Its a chilly, rainy morning here in upstate SC. And as I've been quick to admit in this space in the past, I'm struggling with a word to pass on this morning. Its the middle of the week, its the middle of Lent. Its spring, but it still feels alot like winter. Most of the good TV has already ended until the fall - unless you are a fan of Dancing with the Stars, etc. The nightly news isn't going to help things. Oh, and I didn't exercise this morning (or yesterday morning) so I'm feeling lazy.
So its a rainy, midweek, in-between time.
If you've read this far, then you probably recognize the feeling I'm describing. As a kid, its the way you feel between Christmas and summer vacation. Its not really the blues - its more benign than the blues - but it wears on you.
Its like Pre-spring fever.
Looking back over the last few days, I can think of one time when this fever was lifted for me. It was around a campfire on Saturday night.
See, a group of men from our church gather together to camp once every couple of months. We usually have 6-8 of us, all bringing part of the food, liberally sharing our drinks, and unwinding with the latest in politics, or gossip, or family news. This past Saturday, we decided to surprise one of our group (one who's health has kept him from attended lately) with a spontaneous cook-out/camp fire in his back yard. He was totally in the dark about it all until his son drove him into his driveway and he saw our fire.
We had a blast. We ate meat cooked over open flames, drank beer from coolers (and one of our group even had some home-made), played guitars and sang, and told stories until well after midnight.
Our buddy seemed to enjoy it all - in fact I know he did. But I think we all enjoyed doing it as much or more than he enjoyed having it done. It feels good to have relationships that are important enough to maintain, even when it isn't your regular schedule or it isn't convenient. And I think it feels good because this is the way things are supposed to be.
I think this is what much of the Kingdom would look like, if we could find it.
When Jesus gathered his followers, he proclaimed that the Kingdom had come near to them. Their gatherings were not unlike ours from last Saturday. They had a group of friends, they had food and drinks to share, and they spent their time in discussion over politics, religion, and family news.
I think we see God in these relationships, both in the one Jesus had with his followers, and we have with each other (at least when we allow it). I think God is a Relational God - we see the divine not in body or spirit form, we see the divine in how we relate to each other.
And this is in keeping with what Professor Borg said the other night at Furman - we see in Jesus what is possible with God in a human life. We see God relating to us as another human being.
What do you think stands in the way of us seeing more of this relational Kingdom?
So its a rainy, midweek, in-between time.
If you've read this far, then you probably recognize the feeling I'm describing. As a kid, its the way you feel between Christmas and summer vacation. Its not really the blues - its more benign than the blues - but it wears on you.
Its like Pre-spring fever.
Looking back over the last few days, I can think of one time when this fever was lifted for me. It was around a campfire on Saturday night.
See, a group of men from our church gather together to camp once every couple of months. We usually have 6-8 of us, all bringing part of the food, liberally sharing our drinks, and unwinding with the latest in politics, or gossip, or family news. This past Saturday, we decided to surprise one of our group (one who's health has kept him from attended lately) with a spontaneous cook-out/camp fire in his back yard. He was totally in the dark about it all until his son drove him into his driveway and he saw our fire.
We had a blast. We ate meat cooked over open flames, drank beer from coolers (and one of our group even had some home-made), played guitars and sang, and told stories until well after midnight.
Our buddy seemed to enjoy it all - in fact I know he did. But I think we all enjoyed doing it as much or more than he enjoyed having it done. It feels good to have relationships that are important enough to maintain, even when it isn't your regular schedule or it isn't convenient. And I think it feels good because this is the way things are supposed to be.
I think this is what much of the Kingdom would look like, if we could find it.
When Jesus gathered his followers, he proclaimed that the Kingdom had come near to them. Their gatherings were not unlike ours from last Saturday. They had a group of friends, they had food and drinks to share, and they spent their time in discussion over politics, religion, and family news.
I think we see God in these relationships, both in the one Jesus had with his followers, and we have with each other (at least when we allow it). I think God is a Relational God - we see the divine not in body or spirit form, we see the divine in how we relate to each other.
And this is in keeping with what Professor Borg said the other night at Furman - we see in Jesus what is possible with God in a human life. We see God relating to us as another human being.
What do you think stands in the way of us seeing more of this relational Kingdom?
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