Human Hesedness

 Hesed, חֶסֶד

We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. 

First we were loved, now we love. 

He loved us first.  

I John 4:19, The Message

• What does it mean to live every moment knowing first hand, experientially, that one is totally accepted, completely and unconditionally loved?  
• What is it like to experience undeserved kindness? 
• What is it like to be loved, even when I have failed, feel like a failure, and feel like everyone else seems to find me unloveable? 
• What is it like to be loved even when others have rejected me? 
• What is it like to have someone else simply enjoy me for me? 

These experiences of love and kindness are all too often uncommon experiences in our family relationships.  Most of us "perform" to get acceptance and love, and most of us give our approval and love to our loved ones by expressing "how proud we are of them" for their actions, for their successes.

Being loved unreservedly simply because we are is a life-altering experience.

Choosing to accept that love is even more transformational.  

Men and women who love like this are conduits of God's unconditional love and kindness.  In the Old Testament, His love is described with the word, "Hesed." It is found over 245 times and most often refers to God's unconditional loving kindness. This word is only found in Hebrew. There are no "cognates" in neighboring languages. In other words, no other god is described with lovingkindness.  He alone is a unique God above all gods.

Hesed  also has no exact English translation equivalent and is best explained through four related concepts: (1)

"First, hesed is benevolence toward another without prior obligation for demonstrating this act of kindness but within the context of some existing relationship.  Hesed begins with pure compassion within some already existing connection.  It might be bloodline, treaty, nation, tribe, group affiliation or any number of connections, but there must be some relationship between the parties. 

Secondly, once I experience hesed, it creates reciprocity.  When someone shows hesed toward me, I am then obligated to show it to him.

Third, hesed requires extension.  If I experience hesed, I am expected to pass it on to someone else.  I am expected to extend this experience toward another, not just respond to the person who started the chain.

Finally, it is obvious that hesed cannot be isolated to the individual.  Everything about hesed is relational. Hesed does not exist without community."

As Skip Moen also wrote, 

Hesed is experiencing the result of acting as God acts with regard to others, His creation and Him.   Love is a verb, a way of being in the world that fully embraces who we are together under the sovereign blessing of our Creator.

There is no biblical debate whatsoever that God is love. The only real question is whether or not we express the same quality...John equates our loving with knowing God’s love. It is fundamentally about others, not ourselves. According to John, if you can’t express benevolent compassion, trustworthy reciprocity and extended selflessness toward others, then you don’t know God’s love either."

Being loved by Neal has been and continues to be an experience of God's hesedness through Neal's hesedness towards me. Just as we love because He first loved us, so does Neal love well because of Christ's love for him and in him. 

The New Testament "mirror" reflecting that love in our human relationships is I Corinthians 13, where agape love is described. Agape is the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew Hesed.

• Commitment
• Loyalty
• Kindness
• Faithfulness
• Patience
• Reliable
• Humble
• Durable

God demonstrates these loving characteristics thoroughly to me through Neal. How grateful I am that God preserved our lives through so many dangerous years and we are enjoying middle age together!

Indulge me for sharing this on our wedding anniversary today. Words cannot express how grateful I am for how Neal has demonstrated God's hesedness towards me these past 20 years.

Emotionally Yours, Bob Dylan

The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 

1 John 4:8 

Let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, 

that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; 

for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord. 

Jeremiah 9:24

(1) Applied Hesedness

Spiritual Nobility

Christian persecution and genocide is worse now than it has ever been in history. Christians in Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Pakistan, North Korea, Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Iran, Egypt, and many other countries, are regularly imprisoned, tortured, beaten, raped, and martyred. Their churches are destroyed. Their houses burned. They meet and worship in secret, risking their lives in the process. They live every moment in constant danger.

About 215 million Christians face what is called “extreme persecution” for their faith. It’s estimated that around a million have been slaughtered since 2005. There is no way to know exactly how many. What we do know is that Christianity has been dramatically reduced in parts of the world where it had existed for nearly 2,000 years.(1)

To remain silent on the plight of the suffering Church around the world is blasphemous.(2)   Just as we (the Church) were silent for hundreds of years on slavery, as we were silent on the Holocaust unfolding in Germany, we seem to be collectively silent on the globally persecuted Church, especially when it is denominations not associated with ours.  

"Anti Semitism is Anti-Christianity, and Anti-Christianity is Anti-Semitism." (3) I would venture to add to Susanna's statement that "Anti-Any Christian group" is Anti-ALL Christians." 

Christians who have "siloed up" (Retreated to a defensive posture) are called to come to the spiritual awareness that we cannot do it alone, and we would be better equipped to join forces with all those who believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the only Savior of the world.

This broadens our ranks significantly, to include groups within the universal Catholic church including but not limited to all sub-groups within Protestantism, Coptics, 7th Day Adventists, the Catholic, Eastern Church, and more.

Do we agree on all issues, including baptism? Of course not.

But every issue of theological conflict is addressed by Jesus, Paul, Peter or John in the New Testament. The thief on the cross was not baptized but Jesus said he would receive him in Heaven.  

When facing the point of the gun for the sake of Jesus Christ, many theological issues that divide us on Sunday mornings are no longer relevant.

Has the consciousness of the Church become a stone-cold fossil?

Is mercy and compassion gone? 

Our inability to even care to be aware of the plight of brothers and sisters denied basic human rights and freedom to worship Christ says much more about our view of God and ourselves than it does about them.

To see these Christians who would rather be shot dead in the desert than renounce their faith is to see our own faith as a shabby, pitiful, hollow imitation...Christians in the East forfeit their lives rather than forfeit their souls, and we forfeit our souls even though we could quite easily retain both.(4)

Who might we become?  Here are some beginning thoughts on

Characteristics of Spiritually Noble People: 

1. They have moral grandeur, and are not morally cowardly. They are morally complex, understanding that very few issues are simple. Very little is "black and white."  They do not give simple answers to complex problems. But even more significantly, they discern the meaning behind historical events and the future spiritual and moral implications of what is said and done today. They are able to see within the events of history from an individual, family, community, national, and global perspective. They are not xenophobic, isolationists, or overly nationalistic. Every human is loved by God and reveals His reflection in some way.

2. Richness of Inner Lives - they are increasingly integrated and whole human beings. They demonstrate the pearl of the Kingdom of Heaven reactively, naturally, even when under extreme duress (See Amy Carmichael's If: When Do I Know of Calvary Love).  They can laugh at themselves, demonstrating an incredibly rich perspective of God's view of themselves and others. Most all people from all cultures are drawn to these types of people, because grace and humor exudes from every pore. They have an openness and transparency to their own brokenness and giftedness.

3. Kind - they are kind to all people, even those who are unkind and demeaning back; they are kind to those who are condescending in return. They know what "Tough Kindness" is as well. 

4. Open to Mystery - Not reductionistic. Faith, piety, belief, even truth are not reduced to psychological are philosophical terms. They can hold in tension what is known and what is not possible to know, and to discern the spiritual reality operating behind the physical world and experience.

5. Empathy with God's Heart - they understand the Divine Pathos (emotion), and their relationship with God is dynamic and growing. They are open to new spiritual thoughts, and recognize their own cultural theology that is holding them back from fuller transformation in relationship with the Trinity.

6. Empathy with Others - They realize that pity and sympathy are condescending. Empathy is being able to enter into another's world, often through the use of imaginative mentalization. This includes being able to see the intentions and heart of others, even when not agreeing with everything.

6. Emotionally Complex - They can feel two opposite feelings at the same time and not be destroyed. They know what it is to feel a broad range of emotions and the meanings of those emotions.They can hold in tension two extremes, even internally. 

7. Humble - They are restrained in mercy and power. They have the ability to identify and name their expectations of self, others, and God, and their own unmet expectations of self, others, and God.


(1) Christians In The East Lose Their Lives, But Christians In The West Are Losing Their Souls, Matt Walsh
(2) Paraphrasing Susanna Heschel in the forward to Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity by Abraham Heschel"
(3) Ibid, Kindle Location 208
(4) Ibid, #1, Matt Walsh

Twenty Years in the Other Direction = 40

Missed weddings
Missed births.
Missed baby dedications.
Missed graduations.
Missed Christmases, Easters, Mother's Days. 
Missed deaths.
Missed funerals.  I learned a friend died...a year after his death. I grieved alone.

There is a price we all pay for a lifetime call to overseas missions.  
People back home went 20 years one direction; We went 20 years in the other.

Culture, Theology, Philosophy, Foods, Clothing, Modesty, Music, Time Management, Language, Values, Politics, Health, History, Boundaries, Music, Cooking, Lifestyle...Richly influenced by other cultures, ways of living, ways of viewing the world, forty years now separate us.

Home. Where is it?  

My idioms are all messed up in English now.

It is only when we step outside of our culture, and begin to learn to see through another's eyes, that we can better "see" our own. Many cultures view themselves as superior, and many nations engage in nationalistic idolatry - binding together one particular political view point or party with "God's way."

This is not new, of course. "As it was in the age of the prophets, so it is in nearly every age; we all go mad, not only individually, but also nationally." (1) 

As we begin to understand how we've changed, we recognize what a blessing it is to see from multiple perspectives, to understand our home culture with increased dispassion, and to share the significance of those differences with others. 

"All the churches of Jesus Christ, scattered in diverse cultures, have been redeemed for God by the blood of the Lamb to form one multicultural community of faith.  The ‘blood’ that binds them as brothers and sisters is more precious than the ‘blood,’ the language, the customs, political allegiances, or economic interests that may separate them.  We reject the false doctrine, as though a church should place allegiance to the culture it inhabits and the nation to which it belongs above the commitment to brothers and sisters from other cultures and nations, servants of the one Jesus Christ, their common Lord, and members of God’s new community.” (2)

(1) Heschel, The Prophets
(2) Miroslav Volf, Christian Cultural Identity

Going Into the Valley of the Shadow of Death

Beloved, our Cause is a worthy and noble one, for we serve the King of Kings.  

 “We will be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like a mensch, and be strong.” 

1 Cor 16:13 JCB

We fight a tenacious and cunning enemy whose mission is to kill and destroy 

all humankind. 

"Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus."

Revelation 12:17

So we are called 

to go out 

and fight Evil, 

to share the Good News

which is a call to physically go and serve

in dark and dirty and dangerous places

a call to ongoing spiritual warfare

a call to mental resilience

and emotional maturity.

It is not an easy call.

 It includes great loss, 

deep grief, 

sickness, 

and pain; 

We give up "Possibilities of success" in other endeavors, 

all for the sake of knowing Christ and making Him known. 

Because 

We will not sit by and passively accept evil; 

nor will we ignore it or pretend it doesn’t exist. 

We will call evil by its name and exercise spiritual authority over it.  

The weapons of our warfare have divine power to crush enemy strongholds.

We are protected by the armor of God and weapons of light,

which is Christ.

We will keep steady in faith

in God’s power

which gives us victory

over the powers of darkness.

Yahweh says this to you, 

“Do not be afraid, do not be daunted by this vast horde; this battle is not yours but God’s.”

(2 Chronicles 20:15-17)

This day, 

this place, 

this generation, 

we are resolved

to engage in battle and fight and destroy 

the Gates of Hell in our neighborhoods, 

wherever and whenever we see them

by bringing the cup of cold water of His peace and His Love.

We engage the powers of darkness using Christ's power in us and through us to rescue men, women, and children who have been taken captive, 

whether from

the Tambora slums of Jakarta,   

the militarized Kabul city, 

San Pedro Sula's murder capital of the world,

Vermont covered in a haze of drugs,

Angola and Burundi stricken with drought,

Tallinn, a place of drug and human trafficking

the unsafe areas of Europe where refugees fight for survival, 

a world gone mad with drugs and guns and leaders drunk on power, death and destruction; 

We go together, as brothers and sisters of His Family 

which places no value on the shade of skin color

or the shape of one’s eyes

and which knows 

no ethnic boundaries, 

no higher caste, 

no royalty, 

no patron

no slave

only Christ and His Spirit in us. 

We are his family whether from 

Manchester, 

or Moscow, 

or Memphis, 

or Masterton, 

or Mumbasa,

or Mumbai,

or Mussafah,

or Macau, 

or Montreal,

or Munich. 

We move forward for our Eternal King and His Good Kingdom. 

We will not stop until our bodies lay in the dust and He takes us Home. 

We serve a God of Peace who will crush Satan under our feet.  

(Rom 16:20).  

So we will take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God 

and war on behalf of Righteousness.

There is no armor for our back sides,

so we will not shrink back 

cease, 

turn away,

or be still,

 but we will be

alert, 

sober, 

and vigilant. 

We will choose 

with joy

to 

face dangers, 

endure sufferings, 

persevere in persecutions, 

be gracious in sicknesses, 

until death closes our eyes. 

We will be characterized as 

Men

women 

boys

and girls

 with

 courageous combat faith, 

with a wartime mentality,

and transcendent joy, 

 who will do the right thing even when we are afraid

and

with the heart of our King.  

Keep your eyes open, 

hold tight to your convictions, 

give it all you've got, 

be resolute, 

and love without stopping. 

I Corinthians 16:13 The MSG

Fluffology

 

fluffology 

[fluf-all-uh-jee]

noun, plural: fluffologies

The study of a type of theology pervasive in the Church today. Fluffology is a "neo-Pelagianism transactional salvation approach to Christianity."

It is an extreme view that seeks Divine favor by doing good works but without the asceticism of the monastic life because this is the portion of the Church reflecting the materialistic and narcissistic spirits of our age.

Neo-Pelagianism has elsewhere been described as

Self-absorbed Promethean Neopelagianism of those who ultimately trust only in their own powers and feel superior to others because they observe certain rules or remain intransigently faithful to a particular traditional [theologically cultural] style from the past.

A supposed soundness of doctrine or discipline leads instead to a narcissistic and authoritarian elitism, whereby instead of evangelizing, one analyzes and classifies others, and instead of opening the door to grace, one exhausts his or her energies in inspecting and verifying. In neither case is one really concerned about Jesus Christ or others. These are manifestations of an anthropocentric immanentism.

Fluffological teaching is primarily an impairment of ability to apply the Word in a holistic mind-heart way that is not moralistic in nature. It is the type of teaching, preaching, and counseling emphasizing a knowledge, truth-based, head-level, entirely rational application of all aspects of Bible to all aspects of life.  It is devoid of acknowledging the significant spiritually transformational value and qualities of one's inner, emotional life.

Tends to be found in church communities who do not face life-and-death suffering issues, in economically affluent communities, and often traditions closed to the mystery of life in the Spirit. 

The internal feeling one has after leaving a fluffological sermon, Christian class, or counseling session is the vague uneasy feeling that one is not doing enough to follow Christ and there is a list of "to do" things necessary to be a better Christian. When sitting under this type of teaching, it is not uncommon to wonder, "Is this all there is to the abundant Christian life?"

___________________________________________________

Fluffology is detrimental to Depth Theology.  It does not teach the value of reflection and developing discernment. Because it does not address the deep inner life, "mature Christianity" is reduced to a list of correct conceptual doctrines and moralistic behavior.

In I Timothy 6, Paul contrasts the inner life of those teaching "a different doctrine" (vs. 3) with the inner life of the godly follower. In II Timothy, he expands each of these themes.

Inner life of a "Different doctrine": puffed up with conceit, understands nothing, has an unhealthy craving for controversy, quarrels about words; and this person's cravings and quarrels produces envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicion, constant friction among people; imagine's godliness as a means of gain.

Inner life of godly follower: pursues righteousness (a condition of heart), godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. remains free of reproach, sets hope on God, generous, hospitable and caring, takes hold of that which is truly life. 

II Timothy 3:7 "Always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth." The English word used to translate "Knowledge" here is not a head-based factual knowledge of correct doctrine. It is much, much deeper than that.

Instead, knowledge here means an inner, personal recognition of truth, which is based on relationship, discernment (a type of seeing the actual reality), experience, and reflection. The Greek word used here is translated with ידע, "yada" in the Hebrew Bible, which means knowing intimately, as of intimacy between a man and woman. This is knowing through inner intimacy with the Trinity, with one's whole "nephes" (personhood, heart, soul). It implies time - the time of walking with Christ in relationship, and cannot be reduced to the study of correct doctrine. The Greek word implies elements of emotion, which is a necessary component of all intimate relationships. (1)

"The time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." II Timothy 4:3-4.

"Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called. For whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it; For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." I Peter 3:8-12

(1) Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ἐπίγνωσις Rudolf Bultmann, Marburg (Vol 1-6, 9)

Go To
Depth Theology I (post coming soon)

Soul Watchfulness

Jesus taught us in the last hours of his life to stay awake and watch.  Stunningly, Mark gave disproportionate amount of space to this spiritual principle compared to the rest of his book. Most of his book is hurried. There is constant movement throughout, and often details are sparse compared to the other Gospels.

But in Mark 14, he literally slows down and shares the last hours in the Garden of Gethsemane in great detail. He gives 11 verses to remaining, watching, and staying with Jesus in His sorrow in the Garden. There is so much spiritual significance in the location of this scene.

If we are to live lives that reflect a return to the Garden of Eden, a return to how God wanted us to live on this earth, we will need to be watchful.  Jesus uses the word "watch" three times in this passage. Twice He uses the imperative (command) form, which means, "You keep watch."

He amplifies in vs. 36: "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation."

When we watch our souls, we become aware of the movements within and pray for discernment to understand when we are being led away psychologically, mentally, or spiritually from being close to Christ.

One of the first steps to watchfulness is to become aware of God's Spirit within us at all times.

How do we become aware of God at all times?

This is our need to to return to our true self, not our false self, to descend with our mind into the depths of our heart, and to seek there the "treasure hidden in the field of the inner kingdom."

I imagine that may sound strange. I never thought about the treasure being within. Isn't that self-focused? Even idolatrous?
 
What is the treasure and what does it mean to search for it inside of myself?

Jesus uses the parable of a treasure hidden in the field in Matt 13.44. Later, he states that the "Spirit will come up you" (Acts 1:8) which is a fulfillment of Jeremiah 31:31-34. The New Covenant is written in our hearts.

This is the treasure - Jesus Christ inside of each of us. When His Spirit comes in to us as our Lord and Savior, we have His Kingdom within, the Covenant between God and man. 

It is a miracle if we can tear ourselves away from the distraction and vain concerns of the world and in this way relentlessly seize hold of the kingdom of heaven within us.

How I long to experience His Divine illumination of the depths of my heart, to experience His sanctifying fire as He burns away the dross: the fears, the masques, the idolatrous fantasies, the unforgiveness, and coldness to the pain of others.

His purifying Love is inside of me. 

Watchfulness means I am aware 24/7 of being reconciled to God, and I seize hold of the true Kingdom of Heaven within and I never stray from this awareness as I go about my day.

In Genesis 2:15 He commanded us to "cultivate and guard" the Garden.  Because "the Garden" is now within (John 15), I cultivate and guard the fire of His love inside.

This takes discipline, practice, and choosing to live unhurriedly. Hurry destroys souls. "As Carl Jung wrote, "Hurry is not of the devil; hurry is the devil." What does it take to become spiritually healthy?  Dallas Willard answered "There is nothing else...You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life." (2)

I think is why the Bible teaches in Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God."   I took that verse and had an Islamic calligrapher create a beautiful picture for our home. 

I've displayed this in my home where I can be reminded daily to "Be" as I "do."

To remember, to watch, to cultivate awareness of His Spirit inside of me. 

As His Kingdom becomes more evident in my life, it becomes more "real" in the world around me.

And that is what glorifies Him.



(1) Philokalia Volume 4, Nikiphorous the Monk (This article is heavily influenced by his writings and I've put in quotes the content not paraphrased.)
(2) Ruthlessly Eliminate Hurry

Women's Bodies as Battlefield

Yazidi women for sale

Each generation asks different questions, and each generation has different needs, different traumas, different pain. Theology, to be relevant, begins where the pain is, where the questions are, that place where truth and heart meet.

How we offer a cup of cold water to parched lips and bruised bodies is the embodiment of what it means to be Christ's healing hands to those crying in pain and suffering.

The war on women is as old as Genesis 3, but there seems to be an escalation of the war on women in the 21st Century.

 "Is it true being born a girl is a curse in many countries around the world? Must a woman always pay the price for being a woman? Will she always be considered a commodity to be passed over, a slave for hire, or property to be possessed, transferred, and owned?(1)

Can we remained unmoved when we read the following sample statistics? 

• ...The India crime clock on women is ticking at an alarming rate: one woman is beaten every minute, one dowry death occurs every 77 minutes, and one act of cruelty against a woman is reported every 9 minutes." (Ibid)

• Yazidi women reveal being raped hundreds of times in a day, then passed on to the next ISIS commander who commandeers her for his purposes. 

•  In the U.S. alone, a woman is victimized every twelve seconds. (2)

•  In Islam, the "seat" of family honor is the status of the hymen of the women of the family. (3)

• South Africa is the 4th most dangerous place for women to live. (4)

• In a report by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in 2000, the agency noted that in interviews in Africa and Asia, “the right of a husband to beat or physically intimidate his wife” came out as “a deeply held conviction.” Even societies where women appear to enjoy better status “condone or at least tolerate a certain amount of violence against women.”(5)

• The church allows for violence through a sick interpretation of Paul's writings. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, every 9 seconds in the U.S. a woman is assaulted or beaten. (6)   According to the same article, there is a greater frequency of domestic violence in Christian homes than in non-Christian homes in America.  "The conservative and complementarian doctrine of some wings of Christian denominations provide a shelter for abusive relationships to flourish. As a consequence, women learn that they are helpless, without agency and worse of all that their lives are worth ‘less’."(7) 
• 30% of women globally are victims are domestic violence abuse. According to WHO (World Health Organization), this puts it at the level of  a public health crisis. (8)
• the estimated 20,000 men, women and children who are still captives of Boko Haram. In Northeast Nigeria, sexual violence is a characteristic of the ongoing insurgency, during which thousands of women and girls have been kidnapped and raped by Islamic extremist group Boko Haram. Many are forcibly married to their captors and become pregnant from rape.(9) 
• India and South Asia continue to be some of the world’s most notorious areas for sex trafficking, making the globe’s second-most-populous country an often dangerous place for women and girls. Experts estimate that millions of women and children are victims of sex trafficking in India, and the most vulnerable are those from the most disadvantaged strata—including religious minorities. (10)

Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite writes about this in her book, Women's Bodies as Battlefield: Christian Theology and the Global War on Women."

In her introduction she describes the war against women happening Globally 24/7:

All day long, all night long, every day and every night, the bodies of women and girls are turned into battlefields. Their bodies are penetrated against their will; they are burned, maimed, bruised, slapped, kicked, threatened with weapons, confined, beaten with fists or objects, shot, and knifed; their bones are broken; and they lose limbs, sight, hearing, pregnancies, and their sense of personal and physical integrity. They are terrorized and killed. This is what battlefields in war are like.  Bodies are damaged, flesh is ripped apart, and minds and lives are destroyed.

Some are guilty, all are responsible. (11) 

But this isn't the only war today. 

It's impossible to be blind to the thousands of babies being murdered every day from abortion, the increase marginalization of the white male, the despair of the African-American community against police brutality, global drug epidemic as people numbify their pain, the ethnic cleansing happening in Turkey, parts of Africa, and elsewhere, the terrorism and violence popping up where least expected, the suffering felt all over the world.

...we each have to decide which  injustice of our day are we called to go and fight. 

To remain on the sidelines, neutral, unengaged or uninformed is increasingly impossible and abhorrent.  Our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews will need guidance and wisdom on how to respond with Christ's love, and even how to heal from these types of traumas and sins. 

(1) The Power to Break Free: Surviving Domestic Violence, by Anisha Durve, from the Foreward by Kiran Bedi.
(2) Ibid., KL
(3) My Mother's Sons: Managing Sexuality in Islamic and Christian Communities, Patrick Krayer
(4) State of Emergency: The War on Women's Bodies
(5) Taking on Violence Against Women in Africa
(6)  Domestic Abuse in the Church a Silent Epidemic
(7) The Church and Violence Against Women
(8) World Health Organization
(9) Kidnapped, Raped, and Mocked in Nigeria
(10) In India, Christian Teen Kidnapped and Raped
(11) Heschel, The Prophets

 Related Posts

Women's Bodies as Battlefield - conservative Evangelicals highest domestic violence rate in USA.

Christianized Purdah
#silence is not spiritual
response to #missionarywomentoo
#missionarywomentoo
What if the Good Samaritan was an Orthodox Sunni Muslim Woman?
Sexual Harassment in Cross-Cultural Work
Women with a Wartime Mentality
A Tribute to the Single Woman Missionary
Androcentric Translation: A Poem

Grief

Grief 

...A never ending path in a wilderness.

In a world of shortcuts, hotkeys, fast food, and fiber optic speed,

Walking the path of grief cannot be hurried.

The only way out of grief is through it
Each grief has its own limits
Those who say one year is enough do not understand 

There are always new paths to walk in grief,
different stages
new levels of depth

but the smellsightsoundfeeling is always the same

Naming grief is a learned skill,
Honed over decades of walking its paths

Naming is Taming, 
The wild animal is quiet 
...for awhile

Naming Shadows 
Lightens Them 
A Dark, Scary, Confusing Path
Diffuses from black to gray

Perhaps I can see my tears where they fall 

Grief

...Deep sorrow, anguish, trouble of soul, loss, unending sadness.
 
Grief is not depression.
Grief is not sin.
Grief is not weakness.
Grief is not lack of joy.
Grief is not something to get over.
Grief is not something to ignore.
Grief is not a room to keep locked up.
 
Grief is a sign of love.

Deep grief = Deep love.
 
 Grief reflects loss...of any kind.
Grief helps one become a more integrated person.
Grief leads to more complex emotions.
Grief reflects God's heart.
Grief makes us whole.
Grief is a friend.
Grief is a cycle.
Grief has layers.

 

Uncontrollable Sobbing
Softly Weeping
Shedding Tears
Wailing Over Loss
Keening Cry
Heart-wrenching Lament
Shaking shoulders
 

God keeps our tears in his bottle.
 

Why would He do that?
 

God grieves.
 

God grieves with me.
God grieves with you.
 

"He who has seen me has seen the Father."
John 14.9

Jesus was a man of sorrows.
Jesus was well acquainted with grief.
 

My sadness is His sadness, my grief is His grief. 

Genesis 21:17 - He hears the wailing cry of a woman and the quiet cry of a boy and answers
I Samuel 1:10 - He hears the silent shaking cry of a woman and provides
Psalm 18:6 - He hears my voice and my cry
Psalm 31:22 - He hears my cry and takes care of my enemies
Psalm 56:8-9 - He keeps a record of what I cry over and heals them in Heaven
Revelations 21:4-5 - He will show me how He was with me in my tears - He remembers each grief
John 11:34-35 - He weeps over death and separation and the pain of those experiencing loss
John 20:11-15 - The women wept, but the angel gave a different perspective! 



Related Posts
Embracing the Gift of Grief
My Grief Bag