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