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| "Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones"
-"Fix You" Chris Martin, Coldplay
What is it about ourselves that is so scared of the journey? My own journey is riddled with mistakes, and the constant of every one of those wrong decisions or circumstance is the presence of fear. I'm writing a paper right now on the restoration of the days to come, or the concept of a New Jerusalem. While the paper is difficult, it one that leads to me to reflective thought about our lives. I have often been scared to the point of irrationality. It's a destructive thing, to be bound by such fear. And there is, only one escape from such a prison of the past. I have talked about the power of the words let go. This morning, I woke up with the word RISK on my heart. To escape our fear, we have to risk. We have to expose the areas of ourselves that are vulnerable to those that we love the most. We have to throw out the tendency to dwell in the negative possibilities and realize that the salvation we so desperately seek is is within reach, if we will only risk. I admit that I speaking to myself. I have failed miserably in the past. I repent of those times where I seemingly didn't have the strength to live in truth instead of the lies of failure.
The beauty I am discovering is that when we fail...God says, jump again. Try again. Risk again. Love again. Don't give up. Realize that you can reclaim the beauty of each day when you risk. I am listening to the above lyric, as the song is on repeat. "Lights will guide you home." The work of the Spirit within us will give us the strength to overcome fear. The light of hope will break through the dim despair of living in a fractured world. And we will find each other again. Creation is groaning, the scriptures say. We are desperate for the restoration of the days to come.
I see the light breaking into our situations. I see it calling us home to each other, and to the future intended for us by God. And it will "ignite your bones." It will lift you up. It will surround you in love. It will restore all the hopes and dreams of your soul to you. Just RISK.
You are never alone. I am never alone. We will overcome when we let the light break in.
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| It's a rough translation found, but it works:
*******
"Ágaetis Byrjun" - Sigur Rós from the album Ágaetis Byrjun
"Bright Hopes Come True
As We Walk Downtown
Smiling And Laughing Happily
Friendship And Exhaustion Collide
We Celebrate The Day
A Two Year Wait
A Distant Dream Is Born
We Eat And Drink Till We're Full
And Pay For Ourselves
With Everything We Have For The Day
We Sit Down Excited
Listen To Ourselves Play In Rhythm To The Music
No One Seems To Listen
This Is Completely Different
We Lived In Another World
Where We Were Never Invisible
A Few Days Later
We Speak Again
But The Sound Wasn't Good
We Were All In Agreement
In Agreement About Most Things
We'll Do Better Next Time
This Is A Pretty Good Beginning"
*******
A note to self (shared aloud):
When I read the words "Bright hopes come true" I recalled that we all have to remind ourselves of what it is to HOPE and not to fear. "We lived in another world where we were never invisible" -- how long, friends, will we allow ourselves to place old burdens on our own backs, only to be piled on with the unwanted burdens of others who cannot find their own resting place? How long? I know I am not the only one so tired of the haunting past. Let go. Two words, two syllables. Infinite power.
Love in all things, hope in all things, and realize with me that we can make it through...the only place to place these burdens is at the shoreline of the sea of God's forgetfulness, where we cast every sin and fear into the waters of forgiveness. Let go. Take the weight off your shoulders. It's okay...this God won't harm you, but will carry you through it all. But God cannot, until you let go.
While we bear the scars of our past and all that entails, we will echo the last and then first lines of this song sung in a foreign tongue, "we'll do better next time, this is a pretty good beginning...bright hopes come true."
All those I need to forgive, forgiveness will be given in time. All those I need forgiveness from, I pray you will grant it.
I pray this note shared can become a resting place, where you too can find HOPE in the face of fear.
I know it has helped me this night.
Goodnight & Godbless,
Bo Liles | | |
| It's just one of those days. We'll make it through. We will, even though it seems so hard. In writing this extremely long paper (I'm halfway finished) I have had to do a lot of reflecting on where I've been and where I am now. And I realized this morning as I struggled to wake up, the water pounding on my back...I don't have the answers. I can't instantly cure what ails me, or you, or the world. And for once, it's okay for all of us to be real. To be scared, to be frustrated, to not know what is in store. There is this architect, this artist, this Creator, and One who is closer than a sister or brother. There is God. And there is a promise that was given to the Jewish prophet Jeremiah..."plans not to harm you." Yes. Life is real. Life is hard. But when you give up your life completely and embrace divinity...you find what you thought was lost the whole time. The story says the woman had to sweep - to clean out - the entire house to find the precious coin.
The scriptures have this principle - to gain your life, you have to lose it.
What are you willing to lose in order to gain the freedom to be who God created you to be?
When I asked myself this question, I thought of a favorite album and the heartbroken questions it asks of humanity. Here's the lyrics of Bitter Days by Lewis
"In jealous youth, we made angel wings. limits were our disease. but burning hearts like flames consume only ash left for the breeze. bitter days that you can't undo. all the violence of our youth. bitter days, though the light is off, will all the world just come undone. for helen's love, we will suffer blows. currents of distress and storms. a battered soul crushed beneath the waves, scattered like the ruins of war. bitter days that you can't undo, all the violence of our youth. bitter days, though the light is off, will all the world just come undone. you look tired, with all the winds conspiring at your back, and the salt on your hands. thrown into the restless sea, the undertow is writhing at your feet. bitter days that you can't undo. all the violence of our youth. bitter days, though the light is off, will all the world just come undone. unrelenting storms and shattered forms."
Jealous Youth. The Violence of Our Youth. Bitter Days.
I'll loose myself from the ties that bind me to those days...
and then I am free to overcome the yoke of this world's expectations.
My Rabbi says "my yoke is easy and my burden is light"
The weights you are carrying aren't of a benevolent Creator. Throw them off. And don't look back.
"The future is open wide"
Shalom. | | |
| So, I was given a book to read called Revolution by the founder of the Barna Group, George Barna. It's about the growing trend of Christians who are defining themselves outside of the church...in other words, they attend less church and try to foster community elsewhere and do more "active" things with their faith.
Initially, I was excited about this book. After 5 chapters, I am less convinced. I understand it is a book about what he deems "20 million" believers who tend towards this lifestyle. Now, any of you who know me would agree that I am very much one who tends to not be aligned with traditional church...technically, I am apart of this 20 million. However, a closer analysis of the THEOLOGY/belief system of the book THUS FAR shows a thinly veiled conservative/moderate philosophy about God. So far in the book - granted, which has some very compelling things to say - I get the sense that what I would call open or "liberal" theology is not accounted for. And on top of that, there is what i would consider a big issue. There is no connection to history of the Christian faith from which they claim membership. Meaning, how do they celebrate the beauty of ancient-future traditions - i.e. worship, sacrament, creeds, liturgy, etc? Likewise, by disassociating themselves from the fabric of the church and only claiming the idealogical "universal church" they refuse responsibility for the wrongs of christian history. Basically, by accepting this idealogy one can dissassociate themselves from the "bad parts" of the church. Did Jesus refute the law & history of Judaism? No, he came to fulfill and truly revolutionize our understanding of God and how we interact in covenant relaitionship. Disassociation from a true faith community becomes something entirely different. Yes, you can do KOG work and you will be blessed in return...but what I found was that the theology espoused in the book was not revolutionary on the core level of what it means to be a Christian. Rather than truly reimagine and revolutionize Christianity that allows for faith communities to exist, those who apart of this suppossed 20 million just unplug from their churches and INDIVIDUALIZE their faith...which can do alot of good things, I grant you. But watering down the Book of Acts to say that we can find community in a weekly golf game with a believer buddy misses the whole revolution of a CONNECTED network of faith traditions. This book has good ideas concerning how to live your life but it doesn't approach the concept of community in a proper way. I could go on and on, but you're bored now. Heh.
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| It's been a while friends. New Things are brewing at Day One. Ch-ch-ch-changes...
Here's some thoughts I wrote on another blog. Let's discuss this as friends.
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It never was about religion. Let me repeat that.
It never was about religion, nor should it be for us now.
The thing is...we think it is; or we think that it isn't in the sense that we don't want anything to do with it. So, we deny the very purpose of our existence. And no, I don't think worship is SOLE purpose of our existence...that's too small picture, when there is something bigger. The purpose of existence is wrapped in the word, connection. Yes, connection. Everything is our lives has this as the underlying pursuit. And oh how we screw that up so easily on our own. Why did God create humankind? Because God understood the vital nature of connection, of relationship. And so the purpose of our very existence is this connection, this relationship, with something divine - something eternally bigger than ourselves. Connection is about exchange - its about communication, it is about reciprocity. The exchange between divinity and humanity.
Stop.
Think about that for a moment. An exchange. From God to us (revelation through relationship). From us to God (response through worship and communication). And you thought you were limited and unable to make an impact in the world? Well, guess what - when you engage in a relationship with the eternal God, you are literally participating in the very LIFE of the cosmic order. Yes, I just said cosmic order - God created that too, remember? To say that worship alone is the purpose of your life is not a bad way of thinking, however it limits the depth of your relationship with God. Worship is very much rooted in the synthesis of the emotional and spiritual elements of you - of your being. But there is so much more to you than just your emotions. Abraham lived out his relationship in his action. David lived his relationship in both his worship (love) and his questions (doubts/fears), and Solomon lived out his relationship in his intellect (the pursuit of wisdom). Don't get me wrong, I am not devaluing worship here - I desire to worship God in all that I do with all the passion I have within me. I just have some points to make.
Religion. Something that is the source of reverence or disdain in America. Yes, I think we are guilty of extremes. Some of us are turned off by religion - people like that are scared of the bottomless depth of diving into the unknown, and trust me - a relationship with God is a big step out onto SEEMINGLY nothing (faith). I also notice the fear of people around me to the idea that their brand of religion, that their denomination, that their home/current church might not be perfect. That God - which the scriptures indicate - supercedes ALL of our comprehension. That I am every day becoming aware that the MOMENT you get comfortable with a doctrine, or a church setting, or a denominal label - that is the moment where you can LOSE the connection. Yes, unlike many of us have been taught - there is no doctrinal arrival...no point of Christian enlightenment. The Dahlia Lama admits that he may never come into full enlightenment as a Buddhist in his lifetime, but it is the pursuit that is what MATTERS. Becoming stuck in your ways religiously is dangerous friends, AND so is abandonment of your faith. Both extremes will kill you. Yes, you can die spiritually by rigidity in your faith and by abandonment of it.
The connection. This relationship with a divine God is based on the whole participation of yourself in the exchange between you and God. That means you cannot deny the emotional elements of worship. Nor does it mean you deny the logic of critical thinking and consideration in order to rationalize bad theology, doctrine, or unbiblical behavior (religious hyper emotionalism or absuive zealotry being a few examples). BUT It IS NOT about religion. Stop telling me that we can't but God in a box, and then I see us turning around and doing it. The connection will drive you to CONTINUALLY to search, to explore, to question, to affirm, to yell, to scream, to cry, to love, to sing, to tell others, to comfort, to morn. All things best done outside of the box.
TO NEVER DO ANYTHING LESS THAN EXPERIENCE LIFE FULLY. its joys and pains, its successes and failures. That is my desire.
I am not going to live my life focusing on the rules. Yes, I affirm moral living - it is a vital component to one's faith/relationship. But the very minute any one of us stops tailoring every moment to maximizing our relationship with God and start following rules - that is the moment when the connection dims, the spark is a less than it was.
Are you supposed to be different than "the world" as a Christian? Yes. But stop thinking you can live a righteous life to achieve that. To "be not of this world" means that your ENTIRE being is dedicated to your love/relationship with God. That your mindset turns to the mystery and the intimacy of that PRIMARY and ETERNAL connection. Consider with me. Which is better? Not going to a bar, and not having a sense of your purpose as a follower of God - i.e. not even being sensitive to the will of the Holy Spirit; OR going to the bar and being AWARE of the work of the Holy Spirit in you as you engage in conversation and maybe - just maybe, tell somebody about the core of what drives you? When Jesus told us to go into ALL THE WORLD - did he say that we would get to define what that entailed? I hate to say it, but that makes Jesus look more like Bill Clinton at the impeachment trials - "what is the definition of is". AND Jesus isn't that. ALL THE WORLD. LOVE WITH ALL YOUR HEART MIND SOUL STRENGTH.
And yet, we won't budge because our denominal handbook or creeds have said we can't go love people. My friends of the faith, we ostracize and avoid the VERY people Jesus called us to go love and hang out with. We won't give money to homeless people because we are suspicious that they'll buy a 40 oz instead of food. Didn't Jesus say ACT, rather than not act and ensure the other person doesn't go buy a pack of cigarettes?
If you want to live FULLY in connection to GOD - and what he wants to do in you and through you - you are going to have to not be scared. It's not about religion. So, if you hate religion - you're not excused from the necessity of a relationship with God. If you are overly defensive of religion, then please, I beg of you - come talk to me and we'll pray and study and explore the truth of scripture about what the connection is and what it isn't.
Now, I wrap up this lengthy post with a plea for anyone who may be shocked or (and I pray that I haven't) offended to come and speak with me - I say all these things as the Holy Spirit has been working and moving in my world, and my heart exploded this moment with a passion for the revolutionary banner of the Way of Jesus to be taken up again by my generation. I humbly speak my heart, and beg any of you to forgive me if it was not clearly communicated. I only speak out like this because my life is to be spent in this vocation of talking about the possibilities of what GOD so desperately wants to do in our world.
Revelation 21 - "God will come and live among his people...and the old world will pass away, and behold all things will be made new."
Blessings, and love to you all.
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