Wednesday, September 13
The 'why' behind 'Crossings'...
Now that we have decided what to call this 'new thing' God is doing in Knoxville, let me tell you why we chose the name 'Crossings'...From the book of Genesis...chapter 32...
22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak."
But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
27 The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered. 28 Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared."
I believe that Jacob's crossing of the River Jabbok is a crossing that everyone must make in their journey toward faith. That place where we come face to face with God, where we wrestle all night long to figure out if this faith is our own, and where, even though sometimes we walk away with a limp, we always walk away changed.
May Crossings be a place where asking questions is as important or more important than finding the answers...Where people feel safe to come and wrestle with faith in God...Where we all cross the River Jabbok and enter into the story that is God relentless pursuing us.
May we have the courage and the faith to 'not let go', and to recognize the grace God gives us by allowing us to cross this river...
Mark Nelson at 12:19 PM 2comments
