A Strange Faith

In many ways Christianity is a faith with some very strange aspects.


Our central symbol is a tool of execution (not a plus sign as the prosperity gospel folks seem to think).  Our central faith observance includes the story of a man who was condemned to an excruciating, tortuous (sp???) death for suggesting that God had another plan for the world.

And then there is the end of the story....


Tomorrow morning I will stand in front of a congregation and proclaim some of the strangest things.  I will tell them that life is stronger than death.  That peace is stronger than violence.  That ideals are stronger than pragmatism.  That love is stronger than fear.  That justice is stronger than greed.  Despite all the evidence to the contrary all those things are true -- in the end.


It is a statement of belief that defies the evidence.  Just as it defies the imagination to talk about and empty tomb and a Risen Christ.  But we are a resurrection people.  We are a people of hope.  The cross is not the final word.  God still has a plan for how the world can be and that plan can not be stopped.  Surely it can be delayed.  People can and do work against it.  But it can not be stopped.  In the end, in God's time, you simply can't stop the kingdom.

Thanks be to God!  Hallelujah!