Thoughts which carry this broken pastor to Jesus, and to the Cross

“All of those left alive of the people who came to fight Jerusalem will come back to Jerusalem year after year to worship the King, the LORD All-Powerful, and to celebrate the Feast of Shelters.” (Zechariah 14:16, NCV)

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Now God’s presence is with people, and he will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them and will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death, sadness, crying, or pain, because all the old ways are gone.”” (Revelation 21:3–4, NCV)

“Jesus, the One who says these things are true, says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.” (Revelation 22:20–21, NCV)

As we can see in the lives of such individuals, faith is a kind of passion, or, more correctly, a love that seizes an individual and shows him the direction he must go, however fatiguing it may be—the spiritual equivalent, perhaps, of a mountain to climb, which to the ordinary Christian would seem foolish indeed but to one who has committed himself to the venture is clearly the only direction to take—a direction he would not exchange for any conceivably more comfortable one.

Otherwise, people can go to church daily and come away the same as they went. For they think they need only listen in the moment, without any thought of learning or remembering anything. Many listen to sermons for three or four years and do not retain enough to give a single answer concerning their faith (as I experience daily). Enough has been written in books, yes, but it has not yet been driven home to the hearts.

I have been thinking quite a bit about the Reformation recently, and about the Stone-Campell Restoration where i started in ministry. Both were “accidental” movements, in that they were not started with the idea of setting up new denominations, separated from the larger church, though that happened.

I’ve also been thinking about the war in the Holy Land, as I’ve got friends on both the sides – those who think Hamas is justified, and those who think Israel is, and more friends who tired of being caught in between–who grieve for the victims on both sides, some of whom are relatives.

In both the attempts to get the church refocused, and the war, it is hard to see God’s promise that “all things work for good” in Romans 8 to anything more than a naive dream. The Division, the Pain, the Tears, seem all to real for a world that we claim is overseen by the Prince of Peace.

Yet in the intersection of both, I find my hope.

I love the picture of Zechariah, where those who fought Jerusalem coming back to worship at the feast celebrating the Exodus, and the fact that even in the tents in the wilderness, God was there. 

Even as they waited (because they screwed up) to enter the Holy Land, God was there for them, providing for them, teaching them. And Zechariah’s praise is that not only would the descendants of Abraham, Issac and Jacob come to Jerusalem to celebrate God dwelling among his people, so would all the people that warred against them!

Even as we walk in this broken world today, toward the Promise of dwelling with God eternally, the promised held out in Revelation, we know that the Holy Spirit dwells with us, the guarantee of our eternal home. And among those who “war” against the church, there are those who will spend eternity with us, in the presence of God, worshipping the Father, Sona nd Holy Spirit who has seen us through the journey

This is what the Reformation and Restoration movements were both originally about, the idea that God would dwell among men, even on the journey to the Promise. To peel away that which obscures Him and  His presence, and the mercy that empowers our journey, that drives us through the fatigue, where the Holy Spirit provides comfort, even while the journey is immensely uncomfortable. To, in the midst of this mad world,  to focus on eternity, and on the presence of God guiding us toward it…

For Luther, the challenge was purgatory and indulgences, as if God was not omnipotent, as if Jesus death on the cross did not completely defeat sin and death. For Barton Stone, the Campbells, and Racoon Smith, it was the pride and divisiveness of the church of their day. In both caes, it took the love that seized them to become fools, committed to a vision of what awaits us, and the work of God to get us there.

Were they perfect? No.

Have their followers muddied the water once again? Yes.

Are we still in need of reformation, restoration and revitalization? YES!

And God is at work in all of us, doing that in us.

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Ratzinger, J. (1992). Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year (I. Grassl, Ed.; M. F. McCarthy & L. Krauth, Trans.; p. 345). Ignatius Press.

Lange, D. G. (1526). The German Mass and Order of the Liturgy. In H. J. Hillerbrand, K. I. Stjerna, T. J. Wengert, & P. W. Robinson (Eds.), Church and Sacraments (Vol. 3, p. 146). Fortress Press