“Go through, go through the gates;
prepare the way for the people;
build up, build up the highway;
clear it of stones;
lift up a signal over the peoples.
Behold, the Lord has proclaimed
to the end of the earth:
Say to the daughter of Zion,
’Behold, your salvation comes;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.’
And they shall be called the Holy People,
The Redeemed of the Lord;
and you shall be called Sought Out,
A City Not Forsaken.”
Hello blog. Somehow October has come to a close, and as I sit typing this, I’m listening to this coffee shop’s Halloween playlist (didn’t know these existed) underneath some fake cobwebs that will probably come down tomorrow. Time really flies in the fall and I can’t explain how. But it’s been a good month! My mood is quite entangled with the weather and October has been beautiful, plenty of blue skies and warm days and cool evenings. I spent one especially beautiful afternoon in Chapel Hill which just felt RIGHT!
It’s hard to be reflective of the second month of a program like this. I mean, first month, sure! It’s just everything that’s happened so far. But this month it’s only half of what I’ve gotten to experience here. And how do you parse that out? I’ll try my best. (It’s becoming obvious to me that this blog will hopefully be more than just my arbitrary ramblings but certainly nothing less than that.) This is more of a disclaimer than anything else.
One of the highlights of this past month for me has been our Old Testament class. Most Mondays we get together to talk all things OT (we’ve already made it to 1 Kings!). It’s been such a gift to read and learn about the kindness of God to His chosen people—people who didn’t deserve such a title, who were prone to forget his faithfulness, who chose other things over God over and over again. The people of the Old Testament have served as a heart check for my own life, revealing to me the ways that I tend to forget God’s faithfulness. Since God’s promises to the Israelites rested on his unchanging character, he chose to dwell among them anyway, and he dwells in me anyway. The truth that God dwells in me seems so elementary—as a kid I learned about Jesus living in my heart. It’s also so complex—me, a temple? Me, God’s home? How could that be? Sometimes I can’t believe it, that we are “called Sought Out.”
We read Genesis a couple of weeks ago, and I noticed that after Isaac is born to Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 21, Sarah says, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me” (verse 6, NIV). This image is so encouraging to me, that we can witness to the slow and beautiful work of God with laughter, the sharing of joy. We weep with those who weep, yes, and we also rejoice with those who rejoice. In both cases (which so often happen simultaneously) we look forward to the day when there will be no more tears and we’ll rejoice and laugh together forever.
In other news, it has been lovely during this second month of the program to get more involved in the life of Apostles, the church we all attend. I love going to church with the rich community the Fellows community has introduced us to so far. I get to worship alongside my boss, high school girls I know from the student ministry, and all kinds of other new friends. I also love the ways that the structures and habits of the worship service itself—the liturgies that make up the service—remind me of who God is, what he has done, and what the Christian life is like. One example: every week we hear a reading from the gospels, which is read from the middle of the sanctuary, rather than the stage, reminding the congregation that Jesus is the Word that came into the midst of his people, dwelling with and among them. May we all experience this presence so tangibly!
Until November 30 most likely,
Derren
P.S. In this title I note that I’ve decided to reflect today. This is lieu of wearing a costume