In Jesus, God is calling us to see and hear a gospel that takes us beyond rule making and sacred violence.
An Open Table where Love knows no borders
An Open Table where Love knows no borders
Sermons on Liberation (Page 4)
When we know ourselves as known by God, the demonic power of violent naming is broken and new life dawns.
All of us, oppressed and powerful, are invited to act against violence and exploitation, to leave behind the oppressive ways and walk towards a new way of life.
The message of Pentecost is the message of Pascha – Christ is risen and, in him, we are liberated from our captivity to the spirits of death, fear, despair, and division, and freed to dance to the Holy Spirit’s tune.
God’s love is like a refuge from the storm, like the hospitality of a generous host, like the continuing delight of a bridegroom for his bride, and like the alchemical power of the miracle-worker transforming even our fear and inconstancy into the power to love, forgive, and cherish.
Jesus promises that if we will face our deepest fear – the loss of our very souls – and if we will trust in his love, then we shall live, even though we die.
God in Jesus Christ touches our grubby humanity to make it clean, so that human beings and human community might regain their colour, shape and original purpose.
The demonic forces of our culture and time colonise our lives but if we turn to Christ, he will drive away the demons and fill us with his Spirit. His truth will set us free.
Those who insist that faith must satisfy their every ideology may miss out, while those who simply yoke themselves to Jesus will find the freedom and peace for which they yearn.
The resurrection of Jesus is about the in-breaking of something which is so new, so different, so unheard of, that it changes things so entirely that we will never again become captive to all that is predictable, or ‘necessary,’ or ‘fated’.
The beatitudes proclaim God’s preferential love for the poor and challenge us to rethink our own dependence on financial security.
Jesus calls us to accept forgiveness and get on with a life and faith that do not revolve constantly about trying to make up for mistakes.
What God has done and is doing is cause for celebration.
Knowledge can be used to destroy or to liberate. In Jesus we see one whose teaching and actions are an integrated liberating message.
Christians are to be known for what they do rather than what they abstain from.
Sin seeks to enslave our bodies, but if we will take on Christ’s yoke we are incorporated into Christ’s body for redemption.
Being saved can be painful, but its goal, becoming a purified people who can worship rightly without fear, is the ultimate reward.
The need for liberation for the poor and oppressed is obvious, but for the comfortable and successful, the enslavements to consumerism, power and hardness of heart are harder to discern and take the intervention of God to break free from.
Jesus is God’s chosen liberator from birth and calls us to follow him among the innocent sufferers bringing hope and freedom.