Monday of Lent 1

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1)

I love the opening verse of Mark's Gospel. Many scholars read it not merely as the "first theme of the overture" but as a superscription for the entire Gospel. I do too. The entire book is a beginning.

As the disciples follow Jesus they cannot fully understand the meaning of who he is and what he is about until they get to the Cross and beyond. Then they are sent to Galilee where the story began, so that they may begin again, this time with the whole megillah in mind.

Each of us who follow Jesus must likewise journey to the Cross and beyond and THEN we begin. The Gospel according to Mark is continued in each of our lives. How does it end? Well, together with the rest of humanity and the Holy Spirit, we are still writing it. Stay tuned.

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind—just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you—so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:4-7)

WOW. Just wow. What an amazing passage.

How is it then that we live such pinched lives of faith? We really must move beyond a theology and practice of scarcity into a theology and practice of abundance, lives of thankfulness and generosity. We were not made for fear.

Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you should be in agreement and that there should be no divisions among you, but that you should be united in the same mind and the same purpose. (1 Corinthians 1:10)

Whatever managed to convince us that we are any different from the first Christians? That the apostolic community was so close to the time of Jesus that they had it figured out, had their collective act together, and were thus some model from which we have sadly fallen far away? Friends, they were as confused, struggling, fractious, doubting, spiteful, hateful, and difficult as we are. Why do you think Paul kept writing letters to sort them out?

The trick, for them as for us, was having the same mind when we have so many different backgrounds, stores of experience, conceptual frameworks, cultural constructs, and diverse personalities. Corinth was no backwater; it was a cosmopolitan center. All kinds of folks lived and passed through there.

What are the essentials that bind us together? What things are non-essential, optional, meaningful but not deal-breaking? That is the challenging issue for mutual discernment. Not easy now. Not easy then.

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)

Judging all our preconceptions, biases, values, norms, standards, preferences, and idols is the Cross.

I have the strong impression that the more conservative sphreres of the Church consider that the more liberal spheres have really jettisoned the Cross and all it represents. Not so. It is in the death of Jesus and God's vindication on Easter morn that we all--no matter where we find ourselves along any spectrum of background, belief, or practice--find ourselves caught short, stripped of delusion and pretense, and offered not the deal we thought we needed or deserved but God's new possibility, transcending all our hopes and fears.

Liberals see the Cross as that point where we find God's true judgment and God's saving gift. This is not one of the points on which our many factions disagree. Granted, we may differ on our analyses of sin, theories of atonement, and visions of salvation. Nonetheless, the fact that we find God's grace and saving power at work in and through Jesus Christ and that we seek to follow his path and experience God's Spirit at work around and in us--this is something we share.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could agree to recognize that much in each other?

Mightn't it help us come back to one table and share on Bread and one Cup?


Almighty and everlasting God, mercifully increase in us your gifts of holy discipline, in almsgiving, prayer, and fasting; that our lives may be directed to the fulfilling of your most gracious will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
--the BB