As one writing discipline ends, another begins.
It has been good to return to regular blogging through the National Blog Post Month prompts. I have not been entirely consistent, but at least I never gave up.
Today, I had invites to share in two advent disciplines: one writing prayers and the other reflecting on a word each day. They both speak to me, so I might switch back and forth between the two.
Today’s advent word is “write”.
Much of our focus in scripture this time of year is on the prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures. As we wait for Jesus to be born in our midst, we look back to those who were also watching and waiting.
What must it have been like to write those prophecies? Did they have any sense of the import of their words? Were they speaking with eyes focused only on their present reality… yet by the Spirit transformed into promises for every person in every time?
Today, when we write of our longing and hope for God to come down and tear open the heavens in places like Ferguson and Sierra Leone and Syria and under the bridges of Des Moines, are we merely echoing voices of the past? Are we speaking God’s word for this moment? Will our words carry meaning centuries from today?
I am merely an accidental author. I didn’t set out to write. But I find fulfilment in it. I speak from my life. I don’t really need anyone to read the work. Yet, sometimes a piece speaks to someone. The holy spirit moves. Something bigger than a girl with a blog is taking place.
And I wonder if folks like Isaiah and Nahum were really that much different. Were they just ordinary people, doing an ordinary thing, that by the power of God was transformed into something completely different?
I guess what I’m trying to say is this… If any sermon or blog or book of mine speaks to you, it probably has very little to do with me and everything to do with the how the Holy Spirit goes to work in our lives… translating, interpreting, transforming. I’m just an accidental author.
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