Love Story

This is Jamie Weeks latest post.
"So...I was talking to Dev the other day and I began to tell her how much I ABSOLUTELY ADORED my Pandora stations. I began to name the different artists on my Ray Lamontagne station and Dev said, "Mommy! You're into alternative rock; you're EMO! " ME?!? Emo?? LOL All I know is I DO have a decided inclination for a guy singing accompanied by nothing much more than an acoustic guitar. But Death Cab For Cutie? HA! Who would have figured that?
So, naturally, I had to talk to Jesus about it; He is, after all, my Best Guy. We were walking down a dirt road in my mind, kicking pebbles out of the way as we walked, linked hands swinging between us, as the setting sun sank behind the trees. And the conversation was easy and natural, like it always is, and punctuated with much laughter, this was after all, ME! .............."


What follows is a great conversation between her and God and an even greater communication of something.
As Frank Viola writes in "From Eternity to Here", God the Father is after a house that He can call home, but He is also about fixing up a Bride for His Son. While this is going on, how it looks on our insides is Christ is forming Himself as me. A Union - not a separate identity thing - is going on. And all three things are happening at once. But, as it was for Adam before and after the Fall, God sees the whole deal from beginning to end. In Adam's case He had to call to him in the garden..."Where are you hiding..?" Then He made a covering for Adam and Eve. But even before the Fall, God related with Adam where he was at.
In seeing our union with Him, we have to understand God loves us now. Jesus loves us now. We feel we have to fix ourselves up first. But God finds this humdrum creation thing perfect. This handful of mud atoms , which He forms into "us- shapes"
then breathes His life into us....
He finds all that totally acceptable.
He also finds it totally acceptable that we are not there yet. That we have off days and on days.
So is that the same as being relaxed over sin?
No. But here we can learn a healthy taste of hell that our sins cause. Our fingers are burnt. And we learn on our insides that His way really is the only way that works. But He is still loving us just the same from the day we were born (actually He loved Us way before) to the day we die.He loves the whole thing. He doesn't love sin. But He does love that doing it this way, if we sin, we don't die forever...it's less permanent learning the way of heaven this way, than it was for the devil's angels. And He loves that He thought this one up from the very beginning. And He loves that this outside creation thing, gets to be the perfect way of forming Christ on our insides.

So when an Augustine writes that creation and the formed universe is a bad thing, and only our relationship with Christ is a good thing...well this is way oversimplified...but there are "gnostic tendencies in his writings". Gnostic finds greater expressions in the Eastern religions. Spirit is good. The material is bad. But through the Catholic Church a trend of this continues to this day.

This ,friends, is gnosticism. More can be read in John Crowder's book "The New Mystics" (abbreviated)
To have trust in God means we have trust in where we are at. The whole deal. In His powers to stoop over this ball of mud, form it, then "kiss" it with the breath of Life. To deny the mud gets into Eastern religion territory.
When the apostle John says the test for true religion is "Does it say Jesus the Son of God came in the flesh?" This is the same sort of thing. The growing up Jesus was acceptable to God the Father. It was totally acceptable for the Son to spend 33 years maturing as a man, and being tested on all points....only in His case...without sinning. Which is good news for us. Because it means His life is fully road-tested and works! And it is this actual life which is being transplanted into us.
Jamie continues:

Me: You know, I've been thinking. I love my music like I love You...intimate and easy. It's not that I don't love Classical or Big Band or Swing but, I dunno, when it comes to day in and day out, I just want "jeans & Rainbows" music, and that's how I want to be with you. I just want it to be me & You...comfortable, just the two of us. I don't want an interpreter or huge crowds or a show. I just want You. Am I making any sense?
Him: Absolutely! And I wish everyone saw Me that way. I'm not a "something to do". I'm not a "set of rules". I'm not a "six step" guideline. I'm a PERSON. I'm a LIFE. I want to KNOW you, all of you, not just the "cleaned up" you that makes an appearence occasionally. I'm not your grandmother's living room, all stiff and formal, that you sit in a couple of times a year afraid to relax. In fact, YOU are my house now. And that includes not only the formal rooms but also the W.C. and the bedroom. I LIKE you in your pj bottoms and t-shirt with your hair unbrushed and your face washed free of make-up. I ADORE YOU that way.
Me: DON'T GO THERE! Sleep creases and morning breath??? Pleeeeease!
Him: NO! Really. When your jeans are a little too snug....when you're sick and hanging over the toilet...when you're as mean as a snake...
Me: ME??? Mean as a snake?
Him: Ummmm, My point is I want you to realize I am the One who is loving you in ALL those moments, good & bad. I think you're cute when you have a little muffin top...
Me: You're SO IN TROUBLE, Mister!
Him: Seriously. I want to hold your head when your sick and bathe your face. I want to tell you when your "feeling" mean that I'm still here, I'm not going ANYWHERE just because you "flesh out". What I want: YOU. What I don't want: a performance. So, yeah, I get what you're saying. And I'm flattered you just want me, not a performance. Because if you take away all the words and lights and shows and it really is just the two of us, I want you to know that I AM ENOUGH. I'm more than enough for everything you'll ever need. And, just as important, YOU, just you, are all I'll ever want or need. Just the way you are. Even with that piece of food stuck between your front teeth...
Me: Funny. Veeeeery funny. You know, I like this thing called prayer. It's so cool. I like talking to You. But, seriously, is there something really between my teeth?
Him (laughing): There is no flaw in you, My Beloved.
Me (throwing my arms around Him): I love you, you know? I really, really do.
Him: Me, too, Jamie. Me, too.