cheap talk and vomiting ..

talking profiteth a little
  i suppose
blogging less
  behind the screen
  hiding from the internet world

...

and then ..

talk gets assaulted
words raided

what unfolds in that black hole solidifies the chat or else turns it to dust
  somewhere in the ether
    bouncing off all the other thoughts bouncing around

those words ricochet against the walls of my soul
  shattering bone
  leaving bloody holes in that oh so polished veneer

i crawl into a dark wet cold hard space
  and weep
    in wonder at me
  regretting me
nurse my wounds

wishing i was Jesus
  and not some fast-mouthed forked-tongue, talking out both sides of my face

..

words are mostly articulated think
until they're stepped-on
  tested, like a rope bridge across a rocky chasm ..
  they bear me across
    else i plunge
      broken below
      so much shattered me

..

hopefully
  i learn to backpocket judgement
  think looong
    before i vomit my thoughts into the street ..
  real people walk there

i must walk there too
  before they do

at least hose-down my mess ..


may the words i speak and the things my heart thinks-on be acceptable in Your sight

rapid-fire conversion and making a fool of God ..

recently a preacher spoke to conversion, making the point that it is a process ..

well. many in my old circle would have lost it right there

she did go on to say that there is a place of conversion, where the person recognizes Jesus, so if they had stayed through the sermon they would have gotten there, and their anger might have been assuaged somewhat ..

(and yes, i said 'she')

..

i think of all the good people running around with a date in their mind, that particular moment they 'went forward' and 'got saved' ..

God bless 'em all

i think of the reductionism of conversion-into-disciple that took the place of serious inquiry and struggle with the spirit of God, a palliative for the rapid-fire mentality of the developed world, and the un-understandable desire of preachers and churches to count coup, to add to the membership role, the baptism brag, the tithe pool

and .. hang on a minute .. i'm getting sick .. .

..

somehow Jesus' 3 years of presence here was shrunk to a piece of paper the size of a dollar bill sporting verses, with the promise of salvation for the reader

i don't for a minute think that people can;t be saved by reading a tract .. God will use whatever's available in God's pursuit of the human soul

but to reduce the gospel to a blip is to seriously threaten God's wisdom and the mystery hidden for ages, but now revealed to us by the prophets ..

we've traded the bread of life for fast food

and the result is people who are fooled by what the tele preacher said was escape from hell .. he lied ..

the romans road became a quick fix for both the chuch's membership role and the unmistakable ache in the soul for the missing link between God and human

quick fixes might do the deed in the short-run, but what about next year, what about the change that represents the fruit, the maturity that flows out of fellowship and prayer and meditation on the scriptures .. 

you can't 'tract' those .. they require passion and effort and discipline and communication and chasing-after and response to the Spirit tugging at the corners of the soul ..

..

we had a discussion over dinner about the reduction of reading to shortened sentences, simplified by periods and commas, many in the wrong places. no-one wants to read a 'long sentence anymore, so we chop them-up into bites.. even the bibles are like that now

it's not that the older writings were complicated - think of all these people reading college-level texts on biology and philosophy and law and .. wait .. how come they can't understand the scriptures in well-structured sentences ..

it's flippant, is what it is

we flip from facebook to internet searches to blips and bites on this and that and .. it's like we can't sit still

we have national ants-in-the-pants syndrome

..

question is, how much does a person really care about the call of Jesus to be a disciple

if you want to know what that involves then, for goodness' sake, read the gospels !

but, if christianity is something to be displayed on bumper stickers and tattoos, something that we cover sunday at 11:00, something we do when we 'say grace' at a restaurant to let everyome know we are christian .. 

then why bother with the cost of following Jesus, the cost he counselled us to count before we step into the street to follow him

ahmmm ... don't bother if that's not in your vocabulary - waste of time

really, it is

just forget it, and go get on with your life

'cause conversion absolutely is a process, a life-long process of following, maturing into the image of Jesus

absolutely

listen, my friend, there is such a thing as falling from grace, as insulting the spirit of God, as counting the blood by which you were redeemed as a light thing, trampling on the son of God ..

God is not a fool ..

God is love

God is merciful

God is longsuffering

but God is not a fool, so we need to stop treating the things of God as if they are really inconsequential and don't require much of us 

like a gym membership, or monday night football

if we are really concerned about the things of God and who God is and who Jesus is and what christian is, then we need to serious-up and behave like it ..

we need to commit to it

to struggle with it

take the time to consult God, communicate with the divine

the preacher was right

conversion IS a process

and it calls for commitment and passionate pursuit of this man Jesus we claim is our saviour ..

or we better be checking whether we're fooling ourself

'cause we sure aren't fooling God

peace to you

butterfly God ..

I came across a butterfly today and I tried desperately to catch its beauty with my cell camera..
all I really succeeded in getting was flashes of movement, swirls of colour ..
there was something of the beautiful creature there, but nothing definite ..

perhaps, that's Godlike ..
we catch glimpses of Godbeauty as God flashes and swirls, but nothing definite ..
all we know for sure is love, and that defies form, colour, lines ..
it crosses lines of form and colour, blurring with flash and swirl
it persistently flees definition, analysis ..
it just is

God cannot be captured
like the wind, God moves where God will, coming and going, swirling and flashing between the lines

.... .. . ..

that unsettles us, discomforts us from our seat of repose, our throne, our settled 'knowing' God

good ! ..

thus the striving, the persistent seeking, the longing, the engagement, the reaching-out in our displacement, dislodging us from our security
creating the passion for knowing God

go for the passion
God is in the passion

'knowing' God ..

if God is unsearchable, God's ways past finding out, God's thoughts not ours
if God is Creator of all things, unsurpassable power
if God is pure love, pure light, irrepressible..
then, in our striving to 'know' God, information is useful only at a very basic level, like a compass pointing us in a direction

the knowing is in the going, in the walking

perhaps in attaching definitions and titles and names and characteristics and descriptions, we wall-in our mind, don blinders, narrowing our vision ..

if God is that big, our vision should be continually big-ening, expanding ..
if God is that infinite, our knowing can only grow by walking through the words out to the vision, looking for God with heart-eyes, calling out to the God who desires to be known by such a one as I with the mouth of my heart

God wants to be known, so God has revealed Godself ..
but God cannot be truly known by the finite mind, the cognitive self
God must be sought and found by the heart, the innermost self, where the imago Dei dwells by choice - pure light, pure love, pure God, however obscure ..
the heart leading, uses what is useful, dismisses what distracts, weighing us down, all the while prostrate under the indwelling Presence

I call out to you, O God
hear me .. listen to my call

here am I

doing sunday ..

there's a reason Jesus built a church
..

there are reasons more and more people reject church today, or leave ..
and there are good reasons for doing it ..

- busted .. the preacher/elders/deacons/whoever kept pointing at my sin
- molested .. 'nuff said
- robbed .. too many, way too many thieves in the pulpit
- brainwashed .. although faith is a biggy for God (Heb 11.6), he expects us to test everything and allow Godspirit to be our arbitrator .. too many have realized late-on that they were misled and God was misrepresented
- imprisoned .. there are cults within the borders of christianity, and they are not easy to recognize from the inside, nor to leave
etc.

these unfortunates are deplorable; they do not represent Jesus or his vision or his desire for humanity
..

in our day, in our context, 'church' should serve as a refuge and an encouragement to step back into our world boldly in the comfort of our siblings in Christ
it should be a place of rest and recharge for that stepping back in
it should be a presence unlike any other where Godself is pleased to show up in person
it should be a reminder and a beckon to keep moving
it should be the place we go for acceptance of who we are without furrowed brows or judgement or cliquery
probably mostly, it should be a communion, an intimate fellowship of souls linked by the Spirit in them, a sharing of life, a spiritual chorus of praise, adoration and thanksgiving to God
.. i think

..

the church is a family
of like-minded people
inhabited by the spirit of Godself
sharing life
progressively maturing into the image of Jesus
on their way to a better place, a kingdom that will fruit in its time
attractively attracting the people they discover on their journey
in love

..

that's why i need to be among church
sharing in all that Love
experiencing en masse the powerful Spirit-presence of the living God

Jesus designed it

i need it

so do you

find it

'flesh' in apostle Paul ..

I don't go here often ..
But some things need to be said

I'm not a theologian and I'm not studied in the Greek
I do speak and read English ..

For some time I have been concerned about the translation of the Greek word 'sarx' into the English words 'flesh' or 'sinful nature'

I believe a simple and clear reading of the English text leads to an understanding of the word as 'body'
This can be seen particularly at Romans 7 & 8 and Galatians

Today (after all these years) I ran across this notation in the New English Translation at Galatians 5 13 ..
" in Paul's thought especially, all parts of the body constitute a totality known as flesh, which is dominated by sin to such a degree that wherever flesh is, all forms of sin are likewise present, and no good thing can live in the flesh"

Sin dwells in the body ..

crackedpot ..

there lies back there
a house
i built

limestone walls
mahogany floors
designed to last

and yet ..

no-one lives there now
but spiders and mongoose ..
green monkeys pass through

you can see sky through the roof
windows bleed rain
..

i built my own prison from reality ..
gothic arches and stained glass fooled me

i had to escape
..

that house lies back there
thank God
now i wander
free to be me

me in the raw hot sunlight
sweat purging the soul
stinging eyes blinking away the blindness ..

family and stained glass friends and onlookers scoff sometimes
at the fail of me ..
left the house back there to wander

sometimes I wonder too
..

and yet ..

i am more me today than ever I was ..
that counts for something

i make no apology for me
though there is regret for the confusion I built

..

i look to find a man
a simple man
the son of humanity

i've seen his trail here and there
sign of his passing

that keeps me going

i look for him because I want to be him
i want him to be me

i wear his cross tattooed on my wrist
left wrist - weak hand ..
his way tattooed on my side
left side - weak side ..
he is powerful in my weakness

i bear his spirit in this cracked clay pot that used to live in a house i built back there
..
crackedpot

sometimes light escapes through the cracks
light i can see by
like others can see by
raw pure light
lighting his trail

calling me ..

to be a son of humanity

come live with me ..

i want to know YOU ..

like we live in the same house
sleep in the same bed
eat together at our table
sit in the same rocking chair rocking to the mockingbirds' song
in the evening breeze


like that..


please come live with me

I want to know YOU

like YOU know me

christians abusing their women ?? really ??

i've been at this twice .. fail

so i'll simply say it

you don't ever hit a woman .. period
even if she hits you .. be a man, walk away

you don't ever force a woman to have sex
that's called rape
even if she is your wife !
if that's what it takes, something is drastically wrong in the relationship .. either fix it, or move on

and.. this one really gets my goat, angsts me .. christian men! conservative christian men! fundamentalist christian men!
STOP for God's sake
just stop already

i don't care which Hebrews verses you use, or Corinthian verses
you're wrong!
and the male teachers and preachers that haven't taught this in context, with a view to the Gospel-as-a-whole, and particularly with a view to who Jesus is are twice-over children of hell

yes, i'm pissed

get over it

altar calls, so-called ..

altar calls
been through many thousands of them
got to the place some years ago where they became .. irksome almost

well, that's heresy right there, I suppose
(although what I've seen pass for 'christian' in my lifetime often has more qualifications along those lines) ..
it's just that the set-up for it leaves me wondering if much of it isn't an emotional response, kinda like watching a tear-jerker, and emotional responses don't seem to me to resolve much over the long term .. I know that as a matter of personal fact, both in my own life and in many many others ..

I am an emotional person for sure; every human should be ..
one of the great errors of certain strains of evengelicalism, and too, Protestantism at large, is the hard-driving teachings against emotions - trusting them, putting too much weight behind them, etc., to the point where we almost thought them to be sinful ..
in my think on it, emotions are a valid part of the human experience, but we must be people of balance ..

commitment can involve emotions for sure, but it calls for consideration too ..
perhaps those altar calls simply call for a bit more consideration on both the part of the preacher and the preachee ..

`|`

Jesus asked a couple of questions one time, in the context of being his disciples ..
(and make no bones about it, that's precisely what we're talking about when we consider becoming a Christian, as he himself said " go into the world at large and make disciples of all people groups .. ", or similar .. and disciple is far far more than a response to an 'altar call') ..

at Luke 14:25 ff, Jesus throws up all kinds of red flags to the large crowd following him, like they were playing they wanted to 'follow' him .. like hating your family and your own life ..

and then he went parabolic, told the story of the person building without counting the cost before hand, and the king going into battle without first considering whether he could win with the army he had, or should negotiate terms of peace .. both are foolish moves ..
ipso facto, when you think about following Jesus, think a little deeper than the Romans Road, altar calls to the sound of whiny background music, gold crosses, and fish tattoos .. which accounts for the tragic shortage of disciples in a nation so readily confused with 'christian' on the world stage .. sorry .. it's true ..

`|`

one other comment about altar calls .. there is no such thing as an 'altar' in a christian church .. sorry .. that's true too ..


when Paul says to offer up our bodies to God as a living sacrifice, he wasn't thinking about an altar at the front of a church; he was thinking purely personal ..

altars had their rightful place in the kingdom of Israel - they were the place where the blood of sacrificed animals was offered symbolically for sin ..
but this is a new kingdom in which new wineskins are called for - the kingdom of God, which Jesus preached everywhere, all the time, to everyone ..

for this age there is but one altar, one sacrifice, one high priest - Jesus was both of the latter, and the cross his place of sacrifice ..
and that was a one-off thing, never ever to be repeated

christianity has become the place of a different kind of priest, lording-it over people - that was never Jesus' intention when he built his church .. so we have elevated persons, standing before pulpits, staging their religion for the masses ..

it bodes us well, methinks, to bear in mind the Hebrews call: " we have an altar from which those who serve in the Tabernacle have no right to eat " .. not inside the Jewish tabernacle or temple, but outside the camp, where the sacrificed animals were burned ..
let us go to him there, bearing his reproach with him (Hebrews 13:10-14)

that's a whole different kind of 'altar' right there .. it's an altar of self-sacrifice and soul-bloodletting, running thick in the dirt

so when we pander to these newfangled ideas and inventions of men, derived for the purpose of 'drawing' people, to slay people, to count people for their baptisms and memberships and 'tithes'-so-called, we play to a tune foreign to the ears of Jesus the Christ, whose only music was the pleas of the hurting, the sick, the dead, and, finally, the death-calls from the religious and the hammerstrikes from the imperialisits, and one or two tearfilled groans from the women that followed him, and his best friend ..

altars are dead, for the dead

`|`

it's also worth considering that the place of Communion or Lord's Supper is not kneeling at some altar, but sitting at a table with equals, siblings of Jesus, sharing as one, remembering his death ..

`|`

these thoughts were prompted by an article i read today in which the author kinda reminisces about the old tent meeting revivals and kinda misses altar calls ..
just so you know ..

peace to you

more kenosis ..

ok ok .. i know .. i keep going here
..

in western Christianity at least, we make a mountain out of maintaining our dignity when someone unfairs or manipulates us ..

that coming from a religion named for the Christ ..

strange thing, that, for Philippians 2 poetically displays a radical descent, the humiliation, that of the GodWord, first to the state of servant, as a man, then, as Servant Human, to suffering, and finally torturous death of the cross ..
although he had control over that in the sense that he could have stopped it, he allowed it ..

we too can wield sticks and stones to break bones or, in our culture, Glocks and 357s to sling bullets in defense of our dignity in some form ..
more likely we use words to break ..

it bodes us well, I think, to remind ourself that God said " vengeance is mine; I will repay ", and to leave it at that ..

part of spiritual maturity is recognizing my day-to-day life is in God's hands .. and if God does not step in to a dignity-threatening situation for me, then so be it .. God will deal with it eventually ..
mine is to bear it and forbear in love..

`|`

when I sign-on with Jesus, I drop everything, give up my rights, relinquish my hold on my life, despise the suffering for righteousness sake (Hebrews 12:2) ..

so that when Jesus said to turn the face, offer the other cheek, he wasn't using social mores to defend and demonstrate personal dignity in the face of the offender, as some smart theologians teach (where, in that culture, a particular blow with a particular hand besmirched the striker in the eyes of society, making them an abuser and you the abused) ..
in the broader context of the other things he said at the time - going two miles rather than one for a friend; giving away a coat too, when someone asks for your shirt; etc., and especially loving your enemy - Jesus was teaching us to love, even when slapped in the face, even if it meant becoming virtually naked ..

pride is an exhibition of self and personal rights, and still leaves us in control ..
God says drop it .. I got you .. leave it to me ..
love your enemy ..

it is in this hard teaching particularly that we find the heart of godliness, we find humility, we find sacrifice for the other, even the enemy other ..
it is to this level Jesus is calling us, a ridiculous, scandalous, self-immolating suicide for the other ..
and until and unless i get there, i fall short as disciple

if Jesus requires that I forfeit my 'life' in order to find Life (and he does) - my lifestyle, my worldview, my priorities, my motivations, my life-loves, and even my own right to life itself - then, circularly, everything is disposable for the kingdom, for the King, and for God who, when all is reconciled and done, will be all, in all ..

somehow I have to see that as me ..
I have to see me there
I have to see that God is the issue, first and last, alpha-like, omega-like ..

one wise man put it this way - " I must decrease; He must increase "

the paradoxity is this - the way up is down;  the way of exaltation in God's eyes is humility, kenosis - emptying the self, pouring me out, wasting me, exhausting my life, pooring myself for the enrichment of others, bearing the burdens of the other, going the extra mile ..

.. turning my face and offering the other cheek
my other cheek ..

for Jesus' sake
and the sake of the Gospel, the very good news ..


peace to you

commune with God

imagine (most of us have to imagine it) that you and I can communicate with

God ..

in our socially-tamed minds we have placed ourselves squarely in the realm of the flesh and blood of the material world
what we see and sense naturally is what is, what we respond to..
that's the natural state, where the child in us has been treated as a disorder and quite effectively silenced so that we can fit into our society of the great work ethic, entertainment ethic, etc.
..
individualistic tree stumps in a forest of spiritual dwarfs, rewarded by progressively expensive toys to soothe our disconnect from the truth of who we really are - bearers of Godimage, creatures designed with God in view..

if we can somehow dwell in that space for a little, often, let the remembrance of that flavor our mind for a time, perhaps we will be able to un-train out mind, recover our conscious self and recognize the God who is there, has been there all along, patiently waiting for us to respond to the call of God in us ..

imagine..

you, and I, can talk with God today ..
now
an hour from now


commune with the lover of the universe who, in love, created it all, and invested it all with a plethora of various intricate beauty, all expressing that love ..

i'm not very 'good' at it ..

..

imagine it !
then respond
perhaps, for now, with a simple thank you ..

peace to you

we live by faith, not by sight ..

according to the Christus Victor view of things spiritual (and my personal view), Jesus' mission involves more than saving us from our sin - it was a cosmic mission to undo the power of Satan and reclaim God's authority over all authorities in the cosmos ..

if we grant that - and consider Apostle Paul's testimony that the church is being used by God to teach the authorities wherever; that in our journey here we don't struggle against flesh and blood, but against those very powers of the unseen world which influence the authorities of this world - then is our warfare not spiritual?

if we can grasp something of what that means, struggle to put skin on that fundamental, how does it translate into life for us, the church that Jesus built ?
how does that perspective actually walk in my jeans ?

it certainly bears consideration .. it is no side-dish concept - this is main course stuff, and what I come away with when I get up from the table energizes my life lived-out in this life among those I influence, however, on my way ..

`|`

when storm roof drew his weapon in Jesus' church, was it storm roof as such ? of course, but was there any other power taking part in the murderous deed ?
..
when the Charleston church walked among their dead, and made the heartful decision not to replicate death, but rather expose Life, was there any other power in play ?
..
the powers of darkness ply their trade even in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6.12) where we normally place God ..
..

how does all of this - storm roof's villainous hatred, and spiritual wickedness in heavenly places, and grace in the place of death - fit into our understanding of life and our lived life?

it matters
it matters for the same reason that religious Jewry and imperial Rome pulled their triggers and murdered Jesus - and he was entirely innocent .. Jesus allowed that too: he knew what was unfolding, unlike the unsuspecting 9
..

when we raise our hands and voice our praises to the living CreatorGod, the forces of darkness wring their hands in frustration, anger rising like blackened bile in their throat ..
when we relieve somehow the condition of an abused
when we hug a marginalized
when we feed a hunger
when we clothe a naked
when we listen to a tortured
when we dine with a poor
when we shelter a houseless
when we embrace an addicted ..
each and all in the name of Jesus ..
we in fact are doing despite unto the faces of evil that manifest themselves in the warped, corrupt systems of this world ..

the dark powers flee that .. they fight, but they flee the blatant manifestation of God's loving power, powerful love
for love is the one force they cannot comprehend nor master (John 1:4,5)

`|`

I visited Charleston after the tragedy

I went to be there
it wasn't a bucket list item or a touristy thing - it wasn't sightseeing (whatever that strange word means) ..

I wanted to be in that place ..
I wanted somehow to share in the pain, to acknowledge the massive spiritual statement of that church, a proclamation of love in its dark hour that traversed the world, that spoke so powerfully of Godlove, a love that embraces through the pain, beyond the grave ..
I wanted to lean on that wall and acknowledge the God who will not give in to the darkness, and the Jesus who lived through the darkness, and bring a blessing on that church, that place, those people that shine like the Son amid the dread dark of this world in which we live ..
their love most pointedly displayed in the most confounding of ways - love your enemy ..

`|`

at the end of the day, it isn't storm roof, it isn't arianism, it isn't SCOTUS or the LGBT person or the one who aborts or the gun-slinging person or the religious bigot or the addict or the houseless or the muslim, the jew, the pagan, the filthy rich, the republican, the illegal ..

every one of us is a manifestation of a manifestation - a broken cistern in a warped system that generates pride, selfishness, wealth, hoarding, step-on-you, me-first, hatreds, subjugation in all its racial gender sexual forms - a philosophy that elevates the material over the spiritual, a world infected by sin ..

when I move myself away from the judgment toward the realm behind what I see and smell and hear, then I head in the direction where I can offer the most help to the God that seeks the final Reconciliation, where every knee bows and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, and God gets the glory

`|`

that's why Charleston screams so loudly to a world so desperate for God, even as it struggles to figure out what on earth it's desperate for  ..

it transcends racial hatred and murder and guns
flying above them, pointing to the face of the One who gave his life for this wrecked world, and did so willingly
for the joy that was set before him
the joy of being the firstborn among many siblings
the joy of knowing that his flesh and blood would one day populate a new heaven and earth where God dwells among humans ..

full circle..

go there..
head there

nothing else matters

through you first ..

" Son of man, let all my words sink deep into your own heart first.
Listen to them carefully for yourself, then go ..
..
I went in bitterness and turmoil, but the Lord's hold on me was strong .. "
Ezek

`|`

i have a friend who consistently told young preachers similar ..
when you go to stand in a pulpit, be sure that what you are about to say has gone through you first

excellent advice

peace

my rights, integrity, and doormats ..

" If we are absolutely grounded in the absolute love of God that protects us from nothing even as it sustains us in all things, then we can face all things with courage and tenderness and touch the hurting places in others and in ourselves with love. "
(james finley)

`|`

that is a profound statement ..
the implications abound

it is a marvelous way of saying what i've felt for years ..

for one, it explains why i shouldn't be looking to safeguard my 'rights', defend my 'integrity', or even, most radically in our think, defend my life

..

a parent repeatedly told me that i'm no-one's doormat, a place for them to wipe their dirty feet ..
but if i approach that from another perspective, my 'rights' are inconsiderable, dispensable, my own wellbeing negligible if that person can somehow recognize the person and the purpose behind my negligence towards my self - their wellbeing, their value in the eyes of the God who personally and purposefully created them

that is the stretch of the great command of CreatorGod to us, to love our neighbour as if they were me

`|`

apostle paul's comment at one point is notable here:
" Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools ..
even now we go hungry and thirsty, and we don’t have enough clothes to keep warm.
We are often beaten and have no home.
We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living.
We bless those who curse us.
We are patient with those who abuse us.
We appeal gently when evil things are said about us.
Yet we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash - right up to the present moment. " (1Cor 4.11ff, NLT)
we are doormats ..

`|`

another aspect of this is that i disregard the attempts to explain-away Jesus' thoughtful and purposeful comments about turning the other cheek, offering the coat too, going an extra mile, loving my enemy - i see that as potently and patently undoing his mindset ..
the apparently popular fallback is to run all around robin hood's barn to justify Jesus' statements from some 'maintaining his integrity' perspective ..
Jesus, it seems to me, is radically unconcerned about maintaining my 'integrity' (however that word is being spun .. i suspect it to be a tricky use of the word) ..
Jesus, it seems to me, wasn't even overly concerned with maintaining his own integrity, or he would have 'defended' himself during his 'trials' at the hands of caiaphas and pilate - he could well have done so in a manner that still ensured his execution, which he knew was coming and was necessary .. he is a master at wordplay
but Jesus let them .. he simply allowed them to step all over his integrity, decimate his 'rights', revoke his right to live ..
he doormatted

`|`

the point of the kenosis life is found after the 'then' in my opening quote .. " then we can face all things with courage and tenderness and touch the hurting places in others and in ourselves with love " ..
that's the point where rebel flags, and carrying guns in church as a safeguard, and the SCOTUS decision on marriage rights disappear over the horizon .. they are inconsequential really ..

the people that lost their lives in the charleston horror didn't lose life .. they have Life, and they gave life to the ones left behind who took that Life and made a public spectacle of the powers of darkness that look to draw lines and unholster weapons and kill

`|`

if i can learn to unlearn my logic, refuse my instinct for survival, fade my self, opaque the ' I ', and instead allow the Spirit to shine brilliantly, let my spirit override my fight-or-flight knee-jerk flesh/body reaction ..
then 'me' unbecomes, and God has the 'right' to act, to move, to humanize ..

that way, when i look in the mirror i see God
not me
God in the mirror
however opaquely