Understanding Christ's Alienation

I feel disrespected and marginalized by people who should recognize my worth. I think, as I have said several times before, that this must be, as much as is humanly possible, what God feels on account of me. This is such an interesting way to understand Christ's alienation.

A Singular Thought for the Past 2 Days

Jesus Christ erases the line between "self" and "other."

Fragment 1

He opts to play politely, contorting his face to a facsimile of theirs, smile and all. If only they knew that, beyond all the perfunctory "how do you do's," mundane "have a good day's," and the rest of the affectations of small talk, there exists a person. If only they were all fencers. At least when fencers don their masks, their dances are short and they try to get to the heart of a person. The last time anybody had even tried, he had, by knee-jerk reaction, parried.


God dammit, he'd parried.

Lent Reflections, Part 2

God is saying to me,

Ezra, you were capable of doing great things in your life. But I took those away from you because I wanted to show you that I was the one who gave you the ability, that I am God, that I AM... and that I love you. Your abilities, applied to any other "great" purpose except in service of me, would be worthless because they would not lead you to me. And I love you too much to see my gifts lead you away from me.

I've realized more and more over the past few years how insignificant worldly goals are next to God. This realization has been intensifying in recent months and I find it humbling.

Uno dei impeti of my realization, a profound thought from small group discussion:

We often say, to other people and amongst ourselves, 'Believe in Christ to have eternal life.' But the truth is, Christ Himself IS eternal life. There is no life to be had apart from Him.

Which echoes a thought out of Francis Chan's book, Forgotten God. He criticizes so-called "Christians" who have "in a sense, asked Him to join them on their life journey, to follow them wherever they feel they should go, rather than following Him as we are commanded" (Chan, Forgotten God, Pp 122). That is me. I don't know if that's you, but that is definitely me. I have thrashed about, thrown tantrums trying to get God to see the "good" that is in my plans. Even now, I am not wholly at ease with the certainty of uncertainty. There is nothing sure in my future but the surety of Christ and His work. Am I sounding convincingly unconvinced of God's promises, yet?

Che segue, then, is my response to this realization I have received about myself. To allow myself to truly be guided by the Holy Spirit. I have been lacking that guidance not because it hasn't been provided, or even because I am unable to see it, but because I have willfully chosen not to see it.

Lent Reflections, Part 1 (Hopefully of Many)

Ho mangiato. È detto che il pieno non hanno il desiderio a cucinare per l'affamato. Ma questa non dovrà essere, perché Cristo, non me stesso, ha cucinato per me. Lui mi ha dato lui stesso, e io come lui divento.

I had originally decided to give up a number of things for Lent (including gtalk, aim, facebook, blogging, etc.), but depriving myself of those things did not cause me to become any more prepared for His Passion. In fact, I gained greater perspective and much-needed correction whilst engaging with others. After all, Lent can only be as personalized as our own walks with Christ, which aren't solitary at all. There has been one consistent theme I have seen throughout this past half-year, and it is the importance of the each member's relation to the rest of the body. Just as a lone verse that is plucked out of the Bible, each of our walks loses proper perspective and meaning when cut off from the rest of the body. One verse out of context is meaningless without the rest, as are each of our relationships with Christ without taking hold of his redemption of all our relationships with one another. What makes this analogy work? Jesus is the Word incarnate, and we are the body of Christ. We are to embody the Word, but can only do so together.

If we do not love one another, then Christ's life, death, and resurrection have accomplished nothing in us.