LENT 2006
From the Editor...
Risking for the Kingdom
…pastors
were encouraged to "play it safe" and not make waves. "It happens
even now," he said,
"where you see pastors who are content to 'play it safe.'" So
ended a recent article quoting Jim Ferree,
a veteran of the civil rights struggle, who participated in a panel
discussion
on race in America
led by Tim Tyson, a senior
research scholar at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke
University.
I
wonder if Lent is a time when we are called to wrestle deeply with the
question: where am I resting content and playing it too safely?
"Now
the LORD said to Abram, 'Go from your country and your kindred and your
father's house to the land that I will show you'" (Genesis 12:1)
Did Abraham have any idea where he was going
or how long it would take to get there?
No, but he journeyed out because God called him on.
"But
rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do" (Acts
9:6). Did Paul have any idea who he
would meet in the city and what he would be told after he heard these
words on
the Damascus road?
No, but he walked forward because Christ
burned into his memory and heart and told him to go.
Jesus
said to Peter who had asked about the future of another disciple, "If
it
is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow
me!"
(John 21:22) Could Peter have possibly
known then all of the implications of that challenge? No -- but
he went.
Is it possible that
we are too comfortable and too careful?
May the God who said "Go…rise…Follow" lovingly prod us this
Lent to take kingdom risks for the sake of Christ's eternal glory, and
may the
Holy Spirit give us the power to respond.
-- The
Rev. Canon Dr.
Kendall S. Harmon
Contact Dr
Harmon by
e-mail at ksharmon@mindspring.com
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