Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Pentecost 11a - Romans 12:9-21

This is Paul’s flesh and blood bullet list for the life of spiritual worship that is a holy and acceptable living sacrifice. (Romans 12:1) It is a renewed mind conformed to the way of Christ and not the pattern of this world. But the living sacrifice life is a delicate balancing act. If we hold too fast to what is good haughtiness follows on its heels. If we do not hold fast enough we cling to what is evil and neglect what is good. Boot Camp Aubree (LA Fitness instructor, Hurst, TX) says that balance is an illusion the body is always making adjustments to maintain. I say when you’ve worked at it as long as Aubree the illusion is reality and when she stands on one foot (with the other on her head ) one cannot tell the difference between a thousand tiny adjustments and standing perfectly still. So it is with the practiced life of faith that depends on Christ to make adjustments to our natural tendency toward pride, envy, arrogance and greed so instead we might be conformed to the pattern of Jesus who did not consider equality with God something to grasp. The life of faith turns the world upside down rejoicing with those who rejoice, weeping with those who weep, greeting strangers as friends, and treating the lowly like the mighty and the mighty like the lowly, though truth is we are all loved equally by the Lord. Boot Camp Aubree has us exercise upside down all the time and calls it inversion. She says we are creating new butts for ourselves and adding TEN YEARS to our life every time we do it, which means with or without the resurrection of Jesus Christ I am either going to live forever or die with a beautiful butt.

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