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Re: Spring Cleaning!

By: joe-taylor in FFFT | Recommend this post (0)
Tue, 12 Mar 13 3:21 PM | 61 view(s)
Boardmark this board | Food For Further Thought 		Msg. 50757 of 65535
(This msg. is a reply to 50735 by joe-taylor)
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Blessed by the Invitation


"Then the angel said to me, 'Write: blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!' And he added, 'These are the true words of God.'"


When President Barack Obama announced his support for gay marriage last spring, it sent shock waves throughout black religious communities across the nation. Very few national black leaders had given public support for gay marriage until that time, and to this day, not one predominatly black religious denomination has sanctioned same sex marriage.

I announced to my predominantly blaqck congregation in Georgia that I was proud that President Obama had taken a stand for justive that was politically perilous and that justice for African Americans is indivisible from justice for all people. And I did an interview on CNN to help all people understand that the fight to fully embrace and to fully enfranchise the marginalized of society is integral to Christian theology because it is precisely what Christ came to do.

A few weeks after my CNN interview I received an invitation to attend a Human Rights reception at the White House. The invitation was impressive enough but then I received a call from a White House aide wanting to know whether I planned to accept. The aide informed me that the President wanted to personally receive and thank me for my work for the advancement of human rights in America. At that point I was blown away. I remember thinking to myself: "This is a serious invitation!"

God's invitation to the celebration of eternal life, which is extended to each of us, is not insignificant or in consequential. It means that God has personally paid attention to our lives, our loves and our labors. It means that God has personally insured that not one of us is left out or overlooked. It means that God is personally invested in our presence and in our acceptance. It means that God's invitation to each of us is personal, poignant, persistant and full of great promise.

Why not accept your invitation today?


Gracious God, your invitation to life is a sure sign of how much you care for each and every one of us. Thank you for including us as your honored guests. We are strengthened by your invitation. Amen.


Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, UCC, Stone Mountain, Georgia.


To say that "God exists" is the greatest understatement ever made across space and time.


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The above is a reply to the following message:
Re: Spring Cleaning!
By: joe-taylor in FFFT
Mon, 11 Mar 13 4:45 PM 		Msg. 50735 of 65535

Foolishly Faithful


"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'"


The psalmist declares that only a fool would say there is no God. But when you look at how messed up our world is, it is tempting to say that only a fool would say there is one.

When all is gloriously reconciled and restored at the end of time, just as God promised, it will perhaps seem foolish not to have trusted God's mysterious ways. We will be ashamed we were not constantly confident that God was always at work, mercifully drawing joy from all our horrific disasters. But right now, in the bewildering midst of the noxious miasma of pain and hate we call "the world," I can't really fault anyone for refusing to hitch her wagon to the divine star.

Sometimes I think the hardest thing about discipleship is not that pesky business about selling all your possessions, or telling the truth to power, or slogging away in the trenches with the poor (although God knows it is all that and more). There are days--many days--when the hardest thing about following Christ is the shear courage it takes to keep believing in a God of love when all the evidence points to one more indifferent and cruel.

Maybe the highest cost of following Jesus is not giving up our comfort or even forfeiting our lives, but relinqueshing our human right to atheism and despair--to be that fool who foolishly still believes. Maybe a disciple is simply a person who puts one foot in front of the other every day, come hell or high water and manages somehow not to be ashamed of the gospel.


Jesus, take me with you on your fool's errand of faith this Lent--one foot in front of the other on the path of relinquishment to the dawn (I trust) of your new day. I believe. Help my unbelief. Amen.


Mary Luti is Visiting Professor of Worship and Preaching at Andover Newton Theological School.

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