The three tenets of faith

Presbyterian Bloggers

Powered By Ringsurf

Asked to summarize the teachings of Jesus, [James Alison] said they could be boiled down to three tenets. “I think the first one would be to not be afraid… The second one would be, imitate me [i.e., Jesus].  And the third one would be, forgive each other, because that’s how you’ll be forgiven.

                     Jonathan Rauch (Cross Purposes)

___________________________

 

Be not afraid

The words of the angels echo

Be not afraid

 

Yet here we are

afflicted with perpetual paranoia

 

 

Danger! Danger!

political threats

social threats

existential threats

 

Threat is our dominant relationship with the world

with other people,

and we must protect ourselves

we must dominate

we must suppress

 

we have become

the Church of Fear

 

It is pretty difficult to imitate Jesus

when you live in fear

 

When we are afraid, we lean into power

and wealth (which is a form of power)

the world is a battlefield

and we must win

we must win until we are tired of winning

we must rule, erase, eradicate

 

Fear is a lack of trust

in the way of love, compassion, and servanthood

 

We do not trust compassion

or servanthood

we do not trust Jesus

and we do not imitate him

 

Perfect love casts out fear

fear casts out love

empathy is lost

 

We have no neighbors

no brothers and sisters

 

just enemies

unworthy of basic respect

 

Just unequals, inherently less

Whom we subdue, control

diminish, deport

neglect

 

There is no room in our fear

for kindness, welcome

or reconciliation, forgiveness

 

“I am your retribution.”

 

When we abandon trust (in God and Grace)

and kindness fueled by Sacred love

and forgiveness

 

We have abandoned Jesus.

Christ is not simply ignored

He is brutalized, banished, and

Erased

 

Or not

For the truth is, the truth we trust if we dare.

“That God simply keeps reaching down into the dirt of humanity

and resurrecting us from the graves we dig for ourselves

through our violence, our lies, our selfishness,

our arrogance and our addictions.

And God keeps loving us back to life over and over.”  (Nada Bolz-Weber)

 

We may do our worst

But we cannot keep Christ in the grave.

 

Love will win,

eventually