Scripture: Romans 3:25
God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.
 
Thought for the Day: I had a dream about Paul last night. We were sitting on Mt. Olive, overlooking the still intact Temple, sharing some olives (obviously), cheese and wine, on a stunningly beautiful day. Paul knows he’s been dead a couple thousand years, and that we’re meeting in some weird, liminal space. I understand him in English, but I’m not sure what language he’s speaking. He’s absolutely devastated at what Christianity has become. I mean, the poor man is weeping. I feel badly for him, but I also explain that it’s largely his fault, because he got the Jesus movement all wrong. Sometimes I’m not the most sensitive person. “I’m sure you had the best intentions, Paul,” I say, “but the end result of your poor Christology and Theology has actually kept people from moving closer to God. Your insistence that Jesus’ blood had to be spilled to seal some sort of Divine covenant turned Jesus into an idol and God into a suicidal maniac. It’s created a huge divide in Christianity, especially today, between people who think of God as an outside entity sitting on a throne on a cloud, and people who think of God as an inner spirit, always with us, closer than our own breath—you know, like Jesus taught and showed.”
 
In the gently waving summer breeze, Paul picks up an olive and says, “Michael, here’s the thing: In my day, people understood the idea of blood oaths. For us, a pact made in blood could never be broken. Were you ever blood brothers with someone? This is what I meant when I spoke of Jesus’ blood sealing God’s new covenant. Was it necessary for Jesus’ blood to be spilled? Of course not! After all, God stops Abraham from sacrificing Isaac. Why then would God need to spill the blood of Jesus, who so closely embodied God that we called him God’s own son? When did you people start taking everything so literally? And I have another question. Why are you still reading my personal letters to churches that no longer exist, 2000 years after I wrote them? Haven’t you found anyone else to talk about God with?”
 
I explain to Paul that I’ve often asked the same question, and always wondered what he would think if he knew we were still reading his letters—or the works of the other ancient authors, so long after they were written. I told him that we still read the works of many ancient people—Isaac Newton, Josephus, Augustine, because their ideas in one fashion or another lay the groundwork for our new ideas. “Sometimes though,” I told Paul, “we do get stuck in the past. Especially where religion is concerned, it can be difficult for people to let go of long-held beliefs, even if they’re destructive.”
 
“You don’t have to tell me that,” Paul said. “Look what they did to Jesus! He had some fresh new ideas and they strung him up for thinking differently.”
 
“Unfortunately, that habit hasn’t changed much, Paul,” I explained.
 
And then I woke up weeping.
 
Prayer: Keep me open to new ideas, new theologies, new visions of Christ’s continuing work in the world, God who I understand as the being of all being, the elemental of all elements, the lover of all creation, in-dwelling and always with me. Amen.