Book: Matthew

God’s merciful and all-inclusive love is steadfast, not arbitrary, and so fills us with hope in the coming Christ.

Amidst the variety of opinions about the Coming Christ, there is a real message of hope that reshapes our lives.

Every relationship in the universe – between God and creation, between humans, and between humans and creation – is driven by three dynamics: justice, mercy and faith.

We are given gifts from God – faith, love and hope – to help us cope with all that is less than God – especially when ‘principalities and powers’ overwhelm us.

One of the implications of grace may be that instead of taking swords to the less good and pure, we learn to express the openness of God to the mixed bag of people who are on the journey with us.

We are called to stop defending ourselves and fighting off the intruders in the vineyard, but rather to welcome the spirit-sent opportunities that will demand of us, but will also change us.

God will open the way through the world’s chaos, and it will be grounded on extravagant mercy.

God will wound us if necessary to bring us into the full blessing intended for us.

Perhaps when law and order perpetuate injustice, God is on the side of the scammers and swindlers.

The Church will always contain more than its fair share of maliciousness, pettiness and nastiness, but the temptation to try to weed it out is a temptation to abandon the way of Christ and make things worse.

God calls us to live out the gospel, not just to think about, not just to pray about it, but to live it.  Jesus called us to action, not to change their thinking but to change their lives.

The power of sin over us will not be broken by trying harder, but by pursuing Christ and Christ alone.