Living History

I’m less than a month away from my next module at SSU.  I’m just over one month in our new home here in Raleigh.  I’ve got miles of reading to do before I go (not kilometres anymore).  I’ve got a “to do” list that reads like a short novel before I’ll feel like going.  And once again I’m without a clue about how I can afford to be doing a Masters.  But I’m not stopping.

I’m not stopping because when I crack open Clement and Ignatius I read them telling my story.  I’m not just reading history, I’m living it. 

Minus the “death by wild beasts” part.

Which is good.

The recurring themes in the Church 1900 years ago?  Unity, love for each other (or lack of both) and preacher/teachers misleading the Church about Jesus and what God is really like.  Sound familiar?  The extraordinary thing is everything we’ve made the Church “about” other than, as Ignatius says: faith and love.  “Faith is the beginning, and love is the end; and the union of the two together is God.”  I know relationship is hard, I know love is the more demanding way but I also know how transformative loving relationships can be.  I know risk is, well, risky but I also know it’s the place where God’s provision meets our need.  I want to see what happens when a church is willing to commit itself to a life of faith that’s fueled by love for God and neighbor.

Imagine finding the future back in the past.

Current theme song:

Here In America - Rich Mullins

"Saints and children we have gathered here to hear the sacred story
And I'm glad to bring it to you with my best rhyming and rhythm 

'Cause I know the thirsty listen and down to the waters come
And the Holy King of Israel loves me here in America
And if you listen to my songs I hope you hear the water falling
I hope you feel the oceans crashing on the coast of north New England
I wish I could be there just to see them, two summers past I was
And the Holy King of Israel loves me here in America
And if I were a painter I do not know which I'd paint
The calling of the ancient stars or assembling of the saints
And there's so much beauty around us for just two eyes to see
But everywhere I go I'm looking
And once I went to Appalachia for my father he was born there
And I saw the mountains waking with the innocence of children
And my soul is still there with them wrapped in the songs they brought
And the Holy King of Israel loves me here in America
And I've seen by the highways on a million exit ramps
Those two-legged memorials to the laws of happenstance
Waiting for four-wheeled messiahs to take them home again
But I am home anywhere if You are where I am
And if you listen to my songs I hope you hear the water falling
I hope you feel the oceans crashing on the coast of north New England
I wish I could be there just to see them, two summers past I was
And the Holy King of Israel loves me here in America"