Just a quick blurb in the middle of a VERY busy day to point to the lessons we've been mulling all week at Noonday Eucharist as worth "inwardly digesting" as sources of sustenance in these days of challenge and turmoil.
.A Reading from Jeremiah (23:1–6)
.“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” says the Lord. Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done. So I will attend to you for your evil doings. Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
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I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing,” says the Lord. “The days are surely coming when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, who shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord our righteousness.’”
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A Reading from Colossians (1:11–20)
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Before anything was created, Christ existed, and all things hold together in Christ. The church is the body; Christ is its head. Christ is the Beginning, the firstborn from the dead, and so Christ is first in every way. God wanted all perfection to be found in Christ, and all things to be reconciled to God through Christ – everything in heaven and everything on earth – when Christ made peace by dying on the cross.
5 comments:
And before all ya'll jump on me about the Christ on the cross part of Colossians, remember: it's not the salvific power of the cross I have a problem with ... it's insisting that substitutionary atonement is the only viable doctrine REGARDING the salvific power of the cross.
Rev. Susan,
RE: "Substitutionary atonment" the idea Abselm so adored. I consider it proof that one should be careful of ABp's of Canterbury who write.
Christus Victor!
FWIW
jimB
Susan - how then do you believe the cross of Christ save us, and from what does the cross save us?
Brian ... go to the "search this blog" and type in "Jesus Saves" and read the sermon I preached on that very subject earlier this year
ok Susan - I think I got it but please correct me if I'm wrong, and if I may try to distill your sermon into a few words on salvation - Jesus saves us from our fear (of death?) to use the gifts God has given us to feed the hungry, heal the sick etc - IOW - to bring about heaven on earth?
And having read your sermon, I am still left wondering: If the above distillation is what you meant, then how does Jesus' death on the cross in particular save me, and how does he save me from fear if I am not afraid, which I don't think I am since fear is a pretty palpable emotion.
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