Orthos Logos - straight-making, crumbs

Lord, I know that straight-making is a way given by example of John, who we are told was sent by you. Orientation may not then be something taken for granted. You give us plenty examples of inner compasses needing retuning. And lest we be born again anew in both water and spirit...

Even violations of laws and ethics must be on the board for our straight-making. For it may never be merely our own straight-making, but is only to be so with holy spirit through us. 

Blessed are the meek who shall inherit the earth. Μακάριοι, blessed, are the πραεῖς, meek in Matthew 5:5. Or mild or gentle. And in Matthew 10:16 we are to be ἀκέραιοι, gentle as doves along with our serpent shrewdness. Μακάριοι, blessed, οἱ πτωχοὶ τῷ πνεύματι, the poor of spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So this, may then be a big part of our way-making, assuming we are to be like those who are blessed! 

Alas I don't think of John as meek or poor in spirit. Is he different or outside of the examples who are to inherit the kingdom of heaven? As our way-straightener, no. No? John came as μαρτυρίαν, testimony-haver. And we hold testimony! Revelation 19:10 And a lot seems with (not on, for Jesus' yoke is light) his shoulders, because ἵνα πάντες, that all, πιστεύσωσιν δι’ αὐτοῦ believe through his-being. But the yoke is light, so no ambition is required from John's self greatness complex in and of itself. 

Lord I rejoice in this feeling close to you through your word. I pray that you train my ears if only that is how I may more and more envelop a metamorphosis of a becoming in my path and way of servitude and obedience of you. He was not, we are told in John 1:8,  τὸ φῶς, the light, but that he may testify concerning the light.   

Please father, accept my devotion to you, and guide me in your way and guide me in humility. You know all of me. Your kingdom come. Your will be done. And yours alone. Here on earth as it is in heaven. My soul is cryng out for its master. Thank you for this yearning. 

We are told by Jesus Christ, the king of your kingdom, how to pray to you. 

In Matthew, disciples are sent as sheep amongst wolves and are called to be both wise as serpents and gentle as doves. It is said, ἐγὼ ἀποστέλλω ὑμᾶς, I send you. Where 'send' is 'apostello'. So the apostles are the "sent". And in parallel, John is told from the beginning of the John book as a man sent from God. Both usages of this sending word are linked to the root word ἀποστέλλω. 

It is said to the twelve, ἐγὼ ἀποστέλλω ὑμᾶς, I send you... and then they are instructed to be φρόνιμοι ὡς οἱ ὄφεις, shrewd as serpents. Strong's bible lexicon says that opheis as the symbol for serpents likely comes from optanomai which refers to a sharpness of vision. They are in the same command to be ἀκέραιοι, innocent, ὡς αἱ περιστεραί as the doves. Other terms for that akeraioi are 'blameless',  'simple', 'sincere', 'unsophisticated'. The philosopher in us may rejoice at this cusp the disciples are called to be in. Without Christ, however this phrase is meaningless. Their carrying of Jesus' testimony is to come forth in this culmination of shrewdness with its lack of over-complication. 

When delivered to the wolves, a few verses later, the disciples are not to worry themselves and call on the powers of their own experience and intuition. Be not μεριμνήσητε, caring too much on what you shall say, δοθήσεται γὰρ ὑμῖν, it-will-be-given for you. οὐ γὰρ ὑμεῖς ἐστε οἱ λαλοῦντες, not for you-all will be those speakers. ἀλλὰ τὸ Πνεῦμα τοῦ Πατρὸς ὑμῶν τὸ λαλοῦν ἐν ὑμῖν, but the Spirit of the Father of-you will speak through (from-within) you. 

ἐν means a lot of propositions in greek, so I included from within as well as through, because its not entirely obvious what the exact poetic movement would be happening here with our Father's speech. 

We may be reminded of good pastors that open their sermons with prayer before the church. They may pray for the Lord to guide them through their speaking, and that whether that be through the words, the stories or through the little side things that happen to enter folks' minds when they least expect it. To call God to be present in speaking. When doing so, they partake in that very apostolic style of invocation, that they may act in accordance with God's θέλημα. For we are told in Matthew 7:21 that not everyone saying Κύριε, Κύριε, Lord, Lord will enter into heaven's kingdom (where God's will is done and is the exemplar of how his will should be done here on earth). ἀλλ ὁ ποιῶν τὸ θέλημα, but the one doing the will, τοῦ Πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, the Father of me who is in the heavens. In this way, we are seeking to engage in holy action with (and only through) our Father's θέλημα, and in doing so we do a kind of enacting of that line in the Lord's prayer given to us by Jesus. Thy will be done just as it is in heaven, even so here on earth. There too, the invocation is that God's θέλημά be done. And we are called to pray in this manner, and we are called not only to cry out Κύριε, Κύριε, but to be the ones doing the will, participating in holy action. 

We have the apostles, those sent, who are told "don't worry about what to say", be ye cunning as serpents and blameless as doves and when you get cornered and questioned, don't worry, because in that hour your Father's voice will come to you. God's will be done. 

In church, in public and in private, may we be steeped in the testimony of Jesus. We have it. Good sermons, then, would help us be testimony-bearers and Jesus followers. That should be the guidance goal of words of God. For the apostles, they need not worried when cornered. And we are persistently called to faith in Jesus. We have his mind. The bible in this way seems to take a socratic style in bending us followers away from sophistry and its worries and cleverness. 

We are not playing a game of illustration of intellect as the greeks did and as we can fall into in modernity. Greeks would try to catch one another in contradictions. Socrates was known as fascinatingly good at evading this trap of the mind. He knew nothing would come of such competition, save false mental towers of babel within egos. If we have any example of this in the Bible, it would be the numerous slanderings and trap-layings of the pharises trying to get Jesus to slip up in public and catch himself being a way that made him prosecutable. 

The apostles should not find it surprising that they are called and reminded that leaning on their Father in heaven will be a necessity. But perhaps it was surprising for them to find themselves given some of the powers of Jesus to carry out his works. We may imagine a difference in seeing the works of the Son of Man from a third person perspective and then being asked to within their own periphery carry out the θέλημα of their Father. 

In John 10:37, Jesus explains that if he does not do the works of his father, not to believe him. This is rife for unpacking, with scrutiny that may only be spirit-led if it is to be in truth.

He speaks not in this moment in its own, from the seat of a master to his present followers, but as the King of God's kingdom, whose words are to stretch out thousands of years. To us in the seat of this moment from the text of a bible on the internet (in my case). God's will be done, Jesus shows through his actions. He leaves in his wake, through his apostles and their accounts of the events the word was flesh for, the standing example for his church body. 

Bonhoeffer speaks to Jesus as God's incarnation in the flesh and in sinful flesh at that, though he explains that he himself is sinless. Compared with hereditary sin, we can go with the flesh as bent towards sin in an inherent way. 

Lord, thank you for your always already-thereness. The soil, the divine ground which you lay around. The foster-ready, fruitful always about to be good. In Psalm 63, I will seek thee, in a dry land my flesh thirsts for you. Thank you for that moment today in the shower where I felt some kind of an inner leap in looking forward to communion with you through the online fellowship sermon. You are my orienter. 

As the psalmist says, as your lovingkindness is better than life. Life which your glory shines through so earnestly. Even better than the best fantastical moments. 

אֱלֹהִ֤ים אֵלִ֥י , Elohim, Ehli, O God, my God.

צָמְאָ֬ה לְךָ֨ , sameha leka, thirst for you 

נַפְשִׁ֗י כָּמַ֣הּ לְךָ֣, napsi, kama, leka, my soul longs for you

צִיָּ֖ה וְעָיֵ֣ף בְּלִי מָֽיִם, tsiah, weyap, beli, miyim dry, thirsty where-there-is-no water

We are oriented to Christ, whose works are of his father. We are called to make the movements. Arche foundations of movements that are in your kingdom. The only right action. The only realm for right action. Thank you for your implanting free will in us and that Luther and his time stood up for us to have the ears to hear for you in the ways you might have been calling. That humans don't decide that, except for christ, the king. In Galatians 6:2 we are called in foundational arche fellowship in orientation to you. Bear ye another's burdens that you may fulfill the law of Christ. Much to unpack.

Christ, the fulfiller standing, going seemingly against society's stream, not to transgress, but as a perfect instance of fulfilling. Baptising the community, showing the fellowship what it was and what it will become in days to be. The story of your presence is an ever inspiring one. But we don't always feel your presence in the groupings and actings we hear about. Thank you for Fellowship Church and when we are aallowed to witness these fellow beings. These so abundtantly ready for community burdens and the mentality, the Christ mind that comes with it. 

Lord, though I pray to you and find me top-down towards you in private often, I know your world is yours and your kingdom is at hand and will be at hand. And I would not be surprised if it was in a way that was to surprise me. Burdens can be shared. Thank you for humanity and for other humans. That I might travel through your beautiful wilds ans stumble upon a Paul Lee. Your embedded everness is marvelous. So many mysteries laden with how I might find more just how oriented towards you I can be. 

My Lord help me to repent in the right ways. Thank you. You are my orientation and my rock. May my house be only upon your arches. 

Lord some words unsurprisingly are challenging to gulp in the Old Testament to your Lordship. All the more thank you for sending Christ. My redeemer lives. I love your kingdom Lord. Let me to you today, please. 

Community and fellowship are strong in you alone Lord. I feel as if to say your gifts upon us sleepers are wonderous. But may this not be my weak attempt at covering my tracks for my future actions which will require repentence. Faith in you was refreshed in the scholar's revolution of the protestant reformation. The right for theologians to exist. Do we now in movement with you move back. Do we move further? I guess I'm pondering what this next world historical progress will look like, but that could be wholly absent from what I know in this moment and in all, that I am only dizzy in reference to where I'm at with you. Your call, your words in this place rife for reception of words. Its as if everything else is dizzy muddling. Maybe that's why Sartre spoke on Nausea. Absence of such is straightness in your kingdom's coming-ness. 

The immanent is you. What pure joy. Ever more to be grasped and how. Movements of faith. The immanence, and what absurdity in that the truth is your thou-art-ness. We are to have faith because you are truth and we are in reference to that. 

Father John Misty, that lovely atheist. That he can be alive and himself. In your coming kingdom. He is no denier. In 1 Corinthians 12:4, there are diversities of gifts but the same spirit. Then some are given wisdom others knowledge. 

δίδοται λόγος σοφίας, given word of wisdom, paired enantio para (alongside) δίδοται λόγος γνώσεως, given word of spirit. All, κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ Πνεῦμα, according to same Spirit. This spirit John was in when revelation came through him. This same spirit Isaiah was in. Different personalities. 

Your spirit is this bedrock of dazzling perfection underlying the goodness of fellowship. It is the people I interact with that are blocking me from fellowship with them so I hate them but love Jesus in them. And Jesus is the one in me that loves them through him. Different personalities same spirit. How direct you show us just how much we are to disdain any outside world. But for God so loved the world! And Jesus came into the world and was a part of us personalities. And so we despise the world and only love it in the way you love it and that spirit is just rife and permeating absolutely. Mensches are wicked and bent towards sin. We have Christ's mind and it doesn't always look like that is the one we are using to think. We cast out devils in your name Jesus, and the father's works are just that, his works. 

Diversity of gifts, same spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4)

High standards to be a disciple, hate family (Luke 14:26)

Rich man eye of needle (Matthew 19:24)

We have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16)

We cast out devils in his name, signs for believers (Mark 16:17)

Not everyone who says to me Lord Lord (Matthew 7:21)

Your son is my dictionary. Functionally I turn to him before I breathe. It is fitting that pneuma is then spirit. Πνεῦμα, the only true breath. This helpless child coming-to-know-ness, newness that I only breathe through you Lord. This imagery of dry bones!

To be your disciples near your flesh, and to remember back to what you had said about rearing up the temple in three days. What a marvel. 

Λύσατε τὸν ναὸν τοῦτον (destroy the temple, this) καὶ ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐγερῶ αὐτόν (and in three days I-raise-up it-will-I). The pharisees don't know how foolish they are being in assuming any power to destroy anything of God's kingdom. What a disillusion to think of their sway at all separate from what Jesus is bringing to them. As humans maybe what he is saying is surprising, but the disciples stand as the examples, holding his saying in their hearts and memory and having it come to them insurmountably afresh when it hits them. Three days!! In three days will he raise up this temple. Oh and the new meaning these words take on. How in the seat of those words passing by their ears could they be prepared for the beauty of what he is prophecying about this ναὸν, this temple. The body for father worship and for father will. That alone. It's all okay, we have purpose. Not in ourselves alone or in any functional way we have our own lonely alienated way with, but only in the Way, Christ's way. John was the preparer of this way. 

My God, thank you for your word. Your message sent through the prophesying of Jesus and the temple to be raised in three days. In James 1:5 your message comes to us: if any of us lacks wisdom. Oh, but don't we all? Isn't that the heart of loving such wisdom, the lacking inherent. 

If any λείπεται σοφίας, lacks wisdom, αἰτείτω παρὰ τοῦ διδόντος Θεοῦ, let-him/her-ask of the givng Theos. Lord, please give me wisdom, orient me with purpose around you and your will, your kingdom. And the always-already already there, for the recollecting. There can't be any wisdom outside of you. What would that even mean if not in your relation? 

You, who giving πᾶσιν ἁπλῶς καὶ μὴ ὀνειδίζοντος, to all generously and not finding fault. Generously, sincerely, bountifully. Garden of givings in its abundance. The sweet fragrancce of flowers giving us plenty to mock in our own utility as parasites and parasite-speak. I pray you help me not let my time and attention be parasitically drawn to procrastination. That my acquaintance with you stay as my rock. That my time be some reflection however meager of all this borrowed time allotted when Jesus is the one who paid the price for it. Oh the uncanny my Lord, that the last says in its verse our bodies are temples. We should be overturned by Jesus. Not a place for utility outside of the kingdom of the father from whence comes all bread.