Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Dinner Time


"Come!  All you who are thirsty!  Come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare."
-Isaiah 55:1-2

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Which credentials carry the most weight on our religious resumes?  Which assets do we prize on the pages of our portfolios?  What do we bring to the table when called on to feed a hungry and thirsty world?

Are the impoverished souls surrounding us forced to settle for silver and gold, or can we, like Peter, say to them, "I have what you really need, and what I have I give you..."

What did Peter have?

He had Jesus.

Are we serving up superfluous sundries or something of substance?  Christ or cubic zirconias?

For too long we've offered tokens, trinkets, and trifles to a world starving for the Savior.  For too long we ourselves have been content to nibble around the edges of Who God is, to fill up the gaps of our faith with garnishes...

...But Immanuel is inviting us to feast on His fullness, to know Him as Peter knew Him, to know the breadth and length and depth and height of Him, so that we can, in turn, invite others to the table, so that we have solid food with which to "feed His sheep".

So come to the table

Pull up a chair

Make yourself comfortable

***It's Dinnertime***

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"Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who boasts boast in this: that he understands and knows Me."

-Jeremiah 9:23-24

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Wanderings


"You number all my wanderings..."
-Psalm 56:8

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I will take you Home
Carry you far from all you've known
But let it go, Love,

Let it Go

Empty-handed lasts a moment,
Becomes Open-handed
and Filled

And you find
Flowing once again
From my Hands
Through your hands
Unimaginable Bounty

Ashes become Beauty
Every regret becomes Redemption
As your wanderings
Become Mercy
Become Amazing Grace

For all who are wandering
For all who want healing
For all who are longing
for Home

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"Blessed are they whose strength is in You
and whose heart is set on pilgrimage;
They pass through the valley of weeping
and make it a place of springs."
-Psalm 84:5-6

Monday, November 2, 2015

Burn


"If the light that is in you is darkness,
how great is that darkness."
-Matthew 6:23

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We are here to show The Way Home
To be a picture of Heaven
A portent of Life to come

We are meant to house The Light which leads to Safety
and staves off shipwreck

The ersatz "light" we too often allow
to douse and diminish The Flame
drowns out The Still Small Voice
and robs the world of its only Hope
The Hope with which we've been entrusted
The Sacred Fire which Saves

How much of our programming comes from the "light" of our TV's
instead of The Word?
Are we basking in the glow of our phones
Far more often than we are abiding in our God?

We are the white blazes on this trail
And Blaze we must
For all who are lost in these woods
and desperately trying to find The Way

We who are representative of The Resurrection and The Light
have allowed Deity in us to be reduced to tired dogma
Doing our charge, His Beloved World, a grave disservice

May Christ become so concentrated in us
May The Flame burn so brightly
That the world will once again be irresistibly drawn,
Out of Darkness
Into the Light

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"I AM The Way, The Truth, The Light"
"As He is, so are we in this world."
-John 14:6, 1 John 4:17