recently changed books and the students are really pleased with them because the text seems to hit right where they are. Tuesday’s lesson focused on filling out job applications. Since I’ve dealt with standardized forms since I was in elementary school, I don’t think about them much.  But someone that’s learning English really has now idea what the blank “place of birth” means.  For us it’s a shorthand that we know real well, but “place of birth” can leave someone less familiar with English scratching their head.

It occurs to me that Virginia is doing some kenotic/incarnational ministry.  She is serving people right where they are– helping them fill in blanks they could not even read on their own.  There is someone in your life that you can serve today.  Walk next to them, enter into their struggle, and see how God can use you to fill in a blank to his glory.

Here are the notes that I worked from in class on Sunday.  Sorry there is no audio file.  

Of particular note is a recent book that I’m working through called Who Speaks For Islam?  I find helpful as I’m wanting to move past raw stereotypes that I have of people from Middle Eastern descent.  I didn’t notice this really until I lived in Pasadena, and lived with neighbors who were from this part of the world. They were always looked at with suspicion.  That really intensified after 9/11.  

Let me also call your attention to a great piece by Timothy George’s Love Amidst the Brokenness.  I love what he has to say about living our lives on purpose and with a sense of calling.  The home going of our dear sister Juanita has reminded me that we need to live each day to the fullest and for the best.  None of us can predict what is next.  All we can do is be “faithful to God’s calling, [and] bear witness to the beauty, the light, and the divine reality that we shall forever enjoy in heaven.”

I was teaching on John 6 on Wednesday night and forgot a great illustration that I ran across.  Let me give credit where it’s due and set the illustration in its context for just a moment. 

David Yeago wrote a powerful article in 1995 entitled “The Bread of Life:  Patristic Christology and Evangelical Soteriology in Martin Luther’s Sermons on John 6” in SVTQ 39 (1995): 257-279.  His argument is that Luther’s view of Jesus are rooted in classic orthodox theology that you can find in the old church fathers.  Yeago particularly draws out the consistency of thought between Luther and what he calls the “Cyrilline tradition” (that follows out from Chalcedon and St. Cyril of Alexandria). 

Okay, enough historical markers – here’s the illustration from Martin Luther. 

Jesus the bread of life is like an iron heated in flame so that it’s full of fire.  Left alone and apart from the flame, an iron has no power to burn or brand – but when buried in coals and covered over with “sheer fire” it glows and can do his work.  Listen in now to Luther in his own words:

The fire does its work nowhere except in the iron; in that very place it burns and bores.  So also here the divine power is present bodily in the humanity of Christ, and acts as a God should act, or acts as the fire in the iron.

[Christ wants to say] “If you grasp my flesh, your are not grasping ordinary flesh and blood, but the eat the flesh and blood which deify, that is, which give the character and power of the Godhead”   (p. 273).

As we approach Jesus in faith, we cling to him and he changes us from the inside out.  Just as fire is carried over to metal, divine love is poured into us by the Holy Spirit as we stay connected to the one who is the Head—Jesus Christ as Lord.

Let’s never loose track of Jesus.  He himself is our peace and our life and our strength.  – JF