One Who Receives Grace
Psalm 25:1-10; Daniel 9:1-14; 1 John 1:3-10
This passage from 1 John almost feels contradictory.
On the one hand, if we claim to be in the light but still bounce around in darkness we are liars. One the other hand, if we claim to be without sin then we are also liars.
It almost seems hopeless, doesn’t it?
How can someone be in the light and still be struggling with sin? Aren’t we supposed to be perfect and holy? Aren’t we supposed to be free from the darkness?
This to me is the beauty of the Way of Christ. There is a standard that we are called to, a standard of holiness in the light. Yet, there is a reality that we will not be perfect and we will struggle with things. The Way of Christ simply says, “Own it. Embrace the reality that you need grace, forgiveness, and mercy."
To be in the light is not to be perfect. To be in the light is to be honest. To live with integrity. To be one who acknowledges one’s own imperfection.
To be one who receives grace.
What an overwhelming thought! To be in the way of Christ is to be one who receives grace. To be in the way of Christ is not to be perfect, it is not to have it all together, it is recognize that I don’t have it all together and nobody else does either.
So, grace abounds!
Good morning! May you extend kindness to someone whom you just don’t think deserves it today. #MorningMug #MorningBlessing
#Wordle 971 2/6*
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Another 2! The #OldGal got a 3! It truly is better to be lucky than good.
I’m grateful she still likes me.
I am now really considering simply moving everything to micro.blog a total consolidation to @dan@social.danielmrose.com, though with the consolidation it would likely mean dropping the “social” bit. Which would require a re-following by everyone. Hmmm…
Push Comes to Shove
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17; Isaiah 58:1-12; Psalm 51:1-17; 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Today is Ash Wednesday the beginning of Lent. For the next 40 days Christians around the world will fast in various ways to prepare for the coming of Resurrection Sunday. This is the high holy day where we celebrate the resurrection of Christ. It was this moment that sets Jesus apart from all other would-be messiahs. The empty tomb is the key moment of our faith.
Ash Wednesday is the stark reminder that get to the resurrection Christ first had to go to the cross.
Many will wear ashes on their foreheads today to remind them of their mortality. The ashes signify that from dust we came, to dust we return. Just as Christ died, so too will we die.
The passages for today's readings point us in the direction of why there was a cross. There was a cross because we through our hypocrisy had separated ourselves from God.
Even though we might act like we honor God, in our hearts there is something else going on.
What is it? What else is going on?
It is this desire to honor ourselves. It is humanity playing out the temptations in the wilderness between Jesus and The Accuser in each of our own lives. Sadly, if we're honest, many times when push comes to shove we fail the test. When we do, we create separation between us and God.
In our humanity we are frail. In our humanity we are often given to the path of least resistance, whatever is easiest or makes us “happy” in the moment. In our humanity we often care more about looking the part than being the part.
We are reminded on this Ash Wednesday that though there was separation there is no more. Resurrection is coming. Death has been defeated. Reconciliation is ours because of the victory won on the cross and displayed in the resurrection.
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#Wordle 970 2/6*
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The coffee and the beach and the extra sleep helped me halve the score of the #OldGal! The #YoungPups have another resounding victory.
Good morning! May you know in the midst of your humanity that within you resides the image of the divine. #MorningMug #MorningBlessing
Do you agree with Eckhart Tolle here? I am curious what people think about this. Is there always a lesson?
Whenever something negative happens to you, there is a deep lesson concealed within it.
— Eckhart Tolle
I love this place. Every time we come here, I never want to leave. #grateful 📷
This made me chuckle a bit too hard.
I’m so thankful to have been able to share our “happy place” with my mom this week. Dennis and Jeanne, Amy’s folks, are such kind and gracious hosts.
Mom wanted to do one thing for while she was here, to put her toes in the ocean. So we took care of that this afternoon under a beautiful Panama City Beach sky.
To my knowledge Russell never learned that to defeat fear it took perfect love.
Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. Bertrand Russell, British philosopher and logician (1872–1970)
A year ago today we experienced what too many parents have experienced over the last number of years. The panicked phone call of our daughter barricaded and hiding in her dorm room as an active shooter rampaged and killed indiscriminately on her campus.
The fear mixed with rage and love is something that I wish on no parent.
The beauty of a mobilized and loving community at home and at her campus is something that I hope everyone gets to experience in their lives at some point.
Out of tragedy an unspeakable grief and undeniable love are somehow intermingled.
Perhaps, this is truly what grace is.
A year later the wounds still bring easy tears and knots in throats. A year later the thankfulness of a daughter spared from an evil hand still overwhelms.
The Mystery of Following
Psalm 110:1-4; Job 19:23-27; 1 Timothy 3:14-16
I hope to visit you soon, but just in case I’m delayed, I’m writing this >letter so you’ll know how things ought to go in God’s household, this >God-alive church, bastion of truth. This Christian life is a great >mystery, far exceeding our understanding, but some things are clear >enough: *He appeared in a human body, *was proved right by the invisible Spirit, *was seen by angels. *He was proclaimed among all kinds of peoples, *believed in all over the world, taken up into heavenly glory.
I am always and consistently struck by the both-and of Jesus. Both a human and taken up to glory.
As I consider again this great reality of the dual nature of Christ, fully man and fully God, I am left in awe.
What leaves in even greater awe is what the author of 1 Timothy says right before the creedal statement, “some things are clear enough.”
The nature of Christ is clear enough. I think it's because it is grounded in the humanity of Jesus. We don't consider the humanity of Jesus well enough. The reality of him being alive and living in this world is something that we just don't let our minds and hearts consider. We are so deeply caught up in the cosmic Christ, this divine being that does all the miracles and conquered death.
But, the humanity of Jesus is what grounds him in reality. He gets hungry, tired, annoyed, angry, has conflict with family, is accused of being a drunk and a glutton. He has friends who he teases. He gets betrayed.
This Jesus of history and time is the Jesus that I can look at and say to myself, “Yep, I know what he's going through.”
Isn't it interesting that the mystery is the life of following Jesus. The mystery is not Jesus himself.
This makes so much sense if we take the Christian life seriously. If we actually try to live the things of the Sermon on the Mount, we are left wondering if this even possible.
This way of Jesus is a great mystery. There is grace upon grace. The rules are left under the auspices of love. This often leaves us wondering, “what do I do now?” The way of Jesus responds, “what is the way of love? of grace? of mercy?”
So, we are left to ponder afresh the Jesus of time and history and to wade into the mystery of how to follow him.
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If you made it this far, thank you for reading! If you found this helpful, insightful, interesting, or even just kind of average, would you please share it with your social feed?
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Good morning! May you not miss the forest for the trees today. #MorningBlessing #MorningMug
#Wordle 969 4/6*
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The #OldGal got a 5! I think it’s due to us taking her to a movie and rotting her brain last night.
Whew! This is a quote…
The heart has its reasons which reason knows not of.
— Blaise Pascal
I think I’m going to like not knowing about re-shares and likes. It changes the dynamic for me.
New note by Daniel Rose
@ozzy what do you mean? 😂 I’m missing something. 😂 @dan@social.danielmrose.com
New note by Daniel Rose
@ozzy from micro blog. I can cross post from @dan@social.danielmrose.com to sharkey which is nifty
The sunsets here in Panama City Beach are just something else!
New note by Daniel Rose
I’m reading: The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey, and it is so good. I read it ages ago, but the timeliness of it remarkable.
I think I will start sharing some quotes and brief thoughts from it and other books.
I’m reading: The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey, and it is so good. I read it ages ago, but the timeliness of it remarkable.
I think I will start sharing some quotes and brief thoughts from it and other books.
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