a beautiful mess

as if i didn’t use enough words the first time…

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POST-SCRIPT ;]

this is an intimate and exploded view of my thought/heart processes:

i saw– reminiscent of isaiah’s ‘vision’ in chapter six and the source of divinity therein. also, i think of yeshua looking upon the crowds and being moved to gut-level compassion…

wounded healers and generous thieves — characteristic of a community who is moving deeper into community and therefore becoming communitas; also embracing the hope that those yet to be reborn are being drawn to and met by the community, thus becoming a gathering of some who worship GOD and some who doubt (mt 28.17).

serving and loving their neighbors well; — we’re serving all with humility and equality (jn 13) and we will be known by our love (jn 13.35) – tangibly so because our faith is a verb (!*) therefore, our good works (eph 2.10) will be fleshed out as we serve and love.

where we are literally becoming GOD’s will being done on earth– maybe this language sounds a bit odd to most readers, but think of it like so: we often pray, “may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” and rightly so, but we understand that to begin with us – therefore, i see a community who is literally becoming GOD’s WILL in action – being done – fleshed out. this is also known as, being the body.

as we are forgiving completely, this is the first summation of three parables as used by yeshua to describe what the kingdom of heaven is like – as found in matthew 13 – the wheat and the weeds. we are to aphete/forgive/allow/let. and the word ‘completely’ is actually a reference to the mt 18.21 passage about forgiving “seven times seventy”, but the idea is not a numerical formula: rather, it is symbolic of a whole and complete forgiveness.

living vulnerably, also from mt. 13, the parable of the mustard seed which completely upends the ways of the kingdoms of this world: where the field is the world, and the seed, which is the agent of transformation, dies into the field! what’s more, is that the purpose is to bear fruit in such a way where all benefit; where all find a home in the kingdom, because of our vulnerability.

and seeking to ruin every one and every thing for anyone other than YHWH.– the idea behind the third parable in that mt 13 triplet, the yeast hidden/concealed in the dough: it was understood that even the tiniest amount of yeast/leaven would absolutely ruin an entire batch of dough – and yet, here we find yeshua making it a primary descriptor for what the kingdom of heaven is like! we are to be about corrupting the corruption: being ministers of reconciliation: ruining every THING and every ONE (institutions and forests and peoples and hearts ad infinitum) for anyone other than YHWH: where everything either finds it’s purpose or finds it’s home in being reconciled to/used by the one true and only living god.

behold, even the very skyline of !@#$%^&* is becoming new! — i think this rides on the heels, obviously, of the previous thought, but with a heightened reminder that, just like the walls of a canyon are made and remade by the wind and water cutting back and forth, so it will be within a city where the kingdom of heaven is advancing: even the very geological landscape, the landmarks, the street signs, the bookstores, the coffee shops, the parks – everything will change: everything must change under the weight of such glory. and i see that happening!

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by following hard after and falling madly in love with yeshua.– suffice it to say, this isn’t an all-inclusive, paid trip to some remote island, complete with daily spa and massages, and an island-wide david crowder*band concert every single night and live tapings of wipeout every morning with the afternoons free to just chill. you know, this is not the end-all statement about HOW-TO. but i think it is the one vital element in how to become.

obviously, it presupposes that we believe yeshua to be who he says he is: the son of GOD. the son of man (bar nasha). the messiah. the christ. the annointed one. the king of kings of kings.

furthermore, it finds it’s base in this truth: that yeshua did only what he saw the father doing.

even more so, we know that he did those very things by living dependently upon the spirit.

there’s a lot in between that this statement carries…but let’s just skip to the end with this epic bombshell: in him (yeshua) we live and move and have our being (acts 17.28). and in him (yeshua, the christ) all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form (colossians 2.9)! and dare we remember, that will do even greater things that he!?

need i say more?