02-28-20

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
February 28, 2020
Scripture: 1st Corinthians 1:18
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Thought for the Day: If you really think about it, Paul is absolutely correct. I’m surprised anyone joined the Christian movement as Paul preached from one town to another. The cross is a pathetic marketing tool, as it is foolishness not only to ‘those who are perishing’, but to anyone who takes time to contemplate its meaning. Paul was writing to a bickering church (nothing unusual for the Pauline communities), but it’s puzzling how the meaning of the cross has become one of the great battle grounds of disagreement throughout Christian history. People have been willing to murder others in the name of that symbol’s significance. I appreciate Richard Rohr’s thinking on this matter in his book, Falling Upward. In the 5th chapter he writes about those who have attempted to give order to the cross by explaining away the whole notion of suffering as some sort of well organized substitutionary plan. He goes on to say, “The cross solved our problem by first revealing our real problem – our universal pattern of scapegoating and sacrificing others. The cross exposes forever the ‘scene of our crime.’” The cross is exactly what God does not want for the world, and the resurrection is God’s declaration for us to stop it!

Prayer: God, I see nothing of you and everything of you on the cross. It is nonsensical and absurd, and I can only guess that it is your grace making a point with something so pointless. Amen.

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