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roadsign
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Joined: 2005/5/2
Posts: 3777


 A Lost Identity

“I lost my passport, and now I can’t find it!”

Those were my gnawing thoughts throughout a disturbing dream last night. This dream seemed to be a fitting sequel to a sermon I heard yesterday in which the preacher admonished us to remember our identity in Christ. In the dream I was experiencing the horrifying effects of losing all sense of identity.

I was in a huge cathedral in Europe, touring with a Canadian concert choir. We were prepared to perform, robed and now filing up a long, steep aisle to our designated seating. That’s when I realized that I did not have my purse. I assumed that I left it in the dining area or the lady’s room. So I headed back to retrieve it, expecting to catch up with the choir shortly.

But, alas, the church was so big that I soon lost my way. I searched and searched and got more and more lost. I was now separated from both my purse (representing all that identifies me) and the choir (the group by which I was identified).

My search led me up and down all kinds of passage ways throughout this perimeter-less sanctuary. There were narrow stairways, wide, spirals, ladders, carpeted, cement, even crawl spaces. I encountered all kinds of people in the various seating areas. (But no one ever noticed my presence). I came across a section where people were standing on the pews yelling at each other. I came across another section packed with people in colourful eastern dress. A large variety of saris and curried meals were available for purchase.

Eventually I found myself wandering in the back cement-walled recesses of the building - all alone, lost, and frightened. I came across a security guard seated at his work table. He was my only hope. I told him that I had lost my passport, but he didn’t care. He groaned, but didn’t look at me.

After a bit more wandering, I woke up. (Thankfully!)

The fact that I never did see a front platform or pulpit ( ie: a focal-point) reminded me that in the monstrous religious system of the world, there is no center; there is no Christ and no gospel authority.

This dream reminds me that the two most dominant sources of identity: religious and political are unstable. Within them we can actually lose all sense of identity. In them, we can become a non-person.

Diane






_________________
Diane

 2007/11/5 7:45Profile









 Re: A Lost Identity


Diane,

This is interesting.

Yesterday I went to a church in the city centre, where my student friend's mother had been led to the Lord. (I was made welcome and began to feel spiritually at home there.) The sermon was taken from the whole of Philemon, and it was entitled: A New Identity Card.


Afterwards, having been treated to a more proper welcome by the Outreach Team, and finding myself in fellowship with them, one lady shared that last week (the first Sunday after the conference), they had had a marked move of the Holy Spirit there, so much so that He controlled the whole meeting time. There had been much crying with tears and prayers. It seemed to me that this is connected to the prayers for revival which preceeded the conference.


Please also read on p10 of A Rebuke to the Church, Spitfire's transcription from a message by Art Katz - The Call to Apostolicity - which ties in with what you said here:

Quote:
This dream reminds me that the two most dominant sources of identity: religious and political are unstable. Within them we can actually lose all sense of identity. In them, we can become a non-person.

Sister, the Holy Spirit is at work in and amongst us. Amen. :-D

 2007/11/5 9:11
roadsign
Member



Joined: 2005/5/2
Posts: 3777


 Re:

Who was the security guard?

Diane


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Diane

 2007/11/5 9:39Profile
roadsign
Member



Joined: 2005/5/2
Posts: 3777


 Re:

Quote:
Who was the security guard?


I just figured it out:

The security guard was the guardian of the system. His job was to be on the lookout for trouble makers, and squelch potential threats to the organization. And since I was not a threat, my problems were not relevant. I didn’t matter. So I received no help from him. I was not shown the Way back ‘home” (a reference to Carter Conlon’s sermon [url=http://www.tscnyc.org/sermons.php]Beware of Angry Watchmen [/url]

Oh, how easy it is to be like the security guard - to ignore the small quite whimpers of the lost, fearful, and searching ones in our churches – those who cause us no trouble. Instead, we reserve our attention to the threats and annoying troublemakers. Could they be planted by the devil to keep our attention away from the great commission?

Diane


_________________
Diane

 2007/11/5 10:15Profile





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