The Cruciform Shape of Reality

The Cruciform Shape of Reality

SCRIPTURE Ephesians 3:8–10 (NIV) 8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ,9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of Godshould be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms REFRAIN I hold what cannot yet be resolved. QUOTE Richard Rohr, from The Universal Christ "Following Jesus is a vocation to share the fate of God for the life of the world. To allow what God for some reason allows — and uses. And to suffer ever so slightly what God suffers eternally." ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

The Lamb Who Takes Away

SCRIPTURE John 1:29 (NIV) The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" REFRAIN Love takes away what I cannot carry alone. QUOTE Flannery O'Connor, from The Habit of Being "All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful." ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

We Do Not Know What We Are Doing

SCRIPTURE Luke 23:34 (NIV) Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. REFRAIN Lord, show me what I cannot yet see in myself. QUOTE Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, from The Gulag Archipelago "Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart — and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains an unuprooted small corner of evil." ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

It Is Not God Who Is Violent

SCRIPTURE John 12:47 (NIV) "If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world." REFRAIN God is not violent. God is love. QUOTE Richard Rohr, from The Universal Christ "It is not God who is violent. We are.  It is not that God demands suffering of humans. We do.  God does not need or want suffering — neither in Jesus nor in us." ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Life More Abundantly

SCRIPTURE John 10:10 (NIV) "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." REFRAIN I am fully alive in the presence of God. QUOTE Irenaeus of Lyon, from Against Heresies (4.20.7) "For the glory of God is a living human being; and the life of the human consists in beholding God." ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.