Christ John Otto directs Belonging House, an international community of artists and creative people.

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Throughout this season

we are going to come back to one theme:

How do we experience grace?

This is not Biblical language, but rather,

language that comes from the controversies

that happened five hundred years ago.

The terms from the reformation

introduced a vagueness into the Christian experience,

that persists to the present day.

The New Testament talks about life in the Holy Spirit.

And this life in the Holy Spirit

is the experience

of God's favour,

goodness,

lovingkindness,

and Person, Presence, and Power in our lives.

One passage of scripture that suffers from

a vague interpretation

is today's gospel.

The Beatitudes.

Because I grew up in a liberal church,

I have heard the beatitudes used to support

a variety of political and social causes.

And preachers can get away with this

because the English translation is vague and broad.

And the words in our Bibles are bland enough

that anyone can read into them their own interpretations.

And a number of errors have become common,

like living in poverty is a better way of life

than being prosperous.