From Heather

Heather put this as a comment under “Journey with Jesus #3.” It’s repeated here as her first blog.

I'm finally overcoming my technical handicaps and getting connected to the web...my first blog! Thank you Tony and Linda for your commitment to finding and loving Jesus in the world, in the chaotic abyss of our lives. You make the bible passages come alive by peeling away the layers of culture and religion to find the Living Christ within me and within all creation, all people! It seems a better word for 'sin' is 'violence' and a better word for 'God' is 'love 'or 'light' and a better word for 'christian' is 'follower-of-Jesus-in-the-abyss'. Talking about Jesus (outside of our bible study) is hard for me because the language is covered in all these meanings and associations that are not alive! There are a lot folks thinking they have the last word or they think they know everything there is to know about Him. Jesus is boxed in like His life and breath are being restrained. That's why I so appreciate wood hath hope and our small community. There is a space to talk about the wounds I've suffered from other Christians, the wounds the world and Jesus suffers from other Christians,for example. I feel I've been able to truly meet Jesus or come closer than I ever have before. I need and want community to share in the love and forgiveness of Jesus. I need the freedom to explore and discover what is He doing? What is He about? It makes sense to me when you say that looking to the heavens for a violent divine intervention to save us from our enemies is just projecting our own violence onto God and that a new creation comes from getting in the abyss/chaos and dealing with it. That seems the more difficult thing because we have to go within and face ourselves. How do I deal with it? How do I deal with my own hatred and violence? How do we heal our broken world, our broken hearts, broken bodies, broken relationships? Definitely not with more of the same old same! Jesus is bringing something totally new to us. I pray that I could get out of His way and allow Him full reign but here's the tricky part. I'm so wrapped up in all the chaos and violence that I need to be quiet. I need to be still and empty myself like the contemplatives do. I need to wait and watch for Him. I want to practice being very close to Him as much as I can because I'm habitually forgetful of His life-giving presence. I forget all the time how He poured Himself out in love on the cross and dealt with this core human problem once and for all. What's left is to remember, to practice remembering in my everyday life, moment to moment, breath to breath. I'm happy to be practicing this together with you all. thank you and I love you!
March 31, 2009 8:43 AM