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This Weeks Message From Our Vicar:
Dear Friends,
Last week, we asked who we are becoming together because we believe the Jesus stuff. This week, Paul begins to answer: become a people who share the mind of Christ.
When Paul exhorts the Philippian church to be “of the same mind,” he is not demanding uniformity. The Greek can also mean sharing the same perspective or mindset. Paul points directly to the mindset of Jesus in his incarnation.
Though Jesus was in very nature God, he did not cling to that position. He set it aside to embrace creaturely existence and become fully human. This is a striking reversal of Eden. Humanity grasped after the knowledge that would allow us to live “as gods.” Jesus refuses that grasping. He empties himself, taking the form of a servant. Indeed, to take human form is to take the form of servanthood: to receive life from the Creator and offer it back in faithful love.
This is the mindset Paul wants the saints to share: creatures trusting their Creator, looking to the good of one another, and seeking faithfulness together.
From that shared mindset, Paul tells the Philippians to “work out” their salvation. They must figure out together what it looks like for them, in their particular place, to be saved from their cursed existence of strife, darkness, and death. Trusting that God is at work among them, they can fulfill their created purpose: living as God’s people and shining to the glory of God the Father.
Finally, we have a quick reminder that Sunday is the final week of our Second Harvest collection. After worship, we will deliver our donations to the food shelter in Sugar Grove. As we bring what we can, we look beyond ourselves and share in God’s care for our neighbors.
Let us continue remembering that the mind of Christ is not simply something to understand, it flows into a life we share together.
Peace,
Joe
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