Phrophets

I did a lot of thinking this last weekend. I had plenty of time to think. See, 4 guys and myself headed to Chicago for our Fall break. Between riding 9 hours to and from Chicago, sitting on Northwestern's campus and walking through Millenium Park there was plenty of time to think about a lot of things. One of my favorite things to do is sit somewhere with my journal and relay my thoughts onto paper unfiltered and unexamined. Sometimes I dislike the fact that we filter everything, because in a way it's as if we aren't even being true to ourself. We filter our thoughts and feelings and run them through some sort of analysis to decide if everyone else can understand them or agree with them. I think there is a beauty in everyone just thinking. Our world has become so uncreative in many ways. We resort to violence to solve problems that run much deeper. We let a societal framework mold us and shape us into who we should be and more than anything we dilute the message of Christ. If there is anything I have learned at school these last 3 1/2 years it is one thing. That one thing is that Jesus and my understanding of what he came to do is so much broader than I could concieve. I'm learning that he brought The Kingdom here and that changes everything and that I must rethink everything. I've learned that "my box" and trying to confine Jesus to it doesn't make him easier to understand but much harder. One of the most important thing that I have learned is that we need phrophets. We need people who are willling to speak truth. We need people to remind "the church" where they came from. Yes, we need people outside of "the walls" that we have built around ourselves, but we need people inside the walls. The phrophets were people that spoke truth to the most powerful people in Israel. They were people that spoke truth no matter the cost. I think we need phrophets. I think we need them more than ever. We need them because I believe Jesus is searching for a people to be him to the world. He is pleading for someone to join him in reimagining our world. I encourage you all to seek ways that you can be a phrophet. We need people that will reimagine a Jesus outside of our traditions. We need people that will stop boxing him in. We need people that have hope.