Metanarrative

I came to one of favourite coffee places this morning, decided I was going to try and have a cup.  I have been sick for the past 5 days and have not had coffee - oh I was just staring at the coffee beans all day!

I came to this little place also because it's quiet, good internet and a great place to read.  I wanted to reread my written piece for my capstone project - see if I needed to add, delete or change anything.

When I came in there was a new young woman I had not met before.  Of course I needed to talk a bit.  There was no one else in the shop, so she had time.  I introduced myself, told her I wanted to work and ask if it would be ok.  She wanted to know what was I working on.  For some reason I felt that I just needed to be honest, and I told her this morning I was going to look at the Big Story of the Bible.  

She sat down beside me and said, "I do not believe there are any grand stories that give meaning to all of life or defines what is true.  I think the Bible is just a collection of odd stories and they can be interrupted in a myriad of ways.  I see no central interpretive principle of the Bible."

Wow, I looked at her and knew I was talking to a very smart young lady.  I asked God how did He want me to participate with Him with her.  Her next question was, "What do you think the Big Story of the Bible is?"

She grabbed a coffee and for the next 40 minutes we talked.  I told her that although the Bible looked like random stories, I believe there was a plot and direction to the story.  I told her I believed it was the story of self-revelation of God to the world.

As I was telling her these things, I remembered something one of my advisors with the masters had said to me, "Teresa, show, don't tell - it comes alive then."  God how do I do that?  I realised once she sees that there is indeed a big story God has been telling the world it will speak to her.  This is my prayer.  Please pray with me for this young lady!

Well she had to go back to work and I we have not had time to talk more; but I decided to write this down and share with you.  My hope is that I can return here and show her the story ....the metanarrative of the Bible. 

I will share with you when I do!

As I continued to sit in the coffee shop, I started researching the word metanarrative.  Here is a story I found in Christianity Today - the article is called 'I Was A Witch.'  It is the story of a lady's long conversion to Christ; concerning one particular moment in her journey, she writes of the power of the Big Story in her life:

"As I drove home, my mind ached as I replayed the words I just heard.  All the Old Testament and New Testament had one oddly familiar voice - one tone, one heart.  I wondered, how could a book written by so many people over the course of hundreds of years fit together perfectly as if one amazing storyteller has written the whole thing?  The Holy Spirit began melting my vanity and arrogance with a power stronger than any hex, incantation or spell I'd ever used.  Suddenly, the blindfold I'd worn for almost 30 years was stripped away, and instantly I knew what I had been searching for; Jesus!"

Another great quote:

".....the Christian gospel ....tells how for the world's redemption God entered into history, the eternal came into time, the kingdom of heaven invaded the realm of earth, in the great events of the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ."

F.F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?

A Paradigm Shift

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and love your neighbour as yourself.

Luke 10:27

As I have mentioned several times I am in a time of reflection as I finish my capstone project for the masters.

As I look back I can see how far I have come on my journey with Father.  I use to think being a Christian was about doing the right thing, being good enough, trying so hard so I could go to heaven; and not go to hell.  I could never have told you I felt this way, but I can see it now.  

I have had a paradigm shift in my thinking, worldview; God created us to be connected to Him and to others.  And His plan was for us to experience a deep, satisfying sense of purpose and accomplishment in performing the task He gave us.  Genesis 1:28 says, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it......"

Our lives were meant to be filled with relationship, activity, love and work.  Even in the garden Adam and Eve were meant to learn, grow and mature; they had to cultivate a young planet!  This was God's plan .....well plan A.  After the fall, God continued to want to be with us; He pursued us and He finally rescued us in Jesus.  

I use to think God was an angry God; maybe even mean.  I never thought of Him having a plan for creating us and that it broke His heart when we chose to separate from Him; choosing our own way.  But He continued to want to be with us and made a way to bring us back into relationship with Him, with others and with ourselves.

Being a Christian is about living the way He created us to live; with Him, participating with Him, creating and loving with Him.  He had plans for the earth and He wanted humans to be part of that; the most amazing thing is He still does!

What a different way of thinking, a different way of seeing life and understanding our purpose.  Yes God may have been angry, upset when we chose to go our own way; but I think mostly His heart was broken.  He knew we would not be living the way He created us to live and our lives would not work.  This broke His heart. 

Wow this is different than seeing life about trying to be good enough, trying always to do the right thing; and even seeing life as trying to 'get into heaven' and 'stay out of hell'.  As amazing as that is!

Having this paradigm shift in how I see God, myself, the world and other people is amazing.  It changes everything; such freedom.  Is this the abundant life Jesus talked about?

Life is no longer about trying, striving, wondering, but about living, being present; and from this place of living and being present yes I am working, having a voice, standing in the authority Jesus gave me in His name, and it is about continuing to grow and learn.

It is exciting.  It is adventurous.  It is about being who I was all along; a human being united with the Triune God.  I am free to relate to Him the way He met for me to all along.  I am free to relate to myself, the world and others the way I was met to all along.  

Wow a cloud of deceit has been lifted.

Any thoughts?  Are you living the way you were created to live; the way you were recreated to live in Christ?  Is there anything hindering you?  Take a few moments to ask God to show you; ask Him to give you perspective, His perspective.

http://scottpriorart.com

GG made this heart for me with coffee for Valentines!

I have joined the British Community!

     I really can't believe I am a dual citizen!  Seriously a young girl at the age of 25, left alone, not knowing what to do or where to turn .....met God.  I had a plan for my life, had it all worked out and was determined.  But things changed, people changed.  I wanted to be in control, I knew how it should be, but God had other plans and I am so glad I listened to Him, I obeyed Him ......someway, somehow I knew He knew better than me.

     I love the path He took me down.  As I Iook back, I see this ...oh I didn't see it at the time.  I was so scare, I couldn't see what lie ahead and in the past when I couldn't control the circumstances, horrible things happened; life would spin out of control.  I tried so hard to control people, circumstances and situations.  But I couldn't anymore.  

     I trusted God.  He said He would take me down a different path in life.  The path has been amazing, not always easy, but an adventure.  When I was a little girl I would read about England, Scotland and Ireland.  I always wanted to visit, but I was just a young girl from a small town in North Carolina; that would not be possible.  And now I am a citizen!?  I know God has a sense of humour.  He loves to give us the desires of our heart.  I married a Brit!  I live in England and now I am a citizen!

     Oh the stories I could tell of how wonderful God is and how faithful He is.  I would love to have a cup of coffee with you now and talk about our faithful Creator.  He is amazing!

Signing papers

My certificate ....my family!

London is beautiful!

Location

Taxi

Telephone box ...love these!

Expectations

I spent this morning reading and rereading a devotion from Skye Jethani.  Wish we could just sit down, drink a cappuccino and talk about it.  Very powerful.  

So many times we have expectations and we bring them to situations and relationships.  I was talking to someone yesterday from England.  It was about raising children, always a touchy subject even if you are from the same culture!  

But as we talked I came to the realisation how very different we were looking at something and it had cause me to think one thing about her and she was thinking something about me that was not true.  What we thought was reflecting how we had been treating each other.  It was good to talk, I don't know if we solved anything, but to be open, honest and real was refreshing.

Sometime I don't think we are even aware of our expectations, but they still affect us.  What I was thinking about this lady affected how I was treating her and any relationship we might have.

Here is part of Skype's devotion ......

The people thought Jesus, the powerful prophet from Galilee, was going to Jerusalem to perform His miracles and deliver God's people from the oppression of the Romans.  They expected Him to be a political liberator and a military Messiah.  

Jesus, however, refused to conform to their expectations.  The people were so disillusioned with Him, so disappointed at their unmet expectations, that their shouts on Sunday of "Hosanna Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" by Friday had become shouts of, "Crucify Him!"  Later in the day as He hung upon the cross, the people again assaulted Jesus with their expectations.  "Prove you are the Messiah," they said, "and come down from there.  Save yourself."  One final time Jesus refused to meet their expectations.  

Like the crowds in Jerusalem, we assume God exists to meet our expectations and grant us our desires.  When He does not, we conclude that He is either a fraud or a liar.  What we fail to see is that Jesus loves us too much to meet our expectations, just as He loved the people of Jerusalem too much to save Himself.  He accepts our anger, our disappointment, and our rejection because He refuses to be the Saviour we want.  Love compels Him to be the Saviour we need. 

...................................................

Do you have expectations today ....regarding someone, for yourself .......with God .....are you aware of them?  Are they affecting how you relate to someone, yourself or with God?

Be honest about them .....ask God to show you if you don't know or are not aware?  

Are they expectations that are right, good and serving ......are they true?

Or are they wrong?

With someone else, do you need to talk to them?  Take them for a cappuccino, talk about it!

If it is with God .....be real with Him.  Maybe you just need to trust He is the Creator, He knows .....and sometime we do not understand everything.  

Hmmmm expectations .......