a glimpse towards Sunday 4.24.15

Just south of Atlanta, tempers are flaring. At Valdosta State University, classes are closed because of a growing controversy surrounding the flag. Yep. The flag. It all started when one student protested the American flag by walking and stomping on it. Eric Sheppard claimed the flag was a racist, white supremacy symbol. Then, an American veteran, Michelle Manhart, came to campus to rescue and properly dispose the muddied flags. Consequently, there is a rally today at VSU of an expected 4,000 in support of the flag. VSU officially supports and allows protestors against the American flag.

Who’s right in all of this? Who says you can’t walk on the flag? Who says you have to properly dispose of a trampled flag? Who says you must salute? Who says you can’t burn? WHO SAYS?

Apparently, the government is the grand Who Says. There are rules and laws on displaying and disposing of American flags.

But… come on, seriously? Laws? Rules? Legalism? For the flag? Is this really how we should live? Does anyone remember the Middle Ages when rules and laws were the stuff of massive slaughter?

Can’t we become a people of absolute love? Can’t we each decide what to do with the flag? Can’t individuals decide what’s right and what’s wrong, just as long as we love? But who will decide? How will we decide right and wrong? Our reactive pendulum swing away from the ridigity of the law still must struggle with the question: WHO SAYS?

The tension between law and love is a great one. All world religions take one track or the other. Only Christianity marries the two. Law and love come together ultimately through Jesus and the cross. The result for ragamuffins like us is spectacular.

When we get these depths of the gospel, a powerfully transformed life is unleashed for us to grab onto. Interested? You should be. There are immediate affects on your fears, anxieties, marriage, kids, finances, and workplace. WHO SAYS? Jesus does, and I can’t wait to unpack it all with you.

On Sunday we’re diving into what some people call, “the mess of the law & love.” God has a way of making messy things beautiful. When we get the convergence of law and love, powerful things can take place in our lives and church. Our text is Galatians 3:23-29. I hope you’ll do an advance read.

I’m eager to gather with you at 9 & 11 a.m. I’m excited to teach. I hope you’ll bring a few other ragamuffins along with you. The life offered to us and those around us is terrific — and yet too few tap into to. See you Sunday.

Blessings,

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