The Role You're (re)Born To Play

Dear Faith Family,   

 

"If only humans would acknowledge being human, and anyone minded to boast would boast in the Lord!" 
(St. Augustine)


We have said that The Story of Sin is the story of humanity. A story that describes not only our plight but also our hope. After all, we cannot tell the story of sin without telling the story of redemption—a story of God's certain promise to reclaim and restore what has always been his. 

To be human, at least as the story goes, is to be created from love with purpose and potential, only to fall away from both by our own willful entanglement with the deceiver. And yet, to simultaneously be persistently and providentially pursued, drawn back to the "good" and "very good" of our beginnings, to life with God, by none other than God himself.

To be human, as our previous leg of the Lenten pilgrimage compels us to consider, is to find ourselves "estranged" from our true selves in relation to God, "in a spirit of lust, and lost in its [lust's] darkness," yes. We cannot deny it, nor escape it. And yet, as we were reminded on Sunday, to be human is also to be loved by God with a self-giving, non-contingent, and relationship-altering love: 

"In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10)


No wonder Augustine can so emphatically implore us to "acknowledge being human, and...boast in the Lord!" An acknowledgement and boast that Peter says compels a particular response: 

"His [Jesus our Lord] divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and virtue, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith..." (2 Peter 1:3-5) 


Peter says that the story of humanity, the story of sin and redemption, is a story that invites our participation. We cannot play the hero, nor the reliever of our own plight (as Genesis 6-11 reminds us), but we do have a role, not only in the story of sin but also in the story of salvation. 

Peter's word, which in English we translate as 'supplement', comes from the Greek epixorēgéō, which is a combination of two words. The word epí, which means "appropriately on," and intensifies the second word, xorēgeō, which means to "richly supply everything needed for an ancient chorus to be a grand production." To supplement is to lavishly supply what is suitable to bring to full effect the depth and beauty of the grand drama unfolding on the stage.

When it comes to our role in The Story, Peter contends that we are the chorus. In the ancient world, the chorus was a collective whose actions and efforts on stage highlighted the main actor, gave context to the scenes, and served as a bridge for the audience, helping them find their story in the unfolding story before them. So, Peter says, make every effort to play your role appropriately and well. Give your whole soul to help make this drama of sin and salvation "a grand production." He then describes the relational habits suited to our role in this story. 

But before we get there, let's stop and reflect on this role in light of the Lenten journey. Here is how you and I can do so today, and the remainder of the week: 



TODAY

  • Prayerfully and slowly, and with truth that you have a role to play in the drama of salvation for yourself and others, read Isaiah 58:1-12, letting the exhortation of the LORD wrestle with your soul. 



THURSDAY

Do the "supplements" of my faith look like those Peter describes?
&

Who and how can I love rightly this week?


FRIDAY

  • Prayerfully, slowly, and with Augustine's exhortation to acknowledge your humanity atop of mind, read Matthew 25:14-46, letting the parable & proverb of JESUS sink into your soul. 



SATURDAY

  • Spend ten minutes asking and letting God do what Psalm 139:23-24 encourages: 

"Search me, O God, and know my heart! 
Examine me, and know my disquieted thoughts! 
See if there be any grievous way in my living,
And lead me in the way ancient and everlasting!"


Love you, faith family. God bless.