Violence

Violence

let us tease out of the scriptures
from words antiquated and harsh
an experience of truth and hope..

asking the essential question:
Who are you..?
there are word filters to clean:
a slave lives as her limited self..
sin..after confusion of centuries..simply
connotes separation..and limitation..
a son recognizes his origin and identity
in and of eternal consciousness..
the father names that consciousness..

without this experiential discovery
of one's truthful identity
the command: Love your Enemies
falls again and again on
filters frightfully 
and violently clogged...
~CC


Broadmoor Community Church Forum
November 18th, 2018
11:15 AM to 12:15 PM, Glenview Room

Speaker:  Arthur J. Dewey (Th.D., Harvard University) is Professor of Theology at Xavier University in Cincinnati. A distinguished teacher, writer, translator and commentator, he is the author of Inventing the Passion: How the Death of Jesus was Remembered and co-author of The Complete Gospel Parallels (with Robert J. Miller, 2011) and The Authentic Letters of Paul (with Roy W. Hoover, Lane C. McGaughy, and Daryl D. Schmidt, 2010). Dewey’s poetry has appeared in Christian Century and his poetic perspective aired on the Saturday Morning Edition on Public Radio Station WVXU (91.7) in Cincinnati for more than a dozen years.

 Title:  “The Historical Jesus in an Age of Mass Violence”

Description: Utilizing a selection from John 8 and Matt 5, we will explore who the historical Jesus is and what he might have to say about our world today.

John 8 33  
<The Judeans> protested: “We’re Abraham’s descendants, and we’ve never been slaves to anyone. How can you say, ‘You’ll be liberated’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Let me tell you this: everyone who commits sin is a slave. 35 No slave is ever a permanent member of the family; but a son is. 36 So if the son liberates you, you’ll really be free.
37 “I recognize that you are Abraham’s descendants, yet you’re trying to kill me because my teaching gets nowhere with you. 38 I’m telling you what I saw when
I was with the Father, and you do only what you learned from your own father.”
39“ Our father is Abraham,” they repeated.
Jesus says, “If you really are children of Abraham, act as Abraham did. 40 As it is, you’re trying to kill me, even though I’ve told you the truth I heard from God. Abraham never did that. 41 No, you’re doing what your father does.”
They replied, “We’re not bastards; we have only one father: God.”
42 Jesus responded, “If in fact God were your father, you’d love me, since I’ve come from God and am here—not on my own initiative; God sent me. 43 Why don’t you understand what I’m saying? It’s because you can’t hear my message. 44 You are your father’s children all right—children of the devil. And you are bent on satisfying your father’s cravings. He was a murderer from the start; he is far from truth. In fact, there’s no truth in him at all. When he tells his lies, he is expressing his nature, because he is a liar and breeds lying. 45 But since I tell the truth, you don’t <want to> believe me. 46 Who can charge me with sin? If I speak truthfully, why don’t you believe me? 47 Everyone who belongs to God can hear God’s words. That’s why you don’t listen: you don’t belong to God.”

Matt 5:43-45

"As you know, we once were told, `You are to love your neighbor' and `You are to hate your enemy.' 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for your persecutors. 45 You'll then become children of your Father in the heavens. <God> causes the sun to rise on both the bad and the good, and sends rain on both the just and the unjust.