Lent 5 - Year C
Philippians 3:4b-14
Paul notes his equivalent of America's "white male privilege" and trades it for something he considers to be of even more surpassing value - his experience of a call and wilderness spirit quest he identifies with Jesus Christ.
There are many who have claimed the same precedence for their conversion to one surpassing value or another - from tea baggers to suicide bombers to urban gangs to monetary profits to family/congregation.
The insight here is not in the absolute of a given surpassing value which will focus our life. This is all too common. Rather, listen to verse 13 without reference to your or any particular holy involvement - "I forget what lies behind and strain forward to what lies ahead".
Paul's "Jesus" talks about that which is coming after him - Holy Spirit and our doing greater thing than he did. There is talk about post-modern living. Can you imagine what it would mean to be post-Christian?
What do you think Paul would want us to forget regarding our current understanding of Jesus and Church that we might join him in stretching forward? With this as thought experiment as encouragement, what do you feel needs to be forgotten that you might move ahead?
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