You are free to do what you want – if, that is, you really want it!
Henri Nouwen “Life of the Beloved”
The main reasons why we are starting ET_BLOGS is to explore, discover, and reflect on where God is calling us, both on a personal level and as a church. We want to create a space that gives us the freedom to discuss the things that we learn and struggle with. Sometimes these will be reflections from sermons, community activities, or even personal times of silence and solitude with God. ET_BLOGS isn’t meant to be a place where we necessarily provide answers and theological doctrines, although you may find your theology stretched. It isn’t meant to simply update you on church activities, although you may be invited to join in. It isn’t just to make you more aware of community issues, although you may start to see God as much in the community as you do in the church. The hope of ET_BLOGS is that you will engage with us as we journey together in fully responding to who God is. We plan to have some regular contributors and some guest writers from time to time. If you would also like to contribute to ET_BLOGS, please contact us.
So allow me to share about myself in case you are new to the ET community. My life calling has always been to “connect churches with communities”. Last year, I left my full-time social work job to pursue that calling and it’s definitely taken me on an unexpected journey to say the least. For me, this calling has led me to areas of social justice and the Church’s role to be a part of its local community. The other part of this process has been to understand how engaging with the brokenness all around us is an essential part of our own spiritual formation and without it, we miss something. My hope is that you will see the intersection between spiritual formation and social justice and the invitation for us at ET to be engaged in it.
With all that being said, here we go. I wanted to start with a quote by Henri Nouwen, who is one of my favourite writers on spirituality, because I think this is exactly what we want ET_BLOGS to be about. It’s about being free in Christ to do what you want. Usually, our initial reaction to this is: “Are you crazy? I’ve got bills to pay, I have other commitments, I don’t have the time or money to do what I really want.”
I don’t have that kind of freedom, so why bother even talking about it? If anything, freedom can be a scary place. It’s so much easier to have rules and plans laid out for us, even if they aren’t our own. With freedom and choices come responsibilities and consequences. Yet, isn’t there something more to what this life can offer? We are always choosing something, whether it’s something of God, something of our own making or something of this world. The question today is: Are you really doing what you want?