christ the redeemer

this past week in my theology of martin luther class we discussed luther's christology, that is to say, what luther had to say (or write) about jesus christ.  for luther, jesus is the ultimate self-revelation of god's heart (although god is still hidden, never fully known by us).  this then informs luther's understanding of god as luther explains the second article of the apostles creed to mean that jesus as lord is redeemer. 

christ redeems us.  christ frees us from being slaves to sin and death.  we are freed to choose life abundant.  this choice is not always easy, but in god we are always invited into life-giving relationship.  we receive love and hope in our redeemer so that we can go into a broken world and bring that hope to the hopelessness of the world.  christ is good news to the oppressed, because christ redeems the oppressed from situations of oppression, joining the outcasts and welcoming them at the table.  christ redeems the oppressors from systems of oppression, inviting them into a new way of being that is safe from domination, where they are free to be themselves without holding power over others.

luther's christology helps in interpreting scriptures.  the bible is authoritative, yet within the bible there are contradictions.  because god is ultimately made known to us in jesus christ, the gospels are the scripture used to interpret the rest of scripture.  the story of god at work in the world in jesus is the lens through which we understand god's saving actions throughout human history.  this is also why we stand during the reading of the gospel in worship; the gospels account for jesus' life, death, and resurrection.  by standing for the gospels, we are standing in reverence and respect for christ our redeemer.

so, as we set about interpreting scripture, we also interpret it through the lens of the gospel.  in a practical and personal way, this means that when verses from leviticus are tossed around, we go back to a redeemer who sat with the tax collectors and outcasts.  we go to a god who preached love for all of god's children.  we go to a god of love and justice to boldly proclaim that that love in our lives and in the world trumps the levitical law.  we rejoice in the freedom to respond to and trust in god's love for us and for all god's children.  we are freed to make christ known through our lives seeking love and dignity for all people.

the death of an innocent man

last night, an innocent man died.  this time, as in far too many other times, it was at the hand of the state.  troy davis spent nearly half his life awaiting execution.  he was innocent (if you don't believe me, check out his story) and yet he was killed.

a friend posted that she was about to lose all faith in the justice system.  someone else replied that as messed up as it is, it's "better than a mob lynching you or stoning you to death."  to that i have to ask: is it?  is troy davis' execution anything other than legal lynching by another method?

officer macphail's murder is a tragedy and justice needs to be served, but high emotional stakes coercing eye witness testimonies and preventing people from hearing and seeing the truth led to the unjust execution of one more black man accused of killing a white man.  not only that, but in the days and hours leading up to his execution, the delays and denials and second chances at hope amounted to emotional torture.  to state minutes before the scheduled execution that there will be a delay for a final appeal and then three hours later to deny the appeal is pointless.  it would've been better to have executed him like you did anyway than to have a show of seeking justice, which was not found.  

while justice may be blind, the justice system is not.  it is made up of fallible humans who come to every trial with their own biases.  troy davis maintained his innocence until his last breath.  in his final statement he reached out to the macphail family asking them to look deeper into the case so that they can find the truth about what happened that night.  then in close he said, "i ask my family and friends to continue to fight this fight.  for those about to take my life, god have mercy on your souls.  and may god bless your souls."


no one deserves to be killed.  troy davis didn't even deserve "guilty."


last night i did weep.  i wept for troy davis, i prayed for troy davis.  georgia representative john lewis stated last night, "do not weep for troy anthony davis, he will be with god, weep for georgia and for our nation.  capital punishment is barbaric."  today i weep for georgia and for our country and i pray for all our souls.

mic

as a middler (a person in her second year of seminary working towards my m div), i have been assigned a ministry-in-context (mic) site.  it's basically a teaching parish to help me get used to church life from a church leadership perspective.  i began last sunday and today was our rally day (the kickoff for sunday school and the school year worship schedule, etc.).  yesterday when i was meeting people to set up for rally day, i found out that that morning one of the matriarchs of the church, n, had died unexpectedly.  she had been away last sunday, so i hadn't yet met her, but it was clear from the conversations that have happened since receiving the news that she was very involved in the church and that everyone at the church cared deeply for her.

today was a bizarre day.  we began the day with rally day arts and crafts activities, singing in the community garden (we grabbed hands, bumped rumps, and sang the love round - bringing back very fond memories of both sunday school and rainbow trail).  we paraded around the block and took a picture on the church steps.  this was all a very lively and joy-filled way to begin our sunday.

once we got into the building and found our seats, the mood changed quite noticeably.  in the announcements the pastor mentioned n's death as well as the anniversary of the september 11th attacks.  the sermon spoke of a god who sees us in all our grief and anger and hurt and who knows us, pulling from the exodus story.  the pastor spoke of n's love and commitment to the church and the pain of her death as well as to the pain of september 11, 2001.  together, as a community, we grieved.  tears cascaded down people's cheeks as the choir sang "amazing grace."  it was the saddest, most powerful "amazing grace" i have ever heard.  during the sharing of the peace, it was clear that this community, hugging and crying together, was a safe place to be real.  we gathered and we felt.  we were honest with each other and we were present.

although i never knew n, i am honored to be connected to her through my church and this sunday that they shared with me.