Why is it a familiar experience for many that when Jesus is brought into a chat the conversation often stops?
It is true that in the stories of the early church, and the gospel themselves, Jesus is not always welcomed by the people he talks to.
The disciples are instructed to greet people with peace though, and to remain where peace is returned. This tradition continues in the liturgy of the SEC. Have you ever wondered why it happens in what appears to be the middle of a service though?
Christians talk of the Gospel of peace, and who wouldn’t want to hear good news! But why is it that many people do not associate Christianity with good? My Internet feeds are filling with people posting online describing themselves as “New Evangelicals”, or “Exvangelical”. Christians who still “love Jesus” but who are horrified by what is being done in his name in their states just now are getting more vocal. This outburst is just one example of a deep ache felt throughout what was once Christendom though. It is not restricted to the USA or Evangelical sects.
In “the lost message of Jesus” and “Christ of the Celts” the authors encourage their readers to rediscover the good news of the gospel. These books are not heavy theology. They do delve deeply into the nature of salvation. Tempted as I am to try to summarise a book in a paragraph, I will instead ask a question.
What happens when you imagine the blood shed on the cross as that of childbirth, rather than that of death?
What happens if you look through the canon of scripture for examples of God mothering, creating, as well as for contracts and sacrifices?
In what ways can salvation be God carrying us to term, through the experience of life, rather than saving us from it?
Technocrats and people made rich from an oil fuelled empire fear running out of resources enough to try and take their empire into space or freeze their brains to prolong their lives. Legend has it that the people we call Celts were not afraid of empires, or death. It is a change which comes to us all that they were familiar with. But there was something they recognised as good in the gospel that appealed to a warriors sense of adventure, and spread from hilltop to hilltop flourishing in the songs of the seanchaithe.
Perhaps if we can remember the fire which warms our hearts we will gather people round the flames to talk about it in peace. If we remember the solid gold and silver of what we have received, it will be valued. As the current empires crumble like Rome did, havens like Whithorn, Iona, Lindesfarne, Bobbin, …Rivendell? Will be places where peace can be found.
