In this Trinitarian belief, we hold that the Holy Spirit is stirring within us, among us and through us. God is not dormant or far off but intertwined within the spaciousness of this confining moment. As I read the scriptures, I continue to be drawn deeper into this ever increasingly wider stance of grace, love and acceptance.
This makes sense, for the macro culture tradition of our church, the Congregationalist, is one in which each is valued and it is believed that the Spirit is working through each of us. This makes sense as the start of this movement, in 1620, began with a minister by the name of Rev. John Robinson, standing by the side of a ship leaving port enroute to the Americas, by the name of The Mayflower. Some of his final words were recorded as such…
“I charge you before God…that you follow me no further than you have seen me follow the Lord Jesus Christ. If God reveals anything to you by any other instrument of His, be as ready to receive it as you were to receive any truth by my ministry, for I am verily persuaded the Lord hath more truth yet to break forth out of His Holy Word.”
Did you hear that?! More truth is to come spilling out of these scriptures as we read, embrace and are molded by these scriptures. Or, as the writer of Hebrews declared, “God’s word is living, active and sharper than any two-edged sword.” It has the ability to speak into our being and remind us of our truest self. That self is but a mirror of the Christ! For when we awaken to the welcoming embrace of God, the rigidity and me-ism begins to melt away until all that remains is our truest self—love! And that self, the loving self, is able to love God with all our hearts, mind, body and soul and love our neighbor as self!