"In the shelter of each other, the people live"
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Perelandra/Secrets/Trust
The Enemy's greatest power lies in his ability to convince us of the existence or necessity of secrets. Whether they be secrets kept by those who Love us, or ones we must keep ourselves (even if for some supposed "Greater Good"). Through secrets, life becomes unrealistically complex. Where there used to be straight-forward communication, full of Love and life, there is now a blurred void. And it is in that void the Enemy creates a "knowing", or reality, full of false-complexities and real-ambiguities. From there he weaves his strands of distrust, isolation, and death into the pedantic mess; creating doubt towards the goodness of those who truly Love us, even in Love itself. Then everything becomes uncertain, even a lie or unreal. We even begin to question the existence him who convinced us of secrets in the first place. Then, Love is a lie and everything is darkened chaos.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
My Playlist Right Now
I haven't done this is a while....again.
Things have been quite extraordinary and confusing these past months and weeks. There's a lot I've been working through. Heartbreak, betrayal, learning to trust again, Love, my own internal confusion, regret, and cautious hope. These writings, whether they be in prose form or lyric, have been keeping my heart company, giving it hope and keeping it in gracious check all at the same time. So, I thought I would share, since good music and writing is always something to share. Definitely check out the entire songs, they are amazing all the way around. And check out the CDs too. They are good stuff.
"I guess it's just hard to believe the grace You pour out on me. I guess I'm just starting to see how You're working in me....clothe me in Your glory"- Forever Holy: The Glorious Unseen- This song wasn't one that really jumped out to me on this CD, but now I'm very much living the lyrics in my life and discovering how true they are. The word "glory" has taken on a very different, yet much more amazing definition for me as well.
"It'll be a day like this one when the sky falls down and the hungry and poor and deserted are found. Are you discontented? Have you been pushing hard? Have you been throwing down this broken house of cards?.....Is there any honest song to sing besides these blues?"- The Blues: Switchfoot- I definitely am discontented these days...it tends to happen when you come face to face with your junk and try to make it right. Yet, oddly enough this song helps me get to a place where I can be content. It's really honest, yet extremely hopeful...in a cautious sort of way.
"I'm holding on, I'm holding on to You. My world is wrong, my world is lies come true. And I fall in love with the one's that run me through, when all along all I needed is You."- Sing It Out: Switchfoot- This whole song is very much where I'm at. And it has definitely been a deep prayer in my heart, especially these past couple weeks.
"So you're in Nashville on the phone, and I'm back here at home. The words are new but I recognize the tone. If you Love her let her go."- My Love Goes Free: Jon Foreman- I'm realizing how tightly I've held on to people because in my heart I didn't trust them to stay with me. And now, through a lot of heartbreak and confusion I have caused because of that, I'm seeing that the only way you can truly Love anyone ever...is by trusting them. And I'm seeing I cannot use a single ounce of control if that is what I desire. If one trusts, they do not control. It's hard, but she deserves it.
"So if you're waiting for Love, well it's a promise I'll keep. If you don't mind believing that it changes everything, then time will never matter"- Sunny Days: Jars Of Clay- If God is truly in control, the it is through the might of His Love, so patient, enduring, and innovative; not the force of His arms, that He is so. I'm beginning to see that in my own life. And God is calling me to trust him that no matter what I do or experiencing, however heartbreak or heinous, His Love has conquered even death, and His grace and redemption extend beyond it. How beautiful! How amazing!
"So could you Love this bastard child, though I don't trust you to provide? With one hand in a pot of gold, and with the other in your side. I am so easily satisfied by the call of lovers so less wild. That I would take a little cash over your very flesh and blood....I am a whore, I do confess..."- Wedding Dress: Derek Webb- So could You? Could You Love this bastard child? Because I swear, if you can, your Love will drown out my treason! And I will be yours forever!
"There's a river that I know, where you don't have to reap what you have sown."- Atonement: The Frozen Ocean- I'd heard of this place....but only in dreams and fairy-tales. But now I've found it....and I am so utterly amazed!
"If you travel here, you will feel it all. The brightest and the darkest. And if you travel here, listen to your heart. Take with you what lasts forever."- Traveler's Song: Future Of Forestry- I most definitely have been traveling these past months. To the depths of who I am, and places I've never been before. In fact avoided. I am seeing the darkest things, and they break my heart and scare me to death. But I am also seeing the brightest things. And those things; those amazing and disturbingly unfair things are changing me in ways I've never known before.
"Slow your breath down, just take it slow. Find your heart now; oh, you can trust and love again.......If you leave I'll still be close to you when all your fears rain down. I'll take you back a thousand times again. Oh, I'll take you as my own."- Slow Your Breath Down: Future Of Forestry- These words are my constant companion these days. These days there have been a lot of things to be afraid of, yet I'm finding I must trust and love again, even if my heart is purposefully crushed, because it is the only way to find anything worth anything at all. And what grace this song speaks of!
"Close your eyes this time, 'cause trust is all we have tonight, but trust will be forever. Safe your dreams will be. Trust will be the light tonight, so close your eyes this time."- Close Your Eyes: Future Of Forestry- Similar to the previous section, I've had a lot of fearful days these past weeks. I've done somethings that have really hurt people I care so deeply for, and my mind is really good at blowing situations out of proportion...yet there have been some instances where I've been terrified at what really could happen. These have been the words of God to my heart....calling me to trust no matter what happens, no matter how terrifying or heartbreaking.
Your Love Is Strong "Two things You've told me: that You are strong and You Love me"- Your Love Is Strong: Jon Foreman- I don't know whether by algorithm or the grace of God, but after "My Love Goes Free" played on my iPod one day when I was wrestling with the fear of letting go, this song played immediately after. Either way...it meant so much to my fearful soul.
"Hello Hurricane, you're not enough! Hello Hurricane, you can't silence my Love! I've got doors and windows boarded up. All your dead-end fury is not enough, you can't silence my Love!"- Hello Hurricane: Switchfoot- I'm walking through some hurricanes right now. Some by my own creation, and some by the hands of others. But this song, those lines, are the tattered, wind-swept hope that I am clinging to.
"Maybe redemption has stories to tell. Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell. Where can you run to escape from yourself? Where you gonna go? Salvation is here."- Dare You To Move: Switchfoot- Maybe....just maybe.....
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Snow/Silence/Death
It's been snowing here the past few days. It came in on Thursday and has been off and on ever since. I love it when it snows. But mostly I love it when it's snowing. Firstly, those flakes are incredible; each and everyone beautiful and unique. It amazes me that water going up and down while freezing thousands of feet in the air can produce something so complex and beautiful!
I noticed again their complex beauty a few weeks ago when it snowed a little, then when I arrived at work that day there were snowflake decorations on the doors, each and everyone the exact same as those around it. I laughed, yet I also was sad. Creativity and efficiency are ways of being and doing that will always be at war. If you want efficiency, you must give up creativity, and vise versa. As I think about that, part of me wonders if we've forgotten something as Christians. When I think about God and how he interacts with us, efficiency doesn't exist for him. It's all creative how he lives with and loves us. And that's weird to me because that's not how I live my life at all. Yet it also makes sense because God doesn't worry about time. The only reason efficiency is ever needed is if there is a point at which the doing, or being, will not be able to happen any more. Things must go efficiently so we can get a lot done before we can't anymore. Before we stop...before time ends...before we die.
As I think about it, the main reason we wonder what time it is directly relates to our view of death. The simple action of looking at the clock, or checking the time on our cell phone reveals our beliefs about death. Not that time, calenders, watches, and alarm clocks are bad, yet I feel like to those of us who claim Christ has defeated death, they should be irrelevant.
There's a sign in the backroom of where I work (actually it's all over the backroom) that says, "Speed is life". The first time I saw that, and up until the present, it disturbs me deeply. I don't think people realize what they're saying when they write that. I get they want us to work hard, but "Speed is life"?! I think that is a reflection of our society (because at my job "The customer is #1!" so apparently the customer thinks "speed is life" too.) and I think a lot of Christians are, unfortunately, leading the parade. I see it in our congregations, our worship services, our acts of worship themselves, or planning meetings, the mind-sets of our spiritual shepherds and leaders.
I don't think we understand what Jesus did to death, and I think it affects the ways we live and love.
Death used to be the end. It was the consequence we created by making eternal choices with finite wisdom. We were on a road trip and we ran the car into a building. The trip is over. We're going nowhere.
What Jesus did to death is he killed it!
Death is dead!
It still exists, just like a dead body exists and exerts force on the ground to which it has fallen, but it has no power anymore. No essence, no being. And the more and more it decays, the less and less it exerts force. Now death is a flat tire. We must experience it, we must go through it, but the car continues and the road trip does not end.
Car wreck vs. flat tire.
Death then vs. death now.
So if the end is not the end, even though everyone acts like it is, that means time, in more ways than we'll admit, is irrelevant. Yes, when we die we "leave" this realm, but God doesn't. So his work will continue long after we're gone. So why are we trying to be so efficient with our Christian lives? It's not about us! God is not efficient, even though he works and acts inside our "timed" realm, and neither should we. We must be creative in everything at all times. That is the way of the Kingdom.
But that's actually not what I was wanting to write about. Ha ha :)
Snow. I love it when it's snowing. The flakes seem to suck up all the sound. It's so still, so quiet. The silence is so incredibly wide and deep! It absorbs and covers everything more and more with each inch. Yet, even tonight as I took a walk, over the crunching of my shoes in the snow, in the distance I could still hear cars on the roads.
I feel like the snow has come to put all things to rest, like a mother tucking in her child for bed. But we, unlike the rest of creation, are the child that doesn't want to sleep. We want to play with our toys (jobs, groceries, obligations, fantasies) and don't give a damn that mommy is looking out for us and knows we need our rest. I love it in The Shack when Peterson talks about how the snow forces everyone to stop and breathe. It sounds so incredibly serene and peaceful! But where I'm at, the snow doesn't stop us, it just slows us down and makes us frustrated. I felt it the other day going to work. And if I'm honest I hate that that is true about me. I so want to be a man of peace who is content in every situation. But it's so easy for me to get caught up in the hurry of our societies' religious devotion to economy and efficiency that I don't ever think about it most of the time.
-I just looked out the window and the wind was making the falling snow dance.-
I am beginning to love dancing more than I ever have. It used to be weird, uncomfortable, and foreign to me, but I'm beginning to see the ways in which the body of a skilled dancer convey the music. Sometimes if I am feeling oppressed by demands of efficiency at work, in order to fight it, I'll skip instead of walk. It makes me feel like a kid again and free from all these "adult, real world" responsibilities which are actually just seeds of our delusion.
It's weird that all this came out when all I was wanting to do was write about how I love snow and how much I enjoyed my walk in it this evening. Again, it's amazing to me how so much can come from so little.
If you make a snowflake my judge, I'll be guilty every time!
One Love. One World.
I noticed again their complex beauty a few weeks ago when it snowed a little, then when I arrived at work that day there were snowflake decorations on the doors, each and everyone the exact same as those around it. I laughed, yet I also was sad. Creativity and efficiency are ways of being and doing that will always be at war. If you want efficiency, you must give up creativity, and vise versa. As I think about that, part of me wonders if we've forgotten something as Christians. When I think about God and how he interacts with us, efficiency doesn't exist for him. It's all creative how he lives with and loves us. And that's weird to me because that's not how I live my life at all. Yet it also makes sense because God doesn't worry about time. The only reason efficiency is ever needed is if there is a point at which the doing, or being, will not be able to happen any more. Things must go efficiently so we can get a lot done before we can't anymore. Before we stop...before time ends...before we die.
As I think about it, the main reason we wonder what time it is directly relates to our view of death. The simple action of looking at the clock, or checking the time on our cell phone reveals our beliefs about death. Not that time, calenders, watches, and alarm clocks are bad, yet I feel like to those of us who claim Christ has defeated death, they should be irrelevant.
There's a sign in the backroom of where I work (actually it's all over the backroom) that says, "Speed is life". The first time I saw that, and up until the present, it disturbs me deeply. I don't think people realize what they're saying when they write that. I get they want us to work hard, but "Speed is life"?! I think that is a reflection of our society (because at my job "The customer is #1!" so apparently the customer thinks "speed is life" too.) and I think a lot of Christians are, unfortunately, leading the parade. I see it in our congregations, our worship services, our acts of worship themselves, or planning meetings, the mind-sets of our spiritual shepherds and leaders.
I don't think we understand what Jesus did to death, and I think it affects the ways we live and love.
Death used to be the end. It was the consequence we created by making eternal choices with finite wisdom. We were on a road trip and we ran the car into a building. The trip is over. We're going nowhere.
What Jesus did to death is he killed it!
Death is dead!
It still exists, just like a dead body exists and exerts force on the ground to which it has fallen, but it has no power anymore. No essence, no being. And the more and more it decays, the less and less it exerts force. Now death is a flat tire. We must experience it, we must go through it, but the car continues and the road trip does not end.
Car wreck vs. flat tire.
Death then vs. death now.
So if the end is not the end, even though everyone acts like it is, that means time, in more ways than we'll admit, is irrelevant. Yes, when we die we "leave" this realm, but God doesn't. So his work will continue long after we're gone. So why are we trying to be so efficient with our Christian lives? It's not about us! God is not efficient, even though he works and acts inside our "timed" realm, and neither should we. We must be creative in everything at all times. That is the way of the Kingdom.
But that's actually not what I was wanting to write about. Ha ha :)
Snow. I love it when it's snowing. The flakes seem to suck up all the sound. It's so still, so quiet. The silence is so incredibly wide and deep! It absorbs and covers everything more and more with each inch. Yet, even tonight as I took a walk, over the crunching of my shoes in the snow, in the distance I could still hear cars on the roads.
I feel like the snow has come to put all things to rest, like a mother tucking in her child for bed. But we, unlike the rest of creation, are the child that doesn't want to sleep. We want to play with our toys (jobs, groceries, obligations, fantasies) and don't give a damn that mommy is looking out for us and knows we need our rest. I love it in The Shack when Peterson talks about how the snow forces everyone to stop and breathe. It sounds so incredibly serene and peaceful! But where I'm at, the snow doesn't stop us, it just slows us down and makes us frustrated. I felt it the other day going to work. And if I'm honest I hate that that is true about me. I so want to be a man of peace who is content in every situation. But it's so easy for me to get caught up in the hurry of our societies' religious devotion to economy and efficiency that I don't ever think about it most of the time.
-I just looked out the window and the wind was making the falling snow dance.-
I am beginning to love dancing more than I ever have. It used to be weird, uncomfortable, and foreign to me, but I'm beginning to see the ways in which the body of a skilled dancer convey the music. Sometimes if I am feeling oppressed by demands of efficiency at work, in order to fight it, I'll skip instead of walk. It makes me feel like a kid again and free from all these "adult, real world" responsibilities which are actually just seeds of our delusion.
It's weird that all this came out when all I was wanting to do was write about how I love snow and how much I enjoyed my walk in it this evening. Again, it's amazing to me how so much can come from so little.
If you make a snowflake my judge, I'll be guilty every time!
One Love. One World.
Monday, October 12, 2009
James' law of freedom
Well, haven't done this in a while, time to get back at it! I've been reading in the letter from James today and something is just messing with me. So,especially all you smart, theological-type people (but really anyone!), leave comments. I might have answered my own questions in my ponderings, but I don't really know....so other thoughts are great! Here we go....
"But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom..."- James 1:25a
"Speak and act as those who will be judged by the law of freedom."- James 2:12
What is this said "law of freedom"? It's just weird to me because a law, even though it reflects a greater and more healthful way of living, binds whoever subjects themselves to it.
A law says, "Thou shalt not...".
But apparently James is aware of a law that gives freedom...doesn't that contradict itself?
"Thou shalt not not..."?
I understand that, like Paul, James is saying we have complete freedom. We can do anything, but they are also saying, that doesn't mean we should do everything. Yet James also speaks of living "as those who will be judged by the law of freedom". So not only are we following a "thou shalt not not...", but apparently we will be judged by how freely (or not) we lived our lives.
That's a really weird law to me. Thoughts?
PS- I'm working on a pretty mammoth of a post about worship and music, so be on the lookout for that within the next week.
"But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom..."- James 1:25a
"Speak and act as those who will be judged by the law of freedom."- James 2:12
What is this said "law of freedom"? It's just weird to me because a law, even though it reflects a greater and more healthful way of living, binds whoever subjects themselves to it.
A law says, "Thou shalt not...".
But apparently James is aware of a law that gives freedom...doesn't that contradict itself?
"Thou shalt not not..."?
I understand that, like Paul, James is saying we have complete freedom. We can do anything, but they are also saying, that doesn't mean we should do everything. Yet James also speaks of living "as those who will be judged by the law of freedom". So not only are we following a "thou shalt not not...", but apparently we will be judged by how freely (or not) we lived our lives.
That's a really weird law to me. Thoughts?
PS- I'm working on a pretty mammoth of a post about worship and music, so be on the lookout for that within the next week.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Child Of Redemption And Pain, People Of Prayer And.....
Today, I heard some very sad news. A cute, little girl; daughter of amazing parents, found out that she has a terrible disease. Although, from what I heard, the survival rate is pretty good, it is still a terrible disease. My heart hurts deeply for this little child...no child should ever have to face or experience the things that the children of this age do (war, poverty, affluence, disease, abandonment). I cannot even begin to imagine the pain, confusion, and sadness that her parents are going through...this blog isn't for them, it's for us who claim to support them.
Some of these things, this generation of adults needs to take resposibility for because they are our faults, or we have the generational influence and power to change them. Others, such as disease, are the result of a broken humanity, and it is no one persons or generations fault.
But that doesn't mean we can't do anything about it...
Personally, I've been wrestling with the idea of healing recently, and while I'm sure I will continue to learn some things, I have uncovered some mindsets that seem to be at large in the Body in America. Mindsets, that until realized and changed, will let little children like the ones I know more than likely go through needless pain.
I believe that God can instantly heal people. I also believe that God has given us intelligence to help find cures for our diseases. Furthermore, I greatly believe that God can use a greater intelligence (a theo-logic-al intelligence) to instantly heal people through the physical deeds of other people.
From what I've seen these days, we accept and believe the first two, but only a few of us, the third. Even with that said, what is our first reaction when we are hurt or get a disease? Doctor. What do we believe is really real? What is our reality? It's whatever our actions display, because a person's reality dictates their actions.
I think we know deep down that God can and wants to use us to heal people, but we are scared. I have been scared...I was scared when I began wrestling through all of this. I thought things like "What if it doesn't work?", "What will that make me look like?", "What will that make God look like?", "That will give people the grounds to make accurate claims that God either doesn't exist or isn't good.", etc. And then I realized something, God showed me something in my heart; I was more fearful than faithful, and more self-image concerned, than selfless.
Today, I heard some very sad news. A cute, little girl; daughter of amazing parents, found out that she has a terrible disease. My heart hurts deeply for this little child...no child should ever have to face or experience the things that the children of this age do. Some of these things, this generation needs to take responsibility for...
We want God to take care of our mess. We do. Be real honest with yourself, listen to yourself (I'm talking to myself right now as well) when you pray and ask for forgiveness, strength, or courage to face a trial or temptation. It's almost always, "God will you give me...", "God will you do this...". And we taken Psalms and other verses and twisted to fit this mold. God will not get us out of the mess we've created!
..........alone.
Nor can we get out of it by ourselves. It must be us, together.
So I ask us this question, I call all of us to really dig deep and begin to eat of real food, not that of a child: what do you really mean when you tell someone you'll pray for them?
I believe there are two things required for healing to take place. One, the healer must believe (be-live, be willing to live or act it) that God can actually heal through their words and hands. Two, the person who will be healed must genuinely believe that they can be healed. What did Jesus or the disciples usually ask someone before they would heal them: "Do you believe that I (or God) can accomplish this?" It was a challenge to see if they truly believed what they asked for would and could happen.
I would say there are three things required, and that the third thing is this: "Where two or more are gathered in my name and agree on something, it will be done for them"(pretty sure I'm combining two verses, but the verses have very strong parallel meanings). But what I've figured out is that, there doesn't necissarily have to be two or more healers agreeing (although that isn't a bad thing), if the healer believes and the healee (?) believes, there are your two people.
While I do believe that God may allow a tragedy to happen in a person's life for a reason, so that he may orchestrate good into it, I feel like we've ruled out that the good he wants to orchestrate is the healing of the person!!!! "No, it can't be that, there must be some "deeper" reason, something they are holding onto that they need to let go of." NO!!! How dare we judge a person like that! Truly, if our actions could speak and we would listen, I believe that is what they would be saying, even if we don't realize it or want to admit it. We've lost a balance in this, and have leaned towards letting God use this to "correct" or "enlighten" a person about themselves.
I know a child (in fact I know many), to whom the "faith" we live these days is not powerful enough for the life they are experiencing. No wonder there are so many youth leaving the church! Our "seeker-friendly, relevancy" has completely watered down the power of the Gospel of Jesus as well as limited the power of the Holy Spirit in our dripping-with-potential lives!
What if our children grew up in places where they saw the real power of the Holy Spirit working as if it was something normal! What if this precious, little daughter of the King saw those she looked up to or people she didn't even know, say "screw the doctors" for once, and actually sacrifice themselves in belief and then prayer (walk and then talk) and she grew up knowing first hand the healing power of God!? What if?!
Are we ready to come together for the sake of the children? Are we ready to be honest with ourselves and then take steps to become the "most powerful agent of change in our community" and the world?
I know a little girl who has a terrible disease, and I know a God who wants to use some people to heal her, and love on her family like they've never known...and I mean that. Now, who will join with me on a challenge of really digging in and fighting this thing down for the sake of a beautiful child? God's redemption is for real ready, it is waiting.
It is waiting for us.
I am ready, even if I'm not completely sure how to walk...I will walk.
Who will come with me?
Some of these things, this generation of adults needs to take resposibility for because they are our faults, or we have the generational influence and power to change them. Others, such as disease, are the result of a broken humanity, and it is no one persons or generations fault.
But that doesn't mean we can't do anything about it...
Personally, I've been wrestling with the idea of healing recently, and while I'm sure I will continue to learn some things, I have uncovered some mindsets that seem to be at large in the Body in America. Mindsets, that until realized and changed, will let little children like the ones I know more than likely go through needless pain.
I believe that God can instantly heal people. I also believe that God has given us intelligence to help find cures for our diseases. Furthermore, I greatly believe that God can use a greater intelligence (a theo-logic-al intelligence) to instantly heal people through the physical deeds of other people.
From what I've seen these days, we accept and believe the first two, but only a few of us, the third. Even with that said, what is our first reaction when we are hurt or get a disease? Doctor. What do we believe is really real? What is our reality? It's whatever our actions display, because a person's reality dictates their actions.
I think we know deep down that God can and wants to use us to heal people, but we are scared. I have been scared...I was scared when I began wrestling through all of this. I thought things like "What if it doesn't work?", "What will that make me look like?", "What will that make God look like?", "That will give people the grounds to make accurate claims that God either doesn't exist or isn't good.", etc. And then I realized something, God showed me something in my heart; I was more fearful than faithful, and more self-image concerned, than selfless.
Today, I heard some very sad news. A cute, little girl; daughter of amazing parents, found out that she has a terrible disease. My heart hurts deeply for this little child...no child should ever have to face or experience the things that the children of this age do. Some of these things, this generation needs to take responsibility for...
We want God to take care of our mess. We do. Be real honest with yourself, listen to yourself (I'm talking to myself right now as well) when you pray and ask for forgiveness, strength, or courage to face a trial or temptation. It's almost always, "God will you give me...", "God will you do this...". And we taken Psalms and other verses and twisted to fit this mold. God will not get us out of the mess we've created!
..........alone.
Nor can we get out of it by ourselves. It must be us, together.
So I ask us this question, I call all of us to really dig deep and begin to eat of real food, not that of a child: what do you really mean when you tell someone you'll pray for them?
I believe there are two things required for healing to take place. One, the healer must believe (be-live, be willing to live or act it) that God can actually heal through their words and hands. Two, the person who will be healed must genuinely believe that they can be healed. What did Jesus or the disciples usually ask someone before they would heal them: "Do you believe that I (or God) can accomplish this?" It was a challenge to see if they truly believed what they asked for would and could happen.
I would say there are three things required, and that the third thing is this: "Where two or more are gathered in my name and agree on something, it will be done for them"(pretty sure I'm combining two verses, but the verses have very strong parallel meanings). But what I've figured out is that, there doesn't necissarily have to be two or more healers agreeing (although that isn't a bad thing), if the healer believes and the healee (?) believes, there are your two people.
While I do believe that God may allow a tragedy to happen in a person's life for a reason, so that he may orchestrate good into it, I feel like we've ruled out that the good he wants to orchestrate is the healing of the person!!!! "No, it can't be that, there must be some "deeper" reason, something they are holding onto that they need to let go of." NO!!! How dare we judge a person like that! Truly, if our actions could speak and we would listen, I believe that is what they would be saying, even if we don't realize it or want to admit it. We've lost a balance in this, and have leaned towards letting God use this to "correct" or "enlighten" a person about themselves.
I know a child (in fact I know many), to whom the "faith" we live these days is not powerful enough for the life they are experiencing. No wonder there are so many youth leaving the church! Our "seeker-friendly, relevancy" has completely watered down the power of the Gospel of Jesus as well as limited the power of the Holy Spirit in our dripping-with-potential lives!
What if our children grew up in places where they saw the real power of the Holy Spirit working as if it was something normal! What if this precious, little daughter of the King saw those she looked up to or people she didn't even know, say "screw the doctors" for once, and actually sacrifice themselves in belief and then prayer (walk and then talk) and she grew up knowing first hand the healing power of God!? What if?!
Are we ready to come together for the sake of the children? Are we ready to be honest with ourselves and then take steps to become the "most powerful agent of change in our community" and the world?
I know a little girl who has a terrible disease, and I know a God who wants to use some people to heal her, and love on her family like they've never known...and I mean that. Now, who will join with me on a challenge of really digging in and fighting this thing down for the sake of a beautiful child? God's redemption is for real ready, it is waiting.
It is waiting for us.
I am ready, even if I'm not completely sure how to walk...I will walk.
Who will come with me?
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Me- Why I Write What I Do
So, I've realized I have gotten a little ahead of myself with this writing thing. I've realized I haven't shared why I've been thinking about the ideas I've written or why I think they are so important. So lest I continue coming across preachy or theologically-anal, I want to share with you the context from which these ideas have come.
I grew up in a "Christian" family and we went to church every Sunday. When I was in Sunday school I got the whole flannel-graph, story-time treatment and punch and cookies if I was good. I was taught that Jesus was God and that God was really nice to those who loved him, and consequently was subconsciously taught that bad things didn't happen to Christians. Well, throughout my elementary school years I was the butt of many a mean joke and was picked on almost everyday at school (People seem to be surprised when I've told them that, but I say this: the playground knows only height and muscle, not future potential. Sad but true). I would go home to a house where my parents were always fighting and usually I couldn't do anything right in their eyes. Well, through a series of truly unfortunate events, I stumbled across an avenue to numb the pain and cope. As middle school and early high school arrived, I began to meet more people who would actually befriend me, and were nice people; but the scars still remained from elementary school. What I didn't realize at the time was that, quite literally, the walls I had built up around my broken, wounded, and bleeding heart were meant to keep hurt and pain out, but they had become something that kept me in, and I was really dying inside.
Here's the hard part, this entire time I was heavily involved in youthgroup at church. I was gradually finding people who I could open up to, and at the same time that let me begin to see what was truly going on inside me. Yet I was still hiding in a lot of ways and I was using my youthgroup to hide from the pain at home. Of course, I couldn't put all this into words then, but God has been bringing me back to a lot of events in my childhood recently, and has been redeeming them and healing my heart through them.
Half-way through high school my family switched churches. I began to meet some truly kind and loving people there and also at my high-school. I was ever-so-slightly beginning to feel that the world was a safe place for my heart. Despite this there was still a lot of hurt inside me and I was feeling very trapped by the things that I had used to help deal with the pain. This back and forth struggle was very very hard on me, and a lot of shame built up in my heart because of it. A lot of good things began happening through the last few years of high-school and into my first couple years of community college. I began to be able to confess the stuff that was killing me on the inside and talk with people about it. But it wasn't until this past season when I transferred to Anderson University in Indiana that a whole lot of things began changing and clicking for me.
As I was getting ready to transfer to AU, I went out there for a weekend to register. There I met the guy who would become my roommate. At the end of one of the days, even though we really didn't know each other at all, he asked if I wanted to room with him. In the moment I felt like I wasn't ready to give an answer, but I felt caught off gaurd and so I said yes. Things started off good with him, but a few weeks in I began to realize that he was a very up-tight person. Any of you how know me, know that I am not up tight at all. I love talking with people, I love hearing how a person was doing. My roommate also loved to "lend his knowledge" to any situation he happened to come upon. Things between us started to deteriorate and I began to see that he very much had the outlook on life of an elementary school bully. In addition, there wasn't any person on the hall that I really connected with. That semester was really really hard for me because I hadn't felt that alone since I was a kid, plus I was rooming with the bully. Two things happened that semester as a result: I began to gain courage to stand up for myself and I genuinly felt God with me in some very dark and lonely moments that semester. There were a few points where stuff was so frustrating and painful that I would cry myself to sleep. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't that I was homesick or anything related to school or being someplace unfamiliar. I love adventures! It was the fact that I felt like I was a kid again back on the playground getting picked on.
It was during this time that I realized the God I had been told about in Sunday school didn't exist. Life apparently didn't get better for Christians, and I began going through a period really wondering who God was and why all this stuff was happening. Looking back he has been so incredibly merciful, graceful, and loving through my confusion, anger, and he has been constantly telling me, despite what I've told myself or heard from others that my heart is good.
Second semester went better in a lot of ways. I began to connect with some of the guys on my hall in ways I hadn't before. But I had no idea that there were some really hard things coming down the pipe for me again. Two really big things happened that semester. Number one, I was not able to find a job that semester at all (Anderson isn't one for good jobs) and I had bills to pay. It was really hard for me because some of the most painful moments in my life at home dealt with money and my parents fighting about it. That semester, God showed me that I can trust him. There were points where I had no money and somehow my bills were paid. I still have no idea how to this day, but in some of those fearful and painful moments, God showed me very personally and powerfully that he is Jehovah Jireh. Although, I still struggle with trusting him in these areas (as I write this I've been without a job for a year-and-a-half, no car insurance, very little money) he has truly shown me that if I trust him, he will provide even the most basic needs. That definitely has gone against the American Dream mindset that I grew up with.
The second event was my trip to the hospital. One night, my stomach started feeling really weird. I ended up throwing up several times and my stomach was convulsing really hard. After my RD called the campus EMT and I was looked over, I went to the hospital to get looked at again. I was there all night and continued to throw up off and on. They ran tests throughout the night and the doctor told me a couple times that medically there was nothing wrong with me. I laughed a little bitterly to myself because, obviously something was going on, and I was kind of angry that they couldn't find it. Well, when they were going to let me go, it was around 6 in the morning. As I was getting into the wheelchair to go to the car, my entire body locked up suddenly. I couldn't move, I couldn't talk intelligibly, my throat was closing up, and I was having a really hard time breathing. I started freaking out because I truly thought I was going to suffocate, and to make matters worse the nurse wasn't taking me seriously when I said I couldn't breathe. Eventually I was put back up in the bed, but nothing was changing and internally I was panicking. I felt like a scared little kid (Ironic how often that was happening at that point in my life), and I kept saying to God "I don't want to die". My girlfriend was there and was trying to calm me down but I wasn't having any of it. To make a long story shorter, I eventually got better and went back to school where I slept.
Later I began to realize that I freaked out so bad in that moment because my life had slipped beyond my control and I didn't think that God was doing what was good in that moment. That opened up my eyes to the fact that I had some serious control issues, and I doubted God's goodness in really painful moments. Most of it, I believe developed along side the coping when I was a child. God began a work in me that night to release control of a lot of things to him, and trust in his heart. The next semester I began to go to counsoling at AU and that helped me work through so many things that happened to me as a child and how they are still affecting me. There are a lot more aspects and important events to this story than I can write, so ask me sometime if you want to hear more.
What makes this story important, and related to why I write, is because during all of this time, I began to know a God who doesn't make things better always, but will use horrible things as a basis for a beautiful and mighty work of art. I have come to realize that so much of what is being taught in a lot of churches these days is inadequate for the lives that real humans live.
My heart is for humanity to be restored, and I truly believe that the Church should be the hope of the world. Over these past two years, I've been learning so much about myself, how I've been hurt, and areas that I need deep healing in. Alongside of that, I've been learning so much about God's hope for humanity, how we've been hurt/hurt each other, and places we need deep healing. That has lead me down some paths of questioning and re-owning a lot I was taught theologically throughout my life, as well as what is being taught today. My heart burns for the church to become who she truly is, so that humanity can be restored to the amazing existance that it came from.
The things I write about are fruits of a journey of seeking out and finding truth. I believe there are a lot of things, which may seem like small nit-picky things, that when realized and internalized will radically change a persons life. My life has changed so much over the past year and a half because I've begun to see who Jesus really is and with that I have found a hope for something so much bigger than many people know (both "Christians" and non-Christians alike). So when I speak of the truth, or of the Church, or why maybe we use the word "Christian" in a wrong way, or why our concepts of heaven and hell might not be right, or why the body of Christ in America has fallen in love with the market and democracy rather than Jesus, or of free-will, I speak of them because I yearn that every man, woman, child would begin to find truth as I am beginning to find it because, as it is in my life, from that the most amazing, beautiful, and redemptive hope will bloom!
I don't say that you must agree with me (although, I do hope you will sincerely think about what I say and not write it off as "liberal" or ignorant theology). But just know that everything I write comes from a heart desiring Jesus and his truth, because I believe that his truth is redemptive and that in that truth, humanity's hope is found.
Also, feel free to leave comments, questions, pixel-art, etc. Let's have a conversation, I like those! Blessings and hope to you!
One Love. One World.
I grew up in a "Christian" family and we went to church every Sunday. When I was in Sunday school I got the whole flannel-graph, story-time treatment and punch and cookies if I was good. I was taught that Jesus was God and that God was really nice to those who loved him, and consequently was subconsciously taught that bad things didn't happen to Christians. Well, throughout my elementary school years I was the butt of many a mean joke and was picked on almost everyday at school (People seem to be surprised when I've told them that, but I say this: the playground knows only height and muscle, not future potential. Sad but true). I would go home to a house where my parents were always fighting and usually I couldn't do anything right in their eyes. Well, through a series of truly unfortunate events, I stumbled across an avenue to numb the pain and cope. As middle school and early high school arrived, I began to meet more people who would actually befriend me, and were nice people; but the scars still remained from elementary school. What I didn't realize at the time was that, quite literally, the walls I had built up around my broken, wounded, and bleeding heart were meant to keep hurt and pain out, but they had become something that kept me in, and I was really dying inside.
Here's the hard part, this entire time I was heavily involved in youthgroup at church. I was gradually finding people who I could open up to, and at the same time that let me begin to see what was truly going on inside me. Yet I was still hiding in a lot of ways and I was using my youthgroup to hide from the pain at home. Of course, I couldn't put all this into words then, but God has been bringing me back to a lot of events in my childhood recently, and has been redeeming them and healing my heart through them.
Half-way through high school my family switched churches. I began to meet some truly kind and loving people there and also at my high-school. I was ever-so-slightly beginning to feel that the world was a safe place for my heart. Despite this there was still a lot of hurt inside me and I was feeling very trapped by the things that I had used to help deal with the pain. This back and forth struggle was very very hard on me, and a lot of shame built up in my heart because of it. A lot of good things began happening through the last few years of high-school and into my first couple years of community college. I began to be able to confess the stuff that was killing me on the inside and talk with people about it. But it wasn't until this past season when I transferred to Anderson University in Indiana that a whole lot of things began changing and clicking for me.
As I was getting ready to transfer to AU, I went out there for a weekend to register. There I met the guy who would become my roommate. At the end of one of the days, even though we really didn't know each other at all, he asked if I wanted to room with him. In the moment I felt like I wasn't ready to give an answer, but I felt caught off gaurd and so I said yes. Things started off good with him, but a few weeks in I began to realize that he was a very up-tight person. Any of you how know me, know that I am not up tight at all. I love talking with people, I love hearing how a person was doing. My roommate also loved to "lend his knowledge" to any situation he happened to come upon. Things between us started to deteriorate and I began to see that he very much had the outlook on life of an elementary school bully. In addition, there wasn't any person on the hall that I really connected with. That semester was really really hard for me because I hadn't felt that alone since I was a kid, plus I was rooming with the bully. Two things happened that semester as a result: I began to gain courage to stand up for myself and I genuinly felt God with me in some very dark and lonely moments that semester. There were a few points where stuff was so frustrating and painful that I would cry myself to sleep. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't that I was homesick or anything related to school or being someplace unfamiliar. I love adventures! It was the fact that I felt like I was a kid again back on the playground getting picked on.
It was during this time that I realized the God I had been told about in Sunday school didn't exist. Life apparently didn't get better for Christians, and I began going through a period really wondering who God was and why all this stuff was happening. Looking back he has been so incredibly merciful, graceful, and loving through my confusion, anger, and he has been constantly telling me, despite what I've told myself or heard from others that my heart is good.
Second semester went better in a lot of ways. I began to connect with some of the guys on my hall in ways I hadn't before. But I had no idea that there were some really hard things coming down the pipe for me again. Two really big things happened that semester. Number one, I was not able to find a job that semester at all (Anderson isn't one for good jobs) and I had bills to pay. It was really hard for me because some of the most painful moments in my life at home dealt with money and my parents fighting about it. That semester, God showed me that I can trust him. There were points where I had no money and somehow my bills were paid. I still have no idea how to this day, but in some of those fearful and painful moments, God showed me very personally and powerfully that he is Jehovah Jireh. Although, I still struggle with trusting him in these areas (as I write this I've been without a job for a year-and-a-half, no car insurance, very little money) he has truly shown me that if I trust him, he will provide even the most basic needs. That definitely has gone against the American Dream mindset that I grew up with.
The second event was my trip to the hospital. One night, my stomach started feeling really weird. I ended up throwing up several times and my stomach was convulsing really hard. After my RD called the campus EMT and I was looked over, I went to the hospital to get looked at again. I was there all night and continued to throw up off and on. They ran tests throughout the night and the doctor told me a couple times that medically there was nothing wrong with me. I laughed a little bitterly to myself because, obviously something was going on, and I was kind of angry that they couldn't find it. Well, when they were going to let me go, it was around 6 in the morning. As I was getting into the wheelchair to go to the car, my entire body locked up suddenly. I couldn't move, I couldn't talk intelligibly, my throat was closing up, and I was having a really hard time breathing. I started freaking out because I truly thought I was going to suffocate, and to make matters worse the nurse wasn't taking me seriously when I said I couldn't breathe. Eventually I was put back up in the bed, but nothing was changing and internally I was panicking. I felt like a scared little kid (Ironic how often that was happening at that point in my life), and I kept saying to God "I don't want to die". My girlfriend was there and was trying to calm me down but I wasn't having any of it. To make a long story shorter, I eventually got better and went back to school where I slept.
Later I began to realize that I freaked out so bad in that moment because my life had slipped beyond my control and I didn't think that God was doing what was good in that moment. That opened up my eyes to the fact that I had some serious control issues, and I doubted God's goodness in really painful moments. Most of it, I believe developed along side the coping when I was a child. God began a work in me that night to release control of a lot of things to him, and trust in his heart. The next semester I began to go to counsoling at AU and that helped me work through so many things that happened to me as a child and how they are still affecting me. There are a lot more aspects and important events to this story than I can write, so ask me sometime if you want to hear more.
What makes this story important, and related to why I write, is because during all of this time, I began to know a God who doesn't make things better always, but will use horrible things as a basis for a beautiful and mighty work of art. I have come to realize that so much of what is being taught in a lot of churches these days is inadequate for the lives that real humans live.
My heart is for humanity to be restored, and I truly believe that the Church should be the hope of the world. Over these past two years, I've been learning so much about myself, how I've been hurt, and areas that I need deep healing in. Alongside of that, I've been learning so much about God's hope for humanity, how we've been hurt/hurt each other, and places we need deep healing. That has lead me down some paths of questioning and re-owning a lot I was taught theologically throughout my life, as well as what is being taught today. My heart burns for the church to become who she truly is, so that humanity can be restored to the amazing existance that it came from.
The things I write about are fruits of a journey of seeking out and finding truth. I believe there are a lot of things, which may seem like small nit-picky things, that when realized and internalized will radically change a persons life. My life has changed so much over the past year and a half because I've begun to see who Jesus really is and with that I have found a hope for something so much bigger than many people know (both "Christians" and non-Christians alike). So when I speak of the truth, or of the Church, or why maybe we use the word "Christian" in a wrong way, or why our concepts of heaven and hell might not be right, or why the body of Christ in America has fallen in love with the market and democracy rather than Jesus, or of free-will, I speak of them because I yearn that every man, woman, child would begin to find truth as I am beginning to find it because, as it is in my life, from that the most amazing, beautiful, and redemptive hope will bloom!
I don't say that you must agree with me (although, I do hope you will sincerely think about what I say and not write it off as "liberal" or ignorant theology). But just know that everything I write comes from a heart desiring Jesus and his truth, because I believe that his truth is redemptive and that in that truth, humanity's hope is found.
Also, feel free to leave comments, questions, pixel-art, etc. Let's have a conversation, I like those! Blessings and hope to you!
One Love. One World.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Free will/Choices/Omnipotence
If someone is alone in a room, their existance naturally exerts absolute authority in that space. Whatever they say goes. If another person is put into that room...things change.
I've been wondering, lately, what makes humanity so special? If we believe what it says in the Hebrew Scriptures that we were created in God's image, then we must answer the question: what does that really mean?
I believe that one of its meanings, among others, is that to be created in the image of God is to have the ability to make choices and exert authority, better known as free will. Back to the example; God was alone in the room of pre-creation (Gen 1:1,2; another interesting thing to note that will come into play later is that the name for God used in these passages in Genesis is actually Elohim, which we then translated to God. Elohim is defined as a word in the plural form, so in a sense, They were alone in the room of pre-creation is more accurate). Elohim exercised absolute authority over everything, whatever was chosen by Elohim happened, no questions asked. As God was existing (there is more depth to that concept than just a state of being), Elohim began creating. Elohim began with inanimate objects, then began to create animate objects, but once it was complete, Elohim was not satisfied because none of the created things significantly resembled God's image and essence. So then humanity was created. Humanity was created in God's image with the previously God-unqiue ability of free-will: authority and sentient choice-making.
Another person entered the room.
So now, I beg the question; if God placed in humanity the gift of authority and decision making, did God willingly gift divine authority for the sake of relationship with us?
If two people are in a room and they are engaging in healthy relationship, neither one independently has absolute authority. Each one is making decisions with the other in mind because they understand that one person's decision or use of authority affects the other. They willingly give authority and choice-making powers (free will) to the other and collectively they have omnipotence over their domain.
The omnipotence of God has not ceased to exist, rather Elohim has willingly included humanity in it so that we might be in a dynamic, ever-deepening, ever-creating (another "in His image" aspect) relationship.
Rabbit-trail: What if when Jesus said a man and woman are joined together as one flesh (Gen. 2:23,24; Matt. 19:4-6), that could also be looked at in light of Christ as the bridegroom and the church as his bride? What if, through Christ's body (intimacy) and blood (life, because life is in the blood. Lev. 17:11,14; Deut. 12:23) we are one with him, and because he is one with the rest of the Trinity, we are also one with God, just as a man and woman are? (Lest people say I am spreading cultic heresies, I will specifically make an important distincition. I am not saying that we are God, rather we are one with God. Just as a male is still a male and a female is still a female, yet they are one. Different yet unified.)
This brings new light to the concept of being the body of Christ, or humanity, even though it is fallen, still being created in God's image. What if in the same way a dillusional wife hinders the power, beauty, and redemptive essence of her and her husband's unity, so we through our actions and choices hinder the power, beauty, and redemptive essence of our and God's unity through being created in His image? If we have the previously God-unique gift/ability of free will, how bad, then, are our choices affecting all that God has created or is trying to redeem?
God has not given us a watered down version of free will, because then we wouldn't truly be made in his image, would we?
No, we have the same authority that God has through His sharing of free will with us. God and humanity are co-authors of the future! (Now, we don't have the same ability to exercise this ability/gift because we are neither infinite nor omnipresent) That's what Jesus was getting at whatn he told Peter that whatever Peter/the church 'loosed' or 'bound' (Jewish terms for accepted/decided and rejected) on Earth would be the same in Heaven (Matt 16:19;18:18,19). He was telling Peter that our choices have been given the same power and authority as God's because God has included us in his community. Again, I am not saying we are God, but we are in relationship with Him.
Also, Jesus says that when two or more agree on and then ask the Father for something it will be done. Why two or more? Does it have something to do with communal authority and wisdom and how that is manifested in the Trinity?
With that said, what are we doing?! Those who follow Jesus have been given co-authority with God over everything and the knowledge of His desire for complete redemption of the world and we're consumed with complancency from the markets of and trust in the American empire (For more on that statement, read 'Jesus Wants To Save Christians' by Rob Bell. His argument, among a lot of others; including looking at America in the context of history, reveals our empirial nature very clearly). That doesn't sound like a very healthy marriage to me.
Also, for those that would say the marriage is yet to come, I would say this: in some physical ways, yes, for it has not been fully realized in us; but we have the Holy Spirit, a part of the Trinity, in us now. In many ways, through what Christ did in his death, defeating of Death, and subsequent ressurection, we are now one with God.
Right now we are victims of bad theology, needing desperately to re-examine who Jesus is/was and the meanings of what he said, as recorded in Scripture. We also need to realize how much of an impact our choices really have on existence and that because God gave us free will, He will not stop us to a large extent, but continues to hope that we will see how bad we are letting down all creation and change so that creation may be healed and that humanity may be fully reconcilied unto her bridegroom.
Come on, church! It's time to begin anew!
I've been wondering, lately, what makes humanity so special? If we believe what it says in the Hebrew Scriptures that we were created in God's image, then we must answer the question: what does that really mean?
I believe that one of its meanings, among others, is that to be created in the image of God is to have the ability to make choices and exert authority, better known as free will. Back to the example; God was alone in the room of pre-creation (Gen 1:1,2; another interesting thing to note that will come into play later is that the name for God used in these passages in Genesis is actually Elohim, which we then translated to God. Elohim is defined as a word in the plural form, so in a sense, They were alone in the room of pre-creation is more accurate). Elohim exercised absolute authority over everything, whatever was chosen by Elohim happened, no questions asked. As God was existing (there is more depth to that concept than just a state of being), Elohim began creating. Elohim began with inanimate objects, then began to create animate objects, but once it was complete, Elohim was not satisfied because none of the created things significantly resembled God's image and essence. So then humanity was created. Humanity was created in God's image with the previously God-unqiue ability of free-will: authority and sentient choice-making.
Another person entered the room.
So now, I beg the question; if God placed in humanity the gift of authority and decision making, did God willingly gift divine authority for the sake of relationship with us?
If two people are in a room and they are engaging in healthy relationship, neither one independently has absolute authority. Each one is making decisions with the other in mind because they understand that one person's decision or use of authority affects the other. They willingly give authority and choice-making powers (free will) to the other and collectively they have omnipotence over their domain.
The omnipotence of God has not ceased to exist, rather Elohim has willingly included humanity in it so that we might be in a dynamic, ever-deepening, ever-creating (another "in His image" aspect) relationship.
Rabbit-trail: What if when Jesus said a man and woman are joined together as one flesh (Gen. 2:23,24; Matt. 19:4-6), that could also be looked at in light of Christ as the bridegroom and the church as his bride? What if, through Christ's body (intimacy) and blood (life, because life is in the blood. Lev. 17:11,14; Deut. 12:23) we are one with him, and because he is one with the rest of the Trinity, we are also one with God, just as a man and woman are? (Lest people say I am spreading cultic heresies, I will specifically make an important distincition. I am not saying that we are God, rather we are one with God. Just as a male is still a male and a female is still a female, yet they are one. Different yet unified.)
This brings new light to the concept of being the body of Christ, or humanity, even though it is fallen, still being created in God's image. What if in the same way a dillusional wife hinders the power, beauty, and redemptive essence of her and her husband's unity, so we through our actions and choices hinder the power, beauty, and redemptive essence of our and God's unity through being created in His image? If we have the previously God-unique gift/ability of free will, how bad, then, are our choices affecting all that God has created or is trying to redeem?
God has not given us a watered down version of free will, because then we wouldn't truly be made in his image, would we?
No, we have the same authority that God has through His sharing of free will with us. God and humanity are co-authors of the future! (Now, we don't have the same ability to exercise this ability/gift because we are neither infinite nor omnipresent) That's what Jesus was getting at whatn he told Peter that whatever Peter/the church 'loosed' or 'bound' (Jewish terms for accepted/decided and rejected) on Earth would be the same in Heaven (Matt 16:19;18:18,19). He was telling Peter that our choices have been given the same power and authority as God's because God has included us in his community. Again, I am not saying we are God, but we are in relationship with Him.
Also, Jesus says that when two or more agree on and then ask the Father for something it will be done. Why two or more? Does it have something to do with communal authority and wisdom and how that is manifested in the Trinity?
With that said, what are we doing?! Those who follow Jesus have been given co-authority with God over everything and the knowledge of His desire for complete redemption of the world and we're consumed with complancency from the markets of and trust in the American empire (For more on that statement, read 'Jesus Wants To Save Christians' by Rob Bell. His argument, among a lot of others; including looking at America in the context of history, reveals our empirial nature very clearly). That doesn't sound like a very healthy marriage to me.
Also, for those that would say the marriage is yet to come, I would say this: in some physical ways, yes, for it has not been fully realized in us; but we have the Holy Spirit, a part of the Trinity, in us now. In many ways, through what Christ did in his death, defeating of Death, and subsequent ressurection, we are now one with God.
Right now we are victims of bad theology, needing desperately to re-examine who Jesus is/was and the meanings of what he said, as recorded in Scripture. We also need to realize how much of an impact our choices really have on existence and that because God gave us free will, He will not stop us to a large extent, but continues to hope that we will see how bad we are letting down all creation and change so that creation may be healed and that humanity may be fully reconcilied unto her bridegroom.
Come on, church! It's time to begin anew!
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