For the last six months, pursuing forgiveness to bring healing into my life - particularly in a Christian way - has been a big focus of mine. It revolves around a specific situation that I am not at liberty speak of in detail.
Today I thought I had made a small step toward not just forgiveness but reconciliation in this situation, only to find later that my future actions were already pre-judged to turn out the same as my past actions despite active attempts made on my part in the last six months in a variety of ways (counseling, training, reading books) to explore potentially better ways to handle the same situations.
It's days like today I need to remind myself of parables, some of the strongest uses of creative words to make points about biblical truth. Though told orally to the crowds, they were also transcribed for future generations.
Today my thoughts turned to the parable of the unmerciful servant (see Matthew 18), where Peter asks Jesus how many times to forgive his brother - "Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.'" (Matthew 18:22, NIV).
He then goes on in Matthew 18 to illustrate the point by telling the story of how one servant who owed money begged his master to be patient with him, then turned around and tried by force to get the money out of another man who owed him. When the fellow servant refuses, he is punished by being thrown in prison and the other servants tell the master. The master punishes the servant for not having mercy and turns him over the jailors for torture until he pays back what he owes. The point is that God wants each of us to forgive from our hearts with mercy repeatedly, or God will not be happy with us, just like the misbehaving servant.
It's written better in the Bible, and I encourage you to read it there. I don't want to be so creative as to trump a well-written parable.
As to myself, what I have to keep reminding myself is that it is important to work on forgiving over and over, even if reconciliation never happens. It is possible to forgive without reconciliation. Forgiveness is understanding the issue but not necessarily condoning the action, but the latter concept of reconciliation is trying to bring things back together. That is why it is possible to forgive multiple times over... but you're not required to forget. In fact, if we forget, we can't learn from past mistakes. That's what I believe anyway.
I'm not so sure God has reconciliation on the horizon for me on this one, but the hard part is keeping faith while managing expectations. A tough thing to juggle.
Showing posts with label testimony. Show all posts
Showing posts with label testimony. Show all posts
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Friday, October 31, 2008
Founding Member of Creative Words to Spread the Word Is Now With the Lord
I received news that one of the founding members of Creative Words to Spread the Word at Wilshire Avenue Community Church passed on this morning. Her name was Norma, she loved poetry, and before she was part of the group, she also served as my first adult Sunday School teacher even before I had come to Christ after nearly two decades of teenage through post- college years of agnosticism and struggling intellectually with Christ. Norma taught me that being intellectual and being in Christ could indeed go hand in hand, and her belief and support behind me when I began the in-person writing group at the church was instrumental in my getting off the ground. I firmly believe she was brought into my life to make where I am today with my walk and ultimately this ministry possible.
That said, with the local group dwindling for this and other reasons that have called my initial core team elsewhere, I feel strongly on my heart that I am called to evolve this ministry to be one that reaches out to enable others in need of advice. He just called them to be somewhere else, and now it is time for me to do work on my own. Since Wilshire Avenue Community Church is still my home church, I consider it a ministry home base though it reaches a much wider scope. How that will affect my "brochure" lessons going forward since the primary audience won't be local I still have to reflect upon.
I pray and look forward to what He calls me to do next thanks to Norma's influence.
God welcome you into His arms, Norma... a good and faithful servant indeed.
That said, with the local group dwindling for this and other reasons that have called my initial core team elsewhere, I feel strongly on my heart that I am called to evolve this ministry to be one that reaches out to enable others in need of advice. He just called them to be somewhere else, and now it is time for me to do work on my own. Since Wilshire Avenue Community Church is still my home church, I consider it a ministry home base though it reaches a much wider scope. How that will affect my "brochure" lessons going forward since the primary audience won't be local I still have to reflect upon.
I pray and look forward to what He calls me to do next thanks to Norma's influence.
God welcome you into His arms, Norma... a good and faithful servant indeed.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
The Power of Perspective
THE POWER OF PERSPECTIVE
Different looks at Christ at work in our world
Seeing Christ in various ways can open minds to His majesty and grace…
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THE POWER OF PERSPECTIVE
Most of the time, someone will use their own experiences to share the majesty and love of Christ with others, whether or not the people being shared with know the Lord. There are times, however, when it helps to use someone else’s perspective – or point of view – to get a message across. This is different than just retelling a story about someone else in which you may have been involved and possibly changing names or facts to protect identities. Changing the perspective would be telling events as if you are that person. This can be helpful if you are trying to get the person you want to communicate with to see a situation in detail through another’s eyes and how Christ can be a help to the person you are describing. This would likely be most effective when trying to depict the everyday lives of people suffering from hunger, homelessness, or issues that are physical, emotional, or mental in nature. In order to help someone gain a more compassionate outlook for those needing Christ’s help, this can be an effective way for someone to better understand the issues.
The biggest risk in using a perspective that isn’t yours is a possible lack of authenticity. Even if all the facts are right, if the emotions aren’t properly captured the different perspective will not seem genuine and the receiver won’t connect. Make sure whatever you are saying is genuine, and do not persuade with lies! Also, if you are not clear to the receiver that this is a fictional character representing the kind of people you have encountered on your walk with Christ, the reader can mistake it as being your own experiences (even if the character does have a different name); if they believe incorrectly that the story is about you, become moved by it, and then find out it isn’t about you in any way he or she may feel hurt and not willing to listen to anything else you might have to say.
That’s not to say using your own perspective isn’t without challenges. While it is easier to be sure both facts and emotions are accurate, you also must be sure that you are not blinded too heavily by your own biases. Be open to where a skeptical receiver may challenge you and be willing to go deeper instead of getting defensive and personal; this kind of reaction may also turn someone away from listening further. In the end, it’s about getting someone to better understand Christ in our lives in a meaningful, non-deceptive way.
QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES TO CHALLENGE YOU:
1) Contemplate Proverbs 8 and what it gives us to consider when deciding how to use perspective to convey Christ’s truths.
2) Tell a Bible story from someone else’s perspective based on known details.
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CREATIVE WORDS TO SPREAD THE WORD
Coordinator: Shannon Muir
email: creativewordstospreadtheword@gmail.com
BROCHURE #7
Last revised: April 2008
Brochure text by
Shannon Muir
Original Artwork on Printed Version by
Kevin Paul Shaw Broden
[The above is a modified Internet transcription of the text of a print brochure originally released by Creative The Words to Spread the Word. This transcription released by Creative Words to Spread the Word. All rights reserved.]
Different looks at Christ at work in our world
Seeing Christ in various ways can open minds to His majesty and grace…
---
THE POWER OF PERSPECTIVE
Most of the time, someone will use their own experiences to share the majesty and love of Christ with others, whether or not the people being shared with know the Lord. There are times, however, when it helps to use someone else’s perspective – or point of view – to get a message across. This is different than just retelling a story about someone else in which you may have been involved and possibly changing names or facts to protect identities. Changing the perspective would be telling events as if you are that person. This can be helpful if you are trying to get the person you want to communicate with to see a situation in detail through another’s eyes and how Christ can be a help to the person you are describing. This would likely be most effective when trying to depict the everyday lives of people suffering from hunger, homelessness, or issues that are physical, emotional, or mental in nature. In order to help someone gain a more compassionate outlook for those needing Christ’s help, this can be an effective way for someone to better understand the issues.
The biggest risk in using a perspective that isn’t yours is a possible lack of authenticity. Even if all the facts are right, if the emotions aren’t properly captured the different perspective will not seem genuine and the receiver won’t connect. Make sure whatever you are saying is genuine, and do not persuade with lies! Also, if you are not clear to the receiver that this is a fictional character representing the kind of people you have encountered on your walk with Christ, the reader can mistake it as being your own experiences (even if the character does have a different name); if they believe incorrectly that the story is about you, become moved by it, and then find out it isn’t about you in any way he or she may feel hurt and not willing to listen to anything else you might have to say.
That’s not to say using your own perspective isn’t without challenges. While it is easier to be sure both facts and emotions are accurate, you also must be sure that you are not blinded too heavily by your own biases. Be open to where a skeptical receiver may challenge you and be willing to go deeper instead of getting defensive and personal; this kind of reaction may also turn someone away from listening further. In the end, it’s about getting someone to better understand Christ in our lives in a meaningful, non-deceptive way.
QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES TO CHALLENGE YOU:
1) Contemplate Proverbs 8 and what it gives us to consider when deciding how to use perspective to convey Christ’s truths.
2) Tell a Bible story from someone else’s perspective based on known details.
---
CREATIVE WORDS TO SPREAD THE WORD
Coordinator: Shannon Muir
email: creativewordstospreadtheword@gmail.com
BROCHURE #7
Last revised: April 2008
Brochure text by
Shannon Muir
Original Artwork on Printed Version by
Kevin Paul Shaw Broden
[The above is a modified Internet transcription of the text of a print brochure originally released by Creative The Words to Spread the Word. This transcription released by Creative Words to Spread the Word. All rights reserved.]
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