Room to wail

The entry I published yesterday might’ve come off a little…

Harsh.

I apologize if it triggered or alarmed anyone. But here’s the thing…

It’s important to know that God can handle our wails. Our laments…

That God can handle our honesty…

That God is bigger than any of our fears…

In God, we have a safe container to feel them all the way through. To put them into words and send them out there in case anyone else might be feeling the same way.

Because we know that this is temporary. And that God creates beauty out of our messes.

I used to spiritually override the messes. I used to refuse to look at the human propensity to muck things up. In other words, sin…

I know this word is a no-no in today’s world. It has so much bad juju attached to it. I really try not to as much as possible.

But learning about that word and realizing that yes, I am a fallible human with a proclivity of self-centeredness, fear, unreasonable anger, rage, etc. has been so liberating. All of us are culpable of disturbing shalom (peace, wholeness, health, blessing). I can see human folly for what it is knowing that no one escapes this.

Is there any sane person who wouldn’t admit to this propensity?

But here’s the point…

In the Bible, we’re created in total blessedness. In the image of God. This is the first thing about us.

Sin — fallibility — is something that happens along the way. It’s the ‘second’ thing about us. Separation happens. Soon, we start calling bad things good and good things bad. We see virtue in self-sufficiency and try to protect ourselves from God.

In Jesus, Christ comes along and puts an end to the separation. Christ returns us back to the first thing — to our utter blessedness. Our true selves are identified with who we are in Christ, not in the ways we’ve disturbed shalom. In Christ, the ego dies because it knows it’s not in control and never has been.

And we are cleansed anew. We are children of God. That’s who we are.

And so, it’s not that I’m saying that God will damn all sinners… No… God does more than that. God puts a death to the sinning-self (that clings to all of us) and restores us to original blessing anew.

As a dear reader mentioned yesterday in the comments, referring to the pandemic and the scene we saw at our nation’s Capitol a couple of days ago, “…this is all a part of the cleansing and preparation for moving into the Higher Consciousness of the New Earth.”

I have to say that I agree with this sentiment (maybe in different words/theological terms). But I also don’t think it does us any good to override the occasional human despair we experience along the way.

I’ll close by apologizing for any self-righteous anger that may have come through. For there is no such thing as self-righteous anger from a human perspective. The only one righteous in anger is God who rushes in to love us back to blessedness (yes, there is anger in love).

May it be so.

Amen.

Grace + Godspeed,
Jonas

This post was published first in The Jonasletter. To get my notes in your handy dandy email inbox as soon as they’re published, click here to subscribe.