Harmony of Grace

In recent years, I have become very outspoken against many types of injustice in the world, particularly those perpetuated by the wealthy and the Church. I believe that this is necessary work justified by my understanding of Jesus and Scripture. Jesus constantly challenged the religious elite and the greedy rich while fighting for the rights of the poor, marginalized and vulnerable. We also know that Jesus told his followers to love their neighbours, even those who they consider to be their enemies. So how do we confront those perpetuating injustice while still loving them? Reading the gospel story of Zacchaeus the tax-collector in Luke 19, I was reminded that while God clearly shows a preferential option for the poor throughout the bible, no-one is exempt from God's love and grace - even those who we feel called to challenge. In this beautiful story, Jesus takes time to visit and eat with Zacchaeus, a man who was rich, greedy and guilty of stealing from many - the exact type of pe...

John 2:18-22 Jesus tells the religious leaders that if they destroy the temple, he will raise it again in three days. The religious leaders misunderstand Jesus and presume that he meant the literal temple, but Jesus was talking about his body as a temple of God. While Jesus was speaking of raising his own body in this example, his claim reminds us that our bodies too are temples of God.  As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” God has entrusted humanity with the responsibility to care for all of God's Creation. This does not only include fauna and flora but our bodies as well. To many people, this means ensuring that they remain fit and healthy, but I believe that it goes further than this. To care for our bodies as temples of God means that we use our bodies to glorify God in all the ways that we ...

Mark 8:34-38 In our reading today, Jesus describes what it takes to follow him. In this passage, he presents one of the greatest challenges to people who claim to follow Jesus: "What good is it to gain the whole world, yet lose their soul?" (verse 36). This is a catchy line that has made it into many songs in recent history (my favourite being  Lose My Soul  by Toby Mac), but we need to be careful that our familiarity with a verse does not make us forget its meaning. While perhaps being at risk of generalising, I believe that there is a direct correlation between someone's wealth and how difficult it is to truly follow Jesus. The more wealth and possessions that someone has, the harder it is to be a true disciple of Christ.  The wealthiest nation in the world is the USA. The current population of Americans that does not identify with any religious affiliation is 28%. In South Africa, a much poorer nation, this figure is 5.2%. I think that the reason for this is because th...

Genesis 9:8-12 One of the biggest problems with modern evangelical Christianity is the focus on individualism. Salvation has become a personal experience; repentance is between an individual and God; we talk about defending me and my people; our worship songs sing about my  God and what God can do for me personally. Even when we talk about the great biblical stories like Noah's ark, we forget that Noah wasn't the only person that God spared and made a covenant with. Today's reading reminds us that God's love and care is for all of God's creation.  When God creates a covenant with Noah after the great flood, he makes it "with Noah and every living creature with Noah, a covenant for all generations to come" (v. 12). It then goes on to say that the rainbow in the sky is "a sign of the covenant between God and the earth" (v. 13). These are very important points to take note of because they remind us that God's covenant is not only with all of Noa...