1.14.23

Heb 4:12-16

Let us confidently approach the throne of grace.

A reading from the Letter to the Hebrews


The word of God is living and effective,
   sharper than any two-edged sword,
   penetrating even between soul and spirit,
   joints and marrow,
   and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
No creature is concealed from him,
   but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him
   to whom we must render an account.

Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens,
   Jesus, the Son of God,
   let us hold fast to our confession.
For we do not have a high priest
   who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
   but one who has similarly been tested in every way,
   yet without sin.
So let us confidently approach the throne of grace
   to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.

——

Jesus heard this and said to them,
   “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

These are my reading for the day of my birthday. I love looking to the daily reading to hear the voice of God speak to my heart specifically and intentionally to me within the silence.

Finishing this 35th year onto the 36th has shown me that the journey is so full of wonder at the the hidden battles and victories God has won single-handedly within. He is my Lord who meets me in my poverties in which my deepest desires are threaded and stitched together as my soul’s becoming—more and more in His likeness. These are in mysteries that remain unknown to me yet only require my trust.

“The word of God is living and effective,
   sharper than any two-edged sword,
   penetrating even between soul and spirit,
   joints and marrow,
   and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
No creature is concealed from him,
   but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him
   to whom we must render an account”

This is poetry. How the Word made flesh, who is both the penetrator and penetrated, assumes my nakedness within His, my nakedness in what I would have called shame, exposure to joints and marrow, soul and spirit, like a surgeon’s blade, bares me open so to cover me with His own redemptive and glorified flesh—His supreme vulnerability enthroned upon a cross. This is my confidence. This is His chosen way to save me, you, everyone. So intimate, one body, one spirit, one mind, one flesh…

I am called, as are you, to be mystics of our times. Let mystery enfold you and transform you. I told myself this year was to be without my former patterns and paths of shame. How was I to do that? This reading reminded me. In His Way, I must trust, I must follow.

Thank you all who love me enough to want this for me, my path, the dismantling & rebuilding, To be called, to act, all in His Will.