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The Pursuit of Wholeness

3/12/2012

 
His response to my "thank you" tweet was brief:  "Looking forward to  pursuing wholeness together."  Yet these words begged the question: how do we  pursue-–look for–-wholeness?  And how do we do it together?  

I know that wholeness is a worthy goal, because Psalm 34:14 tells us to "seek  peace and pursue it."   The King James Version of Psalm 63:8 is more  intense: "My soul followeth hard after thee." We are called to move actively  towards God and towards Christ. Our faith is neither passive nor docile.  

  . . . May we pursue wholeness together.

Likewise, we are called to move towards each other.  Our God loves community,
relationships and fellowship. Jesus speaks countless times of His connection to  God and His connection to us. We are the "branches" (John 15:5) to His vine. We
are not disconnected. We are not alone. We have not been abandoned. 

  . . . May we pursue wholeness together.

 What we ignore is that we must pursue wholeness in community.  We live in a
broken and lonely and isolating world.  Too often, we fail to look past  superficial smiles to the bleeding and wounded hearts occupying the pew next to  us.   We do not pursue the redemptive power of our community for  ourselves or for others.  Our desire for others’ healing and restoration is as  superficial as the pasted smiles we wear on Sunday morning.  We are not, in the  words of the psalmist, "following hard" after God.  We conceal ourselves from  Him and from each other.  We have replaced Adam and Eve’s fig leaves with our   own emotional barriers, hiding our wounds from the God who could heal us.   

  . . . May we pursue wholeness together.

May we pursue wholeness together.  Yes!  May we, as one, be deliberate in our desire for, and our pursuit of,  the healing, restoration and redemption available through the risen Christ.   Yes!

A God Who Tells Tales

3/2/2012

 
My God is a storyteller.  It's no mistake, then, that the Bible I read is mostly stories:  Stories that make us laugh and cry, gasp and giggle. We read of kings and shepherds, prophets and prostitutes, warriors and widows.  We see how God relates to people.

Take, for example, the story of Jesus and the woman at the well.  (John 4)  Instead of condemning or judging the woman, Jesus speaks to her. Here is a God who accepts me.  Likewise, when Jesus sees the widow of Nain grieving over the body of her child, the story tells us that He "had compassion" for her. So, He raises her only son from the dead (Luke 7).  Here is a God who understands my pain and is moved by my tears.  My Bible's stories help me to understand my God.   

It's not suprising, is it, that we learn about others by hearing their stories?  We learn about families and failures, loves and losses.  We gain friends because we are able to share our stories with others.   In the same way, we grow closer to God through reading His stories.

Why is it, then, that when we hear God's stories, we want to explain them, not just experience them?  We want to place them into theological structures:  christology, soteriology, trinitarianism, ecclesiology, pneumotology.  But our God doesn't want us to dissect his heart, He wants us to feel it.

Why not try it?  Read God's stories.  Experience His pain and ponder His passion. Hear His heart beat.  

You will find that it beats in time with your own.

    
 
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