The Beginning of the Gospel of [insert your name here].

Reading:  Mark 1:1:  The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, son of God.


In my last post I talked about the idea that resonated inside me in the silence of a Quaker meeting for worship on January 1st.  The idea that Jesus was an ordinary man living an extraordinary life.  That's led me to a Jesus I can read about again and perhaps learn from again.  It's also led me to a place in which most orthodox Christians would consider a land of anti-Christ falsehood.  If my last post was me crossing the border into that land, this post is me building a house there.

Another idea arose in that meeting.  Two people gave short ministry in the worship.  The first person mentioned beginnings in her ministry, it being January 1st, and I thought of all the beginnings in my own life and thought of the ordinary Jesus.  The first verse of the second gospel came to mind.

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, son of God.

I thought, since this Jesus is ordinary, that the verse could be rewritten.  For myself.  For any person.  For any organisation.  Like this:

The beginning of the gospel of [insert your name here].

What is your gospel?  What good news and message of light can you begin today?  What beginnings have already been a part of your story?

The words stand at the start of the book about Jesus, the book about me, the book about you.

What words would you like to see written in your book?

Let's go further.  Jesus is called the Christ.  What happens if you do this?:

The beginning of the gospel of [insert your name here] Christ.

Say it to yourself.  Say it out loud.  How does it make you feel?  Are you able to think of yourself as Christ or to recognise that you can be Christ in this world?  What would it take for you to be Christ, recognising your own worth as teacher and living as a light-bringer in some new way?

What message and action can you take to the world as you learn to live as Christ?

And further still.  What happens if you do this?:

The beginning of the gospel of [insert your name here] Christ, child of God.

Say that out loud too.  Several times if you like.  And say this:

I am a child of God, though I find it hard to recognise that I am one with that which is light and love.
I am a Christ in this world, though in brokenness I may not see the anointing given to me.
I have a gospel to proclaim and good news to live in this world.
I wish to learn of the Christ-gospel and learn to live my [insert your name here] gospel.
In the places I cannot accept my ordinary divinity and reject my beauty I will gently let that be my truth for now.

All people are children of God, at one with all which is light and love.
All people are Christs, trying their best, but so often not seeing or hearing Spirit wisdom or acting in that wisdom.
All people have a gospel to proclaim and good news to live.

I have failed to live as good news in this world.  I forgive myself.
Others have failed to live as good news in this world.  I forgive them.
And where I cannot forgive I accept that and gently let that be my truth for now.


What is your gospel?  In what ways are you the anointed light bearer?  In what ways does your love and your wonder touch the world?

For I am convinced that I have an ordinary extraordinary gospel.  I am convinced that I am at the beginning, the birth of discovering what that gospel will be and the birth of learning to live it.

I am convinced too that each of you has an ordinary extraordinary gospel.

As your book is written this year, what will be recorded?  However the book is written, let it be written.  Whether filled with healing or brokenness.  Whether filled with joy or sorrow.  Let it be written.  And let it be proclaimed.  Because your humanity and your divinity are miracles.  Though you may be an insignificant speck on a tiny rock in the universe you're also a totally significant wonder, the greatest in the universe.  You are self-aware and that's a greater wonder than all the stars combined, than the sight of galaxies colliding, even than the brightness of the big bang itself.  You, insignificant one, are spectacular.  You, ordinary one, can live in the fire of the extraordinary.

I can too.  And it's just as hard for me to believe that about myself as it is for you to believe it about yourself.

Maybe we can help each other.  Raise each other up to be the Christs we already are.

That's a challenge for myself.  It's up to you whether you want to live that challenge too - in whatever language you use.  It doesn't have to be the language of Christ and God.  The atheist can have a gospel too and the truth, love, and light remain the same by whatever words we use and in whatever set of stories we tell.

_____________________

For anyone interested, the second piece of ministry given in that Quaker meeting was a quotation taken from the book Quaker Faith and Practice.  I think that's a most excellent book.  I don't browse it that often but when I do I am always inspired.  The quotation was the first in the chapter on living faithfully.

I ask for daily bread, but not for wealth, lest I forget the poor.
I ask for strength, but not for power, lest I despise the meek.
I ask for wisdom, but not for learning, lest I scorn the simple.
I ask for a clean name, but not for fame, lest I contemn the lowly.
I ask for peace of mind, but not for idle hours, lest I fail to hearken to the call of duty.

Inazo Nitobe, 1909