How will I then Live?

"I recently heard Todd Hunter remark that modern American Christianity had reduced the Gospel to a question that never appears in the Bible. You know the one. It goes something like this; “If you knew for sure that you would die tonight, do you know that you’d be in Heaven tomorrow?” Hunter suggests that, if we’re really going to be true to the Gospel of the Kingdom, and the sayings of Jesus, we need instead to ask, “If you knew for sure you’d be alive tomorrow, who would you follow and how would you live your life?”

                                                              Dan Held

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it comes down to this

is our spirituality about fear,

or is our spirituality about hope?

If one believes in “God”

Is God a power we run from,

Or a power we run to?

Is faith a matter of mere obedience

of striving toward perfection,

or is faith a matter of communion,

and a striving toward union?

Fear has its uses,

It can be used to keep us safe,

It can be used to control

It can be used to motivate

(although it only works as a short term motivator)

It can be used to justify

It can be used to keep us safe

Sadly the side effects are damaging

fear makes us protective

it makes us hard

it causes us to become rigid

hateful

judgmental

stuck

angry

aggressive

exclusionary

and even greedy (I must have more, more, more, just in case)

we see the politics of fear

we see the religion of fear

and it is not pretty

how many people have lived their lives

looking over their shoulders, spiritually speaking?

As a pastor I have sat with many aging people

many of whom fearfully query

“have I lived my life well enough?”

Well enough for what ?

Well enough to please God

Well enough to get to “heaven”

Well enough to escape punishment

Really?

We have done this to people

If you were to die tonight, where will you spend eternity

Sauntering on streets of gold

Or consciously, eternally, in agony?

Honestly, as I read about Jesus

Think about how Jesus lived

Think about how Jesus loved

I have to come to this conclusion

If Jesus shows us what the Sacred is all about

Than a theology of fear

Is sacrilege

God is not one we try

Out of fear

To please

God is one we try

Out of love

To please

God is one who is not only along side

But is woven into our being

Part of who we are

God is not one who looms over us

With a spiritual 2X4, ready to smack us if we fail

God is one who brings gifts into our lives

love, joy,

peace, patience,

kindness, generosity,

fidelity, tolerance

and yes, self-control

a greater ability not to move into fear, and hate,

an ability to govern ourselves

and not hurt others

What God does is permeate creation

And us

And the fact is, a theology of fear

is helpless in bringing this about;

it only gets in the way

the big question is not

“where will I go where I die?”

it is

“how will I then live”

As one loved by the Sacred

permeated by the Sacred

shaped by the Sacred

empowered by the Sacred

how will I live

differently

this day

because I have been touched by Love