Holy

God is doing a new work of holiness in me. Not a work of blandness or restriction, but an expansion of horizons — a broadening.

Having been undone by a larger vision of God as Person, the ember of Isaiah 6 hovers before my lips and the purification from sectarianism and ‘truth drained from mystery’ is in the midst of doing its cleansing work. 

 “But holiness is in wild and furious opposition to all such banality and blandness. The God-life cannot be domesticated or used - it can only be entered into on its own terms. Holiness does not make God smaller so that he can be used in convenient and manageable projects; it makes us larger so that God can give out life through us, extravagantly, spontaneously. The holy is an interior fire, a passion for living in and for God, a capacity for exuberance in the presence of God. There are springs deep within and around us from which we can drink and sing God.” (p128 - the Jesus way, Eugene Peterson)

‘Here am I, send me’ is not the first thing I wanted to say — having experienced a silent neglect, a fearful hardness of heart from those I hoped would rally — but the vision of God compels me to declare my availability.  A willingness to be misunderstood — at first reluctant, but now with anticipation.

The word for 2023 is ‘ANTICIPATE’.