JR. Forasteros - March 11, 2018
For Goodness Snakes
What is the goal of faith? Is it safety? Is it a sense of control? Prestige and position? These were in Nicodemus’ mind when he sought out Jesus. But Jesus’ words to him are confounding: Jesus will become a snake, lifted up for the world to see. How does this image challenge our ideas of who God is and what God wants from us? How can Jesus-the-snake invite us to become more loving, more present in our world?
From Series: "The Devil in the Details"
Ever feel like life is a blur? A constant flurry of obligations and activities and commitments? We keep ourselves so busy we don't have time to listen for the still, small voice of God calling us. Lent is a chance to slow down, to attend to all the little things that become habits that separate us from God.
More From "The Devil in the Details"
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Today’s about Ghost stories. Though they appear in many forms, the quintessential ghost story involves the spirit of a dead person who’s stayed around (usually a haunted house) because they have unfinished business. Maybe they have to deliver a message or ensure proper burial or get revenge. Whatever the case, once their business is complete, they leave into the afterlife.
Unlike our previous two monsters, today we’re not ghosts. Rather, to quote Peter Rollins,
We are the haunted houses. — Peter Rollins
We move through life collecting hurts, wounds and scars, evidence of pain inflicted on us by other people. Some may be slight, exaggerated in our heads – maybe someone who cuts us off or says something cruel or who causes us harm by accident. Others could be huge, life-altering. A spouse who left. An abuser. And there’s a whole range of hurts between.
Whatever their source, however legitimate or not, these people, these hurts don’t just exit our lives.
We carry them around with us, in our heads and in our souls. They haunt us, returning again and again out of the ether to drag us through the past, to relive history, to reopen old wounds.
The problem is we don’t know what these ghosts want. We don’t know how to resolve their business and get them to leave us. We can’t escape their haunting – especially if the person who hurt you is still a part of your life.
