Questo muro

I really wanted to use this Sunday, but it was not to be. I did want to get it out there though. It speaks to the fire and trials we find ourselves in:


Questo muro
Quando mi vide star pur fermo e duro
turbato un poco disse: "Or vedi figlio:
tra Beatrice e te è questo muro."

(When he [Virgil] saw me standing there unmoving,
he was a bit disturbed and said, "Now look, son,
between Beatrice and you there is this wall.")
-Dante, Purgatorio XXVII

You will come at a turning of the trail
to a wall of flame

After the hard climb & the exhausted dreaming

you will come to a place where he
with whom you have walked this far
will stop, will stand

beside you on the treacherous steep path
& stare as you shiver at the moving wall, the flame

that blocks your vision of what
comes after. And that one
who you thought would accompany you always,

who held your face
tenderly a little while in his hands—
who pressed the palms of his hands into drenched grass
& washed from your cheeks the soot, the tear-tracks—

he is telling you now
that all that stands between you
& everything you have known since the beginning

is this: this wall. Between yourself
& the beloved, between yourself & your joy,
the riverbank swaying with wildflowers, the shaft

of sunlight on the rock, the song.
Will you pass through it now, will you let it consume

whatever solidness this is
you call your life, & send
you out, a tremor of heat,

a radiance, a changed
flickering thing?

Here is the link to a great site on nearly anytopic regarding religion, hope etc...
<http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org>

They are also doing a series Repossesing Virtue, which interviews many on dealing with the current economic crisis.

Lord be with you all Pastor Todd

Tribal Christianity

Something that struck me about the reading as I listened to the placement of the tribes of Israel and how they gathered around their father's/chief's/family's banner. I got a different view of our contemporary Christian society and nature of the people of God in this world. They were all Israelites. They were all God's people, and yet they still gathered around different banners in different places, and with different purposes. They maintained a healthy form of tribal culture that benefited the whole community. And though we do have record of a few disagreements, the tribes were usually always there if there was a need.

Here's where I am going. There are usually two opposite poles when it comes to views on denominations (or distinct Christian organizations/fellowships w/ bylaws, articles of faith, etc).
On one end of the spectrum we have a sort of institutional exlusivism in which the particular group/denomination/fellowship believes themselves to be exclusively chosen by God and those outside the particular fellowship, are also outside God's grace. Most Christian cults fall of this side in condemning all who do not follow as heretics or apostates who have no connection to God, and many don't hold this official position, but more of an attitude that our group has got it a figured out (also with the connotation that others must have it all wrong).

The other side of the pole is anti-denominationalism, or the belief that denominations are wrong or a tool of Satan to divide (I've actually heard that). They will usually go to I Corinthians where Paul is addressing divisions within a specific church context where he concludes, "is Christ divided?" There were those in the church dividing themselves because of who they liked more! (Aren't you glad those days are over with :).

This blog is getting long so I will cut to the chase. What if we saw our different communities as tribes of the same nation? What if though we were in different locations, with a different focus or purpose , and even different views, we could see ourselves as part of something bigger than all of us? What if our tribe celebrated and supported what God was doing in your tribe…and we were still brothers and sisters in God's family. What if God's model for unity in diversity in the church was a tribal one and we were freed from theological arrogance and division.
Just a few thoughts.

Lord Be with you all,

Pastor Todd