JR. Forasteros - December 13, 2020
Singing Loud for All to Hear
As we decorate our homes and shop for gifts, it's easy to forget that Christmas is about peace on Earth and goodwill for everyone. The work of justice can be hard - and believe it or not, sometimes the bravest thing we can do is celebrate loud and proud. Because we know how the story ends!
From Series: "Christmas at the Crossroads"
2020 has been a year of a lot of changes. How can we navigate change well? How can we be prepared for a future that hasn't manifest yet? This Advent season, we're exploring how God's people prepared for the unexpected arrival of Jesus - and how that can help us prepare for what's ahead of us!
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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.
