Simply Christian

So far, I've only felt comfortable posting here what others have said. Sometimes that's the best way for me to express what's going on in me...when I find words that touch my soul and move me to think beyond my current situation & drama or lack of it!

Recently I've been wondering, however, if my dependence on others' words has confined my own. Perhaps processing the world around me by opening up a bit here could be a bit therapeutic, hopefully freeing. That's just a thought, but a thought that has now been spewed into the cyber world...so let's see how it goes, shall we?

To start things off, I've begun reading Simply Christian by N.T. Wright. I still have this skeptical voice inside me that is leery of "Christian" books. Though I have read Wright before & respect his writing, have never heard anything negative about him, I still feared a dry read...a type of apologetic dissertation that drives you to answers rather than to God, if that makes sense. I guess I had very low expectations, and I'm happy to admit that the first chapter blew those expectations out of the water!

For those of you who know me, justice - specifically God's Justice - has been high on my priorities over the last year. I've prayed over what it means, looks like, acts like, and pondered how I could possibly have come 26 years of my life without being introduced to it! I mean, I'm reading scripture these days that I've read hundreds of times before, yet never realized the truth of God's heart for the end of oppression in this world! So to open up this book & to read that Wright's whole trajectory begins with our longing for justice...he had me!

A snipet:

"It's as though we can hear, not perhaps a voice itself, but the echo of a voice: a voice speaking with calm, healing authority, speaking about justice, about things being put to rights, about peace and hope and prosperity for all."

We all hear it, don't we? It's that gut level, instinctual urge that claims we aren't created to live in darkness, but in light. The oppression of power, wealth, and ignorance cut our hearts. We are all meant for something more. We have all been created with Good in mind...how have we come to this point and how the heck do we get back to where we came from?

After the massacre this week at Virginia Tech, I was pondering all of this & all I could see in my mind's eye was the Cross.

Redemption. Restoration. Salvation.

His grace is sufficient & His love knows no bounds.

May I be a minister of your reconciliation & healing in this world, Lord.