The Word is eternal....but my schedule has been crazy!

To my faithful followers!

Sorry for the silence.  This is a very good example of how the world interferes with the Word all too often.  But since the Word is eternal, God continues to speak in the midst of our crazy schedules and family crises and soccer schedules!  In fact, the great message of the incarnation - the taking on of human flesh by Jesus, the Son of God - is the reality of God in the truth of our everyday life.  

Even as we are called to be the face of Jesus to others, loving, forgiving, speaking truth, serving and caring.......others can and will be the face of Jesus to us.  This is the power of the Word for us; God continues to speak to us, be present to us, and to work in this world for the sake of life now and eternally.

Re-defining life is a primary message of Jesus and his ministry among us.  Life is much more than simply surviving.  As Jesus brought the Kingdom of God into reality 2000 years ago, he re-defined life in terms of 'the other'.  Life in solitude is not the life God intended - it has always been in community and for community.

Which of course means we need to fight our selfish natures.  Martin Buber (I'm pretty sure he was a philosopher, 20th century) wrote a book called I and Thou.  It is a classic and folks will often simply quote the title when speaking about our relationships with each other and the world.  We are not called to make the other, 'other'.  We are not to make an object out of their humanness, the particularity of who they are.  I remember one day when I was teaching full time when a parent in frustration said to me, "You people"  meaning all teachers.  She had missed the point of Buber's I and Thou. 

We do this in many ways and to many people.  We choose our "I" over your "Thou".  It's human; it's rarely helpful.  As Jesus leaves his disciples he promises the gift of the Holy Spirit:  the power of God moving among us, reminding us of Jesus' life and ministry, bringing life into dark places. 

And reminding us that always, forever, it is "I and Thou" - we are community created by God, forgiven through Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit. 

Blessings to all.