Purify?

Dear Family,

I have often talked about my group of friends, called the Chunk. We are a gathering of Church of the Brethren folks, with a passion for experiencing new and exciting adventures. We have ridden across Kansas and Ohio, together. We have slept in vans, while on ski trips, together. And though i missed the opportunity, the Chunk traversed Europe and Mt. Kilimanjaro, together. Any of our expeditions would have been memorable, but what made them beautiful, unforgettable, and legendary is that we did this together.

And it is this way with any adventure or journey. If we go somewhere, a lone, it is only a trip. But we, on the other hand, we travel with companions, friends, or family, then it becomes an adventure of note. Without others around us, journeying with us, any trip we take is simply colorless and a caveat to a mundane life. We need people around us to make life beautiful. Colorful. Godly.

In our chapter for this week, God reveals Himself, again, to Jacob. And God, again, renames Jacob. But this time, its different. Jacob is not alone. Jacob's entire gathering surrounds him as God renames, not only Jacob, but all of them. God's true intentions shine brightly. We were created to be in community with each other. We are our best, when we share space, ideas, dreams, failures, pain, and death with one another. We are our worst when we leave people to fend for themselves.

And Jacob's household, now known as Israel, is on their own journey, an adventure, really. They are going back to Bethel, where Jacob's story really began. In truth, their adventure is less a trip of enjoyment, as it is a pilgrimage of discovering: who they are, and who God is. But before they can begin this journey, they must, like all of us who are pilgrims, purge themselves of what makes them impure. They must purify themselves. So they bury all the "gods" who keep the people chained to a past. They must break free from these chains, so that their new journey, their new adventure, and yes their new identity, as Israel, can emerge.

It is our story as well. We cannot become what new creation God has in mind for us if: A. we do not go together. If we choose to be lone rangers and not act, in one accord, as the Body of Christ, we will not know our true and most blessed identity. And B. If we do not purge ourselves, purify ourselves, from a past that chains us to haunted memories, we will never become, fully, what God created us to be.

We fear the new creation, because in order to be created anew, something of our identity must also die. There cannot be new until the old has passed away. It is natural to not only fear but to grieve this evolution, but it is also essential and necessary for us to go through, if we are to become the Phoenix that rises from the ashes. And we will be ok.

How do i know? Israel became a great people with a rich history, one that all of human history finds its Genesis. How do i know? The stone was rolled away, death is not the final word, only a chapter, a door that must be traveled through. How do i know? I remember little of my solitary trips, on my bicycle, but i can't and wont forget the memories that we created as a group of cyclists traversing the Kansas landscape. We can and will become something new, together. Something wonderful. Something legendary. And my heart swells with joy knowing that we have exciting chapters yet to write, together. Amen.

Shalom,
jerry