may you go.

one of my favorite lines from 'come thou fount' is "Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God... he, to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood.'

i typically don't make a habit of including dictionary definitions and hebrew word break downs in stuff that i write. mostly because i feel like almost every sermon has some sort of "and the hebrew word for this is _____" and it makes absolutely no difference to the point trying to be made. apparently the speaker deems it imperative that we know he can google hebrew meanings for words.

however, i did look up the word 'interposed' and it is cool when you look at the literal meaning of this word, and put it in the context of what's going on in this hymn...

interpose means to:

one) place or insert between one thing and another .

or

two) intervene between parties.

i'm sure God knew that when he placed his blood between our sin and the life we could have with him, he knew that some of us would not choose him. and i doubt that just because he was Jesus he experienced any less pain over this fact. i've sacrificed to be denied and it sure did sting, but never have i come close to sacrificing my life to be denied.

for those of us that have chosen him... have we really? i feel like 'making a decision for Christ' is about as easy as making a decision for the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. that relationship isn't going to go anywhere without a lot of sweat equity. a lot of relational bank deposits.

i know for me it's sometimes really easy to forget that Jesus deserves as much time and love and energy as any other relationship in my life. actually, he deserves more. that's the least i could give him. he is always there, and since my availability (and sometimes desire, unfortunately) is ever changing - i confine my relationship with God to my Bible and my journal and it waits for me and my schedule adjustments to partake.

but what if? what if i were to expand my relationship with the great interposer (you will not find this in the dictionary) to reach far beyond my bedside table? what if i were to unzip it as far as to let other people in? my school in? my job in? and greatest of all... my pain in?

i found this on a friend's blog - they live in africa. it's cool when you think about it in the context of missional living.

___________

May God bless us with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that we may live from deep within our hearts.

May God bless us with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of God’s creations
So that we may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless us with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,
So that we may reach out our hands to comfort them and
To turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless us with just enough foolishness
To believe that we can make a difference in the world,
So that we can do what others claim cannot be done:
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and
All our neighbors who are poor.

___________


so may you go and dance in the lovely dance he's asking you to join him in. and invite everyone you know.