People sometimes ask me when I became a Christian, and
that’s a hard question to answer because I am pretty sure that by the time I
asked Jesus into my heart, he’d already been living there for a while.
Rachel
Held Evans
“If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I
will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will
always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless
world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know
what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with
you, and will even be in you
John
14:15-17
Jesus asks, "Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and
do not do what I say?".
Luke 6:46
_____________________________
Hey God
Are you out there?
Somewhere?
Anywhere?
Do you sit in heaven (if there is such a place)
And watch with horror as we make a mess of things?
And what are you like, anyway?
Are you aloof and on a throne
Ready to judge the quick and the dead?
Every Sunday we pray
Come, O Creator God, and be with us
Come to this special place we have made for you
Beautiful with its stained glass and its peaceful
elegance
Hey Yahweh
Hey Jesus…
Perhaps we have missed the point
What is in a name?
Everything.
You gave us a name
I am
Or rather, Whatever I am I will be
Yes, you are
You incarnated
You expressed yourself and told us who (and what) you are
You are
In the mountains we love, the air we breathe
In the rippling roaring springs
In the cry of the eagle
In every living creature
Even us
You gave us a name
And you gave us a person
Jesus
And in that name, you told us everything
You said, “I save.”
I rescue, redeem, recreate
You are the one who comes into the midst of
The world you have made and
The mess we have made
You come while leaders lie and steal
When power is abused
And innocents are killed
And the planet is assaulted in the name of greed
You gave us one we call Emmanuel
God with us
One who taught us who you are
You are love
But wait, there’s more.
You have told us, promised us
That you are also in us
You are pneuma hagion
You are holy, sacred wind
It has been said that one cannot catch the wind
But this wind is in us
Restless and powerful
Unsettling
It roars through our souls
And it too
Is you
You live in us, O Creator
You live in us, O savior
You make ourselves at home in our
Vulnerability
And you have one desire.
That we let the wind be wind
That we let your moving, rushing, roaring presence
Make us
Another incarnation
But Lord, we stifle the Spirit
We quench your holy fire
We check and constrain the wind
We say Lord, Lord
And then live for power or money
We say God is love
And then hate
We proudly say your name
We claim your presence and favor
But we deny your presence
No one would know you are in residence
By the way we talk, think,
And live
Don’t give up on us, Lord
Your very name suggests you won’t
But in your name, missiles rain down on children
Killing and maiming
In your name lies are spoken
Laws are broken
Injustice is perpetrated
In the actions of Presidents,
And Secretaries of War, and Majority leaders
Your presence is denied
Your name violated
Me too
Us too
We, too, sometimes fail to do what you say
But still, you stay
You are
You are in us to save
You are in us to heal and empower
Lord, when we are in the midst of strife and division
When everything seems to be disintegrating
Lord, when we feel so alone
And cry out for your presence
Remind us that you are already here.
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