who are You .. and who am I .. ? ? .. ?

i am noone extraordinary .. yet i am - i house the living God ..
i cannot change the world .. yet i am capable of being Jesus to my world ..
i cannot heal .. yet i can bring some life, some light where i walk ..
i cannot fix .. yet by my living i have the potential to open a door to the one who can ..
i am because of YOU
i am what i am because of YOU
i am trying to be like Jesus because of YOU


YOU are source, incomprehensible other .. yet YOU have revealed Godself ..
your ways are not our ways, your thoughts not our thoughts .. yet YOU have given us Jesus, perfect expression of Godself ..
YOU cannot abide sin - it is what you are not .. yet YOU became the release for sin, yet YOU allow your spirit to dwell in sinful temples of clay ..
YOU alone are God .. yet YOU have opened the door of your heart to me, invited me into the intimacy of Godself ..


YOU are YOU and i am i ..
yet YOU have come down to me that i may ascend into YOU
be with YOU, in YOU, even as YOU are in Godself, even as YOU are in me ..
that we may be one

i quake with wonder at the you YOU are
at the i YOU have invited me to be

kenosis .. the way of Jesus

it is in the releasing that we gain

in the self-dying that we discover life

in giving it all away that we find true value

in sharing that we are enriched

in the descent that we discover the apex


"unless a seed dies in the soil, it remains a single seed
but when it dies it produces a harvest "       (Jesus)

" unless you die to the you you think you are and esteem, you cannot be my disciple ..
die, every day
and pick up that cross, your personal deathcross, every day
and then come .. follow me "       (Jesus)


kenosis - the way of Jesus

i give up ..

" For three years running, Charleston has been dubbed the No. 1 tourist destination in America by readers of Conde Nast Traveler magazine. "

" 9 dead in shooting at black church in Charleston, S.C. "

2 recent headlines ..

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much has been said by many on this dread ' disaster '
there needs to be a lot more said
there needs to be a national discussion .. america has some deep cleaning to do, i think

the racial abyss still haunts this land of the free, this nation that subscribes to ' certain unalienable rights ', ' endowed by their Creator ', on ' all men ', ' created equal ' ..
created equal
by the Creator
all
each one

and that, i think, most evident in this ' Christ-haunted South ', to quote a wiseperson


IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
..
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

`|`

that issue is better handled by the experts and the commenters and the opinionated

my ' issue ' is life
human life
the life that falls into the ' created equal ' slot
as in " let us create humans - in our image, after our likeness " (Genesis 1)

thing is, every human bears the image of God
we are icons

that's where i want to begin on any think along these lines
human life is valuable
it is more valuable than any other form of life as we know it
each human life is that valuable

each human bears the image of God

the muslim life (good place to start)
the aborted life
the in-poverty life
the refugee life
the aryan life
the gay life
the innuit
the enslaved
the homeless
the jew
the black
the prostitute
the addicted
the transgender
the you-insert-here life

`|`

once i settle my mind in that crucible, with that as my substantial ground, i can move out and on

`|`

one of the core issues for me is balance ..

right now the pendulum swings hard to the left
where the horrors of rapacious attitudes and wealthlust activities have left us a planet hard and dry and in decay, dying an accelerating death from the abuse at the hands of us humans ..
and we are progressively horrified at that atrocity
that's a good thing
we so need to tourniquet the bleeding-out, now .. now
reduce the acceleration, urgently

my fear is that we comparatively undermine the value of human life in our angst against such human greed and malicious behaviour
our response to injustice and inequality, unfortunately, often leads to overdo; we swing too far, in this case, dogs and elephants and whales and rhinos and bald eagles and .. end up leading us down a path that comparatively denigrates human life

we need balance, but human life always and ever takes priority

that's the crucible

`|`

when i deny, openly or hiddenly, the inestimable value of another human or another humangroup, i deny me
i deny me as a person, for i am genetically connected at an extremely high level to every other human ..
do your scientific research
read your bible
there is a 99+% sameness between one human and every other human

i deny who i am
i also
deny God

for i am Godimage
you are Godimage

that's the reason God said not to create images to worship
when we do, we undermine the Godimages we are

`|`

the differences in skin colour between humans is a minuscule matter
we, in our pridepower desire for domination of others and other things, whether human or animal or plant, have severely exaggerated those skincolour differences, ranked and rated, exalted and humiliated

we did that
we do that

and yet, somehow .. we deny it

we immediately classify people based on skin colour .. on first look, right off the bat
there is something evil in that
polished, manicured, it has even been a mark of sophistication and nobility
but it is evil regardless

`|`

the response from the injured Charleston community is overwhelmingly ' life '
and that gladdens my heart

i am so very relieved and buoyed by that, particularly in the racial divide that lies in the wake of the numerous white-on-black killings in recent years - broadened racial divide, us immediately running to defense postures, and rationalizing
when what is desperately needed is reconciliation
plain and simple unadorned unpolished unrationalized recolciliation
where we acknowledge the arrogant atrocities against people of colour across the globe, but more pointedly in this nation of freedpeople, including the firsthere redskin (who, by the way, has a much greater appreciation for the sanctity of planetlife as a whole, in stark contrast to the white christianized approach that has laid the world waste, including its oceans and skies)

what is needed so very much in these last days is love
love for humanity
for that group of humans
for that human right there, across the street from me

and that love must begin with me

it must

there is no other place to begin

`|`

we kill people all the time

we kill them with snide remarks and dirty looks and down-the-nose arrogance and quips about getting-a-job or taking-a-bath

we kill our neighbours with our chatter and gossip and badmouthing
we kill our family with despite and contempt
we kill people with our badmindedness and wicked evil intent every day ..

and we don't use guns to do that
we kill them dead in our heart
where Jesus said the real evil is done

`|`

when we run to defending gun rights, we fail
when we run to just war, we fail
when we run to preemptive killing, we fail
when we run to guns in the sanctuary, we fail

we fail because Jesus despised the shame of the cross he was killed on, and he despised the murderous intent that laid him out on that cross
we fail because, of all the people that ever lived, he, creator become human-like-me, deserved that cross the least, that man who never sinned once
we fail because the purest-ever specimen of humanity volunteered his life in place of mine
we fail because every ounce of Jesus' blood bled for human life, each human life
we fail because all he ever did here was restore life, enhance life, hold-up life over against death and destruction, every time, regardless of the perpetrator
we fail
admit it

'cause if i got mouth enough to say i follow that man, and yet i strap on a gun ..
then i need to man-up, and do
as in put-up or shut-up

love, true love, the love of God, is demonstrated in this .. that Jesus Christ lay down his very life for mine
not because i'm good or i deserve life or merit pardon or saved another life
but because i am a human being, and God will not ever abandon humanity, not even one single human created in God's own image and likeness

`|`

you can spin that, i guess
add some bible verses
get some ammunition from one theologian or another ..

but my itsybitsy forwhateveritsworth take on it comes from a Man who said to me "follow me" ..
a Man that spoke the gospel and lived the gospel
that i read of in the Gospels
i'll go his way, i think
and i really don't care much for your opinion on just warfare or killing in self defense or in defense of your family and friends and neighbours ..
i hear that, i get that
actually, that reverberates with me - that is my natural leaning, my tendency
but i learned that God's way is quite different to my way
and i decided that since God is god, and i'm whatever i am, i yield
simple
i yield
i give up, give in, give over myself
.. lock stock and barrel

i will not take another human life, God helping me
i will not
i will not
God helping me
at whatever cost
whatever

i cannot

i know i sit here free and at liberty and say that
i understand that

but i cannot

Jesus won't let me
he said i'm to love my enemy

i am to love my enemy
i'm not sure i know how to do that
but i have to

`|`

my goal in life is kenosis, self-emptying, like Jesus
i want to kill me, not anyone else
i want Jesus to be me
i want to be Jesus


" unless you deny who you are in your mind, who you pretend to be, who you think you are, and pick up that cross of crucifixion that was cut and shaped just for you .. you cannot follow me .. "
Jesus said that
and i'm with him
regardless of whoever else is or ain't

i am right there ..

i can't explain or defend or decry to anyone's satisfaction i'm sure
but i know this
that Man said to follow him, and i, with all my heart, am trying the best i can ..
even to laying down my life
so help me God

i can do no less than this

thank God! ..

".. the early church was an experiment in socialism."
that said from a pulpit in the heart of capitalist, southern, america

the liquidating and sharing in the early (as per Acts) church, such that no one within the church community had lack of anything they were in need of, was a " cultural component of a community living outside its culture " .. a massively different counter-cultural perspective from today
that said from a pulpit in the heart of 'christian' america

".. the Christ-haunted south .. "
that said from a pulpit smack in the buckle of the bible-belt south in america


radical
ballsy
truth
so so needed in a world where we treat our puppy better than we do our ' neighbour ' ..
our jewish asian black buddhist mexican muslim homeless poor hippy lgbt moonshinin' tree-hugging yankee rebel jobless gun-totin' sutherner slave-labourer addicted neighbour ..

praise the God who created humanity as a whole in the image of Godself for such a sermon in such a place on this good day ..


peace to you

all ..

" if you want to follow me you must hate everyone .. father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children .. even your own selflife " ..
Jesus

hyperbole
even so, the inference is  .. rather shoocking, unnatural .. standing there telling me to diss' everyone else and follow him ??

he obviously knew what he was saying, why he said it ..

`|`

perhaps if we understood that, in the context of who this was saying this stuff, where he'd come from, the unthinkable incarnation into finite (think trying to bottle a star or a galaxy; that might get our mind headed in the direction), the road ahead for him .. the whole cosmic-scale breadth of what this one human was about ..
then maybe his words might not seem so harsh ..

`|`

when we follow Jesus under the weight of our cross, the implications are cosmic, literally - everything else pales, everyone else .. my own life pales

`|`

so while there's the embracing-in-love of people (magnified in family), there's also the perspective, the understanding that this man rightfully demands everything of me ..
.. deserves

everything else is secondary


peace

disciple .. it's more than tagging along .. .

we thought christianity was something we subscribe to
like the morning paper or a political party
we may even argue for our party, fight for our football team
wear all the stuff with their logos and tags ..

but disciple isn't anything like that at all
disciple is who you are, not what you are
there's a difference
the one is a tag, an association, a label we proudly wear
the other - well, when you're cut open and your heart sliced-through, you bleed Jesus ..
that's the colour of your blood, the context of your mind, the more-than-anything identifying marker that courses through you like .. your genes
when your dna is coded it comes out Jesus

`|`

it stands to our shame that what we christians know about the christian scriptures is so paltry it amounts to virtually nothing .. almost nothing
that is so sad ..
most christians have no first-hand knowledge or experience in the scriptures they claim as their own
they hardly know what's in there, and what they know they borrowed
it's a derivative knowledge
heady stuff

we 'believe' the scriptures to be revelations of the God we claim
inspired by the spirit of God
given for our knowledge of who God is and what God likes and dislikes
as our example, our instruction in the ways of God, particularly revealing the person of Jesus, the perfect revelation of God
.. that person we say we 'follow'
the person we supposedly want to be just like
the person we will each meet one good day
in person

right ? ..

it's astounding then how little we know
while we can relate intricate details of this or that tv series or video game or nba team ..
just sayin' ..

doesn't that make us feel like .. shame ?
shamed

it does me ..

`|`

thing is this
what does that say about how much we care ??? ..

how much do we care ?

'cause check this ..
its not those who know, but those who do that are acceptable in God's sight
it's not those that profess, but those that manifest Jesus in their living
it's not an-hour-a-sunday subscription, it's a living as-you-go on-going walking in the light, as He is in the light
it's not cross-tattoos and fish t-shirts and church bumper stickers, but the word of the living God inscribed on our heart
moving us
motivating us
engaging us
calling us
counseling us
breaking us down
building us up
changing us from inside, and burning through our skin to erupt on the outside as we speak and listen and look and touch and relate to the world in which we live ..
energized and illuminated by the spirit of the God that had those scriptures penned
for us
for me

`|`

further to that we have converted the living word of God (Heb 4:12,13) that inspires a christianity concerning a life of Christ, about Jesus, for Jesus, in Christ
into subscription to a set of beliefs and doctrines, a veritable checklist of identifying "know's" which mark us as christian vs jew vs muslim vs hindu vs ..
in vs out
us vs them
and that particularly in evangelicalism, more particularly in conservative evangelicalism, perhaps most particularly in fundamental evangelicalism ..

cognition as opposed to recognition
knowing as opposed to experiencing
lists instead of life
do in the place of be

christianity is existential
it transforms us progressively into the image of the Son
it converts us from one person into another person
it translates our relation with the world into a vital connection through Jesus, where love filters everything
it re-creates us
we are a new creation (2Corinthians 5:17)

`|`

there's something drastically wrong with someone who claims to 'be' christian, yet knows almost nothing about the christian scriptures
and want to convert other people to a christianity they have not experienced in the depths of who they are
dreadfully wrong

`|`

how we spend our time
what we devote our energy to
what runs through our minds
who we think about
what come out of our hearts and pops up in our minds
defines us
it so does
that absolutely is who we are
think about that

who are we in there ?

`|`

All Scripture is inspired by God, and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
(2Timothy 3:16,17)

`|`

so then ..
let us commit to it ..
not like a new year's resolution commit, or a lose-weight thing
but a commit that emanates from inside, deep in the womb, fed by the umbilical cord
our GodMother nourishing us with strengthening energizing food
the word of God
the bread of God
feed on it
don't be satisified with regurgitated food
get it fresh direct from God's pasture
watered by the spirit of the living God

breathed to you
in you

do it

do it ..

peace ..