Gospel Conversations Reimagined: How Understanding the True Story of the Whole World Can Impact Our Prayers, An Introduction to Part II
If studying the TSWW has taught me anything, it is that the Father, Son, and Spirit—the Creator and Sustainer—is fierce and mighty, gracious and loving, alive and well and ever-so-present. As I have read and re-read the Bible over the past several years, I have been astounded by the threads from Genesis to Revelation that ground me and remind me of the very nature of God. The Spirit—mysteriously—gives us eyes to see God’s handiwork and ears to hear and even comprehend the truth contained in Scripture. As I have read the familiar stories that make up the True Story, I have been challenged by the irrational and illogical ways in which God displays his power and presence in the midst of an otherwise mundane reality.
For example, he divides a great body of water so that throngs of people can cross on dry land. He drops sweet bread and quail from heaven for food and only on certain days of the week. He speaks through a donkey. He makes the head of an axe-head float on the top of water. He purposefully, on many occasions, brings complete strangers together to find true love. He blesses barren and sometimes very old women with newborn babes. He causes a narcissistic world leader to lose his mind and then find it again in worship. He protects three guys from being eaten by a lion. He clothes his Son in human flesh who is then born of a virgin. This same Son eventually turns water to wine, heals the lame and the blind and the terminally ill, he cares for the rich and the poor, and brings the dead back to life. Messiah rebukes the religious and challenges tradition. He sweats drops of blood and bears the weight of a cross-not for his own wrongdoing but for the sin of humankind. He suffers. Silently. He utters no threats, casts no blame. Then, three days later, he raises from the dead and appears from out of nowhere. In the flesh. As a Gardner, a Friend, a Fisherman, a Short-Order Chef and as a Fellow Traveler. Present one minute and absent the next. Then … he ascends into heaven while his followers—his children and members of a New Family—watch. Unimaginable. Impossible. True.
Then, the Father and the Son send the Spirit—like a mighty wind! People who were speaking to their buddies in everyday Greek were suddenly able to speak fluent Arabic! Then, more people are raised from the dead, even more find the Way in ways that confound logic and defy natural laws. You can almost feel the wind blow as you read the book of Acts as the Spirit speeds the gospel to murderers, sorcerers, jailers, businesswomen, little girls and islanders, from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria and eventually to me at my neighbor’s kitchen table and to you somewhere along the way.
This is the God whom we know and serve. This is the God with whom we commune and cry. This is the God we call on to provide for the hungry and to give strength to the healthcare worker, to provide wisdom for the scientists. This is the True Story of the Whole World.
It is time—I am so ready—to reimagine the gospel conversations we are having with each other and with God. So, hang on tight—over the next several weeks I will continue the series of stories with a few posts on prayer.
