Philippians 2:1-11
If then there is any encouragement in
Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion
and sympathy, 2make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the
same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3Do nothing from
selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than
yourselves. 4Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to
the interests of others. 5Let the same mind be in you that was in
Christ Jesus, 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard
equality with God
as something to be exploited, 7but emptied himself, taking the form
of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8he
humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross. 9Therefore
God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10so
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and
under the earth, 11and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
As a child
one often would dream of “super powers;” you know, like the ones that super
heroes had: vision that could see through walls, strength that could
topple mountains and buildings, brains that could solve any question of the
universe or invent a cure for any illness, and so forth. Listen to
a child, and you might hear such things as, “If I could fly like birds, then I
could….”. Last week I heard similar stories when talking with adults, but
it had a different take. There was a
craze about the Mega Million Lottery: who was going to win all that
money? What would you do with that much money if you won? Would
winning that much money solve all things or would it just create new
worries? It really doesn’t matter what stage of life we are in, or what
blessings and talents we possess, or the size of our bank accounts or credit
limits; we all have hopes, dreams, and uncertainties to navigate in our lives.
As we explored all of our limitations and opportunities throughout our Lenten
journey and “blogging”, at the core was the very real human factor of our
limits as being created in God’s image, and God’s limitlessness, being God.
This
Philippians passage and the Easter Story, remind us most fully of God’s depth
and breadth. This passage and Easter invite us into the offering of God’s
Son on the cross so that where there is doubt, faith; where there is
brokenness, healing; where there is despair, hope; where there are dead ends,
new life. To be in full accord with God, with Christ, is to rest
assuredly and confidently in a faith that emulates Christ for others. It
is when we ourselves give selflessly as Christ has died for us, that our
“faith” is no longer a noun, but is a verb. It is then that the Gospel of
Jesus Christ being risen indeed, is not just a catchy phrase, but Easter is a
joy completed within us and shared with others. Amen.
Pastor
Kent
For reflection:
What does it mean, to name faith a
“verb?”
How can you “live the resurrection,” now?
Christ is risen; he is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Seize the opportunity each day to proclaim this awesome truth!
