Pastor John Wright

The readings this week take us to the heart of the life of the body of Jesus, and thus, the body of Christ lived within this age, and distinguished those who submit their body as a sacrifice, living, holy, and pleasing to God. Today I have spent much of my time reading on the French Revolution, and how the violence of the â€œgoddess of Reasonâ€ that led to the cult of the â€œSupreme Beingâ€ in order to unify France and its armies. The â€œgods of the Revolutionâ€ (to steal the title of a wonderful book by Christopher Dawson), were a violent sort, calling for violence, even demanding violence, particularly against the supposed â€œirrationalityâ€ of the church, to belong to the body politic. The rise of the secular European liberal state and a civil cult of a god devoted to protect the interests of the state through violence belong together.

In the United States never was the god of the Revolution called â€œReasonâ€ nor the â€œSupreme Beingâ€. To my knowledge no â€œTemples to Reasonâ€ were ever built, nor festivals of the Supreme Being ever held, nor the metals of churches confiscated in order to finance the military forces of the state. Yet one sees the merging of appeal to the god of the nation and its merging with the Triune God most within American society most at the point of war and violence. Our passages call us to see beyond this merging today. What one hears, instead, is the call to truthfulness within the body of Christ to achieve reconciliation within the church, thereby allowing the church to â€œovercome evil with good.â€

Ezekiel 33:(1-6)7-11

Who is the audience of the prophet? What is the role and responsibilities of the prophet? Who are the wicked and what does the â€œhouse of Israelâ€ say? What is the result? What is the final purpose of the prophetic warnings? How does this final purpose align with the purposes of God?

Romans 12:9-21

It is important to read Romans 12:9-21 in light of what we have already read in vv. 1-8, or we can read it as a call to a type of individualistic moralism. Instead, the teaching of the passage relate to the unity of the body of Christ of which there are many members. Take each phrase and tell how these virtues help maintain the unity of the body of Christ and how it shapes the particular visible witness in the world. After this, go to Matthew 5-7. What do you notice about the two passages? How do all these teachings relate together? How do we allow the Spirit to make us in these ways? What would be the result? How does this passage make the unified body of many members the body of Christ and not some other body? Is this an ethic of â€œnicenessâ€?

Matthew 18:15-20

The NRSV translation is a bit awkward here. What is the purpose of Jesusâ€™ teaching? Spell out the procedure that Jesus endorses to deal with conflict. What is the goal of the procedure? What is the place of truthfulness in this procedure? Why do the last verses arise from the teaching on how to deal with conflict within a congregation? How does resolving the conflict make Christ present in two or three gathered in Christâ€™s name? How does this relate to the visible manifestation of the body of Christ in Romans?

Maybe some of you have listened or watched the American â€œpoliticalâ€ conventions the past two weeks or read segments in the media about them. How does the mission of the â€œbody of Christâ€ sound in relationship to the language used by the American right and left? Is the â€œbody of Christâ€ interested in â€œAmericaâ€? With whom is this body concerned? How is the God to whom this teaching witnesses the same and/or different from the gods heard in the speeches of these past two weeks?

Have a wonderful evening a Hienâ€™s!