“We forget that when we see Christ dead upon the cross, we
discover a God who would rather die than kill his enemies. We forget all of
this because the disturbing truth is this—it’s hard to believe in Jesus.”
Brian Zahnd, A Farewell to Mars
__________________________________________________________
It hit me the other day
One of those existential 2X4s
Smack!
It all depends where you start
It all depends on how you choose to see Sacred
(or to be anthropomorphic, God)
It appears people fall into one of two camps
God is love
Or
God is Power
If God is power we see Jesus as some sort of
Divine Hail Mary
A last effort by God to get through to a stubborn and
recalcitrant world
Pulling it kicking and screaming into righteousness
If God is love
We see Jesus as the creative power of Love
Coming into our midst, to show us a new way of doing life
If God is power
The cross is all about a retributive God
Enacting retribution, pour out wrath on one person
So that wrath does not fall on all persons
If God is love, the cross is God saying
“this stops here”
The hate, the anger, the greed, the violence
If God is love the cross is God taking on all the pain
and hurt of the world
And overcoming it with forgiveness and compassion rather
than violence and anger
If God is power then the Kingdom of God
Is about a retributive warrior Jesus who comes in power,
trampling all who have not joined the club,
destroying all but the elect and throwing the excluded
into eternal torment....
If God is love, then the Kingdom of God is that time when
Nothing exists on earth that is not loving
No hunger
No thirst
No caged children
No pollution for profit
No war
No guns
Where we start matters
If God is power
Faith is a matter of being on the right side
In the club
It is a matter of being rescued from that eternal torment
If God is power I must make sure God is on “my side”
Aligned with me against my enemies
Helping me control them, minimize them, perhaps even
destroy them
If God is power I will be blessed
I will have private jets, and mansions, and wealth beyond
belief
If God is love, faith is a matter of connecting with Love
Being touched by it
Filled with it
Empowered by it
Faith is a matter of living love
Of giving, caring, forgiving, loving
Where we start matters
Of course it is true… it is always true
That there is falsity in dualism
Sacred is both Loving and Powerful
So perhaps it is better to say that God is power clothed
in love
We make a mistake if we do not respect the ability of the
Sacred
To turn things around
To change hearts
To repair souls
But we also make a mistake if we forget Love
And if we forget the inclusive
Unconditional
Nature of that Love
And if we forget the radical
Costly
Generous
Vulnerable
Sacrificial
Serving
Way of life we must follow
If God is love
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