Continuing in our study of N.T. Wright’s great work, I want to lift up some key quotes, some pertinent scriptures and some reflective questions. Enjoy and continue to share your processing with us by making comments below
Chapter One
QUOTE
“The art of being gentle – of kindness and forgiveness, sensitivity and thoughtfulness and generosity and humility and good old-fashioned love – have gone out of fashion. Ironically, everyone is demanding their “rights,” and this demand is so shrill that it destroys one of the most basic “rights,” if we can put it like that: the “right,” or at least the longing and hope, to have a peaceful, stable, secure, and caring place to live, to be, to learn, and to flourish. Once again people ask the question: Why is it like this? Does it have to be like this? Can things be put to rights and if so how?...we can say that the reason we have these dreams, the reason we have a sense of a memory of the echo of a voice, is that there is someone speaking to us, whispering in our inner ear – someone who cares very much about this present world and our present selves.” (page 8, 9)
SCRIPTURE – Matthew 5 NLT
“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. 6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice for they will be satisfied. 7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”
REFLECTION
• Where does our sense of justice come from and how do my rights fit into God’s whispers for this reality?
• Where does the life of Jesus fit in with our sense of and the fulfillment of justice?
Chapter Two
QUOTE
“’The hidden spring’ of spirituality is the second feature of human life which, I suggest, functions as the echo of a voice; as a signpost pointing away from the bleak landscape of modern secularism and toward the possibility that we humans are made for more than this.” (page 20)
SCRIPTURE – Matthew 10 NLT
28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
REFLECTION
• How does your spirituality tell you that you were made for more?
• Jesus promises rest for our souls. If you experience that on a normal basis, what is it that gets you there?
• How does or should Christian spirituality affect making things right in the world?
BLESSING
My prayer for all of us today is that we would allow the voice of the One who called us and cares deeply about things being made right to cloud out the individualistic “rights” that are not from God and in fact are keeping us from living God’s Kingdom here as it is in heaven!
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1 comment:
Hey Dan,
I'm still a bit jet-lagged from the China trip, but I'd like to join the discussion you are trying to get rolling here...
So far I've reviewed chapter one, and I read what you reviewed about it and reflected on my own response. It feels to me like yours is intellectual, and somewhat misses the heart of what thrilled me in this chapter. Please don't take it critically because that isn't at all my intent. But NT Wright had me passionately excited about the kingdom here and now in this chapter. He gave me a glimpse of what it looks like, something tangible to model my life after. I can't identify as well with the terminology of just "what is justice" as much as I am so deeply drawn to understand what Jesus taught us about the kingdom here and now and what it looked like in His life.
Here is a quote that makes my heart beat with new life from chapter one:
Jesus was always going to parties where people had plenty to eat and drink and there seemed to be a celebration going on. Wherever he went, people were excited because they believed that God was on the move, that a new rescue operation was in the air, that things were going to be put right. People in that mood are like old friends meeting up at the start of a holiday. They tend to laugh a lot. There is a good time coming. The celebration has begun. (p. 11)
Equally, wherever Jesus went he met an endless supply of people whose lives had gone badly wrong. Sick people, sad people, people in doubt, people in despair, people covering up their uncertainties…And though Jesus healed many of them, it wasn’t like someone simply waving a magic wand. He shared the pain. He was deeply grieved at the sight of a leper and the thought of all that the man had gone through. He wept at the tomb of a close friend. Toward the end of the story, he himself was in agony, agony of soul before he faced the same agony in his body. (p. 11)
I love reflecting on those pictures of how Jesus lived. While He had great joy and people loved being around Him, He also came near to people in depths of despair. So to bring it to a radical call of obedience for those who seek His kingdom on the dirt of earth --- what do we do with people's pain? Do we enter in? Draw near? Walk it with them and support them and hear their hurt, or do we try to correct them for not having faith, or do we try to keep a distance because it feels too messy? Have we come to grips in our own life of what our own doubts and questions are so that we can identify with those who struggle? Can we admit we struggle? Those are the things that can start to make some serious imprints on human lives and bring kingdom redemption and transformation.
After reading the first chapter, I felt drawn into the life of Jesus and what He wants here on earth today. I haven't yet reviewed chapter two, but I guess in general I would love to hear some discussion about the heart of it, the emotion, the tangible expression of living it out. Again it is not at all written with a heart of criticism -- just a dialogue of how the chapter reached me.
Blessings!!
Julie
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