Reflections for Urban Disciples
On this page we post brief, weekly reflections that are intended to encourage us as disciples of Jesus in the city. We only post the four most recent reflections. If you are interested in older posts, please visit our archive page.
March 12, 2010
Grace and Mission
“...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Philippians 2.12-13
Ever since I was five years old I remember reading and hearing about Noah, Abraham, Elijah, David, Daniel, Jesus, Peter, Paul and a host of other bible characters. My mother bought a children’s bible for me and I remember reading it with my brother when I was a kid. By the time I got to college I thought I had this Jesus character down. I took a course on the New Testament with a professor at college and I remember walking out of class one day thinking that I had got Jesus wrong. I read the Sermon on the Mount for the first time with new eyes. I saw a Jesus who preached generosity instead of greed, peace instead of war, dying to self instead of selfishness. I saw a Jesus who purposefully spent time with the unpopular and marginalized. I saw what the death and resurrection of Jesus really cost him. Suffice to say I met Jesus in a new way and I have never been the same.
We talk a lot about this Jesus at Church of the Cross. We also talk a lot about “kingdom living” and “being on mission”. Those phrases describe a lifestyle that is other centered. A life that seeks to serve others, to live out those radical ideas of the Sermon on the Mount and to share the story of God with those far from him. However, we must remember we cannot do this apart from grace. In the verses above Paul reminds us that it is God who works in us, even as we work out our salvation in fear and trembling (1 Cor 15.9-10). It is easy for us to focus on the implications of Jesus’ death and resurrection and forget the grace given to us by his death and resurrection. May we, as the body of Christ, be a people that continually preaches the gospel to itself; a people who reminds itself that we can do nothing apart from the grace of Jesus Christ and a people who boldly proclaims both the implications of the gospel and the gospel through word and deed.
Posted by Ben Rey
March 5, 2010
The Test for Living Missionally
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...” John 1.14
Our parish took a day retreat together last Saturday. While looking at the book of Acts, we talked about being a Spirit-led, Spirit-empowered mission on the frontier. Naturally, this raised questions about what this actually looks like in Boston. Certainly, the specifics will look different in each of our lives, according to our gifts, callings, vocations, etc., but in Jesus’ mission to the world we find an answer that pertains to all. Though he is certainly more than this, Jesus is our model and Jesus’ mission was incarnational. This is the primary test of the missional life. To be incarnational is to embrace (to dwell among) the particular and local - which is often the unspectacular and mundane - and to resist generalities and abstractions. The frontier where risks are required and where sacrifice is necessary is not somewhere else, perhaps somewhere exotic, but rather in the midst of the people, neighborhoods, workplaces, and cities in which God has planted us. Your neighbors, your spouse, your kids, your co-workers, your classmates, your city, your campus: these are the frontiers that require bold and daring faith. Jesus came and dwelt among. Are we coming among and lovingly dwelling in each other’s lives and the lives of those in the world around us? The incarnational way is relational and people and life-oriented, and therefore quite messy. It is always a movement toward and not away. This way is marked by faith and great love. The opposite of incarnation is isolation, keeping to myself, staying neat and tidy and task-driven, and remaining detached, detached enough so that I can hold on to my advantage instead of advantaging others. This way is marked by fear. Any mission in Jesus’ name will entail messy involvement with real people and real places on Monday mornings and Saturday afternoons. Do we resist and remain detached or lovingly, sacrificially embrace and dwell among?
Posted by Mark Booker
February 22, 2010
Counterfeit Gods
Saint Paul wrote that one of the worst things God can do is to “give them over to the desires of their hearts” (Romans 1.24). But why would the worst punishment be giving someone what they always dreamed of?
We all have longings. Many of us long for that special someone who will love us for who we are. Others of us long for success and to be recognized as an accomplished person in his or her field. These longings in and off themselves are not bad. However, when we put all our hopes, energy and being toward that single longing, we quickly realize that we are loving, trusting and obeying these longings as if they were God. In essence we are doing whatever we need to, to realize those longings. It is in these moments that these longings become counterfeit gods and we have forgotten the one, true God.
The Greek story of Narcissus tells us of a beautiful man who one day wanders into a forest and finds a crystal clear pool of water. He is so mesmerized by the sea nymph in the pool (his own reflection), that he stares for hours at the water, trying to grasp at it. At first he only stares into the pool for a few hours, then its a whole day and finally Narcissus starves himself to death because he is so taken by the image in the pool. Many of us are like Narcissus. We slowly become mesmerized by our counterfeit gods and soon enough we are overtaken by them. However, this is not the end of the story. God has set a plan in motion to redeem humanity and through Jesus’ death on the cross and his glorious resurrection, God is inviting us to return to him. During this season of Lent, let us examine our own lives and recognize our own weakness. Let us throw ourselves back to Jesus and ask God to “restore to us the joy of his salvation and uphold us with a willing spirit” (Psalm 51.12).
Posted by Ben Rey
February 10, 2010
Teachability
Proverbs 9.7-9
7Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury. 8Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you. 9Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning. 10The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom...
Few of us delight in being corrected. We may claim to be teachable, but we really glory in not needing to be taught or instructed by others. A helpful diagnostic question for knowing our own hearts on this is to ask how we feel when someone corrects us or when we receive some kind of criticism: embarrassed? ashamed? indignant? insulted? defensive? In contrast, look at the response of the wise man to the one who reproves him in verse 8, “He will love you.” That’s a far cry from self-defense and going on the attack against those who would dare to criticize us. But this is the response of the wise. The key is found in verse 10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” The wise have been humbled before the grandeur and awesomeness of God. Their state before God leads to their state before others. There is no longer a need to defend oneself or to resist correction. Instead, the wise, poor in spirit and driven by a thirst for truth and wisdom, heed instruction - from God and others. In pride, the foolish resist reproof and fight to defend their own image. As we come into Lent, we must confess our pride, our resistance not just to the reproof and instruction of others but to the reproof and instruction of God. Jesus invites us to come and learn from him (Matthew 11.29) as he speaks to us through his word, his Spirit, and each other. May God enable us to again take up that invitation, to confess our pride, and to become teachable once again in the fear of the Lord.
Posted by Mark Booker
Copyright 2009 Church of the Cross
Contact Us: info@cotcboston.org | Phone: 617.238.0674 | Mail: P.O. Box 171213 Boston, MA 02117
