Good things come to those that wait,
Not to those who hesitate…
(a line from “More Power To Ya” by Petra)
How do you build on ancient ruins? You build with living stones.
On the one hand, much of what once stood has been permanently lost. On the other hand, what little we can see of it is shockingly better than what has been built since then. But we can’t just preserve what once was; God Himself has commanded us to live here. His Temple is made up of living stones, people in whom His Spirit is active.
It’s one thing to study the ancient past of biblical religion; it’s another thing to realize it still makes demands on us today. This is the record of what God has done, and it speaks in terms of claiming the fundamental nature of human existence itself. This is not a hobby; this is Life. Of all the things mankind could bother to investigate, this is the one thing we simply must do or risk losing the very reason for living. This thing doesn’t rest on human endeavor. It’s answering the divine call.
A part of what God has revealed warns us that we cannot possibly make it universal, but we also cannot play hermits. The record of God’s action with the human race indicates boundaries between the individual and various levels of cooperation. The record also has much to say about how to cooperate; the whole thing rests on the fundamental nature of God’s character woven into Creation. Reality itself has strong biases about these things.
Yet it’s painfully obvious those who claim His name have done a crappy job of it. Some things they’ve gotten right, but nowhere near as much as they could. I’ve been sharing a vision of what I believe we could do better, and somehow God has seen fit to use my blather to catch the interest of a few others. You’ll have to ask Him why He chose to use me this way; I’m just trying to obey and serve faithfully. All I know for sure is the driving passion to share. I’ve tried to make it as open as possible without losing sight of my own calling. I want you to have a taste of this sweet shalom.
Here’s what we have up to now: We call our religion Radix Fidem. No one has come up with a better name, so it sticks. And from day one I’ve tried to get people more involved, but it’s been slow going. In seeking to follow the biblical model, I am your senior elder by calling, and your acting pastor because no one else wants that job. We have one junior elder, Jay DiNitto. We’ve had a mama elder, and may have another soon enough, but so far no one else has expressed any interest in helping to lead.
But we are on the threshold of opening up a forum soon. Hopefully that will seem more comfortable for some of you to speak up and get more involved. I realize a blog is more restrictive; it has to be. On a forum, you can express yourself more openly.
One of the critical elements in my vision is that we learn to act like an ancient Hebrew family. Our Western culture has left us a huge pile of broken debris that doesn’t belong the foundation of Scripture. The meaning of “family” has been highly perverted in the West. I know I struggle with it, and I’ve spent decades researching this Hebrew stuff. I think a forum would be a good setting for helping us get closer to the Bible on that. We can’t be slavish about the ancient past, but we sure can’t keep doing what our Western heritage teaches us.
But if you keep sitting there staring at the screen and reading what I write, and the comments of others about it, but never have your say, you can’t receive the full benefit. Do I have to spell it out? God will not give you the full measure of His blessings unless you start posting something that expresses your own experience with faith. We are trying to make that as easy as we know how, but we can’t grab your fingers and make you type.
Jay and I will be working on a forum setup. You can email him (jay@jaydinitto.com) or me (ehurst@soulkiln.blog), or post a comment here, if you have anything to say about it. Get involved; break the chains of the past and explore the future of God’s provision for yourself. Your silence holds back the blessings of Heaven.
