Light Living

One of my dear, dear reader friends  (I have about a dozen and it humbles me that people actually read what I write and think it worth reading and I am blessed and grateful), and her other gift of prayer is unwavering cheer leading, thinks I should write for the Upper Room.  Again, this makes me laugh I almost wet my pants.  My theology is a bit off for  Cokesbury, I imagine.  It is not quite polished enough and I am sure I would write about some things that if I were in the early church, the Apostle Paul would feel it necessary to write me a letter or rebuke.  He was good at that.  Rebuking letters.  Another issue I have with Paul.  Been in a argument about that too with a Duke seminary graduate.  (And, no those readers who know me very well, I was not arguing just because he went to Duke.  I did seriously question his basketball allegiance but that was not why I was arguing).   He misunderstood my point and was too busy defending the ink on the page to hear me, but then that is another blog all together.  
But then John the Baptist scares me too.  Particularly what he was yelling in the wilderness that day.  The office this morning has the Church reading one of John the Baptist's sermons recorded in Matthew.  He was a scary dude.  I mean the kind that if we saw on the street today, we would grab our kids hands tight and tell them firmly, get in the car.  Now.  I  would walk on the other side of the street and I would wonder if he had a gun.  He would probably be considered mentally unstable.  I mean he dressed weird.  Camel hair.  And not those nice jackets from Brooks Brothers or Joseph Banks either.  He basically shot a camel, gutted it and skinned it and wore the hide naturally with just a belt.  He ate bugs and honey.  Locust to be exact, which I am told taste just like chicken.  Not planning on ever challenging that statement either.   He didn't bathe except periodically in the Jordon River when he baptizing all the vipers.  He lived in the desert.  He screamed alot.  He was Jesus' cousin but apparently was not quite sure who Jesus was either.  He knew the world had gone crazy and needed to change.  He was preparing the way for Jesus but I am not sure he understood all that and then who did?  Who really understood Jesus at all?  And do we now? 
And today, the Church is reading the letter written to the poor, misguided Colossians reminding them who Jesus was, what he did and what he meant.  Paul is considered to be the author, but many scholars disagree.  I am not sure it matters much who wrote the letter to the Colossians as much as what they wrote and the writer said some pretty powerful stuff.  I take great comfort that a mere 20 to 30 years after Jesus died, the early followers still struggling as I still do with Jesus being enough.  Jesus and his message was enough.  It was enough.  And to really love something you have to lose it first. 

Paul writes and it is timely today as it was then:

May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

We miss the point of sin I think.  We miss the point on being rescued from darkness.  We miss the point of kingdom living.  We miss the power of the redemption.  We miss the point on enduring everything with patience while giving joyful thanks.  And it is this I think.

Sin is not just wrong doing.   Being rescued from darkness is not just fire insurance from hell.  The power Jesus talked about, that is life giving power, was the power of love.  Real love. And it feeds everything.  Faith produces love, love produces hope, hope gives strength,  and in the midst of it all is joy.  It is knowing this one thing..this one thing..the secret to joyful living is giving thanks for everything.  That was the sin that Jesus was trying to save us from.  Numbness.

When you wake up and realize you will lose someone...only then can you start to love them.  When you realize that everything you have you will lose...you can then start to be joyful.  You can then give thanks for everything.  You can then start living in the kingdom.  It is only when you realize that everyone you love will one day leave you that you can then begin to really love them.  Cherish them.  Give thanks for them.  The way to live fully into the moment is to imagine not having the moment to begin with.  Then you will know joy.  It is the great paradox.  We must lose this life to have real life.  To know life.  To experience life, we must imagine not having it...and that is the sin for lack of a better word we have been redeemed from...living numb.

All is grace,

Kathleen

Joys from yesterday:  CARROT CAKE that would have made Paula Deen slap her momma, surprise winter, laying under quilts, hour long naps, friends who share the journey and cheer you on,  friends who celebrate the uniqueness of you, peonies that smell sweet,  purple iris that never forget to bloom, robins tapping on the window, seeing the entire raindrop roll down the window, pansies bowing their purple heads to the sun, knowing that one day this will all be gone and loving it now, friends that give you the grace and the priviledge to walk holy, sacred ground with them,  knowing the closest you ever get to God is when you lose..and being willing to lose everything to gain everything,