Sunday, September 02, 2007
'When God Made Me'
I just love this song. It's a hymn, IMHO. I think the way the video was captured actually kind of adds to the humility expressed in the lyrics.
The Prayer of Confession today at church:
Lord of Life, we run the world as if our rules and God's rules are the same. We take advantage of our status, wealth and power, assuming that our privileges are sanctified. Teach is again to hear your Word in the words of Jesus, that our world might be turned upside down. In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
Scripture reading: Luke 14: 1, 7-14.
God first? Or Jesus first?
"When Frank Tupper's wife's cancer returned, the New Testament scholar admitted to a colleague, 'The first time in chemotherapy we had so much hope, but now there is so little hope, now we are suspended.' Almost as speaking to himself, he added, 'I would not believe in God if I did not believe in Jesus.' This startled his colleague, who responded, 'Yet most people would say that if it were not for God they would not believe in Jesus.' Tupper answered, 'Yes, and that is because they have not lived long enough in Mark's Gospel -- the desperation of Gethsamane and the desolation of the Cross.' " -- Frank Tupper, A Scandalous Providence, Mercer University Press, in the Sept. 4 issue of The Christian Century, p. 6.
Which is it for you, and why? As for myself, I think, like Frank Tupper, that I would not believe in God if I did not believe in Jesus. And here, I don't mean intellectual assent to assertions of God's existence. I mean believe as in "trust."
I think my atttitude has to do with the fact that I was a little bitty ER when I first heard the Gospel and responded to it. Kids love Jesus because Jesus loves all the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight -- Jesus loves all the little children of the world.
God is "out there." And thanks to Michelangelo, God seems very cross. I respond to the other kind of Cross.
Jesus is accessible. The Resurrection means he is right here, right now, enabling us to empty ourselves, as he did. Or at least to want to, and to try to. That's the main point of the whole thing, isn't it?
--ER
Comments:
<< Home
My head says I believe in God first and in taking into consideration all that I observe in the world, I believe in Jesus. My heart says, I believe in Jesus first, the rest is gravy.
I had to come to know God through Jesus, years ago, and through the years, who do I relate to most? To all three, because now, 20 years later I talk to the HS as well.
A prayer might go: thank you Lord Father for all you've done for me, and thank you for sending your Son Jesus, that we might have life through Him.
Thank you Jesus for coming to this earth and caring so much for us that you gave your life for each one of us, and set us free from ourselves. Thank you Jesus for sending us the Comforter, the Holy Spirit,
and thank you Holy Spirit for coming and being near to us, so that we can call on you as well, and know your presence.
I find it very freeing to know that when I pray to the Father, to Jesus and/or the Holy Spirit, I am in fact talking to God.
A prayer might go: thank you Lord Father for all you've done for me, and thank you for sending your Son Jesus, that we might have life through Him.
Thank you Jesus for coming to this earth and caring so much for us that you gave your life for each one of us, and set us free from ourselves. Thank you Jesus for sending us the Comforter, the Holy Spirit,
and thank you Holy Spirit for coming and being near to us, so that we can call on you as well, and know your presence.
I find it very freeing to know that when I pray to the Father, to Jesus and/or the Holy Spirit, I am in fact talking to God.
# posted by 
: 6:30 PM
: 6:30 PM
Yeah, pretty much what Karen said. I came to know God through Jesus, but I don't really separate them all out, if that makes sense. As I get older, I find myself appealing more to the Holy Spirit in my prayers.
Awesome song, by the way.
Crystal
Awesome song, by the way.
Crystal
# posted by : 7:16 PM
: 7:16 PM
In an excellent book on the Holy Spirit (Billy Graham's perhaps, but have read so many can't remember...)someone wrote that none of the three are ever jealous of each other, because they are One.
Someone else (oh my mind - excuse the bad references, you would never think I cite for a lving...) called God the Father, God who walked on the earth in the Old Testament, God Jesus, God who walked on earth 2000 years ago before He ascended, and the Holy Spirit, God on earth right now.
Someone else (oh my mind - excuse the bad references, you would never think I cite for a lving...) called God the Father, God who walked on the earth in the Old Testament, God Jesus, God who walked on earth 2000 years ago before He ascended, and the Holy Spirit, God on earth right now.
# posted by : 8:16 PM
: 8:16 PM
I think we would have a very dim understanding of God's love (even more so than we do) if it weren't for Jesus. Remember the story about the man who wanted to help the starving birds, but couldn't make his benevolent aims understood to them? He thought about how the only way he could reassure the frightened birds would be to become one of them... and then he realized that God may have felt the same way.
From a historical perspective, I don't think we would be able to see the God of Christ without Jesus. If Jesus via Paul's vision had not conquered history then the reformed Jehovah of Jesus would not be available. We would be looking at the other major messianic savior under the Roman govenment, Mithra, as the Light of the World and the Lamb of God.
Post a Comment
<< Home
