Scottius and I read this for our devotions for the appointed day, Saturday, September 16th and immediately thought that this was a strange devotion. Yes, Jesus is the one who handles the "stink" of our sin, but this was just written in a very weird way. This woman's expression was weird too. I wanted to share it with all of you to see what you think!"
"Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me. " Matthew 25:40
"Early in the twentieth century, Dorothy Day was active in spurring the Roman Catholic Church to respond to the needs of the poor in New York City. She was not a distant executive director of relief work, but was involved personally in the lives of the people her organizations helped.
A movie about Dorothy Day pictures her at a point of frustration. Praying at the altar in an empty church, she has a heart-to-heart talk with God. She believed that Jesus was present in the poor people calling her to serve, yet that meant that she had to see Him in the filthy faces and awful conditions in which these people came to her. She finally cried out in her prayer, "Jesus, You Stink." As the words of her own strange prayer registered within her, she went back to minister to the poor, remembering Christ's promise that He was there for her as well as in the smelly conditions.
This story is another picture of what Jesus did on the cross. There, He took all of the stink of our sin and willingly bore it for us in order to make us clean. As we serve others in His name, He again remains the One who handles the stink."
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9 comments:
Lucy,
This is a toughie for me. May I ask if it was from Portals of Prayer? I had to put that one down several years ago because, IMHO, it wasn't all that good any more.
Regardless, I think the writer of the devotion is making a stretch. Christ died for us. Yes, it was stinky, but we didn't have to clean it up. Christ did it all. The message, as is seen in most reformed theology today, is that we have to do something after Christ has done it all.
To me, if I am interpreting it correctly, is gospel wrapped in law. Not such a good thing.
Who let this copy go to print?
The Christ figure in the story as you related it is the woman herself carrying out her vocation.
Yikes!
While you may not like the title of devotion (not everyoned did, and i wouldn't allow it to pass a second time), and the story is a bit quirky, it does give an accurate picture of our sanctified life. Marie, I think has missed the last line of this devo in her response saying "The Christ figure in the story as you related it is the woman herself carrying out her vocation." Not so. Pastor Barry Stueve gets it 100% correct when he says, "As we serve others in His name, He again remains the One who handles the stink."
This is absolutely the way we look at any good work we do. it is not us, but Christ in us. We do not make the people we serve less spiritually stinky by our work, that is done only by Christ.
Not only is Christ seen in the one who is sick, in prison, the one who is hungry, or naked, or stinky, He is also hte one who serves them in a way we cannont. We are not called to save our neighbor, but to serve him. And in the serving we make a witness of the One in whom we have our hope.
Please, you may not have liked the story, or the setting, I'll give you that, but I truly do not believe the theology is fault, as quipper and Marie indicate.
Oh, by the way quipper, contact me, I'll send you a copy of Portals. It has more truly Lutheran content then it did when you where evidently appreciative of it. I would be interested to hear what you think after using it again for a few months.
Pastor K. (if I may call you that),
Your explanation makes much more sense. After reading the piece for the 5th and 6th times, I still didn't get that out of the published text. The theology is not at fault, but the exposition is not clear. I read the first sentence of the last paragraph to mean that Dorothy's going back to work was like what Jesus did on the cross. From your explanation, though, that was not the intent.
Which is why I stick with "Every Day Will I Bless Thee" and the Small Catechism for my devotions. Luther's postils work well, too.
Quipper (a.k.a. Marie N's husband)
I find fault with this entry.
This story is another picture of what Jesus did on the cross. There, He took all of the stink of our sin and willingly bore it for us in order to make us clean.
Commentary: I wish the writer would not mix his metaphors. There's a perfect verse for this: Ephesians 5:2 as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
I further wish that people wouldn't use abrasive phrases to get attention, such as: Jesus you stink. I don't care if that's what she said, I don't think it's good to jolt people by such attention-grabbers, in devotions, sermons etc.
As we serve others in His name, He again remains the One who handles the stink."
Commentary: Again, because of what I stated above, I don't like this abrasive conclusion as it's stated. I also could question its theology, which is at best unclear. Is the latter clause dependent upon the former, so that our serving others, brings about His redemption of us? It sounds that way.
Ok... Here's my 2 cents:
What does this mean?
"she went back to minister to the poor, remembering Christ's promise that He was there for her as well as in the smelly conditions."
Is Christ there for her in the poor people and the smell? This is a popular social gospel notion. It's wrong. Christ is not there for me when I do acts of Charity. He is there for me in Word and Sacrament.
The social gospel version is certainly not the intent, I'm sure, but it was the strongest impression I took away.
Rev. Kinnaman, Good to "see" you out an about. Glad to hear of your work at CPH. That's good for us all! I'll have to garb a PofP next time I'm at church and check you out! :-)
Scott S.
Yup, yup, and yup. I agree that our author's quirky story made for a lot of work by/for the reader in the alotted 350 words. This devotion could have/should have been clearer.
ScotT, good to hear from you as well. I will have to go back and brush up on my heresies I guess, but I think you would have to read more into what is being said to label what our author is saying as Social Gospel. But, I hope to never stop learning.
Scot K., (or as you may prefer - Pastor K, Pennsy, Dad, Grandpa, and probably a few others..)
Quipper, Marie, Scott, Pastor K, Chaplain 7904:
Thank you for your responses! I appreciate it! I apologize for being SO slow in responding myself! As Barb the evil genius says, life gets in the way of our blogging! :)
I am not going to be redundant here with everyone's comments. Pastor K, I do want to thank you though for your explanation of this devotion from Portals of Prayers - it helped me to see it more clearly.
I will leave this thought: "test everything" as it states in 1 Thessalonians 5:21. We have to be so well versed and knowledgeable with God's Word so that we can detect when something is not quite right, and we need to be SO DETERMINED (with Christ's strength of course) to STAY in HIS WORD. It states in 2 Timothy 3:16 - 17, All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God
may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." It is God's gift to us to determine truth from error. What a blessing to have it as our guide.
As far as devotions goes, we use The Lord Will Answer (A Daily Prayer Catechism) in addition to our Bible.
Thanks again everyone for your comments. Blessings!
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