WBB, Adam and Home

Title: WBB, Adam and Home
Location: Wycliffe College Chapel
Description:

Adam or Christ? Homewrecker or Homemaker?

Dear friends:

Last week I got to reflecting on reading Romans from the perspective of home, homelessness and homecoming. And I suggested in my WBB sermon (now posted at www.empireremixed.com) that Paul offers the story of Abraham as a family story for the church. Abraham is the father of all of us. In this memory, in this family story, there is the space for making home together.

In Romans 5, however, Paul goes beyond Abraham, the one to whom the promise of home was made, to Adam. If I had extended last week’s meditation to include Romans 6, it might have looked like this:

Rome makes peace through the shedding of blood.
Jesus makes peace through the shedding of his blood.
We are welcomed home through his blood.
Sinners and enemies,
homewreckers all,
are welcomed and reconciled.
Home restored.

This is where the whole story has been going from the beginning.
It is Adam’s sin,
Adam’s broken stewardship,
Adam’s trespass,
that gave death its dominion.

It is Adam’s failed dominion,
Adam’s failed homemaking,
Adam’s rebellion,
that reduced the house of life to a domicile of death.

But it is Christ’s obedience,
Christ’s faithfulness,
Christ’s free gift,
that births the dominion of life.

It is Christ’s righteousness,
Christ’s justice,
Christ’s grace,
that opens the door to the household of life.

So where do you want to live?
The domicile of death,
or the household of life?
Under the dominion of death,
or the dominion of life?

Do you want to come home?
Do you want to live in the dominion of life?
Then you must die to the domicidal story of sin,
die to the dominion of death,
die to the culture of death and its deathly story,
die with Christ in baptism,
and be raised with Christ to the dominion of life.

Of course there is a lot more going on in Romans 5 than this. And we’ll be looking to our music director, Rob Crosby-Shearer to lead us more deeply into the encouragement that the apostle has on offer for us in this passage.

I’d say that I hope to see you in the morning, but the truth is that I won’t be there. I’m taking a bit of a break for a couple of days this week. But I hope that you will see each other at WBB.

Rob will be preaching.
Deb Whalen will be guest directing what she has affectionately dubbed “The Crack of Dawn Band”.
David Shulman is writing the prayers.
And David Neelands will be serving the bread and the wine.

Hmm – maybe I won’t take a couple of days off.

In Christ,
Brian

Start Time: 7:22
Date: 2009-10-27