Soul Sister Time

               What a provocative title, especially coming from me.  I really debated whether I should use that title.  It seems like I am saying that the Cross of Christ does not draw me deeper and fuller into the love of the Father.  By claiming that the cross is not enough, I am not saying that the cross is not the power of God to overcome what is so wrong with the whole world.  The cross is indeed my salvation and my hope.  Without the cross my sins could never be atoned, and I would be cut off from God forever.  Silver or gold cannot even compare to the cross as the inestimable value of the cross.  The cross and the cross alone held the only power to defeat not just my own, but mankind’s sin problem. As Isaac Watts concludes in my favorite hymn When I Survey the Wondrous Cross : Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small, love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all .  Have no doubt that I magnify the cross of Christ and will continue

               Palm Sunday ushers in the commemoration of the most amazing reality that ever occurred on earth—the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is the holiest week each year in the life of a Christian.  Easter Sunday often triples church attendance.  Yet, the next week the crowds don’t return.                How does that happen?  How does the greatest spiritual truth yield so little transformation and devotion?  It happens the same way that it happened during Holy Week.  Not much has changed in the hearts of men.  You will notice on Holy Week the crowds hailed Jesus as the promised Messiah.  They thronged to the Mount of Olives and formed a procession, treating Him like royalty.  This is much like the churches which will be filled to capacity on Easter morning.  Easter draws the attention of the evening news and changes programing on Sundays from the usual sporting coverage to a religious movie or two.  The attention will fade away, and we will all go back

               The cross has the answers to all of life’s problems.  Perhaps the lament from the cross is the greatest example for us.  It is absurd to believe that our lives on earth should contain only goodness and joy.  We live in a world created by love and goodness but corrupted by sin.  Our DNA demands love from a fallen world, and we are stunned when it does not provide what we are seeking.                We are looking to the world for the love that is only sustained through a relationship with the Creator. So many of us tear apart our own lives in our efforts to make life work without the love of God.  I find it is impossible to connect with God’s love if I do not learn the healing power of lament.  That momentary darkness that Jesus agonized over from the cross was misunderstood by the crowds.  When He cried out:  About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani? (which means My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?) Matthew 27:4

            No one knows better than my own children that I can become intrusive into your soul.  I often disregard their sacred space in my enthusiasm for them to know the love I have come to know from God.  My new husband is getting used to this and loving me anyway in spite of my passion.  I am trying to become more aware of my inappropriate intrusions and listen to the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit leads me to the best ways to share my spiritual truth.             All that said, I sense that what I am about to write about will intrude into your sacred space.  My passion for this subject may be a bit out of control.  I can’t help myself…I just have to write about it.  We Christians are as a group far too inoculated to the effect of the cross on our souls.             In preparation for Lent, I have been teaching about the Seven Sayings from the Cross.  With such little written material, it has caused me to enter into the realities of the context from which Jesus is speaking.