bearing the consequence of God

"You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its power, with what shall it be salted?"
Matthew 5:13


in the midst of this season of lent...my meandering meditation has moved me to such dangerous deliberations

...and it occurs to me that it may just be harder to follow Christ in the killing fields of extavagant suburbia than other places


needful is the prayer for more...more suburban revolutionaries, that is

• those who would whisper good news, not just shout positive jargon
• those who would humbly act in justice seasoned with mercy, not just excuse ourselves by building a protective bastion of the letter of the law from which the Spirit flees
• those who would sacrifice the luxury of a pastime of sincere shopping to provide the hungry with a meal and the lonely with good company
• those who would be anointed not to merely go to more bible studies, but to act to free the oppressed and release captives
• those who would with a warm heart and hand touch the untouchable with a grace they can feel to their core, rather than be repulsed behind the steering wheel of a climate controlled identity-marker
• those who would wade into the messy communitas of a wandering journey based on faith and grace, rather than the lying damage we mask as sophisticated attendees at the masquerade ball of mammon

yet at what cost would such a prayer be answered?

• at the cost of boldly risking life and love and reputation with Jesus in labour for the lost?
• at the cost of gaining our souls by losing the glittering gold of the whole world?
• at the cost of an elusive prosperity and cancerous comfort that trades the heritage of a past-present-future for the expensive elegance of me-gettin'-mine?
• at the cost of our children learning by what we do much more than the mere wagging tongue of lip-service?
• at the cost of the uncompromising dedication to the cause of Christ, the power of which brings life from death?
• at the cost of conceding to the hypocrisy that allows us to cultivate a little misplaced security following the pattern of this age?

how indeed would we calculate the cost of such an answer to prayer?

...and in doing so - with much trepidation - wrestle with our own restive reality so as to become the prayer we pray...

let it be so Lord, let it be so

"...so let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven."
Matthew 5:16