After the treacherous and lengthy commute from work to home (how embarrassing to trip over your own patio furniture, all because you forgot to turn the back porch light on, and the illumination from the outbuildings only goes so far), I am home again, still somewhat Typhoid Mary, but stuffed to the gills with excellent potluck fare (four cheese quiche, pasta salad with pine nuts, turkey salad, and salsa rice & beans with bread), and my head full of interesting thoughts about John 12: 23-30.
Hm. What was that bit I rewrote/retranslated in the end? Shoot. Something like… If you live for your ego at the expense of the common dignity of humanity, then in the end you’ll have nothing but your ego left. If you sacrifice your ego at the altar of the common dignity of humanity, you may lose you ego, but you’ll have gained the whole world. Yea. Something like that. I think I could preach that. In fact, I think I will. (Subject to change.)
Anyway, it was very cool to see some new faces there, and I hope they found it interesting, worthwhile, and above all, safe.
Still thinking about what I’ll add to the clergyblog. But I’m thinking about renaming it ClergyBlog.
Just for the capitalization?
I think your retranslation (like so many of your interpretations) is powerful because it holds true outside the religious framework; it’s a moral way of looking at the world outside of one’s personal religious beliefs.
I recently read the book “Infidel,” by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and she wrote about how surprised she was to find a moral framework outside of a belief in the religion she’d been brought up inside. I think one of the biggest problems we face today is people refusing to believe that those who don’t believe the same as they do are wrong or morally corrupt, and one of the things I love about the way you communicate your beliefs is how you acknowledge the overriding humanity we all share.
Not just for the capitalization. The original title to that blog was some strange reference to the frontier. I renamed it ClergyBlog, b/c that’s how I’ve been thinking about it.
Infidel. Another book I own but haven’t read yet. But to your point – yes. I agree.
When Tom, the Church Plant Guru was here helping me to put my head on straight, he asked me what my vision was, of the nascent mission of a new spiritual community here. I said, in essence, to be a community that helps people grow into the full stature of their own humanity, to help grow mature human beings, and I was really clear that it wasn’t my mission to grow mature Christians, because I think that is too narrow. Jesus didn’t come to grow mature Christians, he came to help illuminate the world, which at that point didn’t contain Christians. My job is not to convert the world, or even Tonawanda. My job is to follow Christ in the effort of maturing all humanity.
And sure, today I use the words ‘maturing all humanity’ but you could just as easily substitute ‘awakening’, or ‘enlightenment’, though I tend to think that ‘salvation’ is both over and misused. ‘Resurrection’ works, though.
Hm. Thanks for this. You’ve helped me shape some more thoughts for the sermon. Gracias.