{"id":11759,"date":"2024-02-04T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-04T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/?p=11759"},"modified":"2024-02-03T10:55:00","modified_gmt":"2024-02-03T17:55:00","slug":"being-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/?p=11759","title":{"rendered":"Being First"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To Throw Deadly Stones<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sunday 4 February 2024<\/h1>\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Fullness of Life is Only<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

a Not-Stone\u2019s-Throw Ahead<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isaiah 50:8<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

… he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John 8:10-11<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus straightened up and said to her, \u2018Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?\u2019 She said, \u2018No one, sir.\u2019 And Jesus said, \u2018Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.\u2019]]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Words of Grace For Today<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s so common that there is no story in it: people gather in mobs (virtual now, or hidden across communities as always, and in physical mobs) to \u2018throw\u2019 the deadly stones to kill off their neighbour they have judged to be sinful beyond the pale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact the lynching mobs are seldom accurate and hardly ever just.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a miracle is that when Jesus steps in<\/p>\n\n\n\n

those so eager to throw the first weapon of death<\/p>\n\n\n\n

step away<\/p>\n\n\n\n

for Jesus and his followers have always had a way of making reality come into focus<\/p>\n\n\n\n

for us all<\/p>\n\n\n\n

especially when we surely do not want that focus to reveal<\/p>\n\n\n\n

how sinful are and how much evil we have perpetrated on undeserving others,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– as if condemning and punishing them, by shunning, by exile, or by death,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

could ever free us from our sins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– as if somehow putting them on a more terrible rung than us on the ladder of evil-good would somehow make us less evil and somehow good, or at least good enough!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result of our oh so common \u2018stone throwing\u2019 is that our own sins increase and the Devil consumes more and more of our souls<\/p>\n\n\n\n

until there is nothing left of good in us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our only hope then (as always) is that God will forgive us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are we again too proud to be forgiven, for accepting forgiveness requires an admission of guilt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That admission is only possible when we trust the promise God makes in so many ways: to forgive us and renew us and return us to the fullness of life (where stone throwing is not even considered an option.) From within God\u2019s Grace we take on the burdens of forgiving others, in order that they may (also) receive the fullness of life as a gift.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To Throw Deadly Stones Sunday 4 February 2024 The Fullness of Life is Only a Not-Stone\u2019s-Throw Ahead Isaiah 50:8 … he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me. John 8:10-11 Jesus straightened up and said to her, \u2018Woman, where … Continue reading “Being First”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,68,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grace","category-snow-weather","category-tracks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11759"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11763,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11759\/revisions\/11763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}