Therefore I am going to allure her;
I will lead her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her.
There I will give her new growth,
and will make in her darkness a door of hope.
There she will respond with devotion
as in the day she first knew freedom.
Hosea 2:14-15 (sort of…)
follow your lights
they say encouragingly
trusting to some
innate inner knowledge
follow the way
that seems best to you
hurihinga to kanohi ki te ra
turn your face to the sun
tukuna to atarangi kia taka ki muri i a koe
allow the shadows to fall behind you
magi following a star
as ancient mariners
followed a north star
to shores unknown
in expectation of
what?
trusting to an inner knowledge
follow your lights
Four responses often overlooked:
(case in point the “Occupy” movement)
Full recording of the webinar should be available at www.chedmyers.org in a few days…
the sweet
still
voice of the lord
says
“I love you”
into the turbulence of my mind.
the Creator Spirit
cradles me and croons
it in my ear
“I love you”.
she sneaks up on me
from time to time
puts it out there quickly
“I love you”
and darts away.
I hear her
but somehow the Voice
doesn’t reach
the cold places of my heart
and I cannot believe it.
A quote from A Two-Part Invention by Madeleine L’Engle
…most growth has come during times of trial. Trial by fire. Fire as an image of purification is found all through literature. Dante speaks of the fire of roses. George MacDonald’s Curdie has to plunge his hands deep into the burning fire of roses. In Scripture we read, “Our God is a consuming fire”. God is “like a refiner’s fire”. Moses saw God in a burning bush, a bush which was burned and was not consumed, as we are to be burned by this holy fire and yet not consumed. We are to be refined in the fire like silver. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walked through the flames. The Spirit descended and descends in tongues of fire.
Satan has tried to take fire over as his image, teasing, tormenting us with the idea of the flames of hell. Dante understood the wrongness of this in having the most terrible circle of hell be cold.
Coldness of the last circle of hell; coldness of heart; lack of compassion; treating people as objects; pride, setting ourselves apart from the “others” – all these are cold.
It is a terrible choice: the purifying fire of the Creator or the deathly cold fire of Satan.
Soon after I became a Christian I was given a copy of “The Fight” by John White – basically a primer on Christian living for the newly converted, I can’t remember much about it except that I recall earnestly working my way through some questions at the end of each chapter and tucking these answers inside. My point, almost 15 years on, it that with a title like this I can’t say I wasn’t warned and yet I believe I’d like to register a complaint… does discipleship have to be this hard? It does. It is the crucible that burns away the impurities and transforms or the seed that dies for a plant to grow and produce fruit.
“Will you lay down your life for me?”
You have to choose a path less travelled, and keep choosing it, again and again. ‘Disciple’ and ‘discipline’ are based on the same root word “to learn”. All manner of things will be well, not necessarily the ones you had planned, and you will be blessed abundantly. You will give more than you knew you had, find more that you knew to look for. But, fair warning, it will be hard work, it is a lifelong struggle against the tide of dominant culture and ‘empire’.
When Jesus called, he said “Take nothing for you journey…”
Were the twelve afraid?
God’s peace be with you
Did they wonder if they could do these things?
Next to the quality of your ministry did they feel inadequate and unworthy?
God’s peace be with you
Did they want to postpone their journey until they had all the possible things they might need? Until they were sure of their abilities?
God’s peace be with you
Did they want to hold off on a commitment until they were absolutely sure it wouldn’t be a mistake? Did they ever feel they had no time, no talent, no knowledge, no energy, no guaranteed results?
Jesus said “take nothing”, and they went.
They went with His power.
God’s peace be with you.
Father God, I want to thank you for ——–, I want to thank you for calling them to be leaders. There are times when responsibility can seem too much to bear and we wonder how we came to be here, to deserve this trust. That in ‘taking nothing’ we ‘have nothing’. Grace each of them with the sense of peace of knowing you are with them, the sense of faith that is born of giving up our will to yours, and the sense of love that is born of forgiveness and communion. May this spirit which passes understanding, and this grace which makes us what we are, and this fellowship of His communion make us one in spirit and in heart. Let them find ease in You who are our leader. We need not be afraid, for you are with us always. In Jesus name, amen.
[Sharing communion @ Kinfolk]
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