Thoughts which draw me closer to Jesus, and to the Cross,

10 There has never been another prophet in Israel like Moses. The LORD knew Moses face to face 11 and sent him to do signs and miracles in Egypt—to the king, to all his officers, and to the whole land of Egypt. 12 Moses had great power, and he did great and wonderful things for all the Israelites to see.   Exodus 34:10-12 NCV    

That’s essentially the same joke as the one about the theologian who died and was given the choice by God between going to Heaven or going to a theology lecture about Heaven, and he chose the lecture.

Constricted by our finitude, driven by restlessness, and induced by unfulfilled longings we go about our lives in frantic search of our true home, true love, and true identity. We cling to ideas, people, experiences, relationships, or professional identities that we hoped would fill the gaping hole within us. The cycle of restlessness, reaction, and rapaciousness is the breeding ground of human suffering. The creation narrative exposes this daunting yet redeemable reality.

Yesterday in reading Peter Kreeft’s excellent apologetic treatise, I came across the line in blue above.

Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be a joke unless it bore some resemblance to truth. Unfortunately, I think this vocational risk for academic theologians has infected the clergy and leadership of the church. We hear more about the church, and more about apologetics, and more about the nature of God than we do being introduced to God and interacting with Him. I am as guilty of it as any, but while we should be hearing Him, while we should be know God, as Moses did, face to face, we talk about Him.

And then we wonder why our churches are lifeless, why they are more and more empty, why our lessons and sermons fall on deaf ears, why pastors will spend saturday afternoons surfing the internet to find a sermon that might make a difference! (I’ve seen it, some weeks I will have 400 hits on searches find a sermon from 6 or 9 years ago! I think about Nolasco’s words about the people searching, and I don’t believe they will find that which fills the holes that cause such mental, psychological and spiritual anguish if all we do is tell them about the doctrines of Christ.

They will just move on to try and find some hope, somewhere else.  They will find some other substitute to cling too, some other remedy, or more likely, something to deaden the pain.

Our Lord isn’t dead. We don’t have to talk about Him as if He was!

They need to know Him, they need to experience His love! They need to walk with Him on the side of the lake, or through the streets surrounding Union Station in KC (if you read this in the future, there was a gun battle there yesterday) They need to realize His presence in courtrooms, and rehab facilities.

They need to experience their reality redeemed, and reconciled with how God exists in their life.

They need Jesus…and so do you and I.

That is where word and Sacrament ministry – that is the sharing of God’s word in scripture, and the sacraments being the conduits of God’s merciful blessings are all about. The word of God, the gospel that tells you that is was always His plan to be in relationship with us, and detail what that looks like (what is called the law) and ho He creates and restores in (the promises of the gospel) The sacraments bring us into that relationship – that union/unity with Jesus.  Each in its own way, not only assuring us of our forgiveness, but welcoming us into the presence of God, That is what baptism, confession and absolution, and the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper promises and delivers!

The chance to experience what Moses did and better, the opportunity to have God dwell in us, and us in God.

This is what matters, this is what our family needs, our churches, our communities, our countries… our world.

Lord, help us draw people to You, where they will find life.

Kreeft, Peter. Ha!: A Christian Philosophy of Humor (p. 57). St. Augustine’s Press. Kindle Edition.

Nolasco, Rolf, Jr. 2011. The Contemplative Counselor: A Way of Being. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.