Rediscovering our roots

Radical love.  Radical courage.  Radical grace.  Radical generosity.  There was a time when these were the usual ways bureaucrats, political leaders, and the powered-and-moneyed elite of the day referred to Christians - a term which was originally meant to be derogatory and essentially meant "mini-Jesus".  Jesus' followers co-opted the insult - because it so succinctly captured their sincerest and deepest hope - to BE a mini Jesus.  

They earned this insult-turned-compliment by ... taking food - and even more importantly - Kindness - to prisons where young roman men were being held as they were marched to conscripted military duty - even if it cost them their lives, by selling off land to help feed orphans and widows, by crying out against what took advantage of the most vulnerable.  These things were so radical to the Romans at large - that they felt threatened by them.  They had other insults for the early Christ-followers too - one of my favorites was "pagan" - because Christians didn't believe in the roman pantheon.  But the threat roman leaders felt by the Christian movement was real - they saw it as a force of social power that could destabilize the stabilizing effects of meaningless routine - the "bread and circuses" that those in charge used to keep the citizens cozily asleep in Pax Romana 

I have a sneaking suspicion that what bothers most mini-Jesus's today about the current batch of derogatory terms we get painted with is the way they also hit the nail on the head - but not a nail we're proud of.

But the really good news is that there's probably an opportunity to be radical  right now not far from where you are. Can you see it?  

The Two Most Powerful Forces in the Verse

If Elijah's sweet chariots of fire come claim me right off my desk-chair just after I click "publish" and no other post can ever appear here - I'll be satisfied if this is all you know about us.  God's Love and God's Grace are the two most powerful forces in the universe.  You may say "it's ionic bonds" if you study chemistry, or you may say "gravity" if you get physics, or "evolution" if you're more of a biological sciences kind of geek - and those are all valid answers in those contexts.   In the context of faith and life though - I'm sticking to my guns here; it's Love & Grace - specifically God's love & God's grace.  It was Love that motivated God to create everything (John 1) and it was more love that motivated Him to reveal Himself to us through all that's around us - all that Christ did for us once we made it unquestionably clear we needed help; big time.  

And Grace - Grace is the force by which Christ's redemption of us works.  Love - the motivation for everything.  Grace - the fix-it tool for everything that happened next.  God's love moved Him to walk with the man and the woman in the garden in the cool of the day (Gen 3:8) - and however you might read all that comes next - love was the foundation to the plan - right up to the cross - and that love kicks off the work of grace in our lives so we can start to "get it" for ourselves.  

JC's Village exists as a place where any student can come and celebrate these two most powerful forces on earth can grow, hang out, belong, serve, impact, bask.  It's that simple.  

Thanks for stopping by.  Come again.

Love & Grace to you today!