Knowing Christ and Knowing Love

A farmer plants an olive tree and tends it with love and careful attention. As it grows, it spreads branches, and in turn these branches grow yet more. Despite his efforts and attentions, one of the large branches of the tree is barren, and bears no fruit. The farmer expresses no surprise that the branches extending from this limb are likewise barren, and he does not expect that any child limb of this growth would suddenly yield fruit. Yet, if the farmer sees that a limb is going bad, he has the ability to cut limbs from the tree and graft them back onto the tree on a healthier branch, and would then not be shocked when it brought forth fruits.

I have been continuing my musings begun in this prior post, bolstered by C.S. Lewis (Specifically The Great Divorce) and several happenstance conversations about God with people I know (or just happen to have run into) who live at very different places in their faith. I have been honing in on two things which I hold to be true, and trying to find the understanding which will help them to snap together in harmony in my mind. These two facts are that 1) It is not my place, or the place of any Christian, to judge if someone is learning about God in a way that is needful to them even if they have not embraced the Christian label. 2) Moral relativity is a seductive trap, and there are choices we make which lead us to evil ends, not all paths lead to God. Let me explore these ideas in more depth.

A Christ by Any Other Name Would Love as Deep

Advocate, Almighty, Beloved Son, Bread of Life, Chief Cornerstone, Christ Jesus, Deliverer, Door, Elect of God, First and Last, Just One, King of Kings, Lamb of God, Mediator…. and numerous more. I know that many lists claim 100 or more names and titles by which the Savior is known. Not to mention the issue of Yahshua, Iesous, Jesu, Jesus, Joshua and other academic and theological revisions to the name the Christ was given at birth. I’ll get back to this list later; trust me it is not just a non sequitur introduction.

I like to read other blogs which jog my noggin and inspire thought, which means reading blogs I wish I could aspire to, blogs which say things I am deeply touched by, blogs which provoke frustration and make me want to shout at the author… but force me to confront what I believe, blogs which educate on areas far beyond my interests but do so in ways which provoke me to think and acknowledge the vast world beyond the limits of my thoughts. In this browsing, I was reading Anglican Curmudgeon, and dipped my toe in more or less at random to his archives. In doing so, I found a post which has led me to much thought, and I wanted to share that and put it down on paper. These ideas were stirred up in my mind, and have yet to form any solid pattern, they are still motes in the sunlight, jumbled and seeking form, I know not if the final pattern will reveal something amazing, or something I knew all along, but had not seen in this light. I may even find that I reject where the thoughts go, but in exploring I will learn more.