Dear People Whom God Loves,...letters from the church bulletin. |
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Dear People Whom God Loves,
...letters from the church bulletin.
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February
17, 2008 BELIEVERS/NON-BELIEVERS
VI Christian vision brings a message of hope... hope that is based on what God the Father did in Jesus. We don't just say that Jesus brings a message of hope from God. We say that Jesus is the message. By that I mean that what God did in Jesus, God does in all humanity in a similar fashion. We look to Jesus' life, cross, and resurrection to see what God did in him. Jesus was born into history just as we all are. We are born into a history which has much bad in it. We are born into a family where there is good and bad. Even in the best of families, there are destructive dysfunctions which hurt us. In some families, the dysfunctions are worse. In some families the dysfunction is horrible, and we are badly warped and the emotional damage is unspeakable. We are born into a religion o~ no religion. In either case, there are negative consequences. This is not to say that there are no positive consequences. I am just emphasizing the mess into which we are all born. There are obvious negative things like the abuse done by priests and other religious leaders. There are the less obvious ones like the instilling in us of a frightening and punishing God. We are born into a society where there is good and bad. The bad may be obvious as in cases where all we know is the hate, fear, and the violence of gang mentality. Less obvious is being taught that success means being rich and powerful. In short we are all born into a world with much that twists and distorts us in many ways and harms our soul. This world condition is sometimes called the sin of the world. When we use this phrase, we must be careful. This history into which we are born is not our fault. We didn't cause it. We are not responsible for it. We are its victims, not its perpetrators. Into this history, Jesus was born. More next
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