Ecumenical

This word was in my dreams last night for the whole night. When I finally woke up, it was all I could think about. I wasn't even sure what it meant, until I looked it up in the dictionary just now.

ecumenical |ˌekyəˈmenikəl| adjective representing a number of different Christian churches See note at universal . • promoting or relating to unity among the world's Christian churches : ecumenical dialogue.

The word combination ecumenical grace. I could see the word imprinted on the air. I have no idea why I would wake up this dream. It very well may be meaningless, I don't know. Maybe Geoff mentioned it in a conversation, or one of the sermons I was listening to last night had it. I'm going to go back and see if that's the case at some point today.

Mainly, I just want to make a note of it. I dream a lot.

PSA

I feel like I have to do this. It's my duty to the Public, to you.

Please go here, and make this world a better place.

Public Service Announcement 1

PSA 2

PSA 3

Thank you.

A Gift

I love movies. I love story, images, and music. I love how they blend together to make us all find a common ground. I love that there are certain strands of life that pulse through all of our veins, and I love how we connect to those strands through the interplay of light and chemicals, music and voice, cuts and scenes. It all happens in a dark room as a storyteller burrows down to a place where we feel and think. That is a gift from our Gracious God.

Unearthing The Deep Things

The other night, God gave me something remarkable--two hours of concentrated prayer. It was revelatory. Engrossing. Encompassing. He is so gracious.

He revealed something gorge deep to me that night. It goes all the way back to my childhood, something buried beneath miles of medication. I wanted my Mom to save me from all the darkness pervading our lives in the wake of my parent's divorce. Later, I wanted her to save me from junior high, and the changes into becoming a man I wasn't ready for. She never did because she never could. I've resented her for that.

When she couldn't fill the chasm, I turned to the girl I thought could be everything Mom wasn't. In our love, we would do everything right my parents did wrong. We would love each other with a pure love that would cover the cuts of the past. She would do what mom couldn't.

That didn't work either. She couldn't save me. She couldn't be my mom. Even if I wanted her to with every action or non-action I took. So many things become clear in the light of His gospel. Crystal clear. Of course we had a disastrous sex life. I'm amazed we ever had sex. And even though everyone doesn't have this exact reason for the problem, I have been shocked to learn how many married Christians have little to no sex life. I wonder how big of a secret this really is in the Bible Belt churches we live in.

Oh, God, give us the Grace to bring these things to the light. Give us the courage to be honest. Give us the heart to forgive, and not to judge. Help us.

So He reveals how my heart jumps for the next woman who might fill that gorge. He reveals that liking someone isn't bad in and of itself. He reveals my lust for satisfaction in created things, for hope in creation rather than creator. Oh, how my heart jumps! I need Grace to put my hope in Him, and not people. Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his strength. (Jeremiah 17:5) He reveals that I need more of Him. He cuts open the scabs on my relationship with Mom, and lets me bleed to heal. He so tenderly reveals that it's not fixed. It's not fixed. Not yet. It's going to be a struggle against my flesh. But it's in the light now. It's in the open where all may see, and where in Grace, Love, and Hope healing comes.

Most of all, He reveals the most beautiful news of all: I am totally depraved, wicked from the inside out, and totally reliant on His love and mercy. And He gives it! Oh, how he gives it! Not because of anything we do, but because He wants to. What grace this is that we live in brothers and sisters. What overwhelming grace.

In Tune

I was reading over notes about the Holy Spirit just now. There is a particular note in the margin Geoff made that I keep reading again. Every time I read it after a break, I read this:

"You are most in tune w/God's particular will when you are most obedient to it."

Haha. Now that's not what it says. The section of notes is about the Illuminating Work of the Spirit. It is talking about the three aspects of the will of God:

Sovereign (Ephesians 1:11)
-Will by which God accomplishes all that He foreordained before the foundations of the Earth
Moral (Preceptive/Revealed)-Am I being faithful?
-Knowing what pleases him-living a life of holiness-Ephesians 5:17
Particular (Individual) -Where will I be most fruitful?
-The context and way we serve Him-a personal word from God
-Consider Biblical examples:
-Provision of Isaac's wife (Genesis 24)
-Peter's call to suffer (John 21)
-Paul's trip to Macedonia (Acts 16)
-The endowment of spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12)

It's on the margin of this section I always read Geoff's note. In the other margin he has:

"Moral>Particular Not the other way around."

My whole life I've had problems with this. I cogitate over the particulars of God's will for me all day, and spend minutes on knowing what pleases him. Oh, boy, I need Grace to know more of him. Oh, for Grace to know him more.

So, I don't think it's coincidence that I read Geoff's note wrong. Not at all.

This is what Geoff's note actually reads:

"You are most in tune with God's particular will when you are most obedient to His moral will."

Oh for Grace, oh for Grace to know him more.