The View from the West Mesa

Love, Paul tells the Corinthians never fails; it never ends. In speaking about the gifts of the Spirit he tells them eventually some of their current gifts will end but that there are three things that will continue: faith, hope, and love. These last three are related to one another in a variety of ways for disciples of Jesus. Faith, probably better understood as faithfulness, fidelity, or even allegiance speaks to an on-going alignment with Jesus as our teacher and mentor. Living our lives in consonance with the way in which Jesus lived his is the very basic expectation of a disciple and the first evidence that a disciple is, in fact, a disciple. Being gentle, being kind, and such like, but at the same time not failing to align ourselves with Jesus and the God to whom he points are the parameters of a disciple’s life. Hope provides a bit of the reasoning that we can continue to be disciples, and points in a couple directions. Hope as we know, isn’t the childish, “I hope I get a red ...

Over the past 2000 years, Christian communities have largely come to focus - almost exclusively - on doctrinal tenets and common activities that occur “in church.” This isn’t surprising overly much because the history of the early church at least was in many instances and locations - although certainly not all - characterized by rejection by established systems including Jewish and Roman social structures and authorities. It is understandable then that the communities would begin to focus on their times together, protected from outsiders and buttressing each other’s faith and commitment. They still lived their lives, but having defined communities likely allowed them an identity that was both concrete and safe. Over time - and certainly after the faith was putatively “legal” - and for a number of social reasons no doubt, the local sign of the community became their meeting places and having been shaped in fear their practices became tradition and sou...

So, sin. We have a variety of opinions on what sin is. Perhaps the most frequently offered is "missing the mark." That's OK I guess, as far as it goes. The problem is that it doesn't tell us what it is that we've missed - just that we've apparently missed it. To understand sin, it is necessary to understand why we have the word. We have it to identify and label our failure to live as the image of God.  "Life as God" is the mark we have missed when we sin.  Concretely, this can be understood as not acknowledging God, and living or acting in an unloving way. If God is Love and you are the image of God, your purpose, your reason for existing, your most complete you is Love. Love here isn't emotional or physical excitement but a higher kind of love. This love is defined as volitional self-giving for the nurturing of the other. A mature love acknowledges the being of the other, the value inherent in them, and rejoices with them in their own self-givi...