I’ve probably spewed the facts here before, but up to 60% of
an adult body is made of water, and about 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered
with it.It is not scarce.In fact, it is seemingly the first material
used in creation, and God used a lot of it—in nature and in us.In Genesis… at the beginning… God’s Spirit is
hovering over the water.In John, we
learn that Jesus… God in human flesh—the Word… was present at creation.And then Jesus not only allows himself to be drowned in the very thing from which all
things came (by his eclectic cousin in his camel hair clothes with his locust
lunch), but Jesus insists that this
must be so to fulfill all righteousness.
It’s overwhelming!
It’s overwhelming to me, sure; but more than that, it’s
overwhelming to creation to such an extent that as Jesus comes out of the
water, the heavens are torn open as
the Spirit descends on him and God’s voice proclaims his sonship—his “beloved-ness!”
This is exciting
stuff!It’s a lot to take in!And God offers us this same seal of identity…
I’m piggy-backing a little bit on today’s post at These Ordinary Days, because as I consider the sacraments, confession has risen to a
highly elevated place of importance in my life, yet I think I may have
neglected to tie this in well with repentance.
I want it to be a ‘given’ that when we confess—personally,
communally, and systemically—we are actually sorry enough to turn away from our
sin and turn toward something better… someone better…Jesus… redemption…
I’m not sure I’ve always been great at that, though, and I
wonder how many others might share this struggle.
Confession, on its own, is difficult.To say, “I was wrong, I’m sorry, and I love
you,” is to be vulnerable in all kinds of ways that bring discomfort to humanity.Ooh…Have a song:
The Catholic Catechism speaks to the sacrament of
forgiveness in this way, “the sacrament of Penance offers a new possibility to
convert and to recover the grace of justification” (1446).Oddly enough, Protestants don’t seem to grasp
this as so salvific in nature, and I’m not entirely certain why.
Coming from a Wesleyan viewpoint, it actually
makes perfect sense that we should confess our sins, contritely, as often as we
are aware of them.For I surely hope
that we have left in the past the idea that sanctification is synonymous with literal
perfection.None of us has arrived.Interestingly, the Catechism seems to tie
this need for penance directly to the very working of the Holy Spirit in lives
and hearts.Perhaps to be sanctified
wholly (holy) is, in part, to recognize our continuing need for confession that leads to
penitent action.
Language matters, and these are some words I think we should
use more liberally:
Contrition: “Sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin
committed, together with the resolution not to sin again” (1451).
Confession (disclosure): “Through such an admission man
(woman, child) looks squarely at the sins he (she) is guilty of, takes
responsibility for them, and thereby opens himself (herself) again to God and
to the communion of the Church in order to make a new future possible” (1455, parentheticals
mine).
Satisfaction/Penance: “One must do what is possible in order
to repair the harm” (1459)… “It must correspond as far as possible with the
gravity and nature of the sins committed” (1460).
This concept of a new future together overwhelms me, almost
to tears.After all, isn’t this what we
ultimately hope for as the Kingdom of God continues to break into our
lives?
May we recognize our wrongs, prompted by the Holy Spirit, and
may we make them right again, by grace.
So,
article 15 is a brief statement on what we believe, in the Church of the
Nazarene, about the second coming of Christ.Here it is:
XV.
Second Coming of Christ
15. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ will come again; that we who
are alive at His coming shall not precede them that are asleep in Christ Jesus;
but that, if we are abiding in Him, we shall be caught up with the risen saints
to meet the Lord in the air, so that we shall ever be with the Lord.
(Matthew 25:31-46; John 14:1-3; Acts 1:9-11; Philippians 3:20-21; 1
Thessalonians 4:13-18; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 9:26-28; 2 Peter 3:3-15;
Revelation 1:7-8; 22:7-20)
Something
that I like, a lot, about this article is that it leaves room for various interpretations.There are at least two reasons why this is
important.First and foremost, Scripture
doesn't really give us a detailed outline regarding Christ's return.I think there are a lot of people who would
like to believe that it does, but when we start trying to piece things
together, taking visions and prophecy out of their original contexts, we often
end up with a very irresponsible interpretation of Scripture that does more
harm than good.If you're anything like
me, you watched some sort of precursor to the Left Behind series when you were
a kid.Personally, I will never get the
image of that unmanned lawnmower out of my head.But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself,
because next Thursday we'll take a look at what happens next...
For now,
let it suffice to say that Christ will return.And with that, the second reason that I think
it is important for us to remain intentionally vague about the details is that
we are supposed to be a "big tent" denomination.Everybody doesn't have to believe exactly the
same things to fit into the orthodoxy of the Church of the Nazarene.I love that.It leaves breathing space.
I wonder
if we might be able to be even slightly less
detailed in our article here.From my
personal perspective, I would like to see us rely most on the passage from John
14, because I think it is here that we read the words that are essential.These are Jesus' words declaring that he is coming back.All of the other passages above might give
some support or clarification, but I also think they are often misinterpreted
in such a way that we miss the importance of the regular coming of the Holy
Spirit, transforming this world, these people (us), this life.The eschaton
matters, but I'm not sure how relevant that is if we are constantly waiting for
it at the expense of becoming who we were created to be in these moments.
I guess
that means that I would like the article to read, "We believe that the
Lord Jesus Christ will come again and take us with him, since that's what he
said."I suppose no one wants me to
re-write the articles, though...
Something
that I think is worthwhile to explore is the idea that every generation, from
biblical times right up until now, seems to think that they are living in the
last days.I would propose that every
generation has been right.We all only
have so many days.From the moment we
are born, these are our last
days.Perhaps we should make them count.
