A Rescue Remembered
Today I’m going to let a fellow-blogger’s words speak to something I think is essential for all of us: to remember the stories of our lives, tragedy AND redemption. Read this. Really. Read it. And remember.
The Cure for Self-Doubt
Continuing the discussion from yesterday, let’s look at what Galatians says about our worth, and what Peterson says about how this is the key to freedom from slavery to sin and self-doubt.
“We were slaves to the elemental spirits of the universe. But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Galatians 4:4-5
That action-packed sentence is a powerful description of Christ’s great work on behalf of all of us. One word in it tells us what we are worth: redeem.
[Understanding the background of the Greek process for freeing slaves, “to redeem,” shows us why “redeem” reveals so much about our great worth to God and our great worth in Christ. Listen to what Peterson says…]
The word redeem describes this process [freeing slaves]. Sometimes a slave caught the attention of a wealthy free person and for some reason or other — compassion, affection, justice — the free person decided to free the slave. The free person would then go to the temple or shrine and deposit with the priests the sum of money required for manumission. The priests would then deliver an oracle: The god Apollo has purchased this slave so-and-so from owners such-and-such and is now free.The priests then passed the redemption price on to the recent owner.
The ex-slave who all his or her life had been treated as an inferior, useful only for purposes of running someone else’s errands, doing someone else’s work, was no longer subject to such evaluation. The person was free. No price could be put on his head again. The person was valuable not to DO but to BE someone.
That, says Paul, is what happened to each and everyone of us: we have been singled out for redemption. Eugene Peterson, Living the Message
Think about it. Put yourself in the ancient slave’s bare feet. What must it have felt like to the one who was chosen and given his or her freedom? How do you suppose the former slave lived after that? How does that tie in with your story?
Are you an original?
“That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.” Galatians 5:26
from Eugene Peterson’s devotional book, Living the Message, this one felt so true to places I struggle to trust God:
We are always vulnerable to self-doubt. Am I worth anything at all? Does anyone care if I really exist? If I disappeared tomorrow, how long would it take before everything was normal? A week, a month, a year? We try in various ways to become indispensable to people around us so that we can have our significance verified, but our efforts are unconvincing.
We cannot experience freedom when we live that way. A feeling of inadequacy is enslaving. No matter how free we are told that we are, if we don’t think we are worth anything, we will not be motivated to express our strengths, will not be confident in developing our gifts, will not feel up to enjoying the blessings of the day.
“That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.” Galatians 5:26
For reflection:
Read this verse several times throughout the day. Ask God to show you how you are an “original.” Pay attention to when you are comparing yourself favorably or unfavorably to someone else. Confess this sin habit to God and ask him to remind you of your uniqueness, originality, and the particular mission he has written into your life.
“What sort of tale…?”
You’ve probably heard this quote by Tolkien from Lord of the Rings at some time in your life. I know I have. But today I urge you to read it slowly (I’ve broken a long paragraph into some shorter pieces) and take it to your life. Think about what sort of tale you have fallen into. Where would you like to turn back? What do you suppose keeps you moving in the story? There are lots of questions to consider. Read the quote and take a long look at one story or the larger story of your life.
“We shouldn’t be here at all, if we’d known more about it before we started. But I suppose it’s often that way.
The brave things in the old tales and songs, Mr. Frodo: adventures, as I used to call them. I used to think that they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for, because they wanted them, because they were exciting and life was a bit dull, a kind of a sport, as you might say.
But that’s not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them, usually — their paths were laid that way, as you put it.
But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn’t. And if they had, we shouldn’t know, because they’d have been forgotten.
We hear about those as just went on — and not all to a good end, mind you; at least not to what folk inside a story and not outside it call a good end. You know, coming home, and finding things all right, though not quite the same — like old Mr Bilbo.
But those aren’t always the best tales to hear, though they may be the best tales to get landed in! I wonder what sort of a tale we’ve fallen into?”
— J.R.R. Tolkien
Redeeming 9-11
"Monday" is collected in Helprin's The Pacific
I have a dear friend whose birthday is today. Because she feels things deeply, she can’t celebrate her birthday without some level of sorrow for the lives lost on 911. Many of us today will stop to remember 911, and we will discuss and pray over the current issues related to that story.
I want to go in a different direction. I want to celebrate the redemption, the small and large acts of redemption, related to that day or related to others that remind us that God is really the King of all Nations, that He is working today, now, through you and me, and in spite of you and me, to restore broken things. To celebrate this redemption, I’ll tell you a little about one of my favorite stories and encourage you to read it. (Warning, there is a slight spoiler here, so you may want to read the story before reading the post.)
Author Mark Helprin writes a story about a man who is reintroduced to his Creator as he partakes in a marvelous renovation. In the story, “Monday,” a contractor accepts the job of restoring an old New York City apartment for a woman whose husband was killed in the South Tower on September 11. Without her knowledge, the contractor decides to do the work for free, and a remarkable work of art is created as his laborers join with him in this self-sacrificial gift. Helprin describes the work in this way:
The work itself became the object and never in their lives had they done better. Never had the walls been straighter or smoother, never had the plaster been whiter, never had the wood been closer joined, never had the joints been tighter, the colors more intense, the proportions more artful….when they fitted it all in…the men kept on saying, “Look at that! Look at that!” because nowhere in New York or perhaps anywhere was there a better job….This was repeated in the rosewood paneling, in limestone baseboards, in nickel, marble, granite, and unobtrusive plaster molding that physics said could not be whiter, purer, or more like snow in bright sun. It was apparent in the ironwork, brasswork, and glazing. The solid walnut doors were two and a half inches thick, with the same brass hardware and hinges as in the White House, and they closed more smoothly and quietly than the doors of a Rolls-Royce. (Mark Helprin, “Monday,” in The Pacific and Other Stories, 2004).
The contractor, as he watches this marvelous transformation, “apprehends the Emperor” in a way that he never had as he attended Mass:
The mass existed, in his perhaps heretical view, to keep, encourage, and sustain a sense of holiness, and to hold open the channels to grace that, with age and discouragement, tend to close. Witness to those who had little sacrificing what they had, to their children contributing to the work in their way, and to the fathers’ pride in this, Fitch felt the divine presence as he had not since the height of his youth. (Helprin, 68)
What about you? What stories of 9-11 redemption do you have? What are you doing, can you do, TODAY, to bring restoration to this world in anticipation of the new heavens, new earth?
And while I’m at it, I want to say Happy Birthday to my friend, whose kind and merciful heart overflows with beauty that spreads shalom through broken stories.
The Reign of Grace by Scotty Smith
Flipping back through Scotty Smith’s excellent book: The Reign of Grace: Delights and Demands of God’s Love. If you missed this the first time around, I’d highly recommend you pick it up now:
About consummation, shalom, and the reign of grace:
God’s peace — through the triumphant reign of grace — progressively dethrones and dismantles the paralyzing dominion of sin and death! Remember, in speaking of Jesus, Isaiah said, ‘Of the increase of his government and peace [shalom] there will be no end’ (Isaiah 9:7). Jesus’ peaceful kingdom is increasing incrementally and will be so until the consummation of the fullness of his kingdom. Purpose to be aware of where you are in the journey to perfected shalom. The more clearly you understand the basic movements of the gospel of peace (Eph. 6:15), the better.” Scotty Smith, The Reign of Grace
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From Recovery to Restoration
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