Thursday, October 18, 2012
Me vs ....
Just when you think you have it together something jarrs you and reminds you of your weakness, your past, your failures. I am on this quest to be God inspired rather than man inspired. To live life to please God and not others. and its hareder than one would think, especially when the temptation to do for self rises to the surface.
History
I just finished reading the Book of Negroes by Lawerence Hill. Sad to say it took me months to finish. I would read a section and become engrossed and then become tired of the words, the emotion, the story- could there not be good news? But now that I have finished, somehow I am nourished by the words of fiction intermixed with the truth of history. It was the fiction that kept me going, but it was the facts that fascinated me. The reminded me that the story of injustice is not one that happened thousands, hundreds or even tens of years ago, but injustice happens each day. Without the truth of history we will repeat the offenses of the past, even with the truth of history we repeat versions of our past sins.
Somewhere in the book it spoke about how the slave trade was eradicating the barbarity of Africa- bringing Christianity to the heathens. I remember hearing that growing up- reading it in these fundamentalist text books. What an interesting notion that God needed slavery to demonstrate himself to an entire continent. Interesting, but hard to swallow.
Injustice is the one thing that makes my skin crawl
Somewhere in the book it spoke about how the slave trade was eradicating the barbarity of Africa- bringing Christianity to the heathens. I remember hearing that growing up- reading it in these fundamentalist text books. What an interesting notion that God needed slavery to demonstrate himself to an entire continent. Interesting, but hard to swallow.
Injustice is the one thing that makes my skin crawl
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
in the midst of exile
I am listening to the words of God spoken by the prophet Jeremiah. As I hear the words and read them I am amazed by the depth of love that God has always had for His people. He speaks like a husband scorned over and over and over again. A man broken, yet longing for reconcilliation. Disappointed and hopeful all at once. They respond with sarcasm, apathy and scorn. He calls to them, he offers them a second chance, he just wants to right the relationship. And He is willing to do whatever it takes to get their attention. And then there is exile. God takes them into exile, but not solely out of punishment, but there is this undertone or longing- Love me, return to me, seek me, I want you back...
It is exile and so it is dark and messy and frightening, they have never been so far from God before. He was always their back up. He was always in the corner fighting for them. And although they chose to ignore him he somehow always loved them.
Exile is not plan A- their destruction is not his desire, but somehow it seems to be the desire of the people. They have rejected the warnings. They have ignored the pleas. They have declined the invitations.
God looks and looks for a righteous man. He seeks for a people who have acknowledged their faults. He wants to redeem them. But they dont want to be redeemed. He wants them back, but they have found comfort in the arms of another.
As I hear the words of the book of Jeremiah, I hear this anguis that stems from the heart of one who loves too deeply and yet I see what the people see- death, abandomnet, darkness, despair. They dont see love, longing and desire.
As I read Jeremiah I am left with this reflective thought- is God dead or is it just me?
And I am reminded that most times it is just me.
I am Israel,faithless. I am Judah, unfaithful.
Is God dead or is it just me?
Is God dead? Or have we allowed the parts of us that come alive in God to die. Is God dead? Or have we so separated joy from worship that we find ourselves in the midst of darkness? Is God dead? Or have we simply forgotten where he resides? Is God dead? Or is it that we can no longer here the beating of his heart? Is God dead or is it just me? Is God dead or is it just us?
Is God dead or have we died? IS God dead or have we forgotten where to find life?
Ezekiel gives a beautiful picture of the God repairing dry bones and bringing them back to life, with tendons, flesh and skin- but there is still something missing. These bodies look alive, but are not living. They seem to have everythign they need to move adn breathe except breath itself. They are missing just one things. The Spirit. And itis the breath of God that turns dead things to life. It is His Spirit blowing deep into the souls of the lifeless bodies that turns them from carcasses to an army.
The Spirit is life, perhaps that is what we are actually missing. Perhaps we have exchanged the breath of life for iron lungs. Perhaps we have given up on the water of life in exchange for broken, faulty and dirty cisterns. Perhaps life is possible if only we will exchange our comfort, our ideals, our culture, our nature- everything in exchange for what is actually everything. Perhaps its time to turn in death in exchange for life.
In Jeremiah death was everywhere, destruction was all around them, and all that they knew was taken and yet even in the midst of exile- God was not dead, just begging them, pleading wiht them and prodding at them to come to life.
It is exile and so it is dark and messy and frightening, they have never been so far from God before. He was always their back up. He was always in the corner fighting for them. And although they chose to ignore him he somehow always loved them.
Exile is not plan A- their destruction is not his desire, but somehow it seems to be the desire of the people. They have rejected the warnings. They have ignored the pleas. They have declined the invitations.
God looks and looks for a righteous man. He seeks for a people who have acknowledged their faults. He wants to redeem them. But they dont want to be redeemed. He wants them back, but they have found comfort in the arms of another.
As I hear the words of the book of Jeremiah, I hear this anguis that stems from the heart of one who loves too deeply and yet I see what the people see- death, abandomnet, darkness, despair. They dont see love, longing and desire.
As I read Jeremiah I am left with this reflective thought- is God dead or is it just me?
And I am reminded that most times it is just me.
I am Israel,faithless. I am Judah, unfaithful.
Is God dead or is it just me?
Is God dead? Or have we allowed the parts of us that come alive in God to die. Is God dead? Or have we so separated joy from worship that we find ourselves in the midst of darkness? Is God dead? Or have we simply forgotten where he resides? Is God dead? Or is it that we can no longer here the beating of his heart? Is God dead or is it just me? Is God dead or is it just us?
Is God dead or have we died? IS God dead or have we forgotten where to find life?
Ezekiel gives a beautiful picture of the God repairing dry bones and bringing them back to life, with tendons, flesh and skin- but there is still something missing. These bodies look alive, but are not living. They seem to have everythign they need to move adn breathe except breath itself. They are missing just one things. The Spirit. And itis the breath of God that turns dead things to life. It is His Spirit blowing deep into the souls of the lifeless bodies that turns them from carcasses to an army.
The Spirit is life, perhaps that is what we are actually missing. Perhaps we have exchanged the breath of life for iron lungs. Perhaps we have given up on the water of life in exchange for broken, faulty and dirty cisterns. Perhaps life is possible if only we will exchange our comfort, our ideals, our culture, our nature- everything in exchange for what is actually everything. Perhaps its time to turn in death in exchange for life.
In Jeremiah death was everywhere, destruction was all around them, and all that they knew was taken and yet even in the midst of exile- God was not dead, just begging them, pleading wiht them and prodding at them to come to life.
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