Living Through The Cross "The Terror of 'Them'" February 20, 2008

How easy is it to imagine ourselves as the Psalmist, surrounded by enemies plotting against us?   Not too hard, that’s what enemies are supposed to do.   But who surrounds themselves with enemies and keeps them close enough to hear their “whispering.”   More often we surround ourselves with friends—those who generally like what we like, think how we think and hate what we hate.   And once in a while we experience the terror of “them,” those we’ve chosen to be close to us.   And more than once in a while, more like several times daily, we are part of the “them.”   We become the “them” that inflict such terror as to drive out the one who never “really fit in,” the one whom we were always a little suspicious of, and (most importantly) the one who can reconstitute and save our club, church, or nation by being cast out or thrown under the bus.   It’s easier to be part of “them,” especially when we are saying “yes” to Caiaphas’ rhetorical question.

But this is the season when we examine the price we pay when we are the “them” -- inflicting terror, betraying and denying not only our enemies, but even those among us.   This is the season in which we can grapple with trying to see the new order Christ revealed to us by turning the world on its head. And this is the season in which we have a chance to become less confident in ourselves as we answer “yes” to Caiaphas’ question and continue to inflict terror.

Prayer: Grandfather, please help us with our vision so that we might see this new way to be in the world that Christ has revealed to us.   Amen

Spencer Bowen – First Christian, Guthrie

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