The Gospel, by Heather Voelkel Schaber

I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

I Cor 9:23

Every valley shall be raised up and every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level and the rugged places plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed and ALL mankind together will see it.

Is 40:4-5

This last six months or so I hit a sort of crisis. I’ve been feeling very unsure of my role or place or belonging in the church, which lead me to feel very unsure of my role or place or belonging in The Church. It’s been months of bobbing along somewhat aimlessly, letting the tide take me to this church for one Sunday or that church for another Sunday or maybe on Sunday there was no church in sight so it would just be a Sunday of floating alone.

The last few weeks the word gospel has surfaced in quite a few settings. I’ve been loosely fingering the word in my brain, wondering what it actually means. What is the good news for me? What is the good news for people who know Christ? What is the good news for people who don’t know Christ? How do I experience or live out the good news? What does it mean to proclaim good news?

Fast fact: the word “gospel,” as so frequently used by Paul, is actually an incredibly common greek word that intonated political good news. For example, if the king had a baby, he would send out a gospel to the whole kingdom letting them know of the birth. Or if the king won a battle, he would send out a gospel to the people letting them know that the war was over.

So Jesus actually co-opted this word- people understood the gospel as a broad proclamation that impacted everyone in a positive way. Moreover, Jesus actually was NOT the first prophet to use this word. The prophet Isaiah was famous for his gospel in Isaiah 40, which is that the Jewish people were free to go home- God would clear every obstacle in their way for them. The mountains in their lives that needed bulldozing- He would remove them. The valleys of hopelessness and despair that seemed too deep to escape- He would raise them up.

The gospel as described by both Isaiah and Jesus, it seems, is that God will remove ALL obstacles to bring people close to himself. The gospel is a little bit that Jesus died, but I think even more, it’s that he LIVES. He lives in the now to bring healing, to bring reconciliation, to bring hope.

It’s interesting- forgiveness has nothing to do with the person who did wrong and has everything to do with the person who was wronged. The person who was wronged can forgive without the the receiver even knowing that they were forgiven. Forgiveness has everything to do with the heart of the forgiver and nothing, really, to do with the one who did injury.

Reconciliation, however, is a two-way deal. Both parties have to meet in the middle. The one who did injury has to repent- has to turn around and walk towards the party they hurt. The one who was injured has to turn and face the one who hurt them- has to reach out to the one that brought injury.

When Jesus died, he brought forgiveness. It has nothing, really, to do with us. We are forgiven because he DECIDED to forgive. Reconciliation, however, is two-ways. That’s why Jesus rose again and came BACK to earth after death. For us to actually experience reconciliation and healing, we have to turn and meet Jesus in the middle. We turn and reach out to Him, and He turns and reaches out to us. In that place of us reaching and of Jesus reaching, that’s where LIFE happens. That’s where we experience purpose and fulfillment. That’s where our cups overflow with blessing.

I think that’s good news for me. It’s good news that my being forgiven has nothing to do with me. I’m forgiven even when I reject Christ in my life. It’s done. It was His decision to forgive me and what or who I am isn’t even in the cards. It’s good news, too, that He wants more for me than just forgiveness. He is willing to do ANYTHING to meet me where I’m at. He’ll even demolish mountains so that the path to meeting Him is clear- so that the path to healing and reconciliation and hope, is clear.

I will remember no more

 Guest blog: Weston Baker

"This is the covenant I will make with them

   after that time, says the Lord.

I will put my laws in their hearts,

   and I will write them on their minds."

Then He adds:

"Their sins and lawless acts

   I will remember no more."

(Heb. 10:16-17)

I'm excited about God's promise. I'm renewed in my thinking because I am assured that God really means this promise here: He will forget my sins, He doesn't keep a record of my failures.

That means when I ask for forgiveness for something and it's the 100th time, God says, "What 100 other times? I don't have any record of that, I have no memory of that." And He says "You are forgiven." Meaning it is washed away like it never happened.

That means on that day we go before Him, our life is a highlight reel of every act of kindness, and hospitality. A great list of every generous gift or deed we did for someone else. A list of every courageous thing we did and thought. All the honorable moments, the unselfish sacrifices for others. The times we persevered in faith. All the times we trusted Him. All the times we enjoyed ourselves and had fun. All the good and none of the bad.

Bind love and faithfulness on your neck and write them on the tablet of your heart.

May I forgive others as He forgives me.

And may I be with Him and chat with Him and live with Him who opened the way for newness of life.

"Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it."--Mark Twain

Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
Don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;    
He’s the one who will keep you on track. Proverbs 3:5-6

Something written by a guy I met at my new office, Starbucks. Kind of my battle for the day.

Fighting out of old wounds against the people who hurt me, leading campaigns against those who've oppressed me, trying to take them down, sabotage them and "save" others from their hurting of more people is something I've been good at, even found identity in. You might think it would be personally empowering to take back my power, to take on an enemy. Yet for me, it hasn't been. It's only caused further pain. It was as if the enemy I was attacking was really myself, some phantom amalgamated bully I let live inside me to ever berate me and pick at old sores and scabs on my soul. To set myself up as an opponent to be further rejected, fought back against, and be reminded of old offenses and wounds.

Yet forgiveness, on the other hand, has been freeing for me and extremely empowering. Even if those who hurt me never asked for forgiveness or never do, it is better for my soul to let go of that pain, let others off the hook, to see those who have hurt me as valuable, and work towards reconciliation instead of revenge. -Andrew Rogers

Prayer: Grant me, O Lord, to trust in you with all my heart; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

He even had mercy on the cattle, dumb old cows

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
    when it is in your power to do it.

Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again,
    tomorrow I will give it”—when you have it with you. Proverbs 3:27-28

A small group of weary women gather at my mom’s house every other Monday night. And we do a lot of working at the local food bank or as a high school nurse on the southside or as a home health care nurse for pregnant teens or tutoring scruffy second graders and Iranian immigrants or ordering complex numbers at a beautiful restaurant or walking through the Valley of the Shadow of Death with a father or…me. And we drink iced tea together and read a book together but mostly we just sit. And carry one another’s burdens.  Sitting is good at the end of a long fourscore of days of offering up cups of water to the least of these.

Right now we are reading Surprised by Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebel. And in Chapter Five, the teeming city of exceedingly great Nineveh, whose evil had come up before the Lord God, is looking a lot better than His prophet Jonah.  Because they got it. They called out to the mighty God and turned from their evil ways.  And we cannot even begin to count the ways Mr. Jonah did not get it.

But the big way he didn’t get it is that he didn’t understand this God very well. This Lord who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The LORD is good to all, and His mercy is over all He has made. He would not accept that the God whom he served, the One with all of those Mosaic Laws and Commandments which made him feel so smug and separate, was relentless, relentless in His pursuit, Jonah could not grasp the “promiscuity of God’s love. The fact that God’s love is unconditionally deep and wide and offered to all people without distinction frustrates Jonah.”

But in a big way I too do not understand this God very well. And any bit of my life that looks like the ungrateful servant, the one who was forgiven of so much and yet held a few coins against his neighbor is indeed grievous. “Jonah’s heart is stubborn, self-righteous, self-serving, and full of pride–such an utter contrast to God’s gracious heart…Jonah’s anger is killing him. He is a miserable man because he’s not free–he’s still a slave to his own bitterness, limitations and weaknesses. Some of us are miserable for the same reasons. God is working on us, teaching us to trust Him, specifically in those areas where it is so very, very hard to discern what He is doing and why. And it hurts.”

And what can I do about it? I can act in faith in this love so big I cannot understand it, this while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us love. I can act right now. Freely I have received, freely I can give. Forgiveness.

I have it with me. I live in it. Surrounded by His mercy and lovingkindness. And with the same measure ye mete, it shall be dealt unto you. Heaping and overflowing. Thus let me not withhold good to those whom it is due. When it is in my power to do it. I shall say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it”—when I have it with me even now.  It is hard to be even more proactive than my Savior who even as they spit and pelted Him with rocks, forgave.

And I pulled this off of a Facebook friend this morning, a long-ago student who still doesn’t know about possessive pronouns. But may I sing it in my heart all day long, as I offer up cold cups of water to a dry and thirsty people.

It’ll clear the bitterness away.
It can even set a prisoner free.
There is no end to what its power can do.
So, let it go and be amazed
by what you see through the eyes of grace.
The prisoner it really frees is you.
Forgiveness.

Supping at His table, not mine

And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. Matthew 18:27

So Alan and I paid off our mortgage for 220 South Country Club Road last month. Or two months ago. Whoopee.  I guess. Because there really has been absolutely no change in anything as far as I can see, except I am sort of vaguely worried that I won’t pay the property tax on time or did our USAA insurance get canceled and anyway the mortgage has been automatically sucked out of our Tucson Federal Credit Union account for so many years that it never seemed very tangible. Just sort of a general weight hanging around that made me feel one with the masses.  And I guess I always tried to figure out how to deduct the interest off of my Federal income taxes, but it never seemed to make much of a difference.

And even as a child the “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” verse always made me uncomfortable.  And it’s only gotten worse, because I am so aware of the large sheafs of peeling paint in the back room and the kinda cute “artwork” Nicole finessed in the guest shower to make light of the fact that you have to turn on the shower with a wrench, and don’t even get me started about the cockroach-infested kitchen. And nice pastors always talk about Jesus going through my cupboards with me and helping me clean things up a bit, and really that makes my stomach tighten into knots because I know that the closet in Jincheng’s room is stuffed to the gills with random stuff like crumpled American Girl dolls and empty picture frames and old prom dresses.  

But that’s not the way it is at all.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.  2 Corinthians 5:20-21  

And He really isn’t coming into my tattered and bedraggled albeit somewhat picturesque home.  Rather I have (past tense) stepped out into His glorious grace, according to the abundance of His steadfast love, because of who He is, not because of me. The old is done and gone. I have been released. 

And rather than the chore of sorting through my old rubbish, trying to decide what is salvageable, and what should be donated to Goodwill, and what should be hauled out immediately to the trash bin with an extended arm and pinched nose, it has been taken care of, totally. By Him.

And the whole thing about this story of the ungrateful servant is that I am not forgiving seventy times seven times with my leaky and spider-webbed and quite honestly, pretty self-centered understanding of paying off debt. Complete with mosquitos swirling, lazily, because they know exactly where their next fat and hapless meal is coming from. 

No. Rather I am joyfully welcoming the world to join me in place of reconciliation. His reconciliation. His mercy. His grace. Abundant and overflowing. The love of Christ which passes knowledge and understanding.

As He has forgiven me my debts. Glory

And the light shone brightly all about them

And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him.” Matthew 17:10-12

Another thing that Hector touched on was the strand of time, which trips us mere humans up again and again, because The God Who Was, Who Is and Who Forever Will Be is not bound but unfettered. 

And one way that we are bound is that we allow the past to filter, to haunt our present–past hurts and unforgiveness and lies we believe about identity and who we can trust (no one) that we drag along clunking and clanging behind us like Marley’s ghost. 

Hector spoke of a stuffed back memory of his twelve-year-old self begging his dad not to walk away. But he did. And there is forgiveness like, “Yeah, I forgive you, again. Seven times.” And there is Forgiveness, as in Forgive-them-for-they-know-not-what-they-do Forgiveness. It-is-Finished Forgiveness. Done.  That is the only sort of forgiveness that allows me to live not in the spirit of rejection, but in the spirit of being a beloved Child of God who has received mercy and what a joy it is to offer the same that I have received, bubbling over and joyfully in the presence of love. Not even noticing when it has been done wrong.

And another way that we are bound is that we allow the fear and the unknown of what lies ahead to paralyze us, deer in the headlights.  We cannot see so we stand stricken.  All the What Could Be’s suck the Presence and daily manna Provision gratefulness right out of the moment. We weren’t created to know everything, but to know Him. His name is Jehovah, and He knows the end from the beginning; therefore His hand shall be over me.

And here on the mountaintop of transfiguration, restoration looks a lot different to the disciples that they had imagined. Jesus, ever aware of the Kingdom Come, saw things for what they were, for He saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven, the strong man was overcome in his own house, and the stronger man had taken from him all his armour wherein he trusted. And in this restoration it was possible to have a pleasant afternoon chat with Moses and Elijah.

May I live in this moment of “Have no fear,” because He has touched me and lifted me up, to be about My Father’s business, this restoration. The restoration that has already taken place. This “will be made” is not future tense in Greek, but rather present future tense, the action has already taken place and will continue for eternity. 

And the light shone brightly all about them.

Seventy-seven times

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:12-14

Actually, if I am simply listening to The Sermon, The Sermon of The One Who Formed Our Hearts, rather than noticing superfluous formatting, this section comes out as one well-developed exposition on the sin that besets each one of us.  Well, at least me.  

Lack of forgiveness runs deep and broad, with many implications.  Lack of forgiveness is the sin that sets me up against Him.  It is me challenging the LORD God, for His position as Judge and Knower of the Complete Story. 

Lack of forgiveness takes hold and twists into the root of bitterness, which poisons the stream of living water which should be flowing freely from me.  This root also takes hold and chokes out the Spirit and His fruit–that of love, joy, peace.  Especially love, love that does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Lack of forgiveness places me under the influence of the Evil One. It means that I have paid heed to his hissing accusations, his pointing finger, giving him place over our Advocate who stands before the Throne with the truth, “For this sin I died.” 

And I remain unforgiven.  Mercy is the practical manifestation of accepting His great gift of redemption.  A truly repentant heart, one that sees clearly the Kingdom at hand, is fixed on Him. My eye is clear and joy is in my step.  He is all that matters, My Lord, my King, my Savior.  

That time of darkness and despair will not go on forever

And He went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So His fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought Him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and He healed them. Matthew 4: 23-24

As much as I dwell on the love and grace of God for His beloved children, there is still the cry for rightness in my heart, particularly when I read the newspaper headlines, I long for those who oppress the poor and helpless to be held accountable for their actions as in May They Experience Woe: Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow. Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

Perhaps it is because it is a shared longing.  He is the one Who reached past the natural law of Survival of the Fittest and instilled His value of justice. This is part of the good news of the kingdom that Jesus came to proclaim: good news to the poor and liberty to the captives; sight to the blind, liberty to the oppressed.

And what a comfort to hear testimonies from Lebanon and Jordan and Turkey that His good news is still being preached in Syria, and among the more than two million refugees who have fled their homes and are clinging to life along the borders of because of murder and mayhem and “oppressive decrees.”

But what draws them to Jesus and His life and death and life again is not a message of justice, but of forgiveness.  Not a message of vengeance is Mine sayeth the LORD, but of mercy.  Not a message of hatred, but of love.  

Where do you get this message? His followers are being asked.

This is the good news from the One who heals every affliction among men. And who, when faced with the greatest injustice of all, was able to cry out, “Father, forgive them.” And it seems that we more the injustice we suffer here on this earth, the more we can be like Jesus. drawing close to His heart.

Perhaps that is how He was able to lift His eyes up to His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, and say: Blessed are you who are poor now. Blessed are you who are hungry now. Blessed are you who weep now. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil. You will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full.

Sighs too deep for words

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” Acts 2:38-40

Repent.  

The Greek word metanoia is better translated as “turning around” or to “going beyond the mind.” The call to an utterly new mind, to turn around and begin again, is the essential and necessary pattern that insures ongoing spiritual growth. (Rohr)

This crooked generation is focused on fears, angers, judgements; my thinking determines what I will see and what I won’t see, what I pay attention to and what I don’t.  My running-thought prayers are so often fixed on self, not on His grace and freedom.  And His love.  Which is the ultimate Truth, the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh.

Therefore, let me draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. In His love, His perfect love, fear is cast out.

The worldview is that everything out there is against me.  It is a worldview in which we compare, dominate, control and insure.  I am in charge.  I need to be in charge, which leads to anxiety and isolation.  I sort of hate the books I am supposed to be teaching this next school year because they just reinforce this rugged individualism which is the lie from the garden.  You can be god.  

Take control of every thought so you can pray. 

And by resting in His forgiveness, I can truly forgive each and every one, near and far off.  It is not my job to judge.  Rather I shall join Paul, bowing before the Father.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

This was the verse pinned to my bulletin board behind my teacher desk at Grace.  That every day I knelt down and prayed for my awkward seventh graders.  Oh, to have it scaffold my heart and prayers yet again.

Repent.

Amen.

Without even a memory of the stain

O Thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away. Psalm 65:2-3

I totally get Romans 7: For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.   I long to be wise and full-of-faith and grace, and stuff just bubbles up and out.  Flesh wins, my soul loses.  

However I am forgiven.  Purge is about as strong an action verb as there is.  And its root word is “pure.”  And if He who hearest it all, knows every single black and selfish thought can see me as pure, surely who am I to hold even the tiniest grudge against my brother, ungrateful servant that I am.  

And forgive us our debts, just as we also forgive our debtors.

Purged.  pure.