Praise the Lord for this fabulous Friday. The Lord has blessed us with abundant sunshine, full of splendor and beauty. Jeremy is away for few days with his work, so Janice, Micah, and Simeon are planning to come down to New York for a few days. Jessie and Tom are also coming for the long weekend. Laureen is getting ready for her mission trip. Sunita and Andy are still in Grand Canyon area, returning to DC on Sunday.
As we celebrate Labor Day here in the States and as we remember the tragedy and the terror of 9/11, I am reminded about the great invitation our Lord Jesus made in Mathew 11:28, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. This is not just an invitation to rest and to be healed, delivered or forgiven; it is an invitation to kingdom living that transforms the world. Jesus’ invitation was for everyone to come and recognize the King of this new kingdom. It was not about floating spirits sitting on clouds but, rather, it was about real people standing on real earth living out the principles of this new way of life. This was an invitation to the religious and non-religious. It was for saint and sinner alike. It was not just a life of sin that Jesus was asking people to leave, although that was certainly a part of it, it was an invitation to leave their directionless and self-absorbed lives of confusion and ambiguity. It was an invitation to be saved from personal sin, it was an invitation to leave a life of futility and stupidity and enter into the God-life he was offering. It was an invitation to leave a life of dysfunction and have a life that worked, because it was a life lived God’s way. I like the way Brian McLaren puts it in his book, "The Story We Find Ourselves In". He says, “For prostitutes, the call of Jesus was to leave their story of men who pay money for love, and to enter the story of God, who in love pays for us with his own life. For Pharisees, it was to leave their story of religiosity and superiority and rigidity and judgmentalism, their story that was exclusively focused on their own narrow little sect, and instead to enter God’s broader and deeper and better story of grace and compassion and mercy and love for all people. For Zealots like Simon, it was to leave the political story of violence, to stop slitting Romans throats, as if that would bring the story to its desired end, and instead to enter God’s spiritual story of peace for all people, to risk persecution for justice and to prefer suffering over causing others to suffer. For tax collectors like Zacchaeus or Matthew, it was to stop collaborating with the Roman Empire, and profiting in the process, and instead to collaborate with the kingdom of God, and sacrifice in the process. For the rich — like that young ruler Jesus met — it was to abandon the hollow story of acquisition, and instead to enter God’s better story of generosity. For farmers and shepherds, it was to realize that there’s more to life than just planting seeds of wheat or tending flocks of sheep; instead, Jesus invited them to enter into the bigger story of planing seeds of truth and seeking lost men and women, every one of whom is loved and counted and missed by God. For fishermen like Peter and Andrew and James and John, it was to trade in the story of catching fish for a bigger story of fishing for men and women, inviting them into God’s story of ongoing creation and redemption. For the middle class, who want nothing more than to create a little social aquarium for their family. . . . it’s a call to care about the families of their neighbors too, especially the poor, to see them as family too, as children of Adam and children of God.” I might add that Jesus invites the atheist to leave his imagined world where God does not exist, and enter a beautiful, new, colorful world where God is the cause of everything that exists. He invites the humanist, who depends on himself in order to discover meaning and ultimate reality in the material world, to enter the story of God where God’s greater purpose is bigger than any one person or group of people — a meaning and purpose which God has built into the universe. He invites nominal church people to leave a life where God only occupies one hour a week, with a passing prayer here and there, to enter fully into his life and teaching, on a moment by moment basis. Instead of inviting God to be a part of your life, accept his invitation to fully be a part of his — to move beyond thinking we need God’s help to realizing how much we need God himself. He invites us to move beyond a list of rules and right doctrine to a life of ongoing relationship with himself. He invites you to understand that he did not die just to bring you to heaven, but to bring heaven to earth through you. Jesus gives an open invitation to a life of fruitfulness. Jesus’ openness to us is not an invitation without cost. It is not merely an invitation into God’s love, although that is a part of it. It is an invitation into God’s kingdom where there is work to be done. Being a kingdom person means accepting kingdom responsibilities. He calls us out of the world and He does His work of grace in our lives. We are changed and transformed. We are " born again". He gives us the authority to be His sons and daughters, and then He sends us into His Kingdom to labor for Him until He comes. He gives us His gifts to be used in the Kingdom enterprise. He anoints us with His grace and fervor. May He make us faithful and may He make fruitful.
Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Mathew 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
In Him
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKZr3ExeXUc
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