Rebellion against God has always taken the form of self-love and self-interest. . . . When we live in the pattern of self-interest, very little thought is given to living in the pattern of death and resurrection. The self-love of narcissism is one of the greatest problems we face today. -Robert E. Webber, The Divine...Read More
Here is the deep rhythm of the spiritual life: a baptism into death to sin and resurrection to a new life made possible only by the divine embrace of God, who in his incarnation became one of us to take into himself the curse of sin and death on the hard wood of the cross...Read More
Baptism reveals the daily pattern of the spiritual life. . . . Our day-to-day, moment by moment experience of life in all the spiritual expressions of the embodied life . . . is not something we do as a matter of course. Baptism is instead a life-changing covenant, a call to live deeply into the...Read More
Jesus chose by his own will to embody God’s original intent for humanity. . . . The ancient church affirmed that Jesus, by the complete and constant surrendering of his human will reversed our fallen human will, achieved union with God for us all, and left us an example to follow. . . . Because...Read More
Spiritual passion is not “get me out of this world” but “let me throw myself into life,” swimming daily in the baptismal waters, passionately choosing to be the person God created me to be, emulating the display of perfect humanity, the embodiment of God in Jesus. -Robert E. Webber, The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate...Read More
The spiritual life, this marriage we have with God, is an embodied union with God and with his vision for the world revealed to us in Jesus by the Spirit. Our spiritual life, then, is not just a feeling, an idea, or a spiritual romance. No! It is an embodiment of God’s vision for humanity...Read More
Since God has already accepted us in Christ, who lifted our humanity up into his, and by the Spirit has done everything necessary to make us acceptable to God, the spiritual life is a freedom to participate in God, not a duty. In Jesus we are born again to become fully human, to be what...Read More
As Christians we have been baptized, immersed, drenched, and soaked in Jesus in the re-creating waters of baptism and signed and rubbed in the sweet smell of the oil of the Holy Spirit. So by the two hands of God, the very hands that recovered and restored God’s original creative purpose for the world, we...Read More
Jesus is both the subject and object of the spiritual life. As subject, he has attained the spiritual life for us, that is, he alone reestablishes the unity between God and man, that unity which Adam lost. As object, we look to him to see what a human being united to God looks like. ....Read More
The incarnation is the connecting link between creation and re-creation. . . . God fully participated in our humanity. In Jesus, then, we see what a human being who participates in God looks like. . . . The spiritual life, like the incarnation, is participation in this world, this life, this place, in our day-to-day...Read More
Jesus is the one man who fulfills the vision of God for humanity and for the life of the world. He repents for all, is baptized for all, receives the Spirit for all, dies for all, is resurrected for all, and will return to establish the new heavens and new earth. Our repentance, baptism, and...Read More
Baptism, while it may occur in a moment of time, is a state of continual being. We are called to live daily in our baptism. Those who do not live in the divine embrace where their new identity has been established in baptism should not make a claim to have it. Baptism is a way...Read More
Baptism is the ritual that marks our new identity in Jesus. . . . When baptism is enacted in faith, the spirit of God performs, ascribes, and accomplishes the very meaning of baptism—a forgiveness of our old identity is made real, and a new identity with Jesus is actualized. -Robert E. Webber, The Divine Embrace:...Read More
With whom do you identify? Are you committed to follow the nature of rebellion against God’s purposes for life inherited from Adam, or are you willing to say, “I need to have my nature formed by the second Adam, the one who is in full union with the purpose God has for his creatures and...Read More
