Going Deeper

Today in my mind God's been fueling a reoccuring theme of going deeper. A call to live in this community of Christ followers is so much more than just taking on the Christian title. It's a truth that's deeply rooted in out hearts and calls us to humble ourselves, to love others, to be gracious, to be a community defined by the lives we live in pursuit of God and not defined by a meer title.

That's what going deeper means to me.

bearing with one another

I haven't posted in such a long time! God's just been throwing new lessons at me left and right. But here I am now to write once more. 

So I'm taking this class called Social Inequalities: Race, Class, and Gender and it’s the best ever. I LOVE that class because I’m beginning to see more and more where God and my life meet. Sometimes God seems so far removed from our lives that we wouldn’t know how to incorporate Him even if we tried. But this class whether we’re talking about God or not forces me to see things through a “God-lens”, if you will.

We look at where humanity is and form opinions about what’s going on as far as inequalities go and something I was struck with is the fact that we live in a fallen world. I repeat, a FALLEN world. Which is to that this world in a continual state of entropy, it is constantly falling apart and people are constantly and actively turning their backs to God. But don’t become passive towards this reality so quickly, God Himself knows that our world is fallen, this is a fact He’s made known to us by His Spirit. This isn’t news to Him and yet, He still calls us to be ambassadors, He does not snatch us from the clutches of this world but calls us to bear with one another, because He knows this world is tough.

But back to this class. One day we were talking about one of the hugest, most blatantly racist mistakes I’ve ever heard of, but kept a secret from the general public. Well the cat’s out of the bag now, but people still don’t really know much about the Tuskegee Syphilis experiments (you should look them up if you’re interested in that). But what was most disheartening was when one student in my class raised their hand and said this, “Well, we live in a fallen world and we can’t expect perfection from the government… unless we’re being lead by perfect Christians and I don’t even think that’s possible.” Well, she’s not wrong, she’s exactly right, our world is fallen so to think we’re going to get perfection from our government leaders is insanity. But I think what that statement lacks is a sense of sensitivity and compassion for other people. There are people starving in other countries, do we just tell them, “Sorry, someone’s got to be at the bottom. Our world is fallen, you know.” NO! If that was the case, God would have left us a long time ago. As soon as the Fall happened God would have peaced out.

So this is where my title comes in, bearing with one another (Ephesians 4:2). This passage specifically is referring to the Church and how the Church should relate to and view one another. But Jesus Himself showed understanding and compassion for those who were on the “outside” of this church-body. Yes we can recognize that the world is fallen, that it’s never going to be perfect until the Kingdom of Heaven has (in its fullness) arrived on earth. BUT, do not become distracted by this, continue to pursue and love with compassion all of those around you. God knew this world would be tough which is why we are called to bear with one another. Do no become complacent to the point where you’ve lost hope, there IS hope and His name is Jesus Christ. Don’t expect perfection from the world, but burn with the desire for God to make all things new and crave justice, because the God we serve is abundantly just.

With Love,

Alysha 

Surrender

Tonight as I was in chapel, I looked around me and noticed the sea of hands floating in the air in response to what worship song was playing and I began to do the same, but quickly pulled my hands back down, feeling slightly awkward in this position. But why? Maybe, I'm made uncomfortable by surrender...

This is straight from the journal entry I wrote as I was in chapel:

"Surrender, it's a funny thing. Like most other spiritual disciplines, as soon you feel you've attained it, it slips right through your fingers like water. Surrender is a well you dip your hands into and you cup your hands to drink from and as you think you've got it under control, but you look down to find your hands completely dry. 

I find myself uncomfortable with positions of surrender, such as bowing or raising both of my hands unbridled to heaven. Because that would actually require me to let go and accept that my life is not my own."

All of that is not to say that surrender is unattainable and thus possibly bring about an attitude of hopelessness. But instead that surrender is a practice that we should recognize daily. And to tie that back to the whole point of this blog, finding our identity in Christ definitely starts with surrender and recognizing that what Christ has for us is so much more important than anything in our lives and allow Him to transform us. But at least some degree of surrender must take place before He can begin to work on us. I suppose this is a really short thought, but I just thought that was something really cool that God showed me tonight =)

Of Course,

Alysha K.

ok so what now?

It took me a while to think of something to write for my second post, because I think all of us can agree that we should find our identity in Christ. But then we're left going, "Uhm, okay? But where to NOW?" 

I think a good place to start is chasing after God's own heart. When we love God and pursue His heart, we begin to love the things that He loves and hate the things that He hates. 

I heard a great example of this this morning, one thing that God desires for us is to live in community with one another as believers. Not to just be around each other, but to love one another and live as a body of Christ. I was speaking with one of my friends from Germany and she was telling me that she went to this guy's birthday party last Saturday (I met this guy too when I was in Germany). I was amazed because he didn't seem like the type of person she would hang out with or even be friends with for that matter. So I said, "I love that all of you guys are such good friends." and we went on to talk about how I've noticed so many times in my "Christian community" we exclude people who are different from us, even if they are believers in Christ and to this my friend Melanie replied, "our same thing is that we believe in god..most other friends from school don`t do.." I was left dead in my typing. Wow. Absolutely amazing, I know that's what God wants for our community and that unity, is a light to the world in it of itself. 

People will want to be part of what we're doing when they see that genuine love that we share. These kids in Germany, will take the train for a couple hours just to go to a birthday party or some other sort of gathering just to be close to their family in Christ. How often do we do that? I mean sure we do it for our close friends, but just another member of the Body of Christ that we don't know all that well? That's definitely a rarity. And I think that is definitely a good place to start, being plugged in to this community, but not just being plugged in, but actually living in that community that Christ longs for us to be part of.

Thanks!

Alysha K.

Ps. Once again, please leave feedback, I LOVE hearing what people have to say and I know others will too.

Huh?

I'm not really sure where to begin with this idea that I have, because it's all still in the making. But here I am and here you are.

I guess I'll begin with the beginning. When I was in Germany over the summer, one of my teammates shared their testimony about how they have never felt any sort of sense of belonging within the cultures they've experienced and have no choice but to live in. But he found satisfaction in that fact that he belongs in God's Kingdom and that's where his true value and identity is discovered.

After hearing this I really started thinking more clearly about this idea, but the thoughts were dormant until within the recent days when after having my first few sessions of my Native American Literature class, have had race shoved in my face. I've always tried not to give too much credence to race because ultimately, it holds no value although people tend to act like it does. As most who know me know, I'm African-American, aka. black, but I've never been able to culturally identify myself as black because I don't fit the mold. So I've sought to find my identity elsewhere, usually in friends or just a general community. Where would I be without my Christian friends and my Christian bubble? I'm honestly not sure. But however much I try, I'm never fully satisfied there either. This is where life meets God and we realize that He is our identity.

In 1 Peter 2:9 it says, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." And this is exactly what I'm talking about! That we realize who we are in Christ and find our true value in that recognition.

Also, here's where my title comes in, yes I know in 1 Peter it says that we are to be a "race". But this race is above our own understandings of what race is in our society or at least how race is played out in the ways that we live. We hear race and everyone already has this preset of a blanket term for one nationality or another. But I would like to propose that our ideas of race be torn down to more fully welcome in the Kingdom of God. But I don't just mean race, because that's really not my focus here at all, my focus is on where we find our identity and value and learning how to refocus our focus on race or community or whatever group you belong to that you find value in and replace that idea with this, that Christ, the maker of the universe, is longing for you to rest in Him and see who you are according to Him and then to respond accordingly.

All of this to say, this is as far as I've gotten with this idea that God has shown me and I think it's important to hash through this, especially in a group to not only grow ourselves but to possibly show others something that they may have missed before or simply need to hear again. Feedback is more than encouraged but with open arms, welcomed.

thanks!
Alysha