Welcome

In this new year, I need to do more writing...every day. So I thought this blog might be a place to start. Not that all my thoughts are worth preserving...but it helps me to get things down on paper/cyberspace????

Been reading/re-reading Arnold Fruchtenbaum's book Footsteps of the Messiah. I hear it is out in a newer edition than I have, with some 400 pages. Go Arnold!! ( I knew him and his wife in college). Anyway, I have been studying the Shechinah Glory in Scripture. The Shechinah Glory is the manifest presence of God which has historically taken a number of forms, but is "in this last day" revealed most fully in the person of Jesus Christ, the God-Man.

" Going through a long line of prophets, God has been addressing our ancestors in different ways for centuries. Recently he spoke to us directly through his Son. By his Son, God created the world in the in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God's nature. He holds everything together by what he says----powerful words!" (Hebrews 1:1-2 THE MESSAGE).

The Shechinah Glory has been an important concept since the founding of Sojourners Community. Our key or foundational passage comes from 2 Cor. 3-4 where the Shechinah Glory is the focus...the source of our transformation as we behold it in the face of Christ. His glory is what transforms us as we see HIM. Turning again and again to him is what takes the veil away. And we do not have to worry that the glory will fade, for the Spirit is within us...never to leave us or depart from us.

If the main point of life is to recieve his love and light, and let it transform us and flow out of us, then it is all rather simple. IN and OUT....with him as our source. What is my quest? my passion? my goal? Each day may be our last...we do not know if or when our world will blow up into a nuclear war. Each moment is the only moment I have. I want to live it openly and flowing in the Spirit of Christ Jesus. I want to receive his love and let it flow out of me. The world tells us to be in control, to be independent, and to be productive. Yet Jesus says "Without me, you can do nothing..." or " Today has enough trouble of its own. Don't worry about tomorrow."

I have felt discouraged since the election in that I believe we have lost our democracy. I wondered if it is worth it to fight in the political arena any more as Christ followers. Not that I would not vote, or write my congressman or senator, but I have lost hope that anything we do can ultimately stop the ship from sinking. A man on the radio today said he flies the flag upside down (an international sign of distress) as a symbol of how he is feeling about the state of our nation. It is clear to me that we cannot count on the USA to be of any use or protection to us as Christ followers any longer. Today on the radio show, Glenn Beck played the song "The Impossible Dream" from Man from La Mancha, as sung by Frank Sinatra. Wow. Talk about inspiration:
"I will dream the impossible dream; I will fight the unbeatable foe; I will reach when my arms are too weary; I will run where the brave dare not go; I will dream the impossible dream; I will fight for the right without reason or pause, I will walk into hell for a heavenly cause; And I know, that the world will be better for this, that one man, bowed and covered with scars, should fightwith his last ounce of courage, to dream the impossible dream...." ( I know I did not get all the words right...but it is close...). Our dream is NOT impossible ultimately, because it depends on Jesus, the Shechinah Glory Himself, not on us. We have hope, not in political powers, or even in fighting for the best or the good, but in HIM who is the Light of the World. It is honorable to fight for the right, for the good, for the truth even if we do not succeed in this present darkness. For we are keeping our eyes fastened on Jesus...the author and finisher of our faith...who for the joy set ahead of him (even our salvation) endured the Cross. Alleluia. Shaloam.
Dr. Meg