Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything; but a new creation is everything!”
NL Daily Devotion for Friday, July 31, 2020
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Careful in how you interpret this. The “world” i.e. “creation” isn’t bad, and we aren’t separated from it. Too often, Paul’s writings about “the flesh” or being separate from “the world” leads people to believe that our current state of being is bad. That God’s plan is really only about some future paradise and the heck with the original creation. This is what leads some folks to literally say “who cares?” about climate change and the potential extinction of all life, because they figure it just moves things along till the second coming. This is not what Paul is saying.
By “the world” Paul means human societal constructs. Things like circumcision, a purely human convention which, while it is a critical spiritual practice in some traditions, is not necessary for inclusion in God’s family. Likewise, I think any conditions or requirements any religious tradition has for its members limits the all-encompassing love of God.
Where do my ideas and actions limit God’s love?
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