"Pursuit...................."

My pastor from Pensacola has been in this area for the past week, deer hunting with another friend while his wife visits the local department stores, her own quarry less evasive. Several of us gathered for dinner at a local restaurant last night, conversation at one point turning to his church enjoying tremendous growth and I listened to him speak of the Spirit having opened his eyes to a change in their identity. For too long the building and the bunch (speaking in terms of the faith in general) has presented to the world an image of themselves, the “chosen few”, the “petite elite”, a membership requiring one’s permission to be cloned. What if, without rejecting Christ “in” me, believers actually made themselves a vessel for the Holy Ghost, the yeast in humanity’s mess, a witness that gave grace rather than condemnation, His compassion, along with truth, reaching far beyond a sanctuary dedicated to our individual passions, a place where the main focus wasn’t on “us”? He spoke of testimonies shared, of his understanding being enlarged to see how the “four Seder cups of sanctification, deliverance through judgment, redemption, and restoration” weren’t just Jewish ceremony, but also part of our own journey, as well, renewable unto us as we go, the source of such gifts established within us through the Cross. I suggested to him that “connection” was a keyword here, there being a continual need to verify our position, all of us with a potential drift into taking grace for granted. He agreed. The puzzle, though, remains the puzzle, this walk with the Holy Ghost one where we remain on this side of the veil, no matter who we are or what we think we have gained through revelation. The best we get is the hem of His garment, a dip in the pool here and there, His promise confirmed as we keep on keeping on. Somehow, some way, I hope to express that to the kids at the Detention Center tomorrow morning……