We will be convening here at the ZigZag café, Suisse, on Thursdays for conversation and dialogue. I invite you to stop by every Thursday for the question of the day. Your thoughts and participation are most welcome. Pull up a stool, avec un café, un thé, ou un chocolat chaud, et un croissant, and join in here on Thursday at the ZZ café.
For today:
What are we here for?
READ THE BOOK - FIND THE RHYTHM
6 comments:
My first reaction is that we are here to be the light(s) on the hill, and per Micah 6.8, to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. But I think, mostly, in light of that admonition, to serve others.
Carter,
Thanks. Those are pretty good first reactions. What do you think these being here for's might lead to?
I am reading the Hebrew scriptures right now. I am almost through Jeremiah reading on a chronological system, i.e., when Josiah's reign is covered in II Kings, I also read of it in II Chronicles, Isaiah and some of the other prophets. I see so much concern in the bible about care for widows, orphans and the "alien within your borders, as you were once aliens in Egypt" that I see that we are here to care for and treat with dignity those that society otherwise holds to be "marginal."
Carter,
Yes, the Exodus plays a central role in Israel's history, as it should ours. That care called for regarding the widow, the orphan, and the stranger is exemplary for contributing to human flourishing and the being and becoming fully human.
Good question. Sometimes, when I really think
about it, it's quite mysterious.
When I look back at the Garden of Eden, it seems we are here to enjoy the great bounty of God's creation. To enjoy relationship with
God and all he has made. That was God's intent,
I believe.
But that great bounty is decaying as we are, and humans have taken to overindulging in the
resources God's earth offers, oppressing the
weak, consuming voraciously.
Therefore,
We are here to restore this parched planet, to care for the destitute (as Carter was saying), to be stewards, and ultimately to trust in Christ's
work for that which we cannot do: rise above our own brokenness, frailty, sin, disease, greed. Yet
we are here for working persistently with the same cause and humility of Christ. Phil. 2: "work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose."
Angela,
Thanks. Helpful insights. The last part especially well represents the tension between our responsibility to God, other and world, and the trust that God is at work in us.
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