Upcoming Events

Due to the Easter holiday weekend, I will not be on campus Friday (tomorrow) or Monday.

Graduate Christian Fellowship gathers Tuesday morning at 9am for a light breakfast and interdisciplinary conversation together.

The Theology Reading Group will meet on Thursday at 1pm to continue our discussion of Holy Scripture by John Webster. We’ll be looking at chapter 3.

The Connection meets Thursday at 5.30pm. We’re continuing our series of The As, Bs, Cs, and Ds, of a Mature Christian Faith. Join us for dinner and discussion around these themes.

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Newsletter

Two O’Clock in the Morning by Swati

hello, goodbye.
I’m not going to hide.
I’m on the 11th floor and I’ve got ten more flights to climb.
So many people have attempted to make their own demise, or is it to see personally who’s going to save your life.

And now it’s 2 o’clock in the morning, and half the lights in the city have died.
But the other half that’s been left on, I want to know are you afraid of the dark like I am.

So I moved to new york city, so I wouldn’t be the only one left at night.
You see if everybody’s sleeping I feel like I need to keep an open eye.

And now it’s 2 o’clock in the morning, and half the lights in the city have died.
But the other half has been left on, I want to know are you afraid of the dark like I am, so.

Now there’s alcohol dripping, out of my eyes, and I feel so blessed to feel so sad, that it’s making me high.
I think I can…I can…I can fly.

And now it’s 2 o’clock in the morning and half of the lights in the city have died, but the other half that’s been left on, I want to know are you afraid of the dark like I am. so

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Today is Maunday Thursday, the day on which we remember Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples and followers. The day on which Jesus reveals the extent of his love for Creation – to the point of becoming a servant willing to put the needs of others before his own comfort or privilege. It is also the night in which Jesus gave his final teaching before being arrested, tried, and sentenced to death. The night that reveals the extent of Jesus’ love.

The name “Maunday Thursday” comes from the Latin mandatum, the first word in the Latin rendering of John 13:34, “A new commandment (Mandatum novum) I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” This commandment was given by Jesus on the day (Thursday) before his crucifixion. So Maundy Thursday is the “Thursday of the Commandment.” And this is the commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you.”

When I listen to Swati sing this song, especially when it contains that foreboding question, “who’s going to save your life?” it makes me think of Jesus and the love of God that is powerful enough to save us that his Passion displays.

But that love displayed on the Cross at Calvary isn’t just to exercise some divine ledger column transaction. This is a love that begins to work in us and change us into the people we were created to be.

The 20th century theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, wrotes about the goal of the Christian life at the end of what’s probably his most popular book, The Cost of Discipleship. Here’s how he captures the end result of placing one’s faith in this Jesus:

“This is what we mean when we speak of Christ dwelling in our hearts. His life on earth is not finished yet, for he continues to live in the lives of his followers. Indeed it is wrong to speak of the Christian life: we should speak rather of Christ living in us. “I live, and yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2.20). Jesus Christ, incarnate, crucified and glorified, has entered my life and taken charge. “To me to live is Christ” (Philippians 1.21). And where Christ lives, there the Father also lives, and both Father and Son through the Holy Ghost. The Holy Trinity himself has made his dwelling in the Christian heart, filling his whole being, and transforming him into the divine image…

“Now we can understand why the New Testament always speaks of our becoming ‘like Christ’. We have been transformed into the image of Christ, and are therefore destined to be like him. He is the only ‘pattern’ we must follow. And because he really lives his life in us, we too can ‘walk even as he walked’ (1John 2.6), and ‘do as he has done’ (John 13.15), ‘love as he has loved’ (Ephesians 5.2; John 13.34; 15.12), ‘forgive as he forgave’ (Colossians 3.13), ‘have this mind, which was also in Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 2.5), and therefore we are able to follow the example he has left us (1Peter 2.21), lay down our lives for the brethren as he did (1John 3.16). It is only because he became like us that we can become like him. It is only because we are identified with him that we can become like him. By being transformed into his image, we are enabled to model our lives on his. Now at last deeds are performed and life is lived in single-minded discipleship in the image of Christ and his words find unquestioning obedience. We pay no attention to our own lives or the new image which we bear, for then we should at once have forfeited it, since it is only to serve as a mirror for the image of Christ on whom our gaze is fixed. The disciple looks solely at his Master. But when a man follows Jesus Christ and bears the image of the incarnate, crucified and risen Lord, when he has become the image of God, we may at last say that he has been called to be the ‘imitator of God.’ The follower of Jesus is the imitator of God. ‘Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children’ (Ephesians 5.1).”