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
Here is a radical question: if Dylann Roof, the white supremacist, , finds salvation in prison, will the nine lives have been worth it? Would the nine say their lives were worth it?
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