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A Word from Grace Street

Entering the Fray

May 19, 2010

My Dear People,

I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In Virginia's green and pleasant land.

You may recognize the words, all but one, that is, as being from William Blake's "Jerusalem."

That poem was the jumping-off point for a spot-on RTD editorial last Friday, on the essential relationship between religion and government, or, to put it another way, between faith and politics. (The phrase "hidebound critics of religion in the public square" was especially apt.)

I've been reading the Franciscan Richard Rohr lately, and he puts it well, "Great religion begins in mysticism and always ends in politics." To paraphrase Rohr, true religion always has its source in deep union with God; and true religion always finds its fullest (earthly) expression in concrete action devoted to the common good.

Religion without political implications is no better than idolatry; and politics without spiritual grounding inevitably leads to dehumanization.

As followers of the Prince of Peace, the question for us, as individuals, and as a community, is how we will, or whether we will, respond to our Lord's call to enter the fray.

Your brother in Christ,

Wallace+

 

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SERMONS

To Bethlehem; to Bethlehem, we have come.

And, of course, this Christmas, tonight, and tomorrow, new memories are being made; a Carol sung, pure and exquisite; an old friend; warm, endearing words exchanged; a first Christmas for a new grandbaby; a candle lit, a face aglow, eyes agleam.

The Pointer’s Point

More than fifty times, in his published writings, Barth refers to the Grunewald image; and, indeed, usually, it is precisely in reference to John,  and John’s relation to the figure of Christ; as he points.
Barth (and Grunewald before him) understood John’s sole purpose to be to serve as a pointer to Christ, a reference to Christ, a witness to Christ.

Keep Alert, Awake, and Watchful

On any given day, there are those things that would get our attention; those things that would bring fresh perspective; those things would remind us of what is most important, what is most true. If, that is, if we but notice. We never know when those things, those experiences, those people might come. And so it has always been, so it has always been.

The Rule of 72

The Rule of 72, they call it.  It’s a rule of thumb to figure how long it’ll take to double your money. If you know you can get 5%, on your investment, then you divide 5 into 72 and that tells you: it’ll take roughly 14 and ½ years to double your money. That’s the Rule of 72. Now, sometimes an investor doesn’t want to wait 14 and a ½ years, or however long the Rule of 72 tells you that you have to wait and so increased risks are taken. And sometimes you win, and sometimes you loose.

Walk the Way of a Servant

We all want, in the words of St. Paul, to “lead a life worthy of God.” A life worthy of God. Un-like the lives of the false prophets, of Micah’s day, or the false teachers of Jesus’ day, the scribes and the Pharisees, teachers of the law. Their lives are un-worthy of God, we are told, in no uncertain terms. In their hypocrisy, they serve, not God, not God’s people, but themselves.

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