Rejoice! Water still drips from rock in the middle of the wilderness. The illusion of dryness will dry up once you learn to see Moses still leading people to the Promised Land. Even you can walk for a long time and keep up with all who seek to reconcile themselves with deliverance from bondage and the way water parts for those who dare to be delivered.
Tag Archives: Freedom
“I AM has sent me to you.” – Exodus 3:14
God of Now and God of Then and God of Will Be, who endlessly appears in the corners of our eyes, burning, in a bush, in a smile, in a picture and in the alighting of a falcon in a tree; we imagine your name in our imaginings and find our thoughts far too narrow and small for pure being to settle into us in these dizzy days; send us into the realm of corners where we dare to believe nothing is true and sacred and, burning, we may be seen rising in our finest moment of freedom. Amen.
“But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” – John 21:18
God who draws us out of the waters and leads us across the land, the shape of our lives blurs as meanings grow dim and the birds no longer sing in the light of the mornings. We cry, This is not of our own doing, and we pray, Lead us not into temptation, but we hold out our hands anyway to be bound by that which is greater than us...but not you. Free us once again. Amen.
Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. – Luke 24:45
God, who writes on stone with a fiery finger, compose on our hearts your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven; for other wills seek to close our minds. Amen.
“…may not perish but may have eternal life.” – John 3:16
God of Chance and Possibility, of Likelihood and Probability, of Come-What-May and Fate, who provides the ground for our very being and the place upon which we stand and choose; may we live into the choices we intend for our very lives as many perish along that way. Amen.
Really?
Don't need to buy into it. Just be fully engaged. Use it for the sake of the process.
“…there is no longer slave or free…” – Galatians 3:28
God who set the universe in motion with laws written in stone, dismiss the jury, a verdict has been reached: we are slaves to our freedom. Amen.
Your Choice
Sensing the poignancy of the moment I speak into it, "There is a tension between exerting control and letting go." She looks up from the book she always reads and says, "Perhaps it is time to tend to the craft of making faithfulness." Not wanting to be undone, I say, "The challenge is to see the text for now, avoid cliché, and live in the moment." "Nice," she laughs. "Heaven can be on earth if we dare to make new connections." I pause. Intrigued. Thinking aloud, "Radical intricacies come and unfold in this time and in this space." She turns back to the book she always reads, "Your choice: performance or completion."
Unburden Her
to Karen "And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years." Luke 13:11 We We are We are over We are over with... Seeing the woman bent over. Knowing her being bent over impacts every part of her life. Wondering if the woman in the story is done being bent over. Knowing the woman in the story is done. And...the woman shows up. She is not sick. She is burdened. Bent over from burdens. Eighteen years burdened. Just as we are burdened with indifference and apathy. (How many dead as of today? 360k? And counting...) Eighteen years. Eighteen years crippled. Eighteen years bowed down. (Burdens are heavy.) (We don't know how old she is.) Eighteen years of her best years? Eighteen years from birth? Eighteen years after all her children are gone? Eighteen years of hoping to return to normal. Eighteen years the woman is coming. Eighteen years to move from the margins to the center. Eighteen years of bearing the crippling spirit. Eighteen years of days wondering, Is this my done day. No, but still eighteen years looking for what will make it right. Eighteen years of leaders getting the rules right. Eighteen years of every people getting the rules right. Eighteen years of her closest relations getting the rules right. Eighteen years of God making the rules right. Eighteen years of everyone getting the relationship wrong. Eighteen years of suffering through her freedom. Eighteen years of suffering from our thraldom. Until. She appears. Burdened. Center. Center this woman. Center this spirit-crippled woman. Center this burdened woman. Unburden. Unburden her. Unburden your self.
“I have set before you life and death.” – Deuteronomy 30:11
God, who creates chaos and destroys order who arranges and fells, lean into your dream for life a little bit more, so the many who feel free from your holy choice choose life for life's sake. Amen.