Father forgive us

Tuesday June 19^th, Ezekiel 17: Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches.  Part of the being fruitful is to open yourself up to the world around you.  Throughout the scriptures we have stories as in Luke 15 where the focus is rejoicing when the lost is found, or the good Samaritan story defining neighbor as an inclusive extension of ministry rather than an exclusive description of geographical boundaries.  There are “the kingdom of God is like” stories which show an ever expanding and ever inclusive vision of the Kingdom of God.  In these stories there is always a reaching out to include the “other” as well as a call for us to be a part of that kingdom.  The World tends to want to make Christianity smaller and exclusive, open to only the righteous or the neighborhood.  Jesus spoke to these issues because the same misconceptions were held by the church in his day.  The human tendency is to pietisticly focus on righteousness and in the process become self-righteous and exclusive and inward focused, like the Pharisees or Sadducees in Jesus’ day.  Jesus responded to this inward self-focus by going to the cross for all and even there spoke words of grace, Father forgive them for they know not what they do.  That “them” includes us. Father forgive us as we are still in the process of learning what to do.