Illuminate - Additional Thoughts

In reference to this past Sunday at GracePointe, I don't even know where to begin. For those of you who were in attendance, you understand. For those who didn't make it, I really wish you could have been with us, as it was a truly remarkable service from start to finish.

The theme of the service was honesty, specifically our need to, first, be honest with ourselves about ourselves. Once we have found the courage to shoot straight with ourselves, we then face the follow-up challenge of being honest with God. When these two inescapable demands of spiritual health have been met, we then must carry that same honesty into our dealings with our fellow human beings, beginning with those closest to us.

While the statements of the previous paragraph may seem like simple understatements or obviously foregone conclusions, experience says that that type of absolute honesty is easier to talk about than to live. One of the most obvious questions in regard to this is why do we find that type of radical commitment to truthfulness so challenging?

While I understand that over generalizing is always a danger and there are no doubt multiple answers to the question, I also am convinced that there is a common culprit faced, especially but not exclusively, by people with religious backgrounds. This pervasive problem stems from their perception of God, specifically, how He perceives their flaws, sins, failings and brokenness.

Through sincere, but flawed, interpretation of the biblical text, the failure of early caregivers who are our earliest pointers to God, or the poor example of Christ's followers, many develop the misguided idea that God is shocked, disgusted and angry at them for the shadow side of their humanity. Once they have determined that the smartest Mind in the universe has this idea, they are defenseless to disagree, concluding that everyone else must share this harsh view as well.

This mindset, perhaps more than any other, sends us into hiding from God, from others and, remarkably, even ourselves. Sadly, this mistaken notion ends up separating us from the very One who desperately desires to help us with the things we THINK cause the separation. I know of nothing that can gently and healingly coax us out of these hiding places more effectively than a loving Christian community - a group of people who get it, who understand and, in turn, represent God well. We must be that people.

My specific prayer this week is that those of you who still feel the need to retreat when you hear God's footsteps "in the cool of the day" will hear Him call for you. I pray you won't hear through old filters which distort the Voice which calls you Beloved, but will hear a tenderness which maybe you've never heard. This tenderness, when finally heard, is a soothing balm for the self-recriminating soul. Like nothing else, it can lead you into the revealing light of God's loving care.

Listen for Him. Maybe you've even heard Him in my letter today. Maybe you felt a tinge of hope as you were reading, something that said this is right, love is bigger than hate, mercy wins over judgment, that you are the Beloved. If you heard those whispers, please believe me, that is the voice, THE VOICE, you've been longing for your whole life. Believe it! It's too good not to be true:)

Peace (truly),
Stan