Now, no words are volunteering to be spoken. No words can let me speak the truth to you. Why? Because I am scared. I am scared of the future. The monsters of the past look me in the mirror and say that tomorrow is no different. 

Let me say the words I need to say. I can’t wait. I won’t wait. My revolution is now. My thoughts shall be overturned. If I fail, it is better for the building to crash down around me than for me to fall alone.

I just finished watching one of my favorite films of all time, Braveheart. Seriously… it just ended like ten minutes ago. The tears are still damp on my cheek. This inspirational, timeless film left me thinking; this is a film that matters. Why? Because it won awards and broke records?

Anything that matters in this world is worth so much more than an award or a record. The films that matter are the films that speak to the heart of the human condition: the need for freedom, for unconditional love, for redemption, for justice, for forgiveness, for truth. Those are the films that remind us how precious life is.

If life is important, then we are important.

Braveheart made me reflect, “Am I oppressed? Am I truly living by fighting for what is important? Am I motivated by greed or by passion? Am I a coward or am I a brave heart?” The films that matter are the ones that impact you and make you question your condition as a human being.

This is my challenge to myself and to you: what good is questioning and reflecting if we do not make a change in the way we live? If we find we need freedom, what are we doing to get it? If we see someone is unloved, what are we doing to love that person? If we realize that our lives are in shambles, where are we looking to find redemption? If we see the oppressed crying out for justice, what can we do to help them get it? If our families are torn apart by malice and discontent, how can we find it in ourselves to be the first to forgive? If we are disillusioned by the shadows of life, we need to find the truth and live by it. Film and literature can lead us down these beautiful philosophical paths; we just need to be brave.

Out of the depths have I called Thee,

O LORD.

Lord,

hearken unto my voice;
let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.

**

If Thou,

LORD,

shouldest mark iniquities,

O Lord, who could stand?

 **

For with Thee there is forgiveness,

that Thou mayest be feared.

I wait for the LORD,

my soul doth wait,

and in His word do I hope.

My soul waiteth for the Lord,

more than watchmen for the morning;

yea,

more than watchmen for the morning.

O Israel,

hope in the LORD;

for with the LORD there is mercy,

and

with Him is plenteous redemption.

And

He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Psalm 130

Copied from http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt26d0.htm

King Asa did “what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God” (2 Chronicles 14:2 NIV). Of all the kings of Judah, he certainly was at the top of the list when it came to obedience. Nonetheless, he ended up relying on the king of Aram instead of God. Because of what he did, Hanani was sent to him to let him know the judgment of the Lord. Hanani revealed that this disobedience would result in war.  Asa was angry and took it out on Hanani, sending him to prison. He also responded by oppressing the people.

Hanani and the people did not deserve this reaction from Asa for it was Asa’s actions that warranted this pending war. There is great difficulty in accepting blame for our actions. A big problem even today is accepting responsibility for actions.  Asa had years of peace—no war until the thirty-fifth year of his reign because he did what was right. He knew what he was supposed to do and he did it for years. He alone was to blame for his actions just as we alone are to blame for our own actions. Remember this today when it’s time to take the blame.

“His strokes are not strokes at all, but gashes in the flesh of this life.”

Nearly twenty years in the making, this novel has been my absolute labor of love, to use an overused cliche.  Which I realize doesn’t bode well for my reputation as a writer, but whaddaya gonna do?  The truth is, there is no more appropriate description of the experience for me.  The Assassination of Gabriel Champion is a modern fable of love and loss, of violence and redemption, set in the world of art and artists, that asks the question: What can we forgive? 

TO PURCHASE!     http://t.co/yhX6nhYIEK

*          *          *

Writer NONA CHILDE is in love with artists.  They are the very embodiment of all her romantic notions.  She has, in fact, chosen an artist as the protagonist of her novel, The Assassination of Gabriel Champion, which unfolds a tale as alluringly dark as a rain-drenched European night.  So when she meets DANIEL CROSS, a gifted painter who is teetering on the brink of Heathcliffian torment (an intoxicating contrivance in Nona’s mind), she is presented with the opportunity to finally complete the arc of a long-coveted torch song life.  What she isn’t prepared for is a real playing out of the scourge of an artist’s soul; one far darker than any she could conjure with a pen.

The relationship that ensues between the brooding Englishman artist and the passionate young American authoress thrusts them headlong into a kaleidoscope of violent mood and memory, of euphoric, obsessive, torrential love.  They begin to tear apart as irascibly as they are brought together, but not before involving one Arthur Hughes Dufresne, a local poet with a devastating past who succeeds in complicating the tangle.

*          *          *

During the first-draft stage, I spent two summers in Paris, soaking up the city that turned out to be the featured character in the last half of the book.  Not only did I fall in love with Paris (see my post about The Slow Club http://wp.me/p3gJKq-2F), but it maintains a mystical connection for me, and a torrid love affair, that I continue to this day.  Make no mistake, however; I’m an L.A. girl, born, raised and still residing.  And so the heart of the book is the City of Angels.

One of my fondest memories of this extraordinary odyssey was the enthusiasm of my beloved stepfather, Fred Hicks, no longer with us, who so fell in love with one of the book’s characters that he would engage in vigorous arguments with me over how I should resolve said character’s life.  I can think of no greater example of pure love and authentic moral support.  And my only real regret is that it took me so long to nurse the book into its rightful being, and finally get it published, that he isn’t around to see it.

I have lived with these characters longer than most marriages.  They are inside of me, in my very blood, and I am ecstatic at the thought of finally letting them walk out into the world and introduce themselves.

*          *          *

Here’s just a little sampling.  An amuse-bouche, if you will.

(excerpt)
It had become a culture so desensitized, so lacking in the keen recognition of nuance, that what was required any longer to stir someone’s soul was movement, noise, clangs and bangs, where news outlets were consigned to showing actual video footage of head-on collisions in order for the viewer to be impacted by the pronouncement of tragedy.  And where art had to stun (stir just wasn’t good enough anymore) by feats and stunts and concussion in order to be considered the legitimate New Art.  Bob Flanagan hammering a nail into his penis before a live audience at a “happening” was considered art by those for whom the criteria was, singularly, that the deed be undared by anyone else.

Flanagan had been a performance artist battling cystic fibrosis and exploring themes of pain threshold, and there was certainly validity in the idea of a coping mechanism being raised to an art by the very involvement of an audience, a reaction, an impact, and a relationship.  But the bottom line for Daniel was:  How do you sell that?

He suddenly realized that in this drunken instant he was thinking more like an art dealer than an artist, and he surprised himself that he had, in one swift indictment, reduced his entire impetus to paint to his ability to make a living from it. Never mind the idea of art that was authentically experiential, completely stripped of the possibility of the repeat generation of dollars dealt from one collector’s hands to another’s.  Commerce had always been the farthest down on Daniel’s list of reasons to create, yet today it seemed to be the first, instinctive weapon he drew in this invisible battle with an invisible foe, for his (a mere painter’s) rightful place.

The art world had been stricken with a bad case of the emperor’s new clothes, and the rest of the world was guileless and gullible, including Daniel, who had started to believe the buzz about his own work.  Maybe being just a painter was the gimmick assigned to Daniel by the critical circle.  And maybe in the end, he actually was starting to feel unworthy of the attention because, after all –– all he did was paint.
(end of excerpt)

Tell your friends. 

O, how wondrous is a man, a vessel of so many experiences, beliefs, and decisions!

Eyes which have looked upon the world with awe and amazement, and which have shed tears of sorrow at the tragedy beheld.

Ears which have heard sounds for the first time, and which have been closed at the most important times.

Hands that have conquered the large world of one’s own backyard, and then have taken from the forbidden tree to eat its fruit thereof.

Fingers that have wiped away the tears of many eyes, and have brought tears to many more.

A spirit so heroic it would charge to certain death upon command, so wicked it can not give itself for the sake of another.

A mind so creative it can build a world, and so deprived it can forget it.

A will so strong it can never be conquered, and so weak it can never conquer itself.

His laughter echoes through the hall of ages, and his cries water the desert.

His thoughts tower far above the earth, sinking him beneath it.

He realizes beauty for the first time through the smile of a girl, and ugliness through her lies.

He remembers the beginning of time, and so quickly disregards the end.

He spends his youth longing for older age, and his old age longing for youth.

Oh how wondrous is a dead man—a broken pot from which spills so many experiences, beliefs, and decisions!

Is he a tragedy, or a comedy? A love story or a murder mystery?

Perhaps there is no genre that can define him, for he is a man. A mixture of predator and prey—both angel and beast; the only one who can decide to rise above, and the only one who chooses to fall beneath.

Praeter unum, qui superat, et resurrexit, et ascendit…

This is one of my favorite verses. The simplicity of this truth is so encouraging and comforting. Sometimes our minds are so quick to go to places that will only cause us more anxiety and stress as we attempt to hande things on our own. While in a time of confusion, or when our mind is just filled with question after question, we simply need to let God whisper this to us. I imagine Him saying, “Jackie, wait on me. Be strong and take heart. Don’t worry about a thing. Just wait on me.”

My friend Jenna, who has become a treasured friend and mentor for wise counsel in my life, recently asked me what the Lord has been teaching me. The word that immediately came to mind was, “waiting.” He has me in a season of waiting. I went home with a yearning to dig deeper into what I needed to learn about this season. Why was the word “waiting” the first thing that had come to mind? What am I really waiting for? 

I started to run a list of things through my head that I often find myself waiting for. Once i’ve prayed, I’m waiting for a sign. When i’ve applied for a job, I’m waiting for an acceptance or a rejection. When I text someone, I’m wait for a text back. When i’m in an airplane, i’m waiting to land at my destination. When I watch the Spurs game, I’m waiting for 4 periods of play to see if they win. When I order a coffee from Starbucks, I wait at the end of the counter for the barista to say my name so I can grab my drink. I’m waiting to see who I will marry one day. I sometimes feel that I can’t even wait to be a mom. The list could go on, and on, and on. 

What i’ve realized about each and every thing on my list that I find myself waiting for, will only be restful if I wait on the Lord. I feel like it’s somewhat of a domino effect. If I wait on the Lord; if I take heart; if I am strong in Him, waiting on Him and His timing will be a time full of joy and excitement, even if it’s painful at times. It can be as small as waiting for my drink at Starbucks, or something as big as waiting to hear about a job. 

Understanding that I have been adopted by God himself through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will (Ephesians 1:5) has given me new perspective on waiting on Him. I lived 17 years of my life in sin. Little did I know, God had planned to save me in that very moment of salvation when he changed my heart. He knew that I was an adopted daughter. Little did I know, I had been waiting 17 years to find and accept eternal life in Jesus. 

“I waitied patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.” -Psalm 40:1-3

In times of waiting, whatever is at the end of the road starts to feel like a prize. In Starbucks, the prize is my venti Chai Tea Latte. In an airplane, the prize is my destination. In waiting for my husband, the prize is a life glorifying the Lord with him. In waiting for a job, the prize is getting the position. While waiting through 4 periods of game play, the prize at the end of the Spurs game comes when they walk off the court with a victory. 

Ultimately, we have to remember what our ultimate prize is. It is eternal life in our Lord, Jesus Christ. He is who we are waiting for. 

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self- controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope- the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all the wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” -Titus 2:11-14

Just think about the moment of your salvation. How much peace did you feel when God became the Lord of your life? I remember feeling unspeakable and indescribable joy. It all just made sense. Jesus died for me so that I may have eternal life with Him in Heaven. I don’t deserve it one bit, but that’s the point. I have been saved by the grace of God. I did not, even for one second, think to myself during those 17 years, “man, I’m just waiting for God to save my soul.” But God knew exactly what He was doing. Now i’m able to spend the rest of my life learning more about Him, talking to Him, glorifying Him, and worshipping Him. What an unbelievable gift that is. 

There are always going to be things that i’m waiting for. Through my narrow lense I see myself waiting to walk down the aisle to be married. I see myself waiting 9 months to give birth to a beautiful baby. I see myself waiting to hear back from a possible employer. I see myself waiting to hear if my husband and I will be able to buy that house. I can see myself waiting to walk across the stage at my college graduation. I see myself waiting in excitement on the plane ride to Guatemala this summer. As I take a step back from my narrow way of thinking, I can see even just a little bit of the bigger picture. My life here on Earth is a season of waiting. I’m called to spend my life here spreading the good news, learning more about who He is through His word, and sharing the love of Jesus with the people that I meet. He’s called me to a specific purpose here as I wait to go home to spend eternity with Him, my perfect creator.

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.” -Psalm 130:5

About a month ago, a close friend of mine lost one of her high school students, Bailey, in a car accident. I had the blessing of serving alongside Bailey not too long ago, and i’m so thankful that I was given that sweet time with her. Yesterday, Bailey’s mom sat behind me in church. It was senior Sunday and all of the parents of graduating seniors were asked to come forward to be prayed over. Bailey was supposed to graduate in just a few short weeks and go to A&M. Her Mom and Dad walked up to the parents and their graduating teenagers and laid hands on them. As they came back to their seats, I could hear Desiree weeping. I couldn’t even imagine the pain that she must have been feeling in that moment. Her baby-girl had been taken from her so recently, so suddenly, so unexpectedly. The Cooper family absolutely loves the Lord. One things that’s beautiful about this tragedy is the perspective that has been given to us from the Lord. The Coopers, even through the pain and hurting, know that they will see Bailey again one day. Bailey has gone home to be with Jesus, and the rest of her family will continue to glorify the Lord here on Earth until it is their time. I’m sure that each one of the Coopers can’t wait to see Bailey again, but until then, they will wait on the Lord, and trust Him in their healing, and trust Him to bring them comfort. 

Regardless of what you’re going through, or what you are waiting for, know that even when you become tired in the waiting, the Lord knows what He is doing. He is working out every single perfect detail. Ultimately, we’re waiting here for Him. He is our treasure.

Expect, look, and long for Him. Trust Him. Wait on Him.

“Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justive. Blessed are all who wait for him.” -Isaiah 30:18

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” 

(Psalm 20:7)

Our faith is re-awakened when we realize his promises are true for each one of us. Then our minds find their full satisfaction in Him. That’s when our thoughts and actions are focused on Him. We glorify Him by being satisfied in Him.

“Though you have not seen Him you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy for you are receiving  the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” 

(1 Peter 1:8-9)

We truly believe without seeing and that belief leads to our eternal life and salvation of our souls. It’s common to wrestle with questions and doubts about God.

We need to hold fast to our thoughts of a life of faith, making faith the foundation upon which we build thoughts in Him and refusing the doubt.

We cannot allow the thoughts and temptations of this world distract us from our focus on God. Sometimes it can be difficult to overcome the cares of this world, but remember if our thoughts are not rooted in faith, they are sinful. They will destroy us, so instead, let us focus on the power and strength of our Redeemer. He overshadows any events and circumstances in this life here on earth.

[submitted by my son]

Pfleger wants to be Pentecostal

Snicker as you might (does this Chinglican guy really have one foot in like every Christian tradition?), real bona fide Pentecostals have a special place in my Chinglican heart. I went to an Assemblies of God (AOG) school from preschool to the eighth grade, finishing what we in the States called ‘junior high’ before I went to a Catholic high school. My kindergarten teacher was, for example, an Episcopal Church parishioner until the charismatic movement washed through her parish, at which point she moved next door to the AOG church. This meant that at school, we were very used to hearing about God speaking to people randomly (usually our teachers), people (usually our teachers’ kids) randomly crying because they had suddenly been touched by the Spirit, and the need to surrender one’s life totally to the control of the Holy Spirit (as our Bible textbook said). There was a lot of stuff about prophecy too, both in the imminent season (‘God told me that you should…’) and the end times (‘in Revelation, it says…’). To be sure, not all of my teachers at the AOG school were Pentecostal, which made the experience more ecumenical than at first blush. I had one teacher in the fifth grade from a conservative Baptist background who took issue with our Bible textbook’s declaration that we should be ‘controlled by the Holy Spirit’ (she preferred ‘indwelling’), and come to think of it, our junior high principal was a Presbyterian pastor and choir director, a junior high Bible teacher was a Southern Baptist who later did a PhD in philosophical theology from a Southern Baptist seminary, and one of my favourite English teachers was a Mennonite from the Canadian prairies.

John Wimber making a point.

My Pentecostal exposure was not only limited to school. Come to think of it, the Holy Spirit was also causing trouble in my Chinese church as well. The senior pastor at the time, a Taiwanese guy who has recently become the senior pastor of one of Taipei’s largest megachurches, took two courses from John Wimber and C. Peter Wagner at Fuller Theological Seminary. Coming back in the power of the Spirit, this guy brought back to our church Vineyard songs, spiritual gifts checklists, and the uncanny ability to ‘slay people in the Spirit,’ i.e. put his hand on people, and they fall down. I might be making this up, but I think there was a little Toronto Blessing thing that happened too where people had this ‘holy laughter’ thing where they just laughed uncontrollably in the Spirit (it’s called the ‘Toronto Blessing’ because, apparently, the bizarre practices came out of this Vineyard offshoot called the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship). Nobody told me if anyone barked like dogs (which is apparently what they did in Toronto); maybe they didn’t want to traumatize me. I should note that this pastor baptized me when I was nine; thankfully, he didn’t slay me in the Spirit, or else there was no way I’d come out of that baptismal pool. Shortly after he did that, two things happened. The first was they changed the baptismal age to twelve to prevent kids like me from wanting to get baptized because our friends were getting baptized (true story). The second was that when that pastor left shortly thereafter, pastoral search committees from then on always asked whether incoming candidates were into the ‘third wave charismatic movement’ because they didn’t feel like getting slain again.

That would be *the* Aimee, our Pentecostal mother…

Pentecostals have also influenced my family’s theological education. My father attended a Pentecostal Bible college in Oakland founded by Violet Kiteley, a British Columbian disciple of the (in)famous Aimee Semple McPherson, the icon of second-wave Pentecostalism (if you want to get technical, the ‘first wave’ would be the Azusa Street revivals; the ‘third wave’ are the Vineyard charismatics, extending into the Toronto Blessing). Kiteley moved down from British Columbia to Oakland as a single parent, starting a home church in an African American woman’s house in the midst of the Black Panther skirmishes, seeking racial and gender reconciliation in Oakland. Mirroring Kiteley’s move, my father moved from British Columbia to the East Bay after receiving a call to ministry. He learned about Shiloh Bible College while listening to Christian radio; memorizing the phone number, he called them when he got home, got admitted into a master’s program, and read through his Bible the first time with these Oakland Pentecostals. He credits them with teaching him basic dispensationalist theology, i.e. the fairly modern framework in which the ages of the world are divided into dispensations (supposedly by St. Augustine) that categorically divide up the stuff God does in each specific age while foreshadowing the future dispensations with his current actions. Of course, when he went to Berkeley to do his Master of Divinity, they told him that he had to leave all that stuff behind to do ‘real’ hermeneutics. But that’s a story for a different day…

The Jesus People have a special place in my heart.

I’d venture to say that my dad never actually let go of the Pentecostal thing, especially the dispensationalism they taught him. My dad was in fact so excited when I was exploring a call to pastoral ministry that he encouraged me as a high school senior to enroll at Calvary Chapel Bible College, the non-accredited educational shoot-off of the Jesus Movement centre, Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa and its founding pastor, Chuck Smith.  What I remember doing most in the distance education courses was reading my Bible in the King James Version because they were KJV-only as it was translated from the Textus Receptus, not what they considered the Trinity-denying Greek text of the Westcott-Hort. What I learned on the side, however, that Calvary Chapel was actually the origin point of the Vineyard Movement–for the record, Wimber was originally a Calvary Chapel pastor, and when he left, he also took Lonnie Frisbee, a key lay preacher in the Jesus Movement, as his go-to Holy Spirit guy. As I was steeped in these circles, I realized that the Calvary Chapel concerts were one of the birth places of contemporary Christian music, launching the careers of LoveSong (i.e. Chuck Girard), Ernie and Debby Retino (i.e. Psalty the Singing Songbook and Charity Churchmouse), Paul and Rita Baloche, and Kelly Willard through this entity that became known as Maranatha Music. I also discovered, like my dad, that these Pentecostals really liked their dispensationalist theology, almost as much as Dallas Theological Seminary–I mean, I hate to break it to you, but we used a disproportionate amount of Howard Hendricks, John Walvoord, Roy Zuck, and Charles Ryrie in our stuff. Oh, and Henry Thiessen’s Lecutres in Systematic Theology, which should be renamed as dispensationalism Wheaton-style, was the systematics textbook.

Of course, unlike Dallas, Calvary Chapel was charismatic–in fact, Chuck Smith was from the true-blue second-wave Pentecostal Full Gospel Church–which meant that we also talked a lot about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In fact, in Calvary Chapel Distinctives, Smith lays out his whole Pentecostal framework using three Greek words associated with the work of the Spirit. I can’t remember what the first two were–probably because they weren’t really important to Smith–but they were associated with the preparation and indwelling of the Spirit. But after you become regenerated and saved as a Christian, you have to undergo the Pentecostal ‘second blessing,’ associated with the Greek word epi, as in the Spirit comes upon you and fills you with spiritual gifts, which includes tongues, but can include all the other stuff too. (You see where C. Peter Wagner got some of his stuff.)

All of this is to say, I’m no book Pentecostal, although that relatively new edited volume called Studying Global Pentecostalism makes for fun methodological reading. But this is all very much part of my lived Christian experience, so much that I found myself nodding very much in approval much later on when I read Donald Miller’s Reinventing American Protestantism and Tanya Luhrmann’s When God Talks Back because both credited Calvary Chapel and its later derivative, the Vineyard Movement, for being the progenitors of what they termed ‘new paradigm evangelicalism.’ I was like: Damn straight. (Oh sorry, I shouldn’t say ‘damn’; it might grieve the Holy Spirit.)

You might say, then, that I have a pretty well-rounded Pentecostal education, thank you very much. In fact, I credit them for much of my journey, including my neo-Reformed stint (someone needs to give the neo-Reformed tribe some credit for being moderately charismatic and very influenced by Jesus Movement tradition) and my accidental entry into the Anglican Church (which is a long story in and of itself). More on those things in another post.

What I will say now, however, is that the Pentecostals prepared me to read Henri de Lubac’s Catholicism. When I read de Lubac, I felt like I was hit by a ton of bricks. In Catholicism, de Lubac argues that dogma always has social implications because human personhood is social, originating in what he calls ‘original unity.’ This unity was in turn sundered by sin; in other words, de Lubac suggests that the greatest of all sins is the sin of schism because that’s basically to what sin boils down. Our redemption in turn happens as we participate again in the work of the Spirit, the Spirit who is ‘catholic’ because he restores our original communion.

It was then that everything the Pentecostals had taught me began to come together. See, the Pentecostals who taught me didn’t have it all wrong. They were right to emphasize the work of the Spirit. They understood that the redemptive power of the Spirit shook present scientific realities. They comprehended at some level that what it means to be a Christian is to participate in the work of the Spirit (which is why a participation soteriology has always made more sense to me than a strictly substitutionary one). But what de Lubac made me understand was that the work of the Spirit is not individualistic; it is to join us back into original communion. This is where right when Pentecostal theology has it right, it can get terribly wrong, emphasizing individual power, an instrumentalization of the Spirit, the parsing of Greek terms out of context to justify that power, the importation of pagan categories to fight power with power. But done rightly, I am starting to see that some of the most interesting stuff in evangelical theology these days is done by Pentecostals like Amos Yong, Veli-Matti Karkainnen, Rikk Watts, and Cherith Fee Nordling (Pentecostal scholar Gordon Fee’s daughter) who understand that our participation in the Spirit makes us catholic, not individually powerful.

Violet Kiteley once told my dad, ‘Don’t forget that we taught you about the Holy Spirit.’ I won’t forget either. I may have my serious reservations about dispensationalist eschatology, apocalyptic Zionist geopolitics, spiritual gifts checklists, weird charismatic hierarchies, crazy ecstasies where you can get slain in the Spirit, holy laughter, and literalistic fundamentalist hermeneutics. But these guys opened the door to the Spirit for me. I am grateful, and as always, my hope and prayer is that as the Spirit guides us into all the truth, we will all shed the chaff and come into the full catholicity of the mystical tradition that has always been a part of a Christian encounter with the Triune God.

Fr. Pfleger tells us that it’s time to be Pentecostal. He might as well be saying that it’s time to be catholic.

If you missed the interview, you can listen to it at your convenience by clicking HERE. From start to finish it is approximately 25 minutes long. If you are interested in getting the “specifics” behind my journey to freedom (which we didn’t have time to discuss) feel free to email me at: RebeccaAarup@mail.com or servant.sisters@yahoo.com.

I’m still in awe over the circumstances that came about to make this interview happen. God is so good and He continues to blow me away with how He answers prayers and opens doors.

_______________________________

Rebecca Aarup is a redeemed prodigal, set free from over a decade of mental illness, eating disorders, addiction, and more. She now enjoys sharing her story of freedom and transformation with a lost and hurting world, as well as teaching about spiritual warfare and the importance of understanding our identity in Christ.

Rebecca is also an author and freelance writer, having written devotionals and teaching articles for a variety of publications including The Secret Place (Judson press), Evangel (Light and Life Communications), and Mustard Seed Ministries. Beyond writing, Rebecca is a wife, home-schooling mom, and Bible student at Liberty University. She lives in Glendale, Az with her husband Chris and daughter, Samantha.  You can read more from Rebecca by following her on twitter and facebook.

_______________________________

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There are multiple prizes that can be won.

Winners will be announced on /www.facebook.com/VictimsOfCruiseCrime, Erockthepay.com, ICVblogs.com, and posted in the window at Silverton Flower Shop at 311 N. Water St. in Silverton Oregon. As well as a business in Turner that has not yet been decided. Please “like” the Facebook page, or “follow” one or both of the blogs listed above to be certain you will see the results.

Anyone in the United States can enter. Drawing will be held on June 28th 2013. Winners will receive the prize that lands in the order they are drawn. First winner will get prize 1 second winner gets 2, and so on until all prizes have been won. Every single dollar raised from this raffle will go directly to the International Cruise Victims Association to help in the fight to provide safe and carefree fun aboard cruise ships all around the world, with the only exception being shipping costs for any prizes outside the 30 mile range.

If the winners live within 30 miles of the Silverton Oregon area I will deliver your prizes myself. Otherwise they will be mailed to the winners, or can be picked up at my home in Silverton.

Prize 1: Niwa books. These are all books by local authors. They include Chronicles of Caldor: Redemption. A fantasy by Eric Rappe’. Echoes of Avalon, a fantasy by Adam Copeland, If The Wind Took Me Away, children’s book by Jeremy Shockley. The Light Warrior, sci-fi fantasy by Cynthia Robbins, and The Lindman Story by B.B. Hartwich. All copies signed by the authors!

Prize 2: Hollywood prize pack. This includes an autographed 8×10 of Hunter Jackson from Twilight, Grimm, Castle, and other projects, who is from Scotts Mills Oregon. It also includes a tie, shirt, and pullover hoodie that were worn in the movie Hot Tub Time Machine (with certificates of authenticity), and a magazine cover prop that was also used in the film.

Prize 3: Individual Tax Return done by C&C Tax and Accounting

Prize 4: Something for Everyone! Autographed 8×10 of Hunter Jackson, Stackable cooling rack and a bottle of Cherry Chipotle BBQ sauce from Pampered Chef, Snorkel tour for 2 from Sea Paradise in Keauhou Hawaii. (trip to Hawaii not included), 4 admission passes to Oregon Garden, copy of Chronicles of Caldor: Redemption by Eric Rappe’, one large Spartan Sprint “Running 4 J” t-shirt, (more to come as donations are collected!)

Grand Prize: Silverton Getaway! Two 60 minute Massages from Silverton Bodyworks Clinic, $25 gift card for Wooden Nickel Tavern, A one night stay for 2 including breakfast and park admission to the Oregon Garden Resort, an autographed 8×10 of local actor Hunter Jackson, (more to be added as donations are received)

I want to thank Stephany Hayes, Emily Hanson-Gifford, Silverton Bodyworks Clinic, Heather Hubert, Wooden Nickel Tavern, Hunter Jackson, Oregon Garden and Oregon Garden Resort,  Karl O’conner, all the authors (Adam, Cindy, Bo, Jeremy)C&C Tax and Accounting, and everyone else who has helped by donating to this raffle in order to help raise awareness and funds for International Cruise Victims Association. Together we can make a change, and save lives!

~ ~ ~

Nowhere, Nothing, No-One, Never –

Of Trial and Triumph

~ ~ ~

There is nowhere
Evil can go
that Good can’t reach.

There is nothing
Evil can touch
that Good can’t redeem.

There is no-one
Evil can take
that Good can’t release.

There is not one life
Evil can chain
that Good has not the key.

~ ~ ~

~  ~  ~  ~

“I came so that they could have life—indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest.”

~ John 10:10b, emphasis mine ~

“That He came to us is the most stunning event, most astounding fact in history.

That we can’t get to the cross…so the Cross came to us.”

- Dr. Jeff Meyers, emphasis mine

In a culture and world so desperately sin-sick, I so often lose sight of the “bookends” of God’s story. When I lose the creation context, I forget that God is the Planner, the “Blessed Controller.” The fall sweeps me into the hope-vacuum and it becomes focused on me and my constant failures, my own desperation.

But as a storyteller myself, I finally came back to the Redemption and my personal world rocks with the glory. My heart, my head, can’t quite wrap around the starkness, the blinding, universe-shaking moment that the dragging, imploding darkness flees with the explosion of glorious light. And my heart quiets, somehow wishing for a song big enough to encompass my redemption.

In the world, it seems my personal failures are only mirrored, compounded, and spreading like a virus. What can solve this sin-death, but the One who took on flesh?

And oh, the breathless beauty that He did!

By Jesus taking on humanity, He abundantly sanctified all our normalcy.

“How is such a spiritual, “out-there” thing so earthy? So, here and now?

So Redemption is what we live in, the light that floods us with life.”

- Dr. Jeff Myers, emphasis mine -

There is a life out there that many of us have only begun to taste. An abiding, abundant, peace-radiant, joy-bubbling, Christ-longing life.

Our Father knows what we need before we ask Him (Matthew 6:8).

He knows we need this abundant life. He knows there is a song-gap in every heart, a longing for music with a swell big enough to carry us through a life and into an eternity.

Not only does he know about this song-hunger–He made it. He made souls that serve a Master. But what Master will we follow?

Only one song will quench us. Only One Life will fill us.

My dear teacher Dr. Jeff Myers taught his students about the principle of abundance. That is, we are not to be content with mediocrity. We are not to be content with merely a well-run race of our own.

An abundant life is a life that spreads. It is light that reaches out. It is a singer that teaches the Greatest Song to every longing soul she finds.

And this abundance–it isn’t something you have to find. It is already yours.

It’s why He came.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”

- Matthew 7:7-8, NKJV, emphasis mine -

Sisters, just ask. Today, ask. Enter the abundance that the Cross unleashed.

“If God has given you life abundantly, why aren’t you using it?”

~ Luci Swindoll ~

“To the one who is able to protect you from falling, and to present you blameless and rejoicing before his glorious presence,to the only God our savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, belong glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time, now and forever. Amen.”

- Jude 24-25, CEB, emphasis mine-

Special thanks to Atalie Bale at ataliebalephotography.com for her beautiful photo of abundance!

Oh how I loved to wear a princess dress, pretending, I was heir to the throne, only meant for God, but back then, it didn’t matter, I was just a little girl.  As the painful reality began to set in, that I was a mere girl and not royalty after all I sat there looking down at myself in dingy plain clothes, tainted and broken from the cruel world I was brought up in,  still wishing I was the ‘princess’ that my imagination created waiting for a crown that was only meant for Jesus Christ which created a deep longing in me to know the real Jesus, who lived, and died and walks among us still today, not just another story we here within the pages another Bible story, not a Jesus who lives within those plastic story books, but a living breathing Lord that has the power heal this broken heart, fill every emptiness, then live through me to do more than I ever thought possible, as I grew, I came to understand that this is the redemptive work of Christ.

Because I chose to surrender my heart and life to One greater then I, I have a great assurance that I am God’s child and God is my Father, the KING of kings and Lord of lords so that one day I will live with Him forever, which is enough for me.

I sometimes wonder why He chose someone like me, maybe it’s because Jesus came for sinners instead of the righteous, which suits me just fine. As He continues to put me back together, refines, chisels, and chips away at all that’s unholy, our time together becomes sweeter and much more prudent. I believe, in time,  He will find a perfect, yielded, image of Himself to reflect His glory to this lost and dying world.

Has it been easy? No!  A little bit painful? ABSOLUTELY!   Is it worth it?……….…Eternally!

Being my first redemption, i’d say it’s pretty easy to do. Go to Paniniamerice.net, fill in your address and other details, and wait for the e-mail to drop in. The e-mail will contain a tracking number for your redemption. With the you can go to the web page and see the status of your card. You’ll get another e-mail once the card is shipped.

So, in total – The Kendall Marshall - 2011/12 Panini Past & Present – Rookie card.

Is it great card – No. Actually, it’s quite useless as a redemption. It would have been great if it was released and shipped as the first card with uniform. This was delivered long after other products had been released, thus it didn’t fill any real purpose.

But, one shouldn’t throw rocks. A card is a card!

It also might be safe to say that, given a writer’s artistic temperament, they weren’t necessarily understood when they were younger. Maybe their peers shunned them. Rejected by their parents. Perhaps they were teased or beat up on the playground. But you want to know a secret? When those future writers were going through hell in their younger years, they were quietly taking down names.

Oh, yeah. They had a plan. A somewhat flaccid, yet sinister plan. For every individual who mocked or abused them, that future writer had a special plan to take out their revenge. One day, the bully would become the antagonist in their novel.

Consider it literary justice. Literally.

Sure, it’s passive/aggressive justice. But we writers are not exactly known for starting actual physical fights. It might damage our fingers and, thus, prevent us from sitting behind our keyboards and gunning down our aggressors.

About three years ago, I recall reading about the late author Michael Crichton’s literary brawl with Washington political columnist Michael Crowley. Seems Crichton fit into that “sensitive” category I mentioned. As the story goes, Crichton was deeply insulted by Crowley’s criticism of the writer and his politics. So Crichton did what any self-respecting writer does: he named the villain in his latest novel, Next, after the guy. And he wasn’t subtle about it, giving the antagonist the name MICK Crowley.

Oh, it gets better. He made Mick Crowley a sodomizing, child rapist. But best of all, Crichton gave Crowley’s character a small penis. Talk about cutting a guy off at the knees…or higher. While the real Crowley is fumed about this obvious defamation of character, he never sued Crichton. After all, few men are going to cop to a character being named after them when said character has a pecker the size of a postage stamp. In the literary world, libel lawyers unofficially call it “the small penis rule.”

I can speak from experience about naming the villain of a story. It’s always a moment of power mixed with unrestrained glee. The added perk is that after months of writing your book, it’s akin to a long therapy session of beating the crap out of a pillow where you imagine the face of your enemy. In some ways, you’ve exercised your demons by continually typing the name of your oppressor hundreds of times and placing him/her in situations that humiliate, taunt and eventually, destroy.

But there can be problems in the villain-naming department. For example, what if your playground bully had a name that was common? John? Cathy? Tom? Ann? And what if there were other people in your life—decent people who you like—with the same name? I’ll tell you what happens. The decent people call you up, incensed that you chose THEIR name as the serial killer/wife abuser/child molester/deranged lunatic. “What did I ever do to you?” they ask you, offended that their common name has been trashed.

However, when you tell them that you were not trashing THEM, but someone else who happened to have the same name, they take a meaningful pause. “You mean it wasn’t ME?” they ask, sounding a bit disregarded. It’s no a no-win situation because now they feel left out!

Or, there’s this one: instead of naming the villain after a foe, you name them after someone you like. Yes, I know that goes against the creed of naming your bad guy after a putz. But this dilemma occurred recently. My editor, Lou Aronica, has been a wellspring of support since the inception of Detective Jane Perry. When I started outlining the sequel to “Protector” (titled “Redemption”), I promised to name a major character in the book after him. However, I’d already bestowed all the main characters with meaningful names. The only character that remained unnamed was the central criminal mind—a guy who was a child killer and rapist. I’d NEVER named a villain after anyone I liked. Never. But I really wanted to get Lou’s name in the book in a prominent way. When I emailed Lou to ask if this was okay with him, he wasn’t sure at first how to take the news. But when I explained everything, he agreed to allow his name to be sullied “in the spirit in which it was bestowed.” Thus, the villain of Lou Peters was born.

Finally, there’s this predicament when choosing your scoundrel’s moniker: their namesake simply doesn’t get it. This exact thing happened to me years ago when I was fresh out of college and ready to sully the name of someone I didn’t like. I wrote a short story and merrily named the antagonist after a particularly nasty literary professor (talk about justice) who had been a thorn in my side. The story was published in an obscure literary journal and, out of the blue, I get a letter from the Lit. Professor telling me how much he loved the story and how “honored” he was to be one of the characters. Honored? Talk about knocking the wind out of my vengeful sails.

In retrospect, I should have given his character a small penis…

Laurel Dewey is The Story Plant’s Author of the Month. This means we’re offering sensational deals on all of her books, including national bestseller Protector. You can learn more here.

Introduction

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1. The Power of Worship

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2. The Power of Confession

2.1 Broken

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2.2 Redeemed

Why “Redemption”?

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Repaid

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Reclaimed

To see another thread in this complex world of redemption, we need to step further into the world of debt. In the ancient world, and all too often in this world, the debtor had no protection. Predators were ruthless about seizing the possessions of those too poor to keep them. Through bad decision or unfortunate circumstance, ancient lands and households were too easily lost to another.

The Law of Moses intended to correct this injustice. “If one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells some of their property, their nearest relative is to come and redeem what they have sold.” (Leviticus 25:25) The rescuer in this case was called the “kinsman redeemer.” In the period of the Judges, Boaz performs this role when Ruth finds herself widowed and dispossessed. “’The LORD bless him!’ Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. ‘He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.’ She added, ‘That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.’” (Ruth 2:20)

To add further protection to those desperately indebted, The Law instituted a provision for debts to be cancelled every seven years. (Deuteronomy 15:1-11). Even more radically, every fiftieth year was to be proclaimed a “Year of Jubilee”:

In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to their own property. If you sell land to any of your own people or buy land from them, do not take advantage of each other. You are to buy from your own people on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And they are to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what is really being sold to you is the number of crops. Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 25:13-17)

Ultimately, God says that “The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers.” (Leviticus 25:23) As a way for everyone to remember this essential truth, the land was to return to its original owners every 50 years. (I wonder of the Federal Reserve should consider this particular method of price control!)

One of the great tragedies of sin is that it has cost us our birthright. Our own bad choices and the sea of all human error have combined to take from us our Father’s inheritance. He has promised us a place of fellowship with Him, where we are at peace with one another and where we are never forced to go without. Yet, we have not lived in that land. Others jostle for control of the earth that God created for us to enjoy. So who will be our kinsman redeemer that rescues us from this oppression? When will we celebrate that Year of Jubilee in which all things will be restored to us?

The writer to the Hebrews points to Christ as the answer to these questions. “For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.” (Hebrews 9:15) The inheritance lost in sin is now restored in Christ. Jesus Himself seems to echo this thought:

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:16-21; cf. Isaiah 61:1-2)

In Jesus we find fulfillment of both the kinsman redeemer and the Year of Jubilee.

In our prayer of confession, as we reflect on the Father who forgives our sin, we experience the joy of an inheritance restored. We are returned into a family that has been promised a new future and therefore lives with new hope. Our failures and the failures of the world have left us at the trough eating with pigs. In the prayer of confession, however, we hear the words of the loving Father, “Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” (Luke 15:22-24)

Released

To trace the theme of redemption still further we must enter the dark realm of captivity, slavery and bondage. Israel spent much of its history in periods of submission to dictators in Egypt, Canaan, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Macedonia, Syria or Rome. Through this troubled history, God frequently reveals Himself as the powerful redeemer who frees Israel from its captors. Note just a few of these passages:

The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 7:7-8)

Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you. (Deuteronomy 15:15; cf. 16:12; 24:18)

This is what the LORD says— the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel— to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: “Kings will see you and stand up, princes will see and bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you”. (Isaiah 49:7)

Hear the word of the LORD, you nations; proclaim it in distant coastlands: “He who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.” For the LORD will deliver Jacob and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they. (Jeremiah 31:10-11)

In all these acts and promises of deliverance, we see a God who desires a true freedom for His people. Yet this freedom is carefully defined. True freedom is not simply a license to do as we please. License will always lead to self-indulgence, which invariably renews our bondage to evil masters. True freedom therefore requires an ongoing obedience to our loving covenant God, our Father in Heaven. Paul puts it this way:

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (Titus 2:11-14)

And Peter makes the same point:

Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1 Peter 1:17-19)

When we reflect on God’s forgiveness in the prayer of confession, we are reminded that we are no longer the slaves of sin and evil. We have a new Lord, but He is the LORD who loves us, who sent His Son to free us from evil, so that we may now live in the freedom of His truth and His love. This power, to live as the free men and women of God, is His loving gift to us. In the next section of our prayer of confession, we will see how this power takes root and grows.

Reflection Exercise

Restate in your own words what it means to be “redeemed” by Jesus Christ.

How can this truth give you power to face the challenges of life?

Prayer Thought

Dear God, your work of redemption is far too marvelous for me to fathom, but help me to grasp it more fully, for I deeply want to experience the power that it can breathe into my life.

Next post, “2.3 Praying with a Purpose: The Power of Confession – Recreated”. Click the Email Subscription button on the right if you want to be notified by email when the next section is posted.

Side Note: It’s always a delight when friends and family read my blogs! I hope and pray that there are people out there who are broken, lonely, and lost but somehow stumble upon my blog and feel the love of God. May you too feel God’s presence with my words which belong to Him. All Glory to Him and Him only.

Sunday, May 19, 2013 after Praise & Worship we watched a video of Pastor Nick Vuijcic who preached at CCF (Christ’s Commission Fellowship church) in Manilla, a branch of the church. If you do not know who Pastor Nick is then I suggest you check out lifewithoutlimbs.org. 

“If you don’t believe in heaven, how can you have a positive attitude?” Life would just be for the sake of living, for mere existence. People are depressed and oppressed for many years of their lives, maybe some still are, and without heaven they live life without hope. In Mumbai, India the virginity of young girls is sold (sometimes by their own family members) to pay off debts; these girls are as young as eight years old. They then must have sex with 800 men in order to pay off their debts (of about $800 for example). By the time they are free to go they are detrimentally hopeless, and with nowhere to go, no one to run to, what are they supposed to do now? If they don’t know about Jesus, how can they find hope after what they’ve been through?

A Christian organization, Indian Rescue Mission, has rescued over 238 girls and brought the Good News to them. (Read a story about a 12-year-old girl who was rescued here). With the Good News being made known to them there is hope for a better life. “The Devil has nothing on you if you know the Truth,” said Pastor Nick, “the only thing stopping you from entering heaven is you saying ‘no, thank You, God’.”

Oftentimes, us Christians misunderstand what salvation really is. In John 3:16 it says God LOVED the world so much that He allowed His Son’s death, a Holy Sacrifice, so that whoever BELIEVES in Him will have eternal life. Love and Believe. God gives love and we simply must believe. However, many of us believe that we enter Heaven because of our good works. Tell a lost soul, for example a girl sold as a sex slave, that there is a Heaven, that there is a God, and all He wants is for you to do is accept His Son and believe. On the day you return Home God may look over your shoulder and ask, “well, who did you bring?” Currently, are you satisfied with your answer?

You are destined to be a source of encouragement, a miracle, to others. You can bring hope in someone’s heart and a smile upon someone’s face, bringing Glory to the Father.

Lastly, here is an example of how we are all purposed to be an inspiration and miracle to someone. Pastor Nick Vuijicic is a man without limbs; he thought he was the only person born without any limbs. That is, until he met an 18-month-old boy who was also born without limbs. He looked down at that boy, reminiscing on the ridicule and insults he suffered as a child, and knew his life would be an inspiration to this boy when he is older. This boy may grow up mirroring Pastor Nick and give his life to God; he would be filled with the hope and Good News Pastor Nick preaches. He will know there’s more to life than living. 

How will you be a miracle to others?

A Thing Saved

A thing saved,
reclaimed from the rubbish heap,
and lovingly restored,

though far from perfect,
is something more -
precious.

About the poem

The poem comes from my bible reading this morning. It really doesn’t matter which verse in particular, because in a way, this is one of the messages of the whole book.

Tom

• “Have no gods other than Me.
• “Do not make for yourselves a god to look like anything that is in heaven above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth.
• “Do not worship them or work for them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. I punish the children, even the great-grandchildren, for the sins of their fathers who hate Me. But I show loving-kindness to thousands of those who love Me and keep My Laws.
• “Do not use the name of the Lord your God in a false way. For the Lord will punish the one who uses His name in a false way.

Ex 20: 1-7 NLV

For those who are hurting, victimized, lost and alone, healing begins with a glimpse of who God is. He is not like the ones who hurt us – but he is One who has our best interests at heart for survival, growth and thriving.

It may not seem that way here in this passage as we see the harsh “Do nots” of God’s laws.  But remember where Israel has been. They lived in Egypt where many cruel gods determined the everyday fate of the people. Everyone who camped around Mt Sinai grew up  under their fickle thumbs. The people didn’t really understand who this new God was, even though they had seen his miraculous works. Many of the people still thought of him as just another god, except more powerful, more able to crush them if he chose to.

In order to heal from their ordeal of slavery, the children of Israel needed to see God as distinct and separate from the gods of Egypt.  They needed to build a relationship with him based on who he was rather than on their past experience. Here at the base of Mt. Sinai, God wanted to reveal himself to them as a distinct and unique God, not like the gods they’ve known.

So he laid out the rules of this new relationship for them – rules that are still applicable for us today as we heal:

1. He calls us to seek him and worship him alone, above al others, because Jehovah God is all we need. Things don’t  need to be complicated.  He can do it all – offering his presence, his provision and  protection to his people.
2. He is Spirit and Truth. Sometimes as human beings. we feel we need a “God with skin” that we can see, touch and hold to feel comforted – especially when things are at their worst.  Yet, when we  hold God in the palm of our hands, we limit who he is and what he can do for, in and through us. We take control of our own lives, rather than trusting in God. Letting go of that control and trusting the God who created the universe is a huge step for those of us who have been conditioned to fear because of the past abuse.
3. The gods of Egypt controlled the people, preventing their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual growth both as a nation, and as individuals.. God doesn’t control us – he provides challenges and opportunities for us to reach the fullest potential that he created in us. Sin cycles down through the generations bringing punishment and death. Did you know that a mother who was sexually abused as a child is more likely to set the stage for her daughters to suffer that same abuse without the Lord’s intervention? But through a trusting relationship with Christ, those cycles can be broken, not only allowing us to experience true freedom to reach our full potential, but freedom for future generations as well!
4. The fourth commandment places the burden of trust squarely on our shoulders. God cannot do anything for us unless and until we trust him with all our hearts. What is in our hearts will eventually make its way out of our mouths. The Israelites didn’t know God – their complaints and grumbling erupted from the fear they still experienced. As we learn to  know him and as we heal through this relationship,  he will ease those fears. The joy. love and respect for our God will be the words that come out of our hearts because of our experiences. It doesn’t happen overnight – it is a lifelong process that comes out of an ever evolving relationship.

It’s easy to look at these commandments as rigid rules that choke our spirits. At the time they were given, God was confronting severe damage in the hearts of the people – damage and pain that was fresh in their hearts.  They needed the strong words to force them to look at the God who had delivered them.  Yet, there was love in the sternness as he gave them these words as guides for a relationship that would heal and rebuild the hearts of his people.

Today these are enriched by the visual picture of God’s love through the gift of Jesus, sent to die for us to bring  healing  from the damage of sin and abuse. Jesus summed up these four important commands this way – we are to love God with all our hearts, minds, souls and spirits.

When he fills our hearts, there is no room for fear, pain and sin because the relationship we need most fills us completely.

When the children of Israel had been freed from slavery in Egypt by the offering of the paschal lamb, they journeyed through the desert toward the Promised Land, and they reached Mount Sinai.

On the fiftieth day after the Passover, the Lord descended upon the mountain in fire, and with the sound of a trumpet and with thunder and lightning, He gave them the ten commandments of the Law.

[...] We already know that the Passover Lamb and the deliverance from Egypt foreshadow the death of Christ and our deliverance from sin, as it is written: “Christ our Passover Lamb is sacrificed for us” (1 Cor 5:7).

He is “the true Lamb Who has taken away the sins of the world” (John 1:29), Who has redeemed us from the slavery of sin at the price of His blood, and by the example of His resurrection has shown us the hope of life and everlasting liberty.

The Law was given on the fiftieth day after the slaying of the lamb, when the Lord descended upon the mountain in fire; likewise on the fiftieth day after the resurrection of our Redeemer, which is today, the grace of the Holy Spirit, descending in the outward appearance of fire, was given to the disciples as they were assembled in the upper room.

The height of the mountain, and the elevation of the upper room, both indicate the sublimity of the commands and of the gifts.

At the sealing of the first covenant, the people remained at the base of the mountain, a handful of elders went partway up, and only Moses ascended to the summit.

At the sealing of the second covenant, the whole community of God’s people was gathered at the summit, in the upper room.

[...] In the law, the fiftieth year was ordered to be called the Year of Jubilee. During that year, all debts were to be cancelled, all slaves to be set free, the very beasts of burden to be eased from their yokes, and the year given over to celebrating the Divine praises.

Therefore, by this number is rightly indicated the tranquillity of that greatest peace when, at the sound of the trumpet, the dead shall be raised imperishable, and we shall all be changed into glory.

Then, when we are freed from every yoke of sin…the entire company of the people of God will give themselves over to contemplating the Heavenly Vision, and the command of the Lord will be fulfilled: “Be still, and know that I am God.”

The Venerable Bede (672/4-735): Homily on the Feast of Pentecost @ Society of Archbishop Justus.

Rev. Andrew Fuller–The Great Question Answered