As the world suffers, God suffers. It is not hard to find suffering in the world. All one must do is to turn on the television, open a newspaper, surf the internet, or simply check a social media app. The world seems to be drowning in pain. The church must be a community where pain, suffering, loneliness can be transformed by the Grace and Love of Jesus.
Author: clark
Lazarus and the Rich Man
The first time the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man was told was in a culture very different from ours. It was a world where there were an elite few that held power and wealth over the vast majority. There was no middle class. There was no working your way to the top through hard work. It was a world where you were born into a particular class and that is where you remained. This is often referred as a premodern domination society.
As humanity emerged from horticultural society into an agricultural society, this type of society first developed. As larger and larger farms developed, cities began to develop for the first time in history. With the first cities, the governing class emerged. As did a protector class. This governing and protector class lived off the wealth of the society. Over time, they became increasingly powerful and wealthy.
Never Backwards. Always Forward. Always.
After this past week, the past year, I needed that passage from Isaiah (65:17-25). I needed to be reminded that no matter what happens in the world, no matter who wins an election, no matter what…God is still in charge. God still has a plan for us.
But let’s look back a little bit in Isaiah to see what is going on.
A Tough Week
It’s been a tough week. One of the toughest weeks that I can remember in a long time. Everything this week took so much extra effort to do. It was hard to get out of bed, to get ready for the day, to go through the daily actions of work, to talk on the phone, to return emails. Everything seemed just a little bit harder to accomplish. It has been a week where though I haven’t been angry at God, I haven’t felt much like praising Him.
I found it real hard to care about much this week outside of my own pain. It was the only thing that seemed real this past week. It was the only thing that mattered. It has been a rather selfish week. Not even that has mattered to me too much either. Continue reading
A Sinner Like Me
Today’s reading in Acts is probably one of my favorite ‘Non-Jesus’ stories in the Bible. I call it a Non Jesus story because he is not the central figure in the story, the hero. Jesus plays the same role that God does in so many of the stories found in the Old Testament. Jesus is the force that move the story forward but it isn’t His story. It’s Paul’s story. It’s our story.
Paul, like Jesus, was born a Jew and raised as a Jew. Paul was very educated for his time. He was well versed in the Hebrew Law. He spoke and wrote in Greek, which was the trade language of the time. He was also a Roman citizen and was afforded rights that most of people around him did not have. Continue reading
Seeking to Serve
On this Passion Sunday, Jesus is calmly aware of the events that await him. The one who walks toward death assures us that in dying we will be reborn, that “Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life”. He is confident that God is with him: “It is for this reason that I have come to this hour.”
Even as He is approaching the end, Jesus reminds his disciples what is left for them to do after He leaves. “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.”
Justin R. Clark 