Universal Gospel

I've been thinking a lot lately about incarnation, universalism/universal salvation, and how the Gospel is all around us. I hope to turn this into a series. I've been noticing some stories, songs, movies, etc. that are Gospel without trying to be. 

I used to work in the Christian music business (which is now essentially dead aside from worship music. Now I don't (or try not to) see any difference in the sacred and the profane. God can be found everywhere, and God is absent nowhere. (Is that too concrete of a statement to make?) As Christians our faith is incarnational - it relies on God inserting himself into our world. 

Richard Rohr says it this way, "God loves things by becoming them."

I want this series to be about getting our heads out of the clouds and simply looking around us. If we pay attention we'll see the Gospel all around us in people and creation. The creation is good, right? And humanity? VERY good.

This will be centered around things I notice that are consistent with Jesus' teaching about the heavenly kingdom on earth. The stories and topics here might (will) conflict with the Epistles, Old Testament stories, original sin, and a host of other things that are in the Bible. I'm looking at these things through a Jesus lens, not a Bible lens. 

Maybe you'll be uncomfortable with it. Maybe I'll be uncomfortable too? The stories might be gritty - you know, cursing, violence, etc. I think it's worth wrestling with tough topics. I love the Jewish concept of Midrash, which is the act of wrestling with and interpreting scripture. I hope that what I write about will be written in good faith, submitted in the mindset of Midrash, and not just me trying to be provocative, etc.