My dearest little girl:

This week numerous persons will get invitations to a baby shower for you and your mom.  In addition to the excitement of seeing family and friends when we travel to Georgia, and of course you being “showered” with many necessities (maybe with some toys thrown in here and there! necessities?!), we’re particularly stoked about the invitations.  Invitations?  Yep.  There’s something especially sweet on the invitations (other than the cool design and layout provided by Mrs. Vicki).  On the invitations, we’ve announced your name for the first time.  Yes, I’m beaming even while typing this.

The fact is that your mom and I have been praying for a while concerning what your name should be.  And then, through various means, we simply knew.  Beyond only liking the ring of a name, we sought something that captures the essence of who you are – the gift you are to us and the world.  And I believe that we’ve done just that.

A few years ago, your mom and I helped edit a New Testament commentary that was written by a friend of ours.  (Check it out because your mom and I wrote many of the review questions after each chapter.)  The commentary covers 1 and 2 Corinthians.  During the extensive study for this project, we learned afresh the heart-breaking scenario facing the Corinthian congregation.

There were those in the Corinthian church who apparently were quite infantile in their faith.  They fell prey to worldly bickering, categorizing, competition and infighting that undermined the stick-togetherness of the faith family.  Basically, worldliness crept into the church.  Brothers and sisters were not viewing others through the eyes of Jesus.

They had forgotten the transformative nature of the gospel; that those who belong to Christ are brought into a faith family whose values and ways of living stand over against the world.  And at the heart of these “values” and “ways of living” involves our relationships with others.  Our relationship with Jesus transforms how we treat others (or at least it should).  We take our cues from how Jesus treated people.  And this is more than simply self-willed politeness.  It’s the relational direction that the Spirit leads us.  As the Spirit led Jesus, the Spirit leads the church.

Numerous folks in the Corinthian church had to realize how bad things really were.  But, then again, one’s eyes adjust to the darkness the longer one is in it.  People were dividing into camps.  Each rallying around certain prominent figures in the church.  Rather than focusing on their identity as a faith family, splinter groups emerged that were more concerned with personal preferences than the overall well-being of the community.

In 1 Corinthians 1.11, Paul mentions how he receives word about the fragmentation of the Corinthian congregation.

My brothers and sisters, Chloe’s people gave me some information about you, that you’re fighting with each other.  (CEB)

Although this division was widespread, it’s obvious from the correspondence that someone finally had enough.  They were tired of the church being less than what she was supposed to be.  Instead of following Paul as he followed Jesus, the church was following worldly standards of judgment and categorization – returning to the poisoned waters of bigotry and pride.  So, a report went out.  The report came from “Chloe’s people.”

Some translations render this “Chloe’s household.”  What stands out about the reference is that during these times “households” were primarily associated with male figures.  Thus, the reference immediately grabs your attention.  So, why does Paul say this?  What might this mean?

Many commentators suggest that the reference lets us know that Chloe was a prominent lady in the community.  New Testament scholar, Ben Witherington III, says that most likely she was “a businesswoman prominent in the Christian congregation in Corinth and perhaps one of Paul’s first converts there.  Her loyalty to Paul is shown by the oral report that she sends him” (Conflict & Community in Corinth, Eerdmans: 1995).  As one of the first converts of the great apostle, Chloe was a lady of influence, hospitality, and witness.  When seeing the fragmentation of a young congregation, she cared enough to send (at the least, to support) a group of persons to take word to the apostle Paul that the church needed help.

This, my dear, is where we got your first name.  We want you to know that the New Testament witness gives primacy of place to the calling and empowerment of the Spirit upon persons in order for them to be and do what God desires.  For too long, and at the expense of so many anointed women of God, the church has placed unnecessary, unbiblical and undermining limitations upon people in order for them to “qualify” for ministry.  Know this, sweet Chloe: you can be whatever God calls you to be.  It’s important to remember that the church is to be an extension of the anointed ministry of Jesus to the world.  And this means the entire church.  The self-imposed dividing lines, limitations, power plays, prejudicial categorization, competition and suchlike have no place among the people of the Spirit.

I say this to encourage you to listen carefully to God’s call upon your life.  And don’t allow the delimiting expectations of a few cause you to doubt what God can do in and through your life.  He is your source, strength and portion.  Although his bride fails to see how special you are at times, love her with the power of Jesus’ love.  Such love is transformative and diffuses through the community.  It is unimaginably powerful to open the eyes of the blind.

Ok, so we’ve covered your first name.  What about your middle name?  Well, this shouldn’t take so long to discuss.  It’s rather straightforward.  Before you came along, your mom and I had a pretty tough year.   Without going into great detail, suffice it to say that our prayer could be summed up by our asking God to help us breath.  Meaning, help us make it through another day, hour, minute by His grace.  We had suffered through quite a bit of loss and heartbreak.  And we needed God to reach into our lives and graciously empower us to flourish in faith and ministry; to be reminded of his ever-present strength amidst the storm.

See, baby girl, we live in the middle of a warzone.  Literally, our world is at war (physically and spiritually) and it breaks God’s heart.  So much so, that he went to great lengths in order to start the healing process in creation; to the point where he gave his very life to hit the reset button for humanity.  The very fact that God engages our pain – caring enough to commit to us in such a way – lets us know who he is.  He doesn’t sit idly by while rebellion wreaks havoc in our lives.  He approaches us in vulnerability, passionate, driven by suffering love.  And his disposition of such loving redemption is best captured in one word – Grace.  This is what you are to us – an expression of God’s grace.

There you have it, Chloe Grace, a brief story of your name.  Oh, I almost forgot.  “Chloe” literally means “blossoming.”  It’s fitting that you are God’s grace blossoming before our very eyes.  And this is simply the beginning.  Our dreams for you abound.  The world awaits your arrival this January.  We truly believe you will transform the world for the glory of Christ.

With infinite affection,

Dad

I first read The Shack by William Young earlier this year.  My husband, Shannon, had heard a preacher talking against the book and decided to check into it.  He read the first chapter online and decided to buy the book.  He and I read the book together and really enjoyed the story.  Since then, we have heard some people give rave reviews of The Shack while others contend that it could be harmful to Christianity.  Since it has become such a hot topic, I thought I would give my opinion of the book here and ask for yours. 

The Shack is the story of a man, Mac, who has lost much in his life.  Through his painful experiences, he has also begun to lose his faith in God.  I do not want to spoil the plot, so I will try carefully to keep from doing that while giving you some vital information about the book. 

The book opens in the good part of Mac’s life, and we are taken through a series of events that cause Mac’s world to crumble.  He becomes only a shell of the man he used to be, and his wife and children also struggle through life in the face of extreme loss.  One day, while Mac’s family is away, he receives a letter that changes his life.  He travels to a remote shack in the woods, where he proceeds to experience God in a dynamic and tangible way.

I think Young’s portrayal of the nature of God is one of the most beautiful that I have ever seen.  He shows that God is not constrained by our misconceptions or limited imaginings of him.  God is more dynamic than we could ever imagine, and his utmost concern is that we have a thriving relationship with him.  This is easily seen in how God reveals himself to Mac in The Shack.  This has been an object of consternation to various people who criticize the book for not being theologically sound.  However, I think the portrayal of God in The Shack captures many beautiful facets of the love of God that we see in the Scriptures, even if it is quite untraditional.

While there are some theological nuances in the book with which I disagree from a Pentecostal perspective, I think this book is one of the best books I have read all year and would encourage anyone who wonders about the nature of God and where God is in the middle of a bewildering situation to read this book.

Please let me know your thoughts, especially if you have read the book.

Blessings,

Dee

Last night, our pastor (Robert Barnes) had us to think of one situation in our lives in which we need God to move and change things.  He then spoke about the power of Jesus to heal, deliver, conquer, save, love, create, etc. and asked us when we thought about that thing on Monday (today) to say to the situation, “Jesus is the Son of God.”

First, Jesus is the Son of God.  This name, this powerful name, is the name at which every knee will bow and every tongue will confess one day.  The name above all names.  The name that contains so much power that demons flee, situations change, bodies heal, people repent, lives transform at just the mention of this name.  Whatever situation you need altered, this is the name on which you should call.

Jesus is the Son of God.  He didn’t just die on that cross – he rose again.  He is not dead but is alive and is able to handle our problems.  When we pray, we do not pray to someone who cannot hear.  We pray to one who is, who was, and who is to come – the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end (and everything important in between).  He is and will always be.

Jesus is the Son of God.  He is the only one with authority to change the situation.  There is no other beside him.  He is the way of life.  He is the truth.  He is the door to enter into a relationship with God, and beside him there is no other.  There are no other “sons” of God who can change your situation.  He is our one and only hope – and what a great hope he is!

Jesus is the Son of God.  He is not just the ambassador from God or God’s agent to humanity.  While he is both, he is so much more.  He knows God in an intimate and complete way.  If we are to know the heart of God, who better to show us than his Son?  Being the Son of God, Jesus has ultimate authority over all powers and principalities, over all people and things, over all situations and trials.  He is unlike any other person who ever existed; he is God’s only begotten son.

Jesus is the Son of God.  He, as the only begotten of the Father, is full of all the same glory as the Father – full of grace and truth.  He is of the same type and substance as the Father, yet able to commune with a fallen humanity and provide us with redemption.  He is God, yet human.  Of the substance of the divine, yet understanding all of our afflictions.  100% God, yet 100% man. (Try to understand that math!)

Jesus is the Son of God.  That word that encompasses all that the creator of the universe is.  God.  Divinity.  Glory.  Absolute perfection.  Amazing Love.  Words cannot even begin to describe his greatness.  Yet he chooses to love a fallen creation.  He lavishes grace and love on us?  How?  How great is the father’s love towards us, that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us?  God, who is in complete communion with himself, who needs nothing.  God.

How can I worry about any situation, when I think about this simple sentence: Jesus is the Son of God?  How I can even think that he would not see me through the fire?  How can I even doubt his love toward me?

Thank you, God, for reminding me of how breathtaking you are.  You are altogether lovely, altogether worthy, altogether wonderful to us.

Blessings to all,

Dee