[Mcgregorpage] McGregorPage #702, Lent 2, 2/28/2010

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Lent 2 – February 28, 2010


Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Psalm 27
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 13:31-35


Belly Centered or God Centered


Of course stone the prophets!  Who has the nerve to wait for God?  Who can take the terror the way Abraham did?  "As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him."  (Genesis 15:12)  Of course lead a belly-centered life.  Who can find nourishment in the cross the way Jesus did?  "Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem."  (Luke 13:33)


The stoning notwithstanding, God loves (her) little belly-centered chicks.  Gather them under her wings, the mother hen would, but they are too busy scratching at the dust in search of another morsel.  Danger is near, but the little belly-centers haven't the interest to know.  "See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'" (Luke 13:35)  Jesus sounds disgusted with Jerusalem.  Paul sounds disgusted with the Mardi Gras in Philippi, but they will both welcome all the chicks in the end.  The risen Lord appears in Jerusalem without a word about vengeance, just faith.  The early church rises up out of Jerusalem on Pentecost, no forsaking of the covenant with Abram here, just a passing frustration with the belly-centered, the anxious and the violent.


The progression from belly-centered to anxious to violent is our common lot.  We are, after all, dependent on our next breath.  Skip a breath and we get anxious.  Skip two and we get violent -- same way with food, money, electricity and so on.  Naturally we stone the prophets instead of changing the inequities on which our prosperity is built, stifle the dissenters rather than solve the problem, plunder the biosphere rather than risk a recession.  Nature will deal harshly with us in time, God knows.  Jerusalem knows.  (Let's have no sentimental talk about "mother nature" or confuse that idea with God.  The natural end of things is death, and nature doesn't care.)


God loves us all and seeks to gather us all, but belly-centered chicks don't gather except for themselves.  God-centered chicks can be gathered together.  For those who care to know the difference we have Abram's example.  He prepares a feast but doesn't eat it.  To live in covenant with God will be his food.  Paul's example is to share the sufferings of Christ in order to share in the resurrection of Christ.  These chicks choose to heed the warning and accept the shelter of mother's wings.  "One thing I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple.  For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will set me high on a rock."  (Psalm 27:4-5)




May these thoughts strengthen you. 
 
An Open Letter to Fellow Pastors 
>From Roland McGregor, United Methodist Pastor 
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