Grace for the journey

Beloved of God,

    The Missions and Outreach team is still working toward building teams to support displaced Afghans who will be in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. If you would like to join in this good work, please email the Missions and Outreach team and let them know.
    On Saturday Evening, October 2nd, we will be having a time of prayer and reflection in the church building from 5pm to 9pm. Different areas within the church will be designated for prayers of intercession for our ministries, confession, forgiveness, and reflection. You may come and go as you need throughout the evening. Please plan on spending part of that Saturday night with us in prayer.

    Our reading for Sunday from the gospel of Mark contains several episodes in a row that look like a collection of teaching organized around common images if they are organized at all. But the way we have Scripture is for our good, and I think that God was invested and operative even in a passage like this to place things together that we need to hear.
    The first part of the passage tells of a concern the disciples bring to Jesus over a man who is casting out demons in his name, but is “not one of us”. They are worried they should stop him, but Jesus disagrees. If he’s casting out demons in Jesus’ name, then whoever he is, he’s not the opposition. Jesus advises them to let him continue, because even if he were merely caring for the thirsty in Jesus’ name, it would be a sign not of opposition, but accord with the Kingdom of God.  
    In the next section Jesus speaks of the judgement that awaits those who cause the small among us (In faith? In stature? Both?) to stumble. In fact, he admonishes his followers to be so concerned with holiness that even body parts that don’t cooperate are up for removal! The idea seems to be that where we go, what we do, and even what we see ought to be done in accord with a holy life, and failure to do so should be addressed at any cost.
    I like that these passages are side by side, because it reminds us of things that seem contradictory to us at first blush. We’re reminded that faith in Jesus practiced by others, even if we don't understand it, isn’t opposition. We’re told to be gracious about how others are following Jesus, and not to thwart them just because they’re not “one of us”. It’s a call to be gracious.
    On the other hand, the following passage speaks of a relentless pursuit of our own holiness, and the high cost of causing harm to those who are small or weak in faith. Jesus is clear, the choice is either a deep personal purity or the threat of hell. Nothing about us should be above our own careful interrogation, even our own bodies are to be carefully brought into a life of holiness. It’s a call to be rigorous. 
We need both words. We need to be reminded to be gracious to others following Jesus, perhaps especially because they will not be “one of us” as far as we can tell. We will disagree with folks as they follow Christ, even as they do so faithfully. But on the other hand, our self-examination and personal practice of holiness should be relentless. We should be constantly concerned with how we ourselves might live a life marked by the purity the Kingdom of God demands. But either of these words without the counterbalance of the other will fall into laxity, or abuse, and miss the point. God is gracious with us even as He is just, and just to us even as He gives grace. Part of discipleship is living in that tension without compromising it’s strains. May God give us the strength to do just that.

Please join me this week in praying for:

• An end to this pandemic.
  
• Those among us dealing with hurt or sickness in mind, body, or spirit.
  
• Doctors, nurses, PA’s, paramedics, and others working to keep us all well.
  
• Wisdom, courage, and guidance as we make congregational decisions.
  
• Patience, strength, and grace as we face difficult personal decisions.
  
• Those who are trying to make their way in a new country due to circumstances beyond their control.
  
• Those in positions of public trust at the federal, state, and local level
  
• First responders who are called upon to deal with emergencies on our highways, in our wildlands, in our towns and even our homes. 
  
• Those leading discipleship groups of all ages and those who they will teach. 
  
• Each other (please contact [email protected] if you’d like to be added to our prayer list).
  

You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world,

Marshall