Identity of this moment

Identity... we easily lose sight of who we are as we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holidays. Truth is, the holiday season can be something spectacular... if we do not get swallowed up by the rush of society and allow the consumption of stuff to define us. And this only happens when we push pause so that we might recognize the truth of identity...

Who we are is found only in God. Our creation comes from the One who is - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He created us. He sustains us. He is the ground of our life, our relationality, our meaning, our joy, our hope. 

During the times of rampant running to acquire stuff, what we need most is to pause so that we might return to God.

“Return to your God,” Amos tells the Israelites, and he is telling this to us as well. Like the Israelites, we too turn to the idols of this world to fill the voids we have created through our rampant running around. We consume the goods of society in such a frantic manner that who we are is not only lost in the shuffle, but subtly re-defined by this world.

The words of Amos are meant to shake our perspective so much so that we might return back to our King. So that we return back to the cradle in the cave in order to fall down and worship the baby who will eventually hang on a cross for our sake...

Might today be the time to pause and reflect on the truth and identity of this moment... of this season... so as to realize the truth and identity of you?

The truth of your identity is this... You are loved... You are God's beloved and He wants nothing more than to dote on you this day and every day after. Question is, will you allow Him? 

Will you pause this moment so as to be embraced by eternity? Will you pause this moment and look into the loving eyes of that baby in the manger and see the truth of identity... the truth of love... the truth of you?

The story of life...

Stoked once again to participate with Cultural Encounters. The latest journal will feature thoughts from some great minds as it seeks to delve into the truth of story...

In the latest upcoming issue of the peer-reviewed journal, Cultural Encounters: A Journal for the Theology of Culture! Issue 14.1 will contain the following articles:

"Listen to the Stories": The Importance of the Art of Storying in Education & Life by Brett Saunders

Disability and Theology by Benjamin S. Wall

The Power of Story by Paul Young

Enter the Drama: His story Becoming My (Our) History by Matt Farlow

Meeting Hagar, Over and Over by Nancy Haught

The Wild Ambivalent Power Tools of Narrative by Phil Wyman

Story: The Medium of Salvation by Rodney Clapp

Story and Theology by Tony Kriz

The Crux

Through Christ we come to realize that our restless heart understands itself only if it comes to understand true reality. Such reality that is only experienced through the love offered by the divine heart that breaks for us upon the Cross. It is a love that was broken wide open on that rugged cross so as to be poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom 5.5).

Truth is, our hearts are in need of a revival. Each of us needs to be reminded not only who we are, but why were we created - or better yet, the purpose of our personhood. And this is why we need Jesus…

Jesus is the crux of Christianity—He is the core of our faith, the foundation of salvation—He is the Christ. However, many today balk at the aforementioned. Sure we are willing to accept Christ as being a “good teacher,” but as the Son of God, the salvation of humanity, our actions (and our words) hardly support anything other than a belief that to be a Christian is to simply memorize Scripture, follow rules and do good deeds. But being a disciple of Christ is so much more…

Throughout the Bible we witness the truth that God is love. And in this truth we come to know the beauty of His mercy. To know Christ is to know love so as to experience His merciful love. Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes:

The mercy and love of God are at work even in the midst of his enemies.  It is the same Jesus Christ, who of his grace calls us to follow him, and whose grace saves the murderer who mocks him on the cross in his last hour.

Yes Jesus was and is a “great teacher,” but to keep Him only as such is to place Him in a human constructed box. When Jesus took on flesh He became mercy for us. To know Christ is to know mercy. To know mercy is to be mercy, which as Paul writes, is to participate or fellowship in Christ’s sufferings and His death. Being precedes doing.

Christ’s love and mercy know no bounds. He loves friend and foe, and He calls us to do the same. When we know Christ, we know salvation and from such knowing our hearts experience the revival from His love poured out by the Holy Spirit. It is a love that elevates us from being simply observers of His life to the extraordinary place of participants in His truth.

We are called to fellowship in Christ’s sufferings and conform to His death – this is what it means to workout our salvation; this is what it means to participate in Christ’s performance. We are called to be mercy, compassion, and most of all, love. This is what it means to be a player and participant in God’s drama.