Did you know that Tracfone makes a distinction between Android minutes and basic phone minutes? I discovered this peculiarity the hard way, but it does provide an odd vehicle for seeing how the faith commitment takes what's commonplace and makes it different.
That's what the Ten Commandments were all about. These rules of conduct aimed to define God's people apart from the rest of people. It begins with a clear delineation of who God is and how God's people are to regard their relationship to God. It moves on to articulate rules for the conduct of God's people among other people in society. Being a covenant people of God is different. Being faithful is different.
In John 2's account of Jesus clearing the Temple, we find the Lord confronting the normalization of corruption, where righteousness and forgiveness is systematically sold for a profit at the house of God. God's faithful people need to be different, not adapters to worldly corruption. The justification that it's "business," that "everyone does it," that "we've always done it this way" doesn't hold up under scrutiny with faithful awareness.
Lent is the season for understanding how the faithful people of God are different, as different as Android minutes are from basic phone minutes, according to Tracfone at least. Taking the different, sometimes difficult path goes deep in our Christian tradition. The picture above is a traveler on pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago, a 500 mile journey across rugged northern Spain to Santiago de Compostella which tradition claims to be the final resting place of James, brother of Jesus. This was a hugely popular destination in the Middle Ages.
See the sermon video below to learn more about Tracfone and its minutes, and how faithful is different, plus the downloads below the video panel.
That's what the Ten Commandments were all about. These rules of conduct aimed to define God's people apart from the rest of people. It begins with a clear delineation of who God is and how God's people are to regard their relationship to God. It moves on to articulate rules for the conduct of God's people among other people in society. Being a covenant people of God is different. Being faithful is different.
In John 2's account of Jesus clearing the Temple, we find the Lord confronting the normalization of corruption, where righteousness and forgiveness is systematically sold for a profit at the house of God. God's faithful people need to be different, not adapters to worldly corruption. The justification that it's "business," that "everyone does it," that "we've always done it this way" doesn't hold up under scrutiny with faithful awareness.
Lent is the season for understanding how the faithful people of God are different, as different as Android minutes are from basic phone minutes, according to Tracfone at least. Taking the different, sometimes difficult path goes deep in our Christian tradition. The picture above is a traveler on pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago, a 500 mile journey across rugged northern Spain to Santiago de Compostella which tradition claims to be the final resting place of James, brother of Jesus. This was a hugely popular destination in the Middle Ages.
See the sermon video below to learn more about Tracfone and its minutes, and how faithful is different, plus the downloads below the video panel.
| 03-08-15-ff-answers.pdf |
| 03-08-15-faithful_is_different.pdf |