Holiness Reeducation by Greg Arthur for Monday, 11 September 2017 "Let’s Set the World Free"
"Let’s Set the World Free" by Greg ArthurGuess who's back?
After taking most of the past 18 months off from blogging to write a book (you can pre-order it on Amazon- coming out in November), to give myself space to heal, and to live in a place of listening, I am re-engaging with Holiness Reeducation. Let me tell you why.
I started this blog back on February 14, 2006. The world was such a different place in 2006. Think about how the past 11.5 years have changed you. How is your MySpace page looking these days? Are you still friends with Tom? (If you don't get that joke, you skipped the MySpace life) I launched this blog six weeks before Twitter went live. #olderthanTwitter I went live one year to day after Youtube launched. (Back then there was about 14 videos on YouTube and all of them were cringe worthy videos of people showing how normal their lives were)
My purpose in starting Holiness Reeducation was to give myself a space to explore important questions, engage in conversations, and for me to learn how to write. There was a burning sense within me that I needed to write. There were ideas within me that would never mean anything if they weren't brought out into the world and tested. Back in 2006 I definitely overestimated how important some of those ideas were and the impact they would have, (see this post for reference) but I was right about the process. Writing, engaging online with people around the globe in attempted conversations about important things, and sharing my spiritual journey with others has shaped me in profound ways.
There are plenty of things I have written over the past 11 years that I don't agree with anymore or wish I hadn't written. All of it is joy, however. Growth isn't linear. Having a public record of my journey through ministry and my pursuit of a holiness is a gift. I am flawed. I am in process. I am a child of God only ever because of the grace of God. Thanks be to God.
In this new season of my life I am feeling a call back to public writing. Over the coming months I want to begin exploring new questions and engaging in different conversations. (That doesn't mean I am unwilling to go back and debate the greatest Rock Album ever, but it isn't my priority.) I hope you will join me on the journey and help me explore some of these questions.
Over the next month I am going to begin with an exploration of Freedom. Throughout my three month Sabbatical this summer I read the book of Galatians over and over again. It was really the only scripture I read all summer. I just kept returning to this letter over and over again because I was wrestling with a single verse. In Galatians 5:1 Paul writes, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free." The five Greek words that make up this verse have infiltrated my very soul.
What is freedom as God defines it? What does it look like for us to be free? How are freedom and holiness linked? What does a free life in Christ look like? What is Paul trying to help us understand with this cliched sounding, yet utterly profound, self referential statement? I encourage you to read through Galatians and to ponder some of these questions yourself. Over the next few weeks I will begin to try and unpack them and share my own thoughts.
My own journey of exploring freedom and its implications for my life have changed me. I will never be the same. Now, my focus is on how to help set the world free around me. May you experience and know the blessing of this freedom as well.
Monday, September 11, 2017
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