"You Are My People"

"...I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one. I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’” - Hosea 2:23b
I believe this quote fits perfectly with the mission and purpose of Alpha. Alpha is in the business of reaching people who are not (yet) God's people and drawing them, in the power of the Holy Spirit, into a relationship in which they become God's people. This verse proclaims the best news in the world because, in effect, it proclaims that the gospel is for everyone, even those who can't believe it is for them, and those for whom we sometimes can't believe it is meant. It means, implicitly, that whatever one has done in the past; however far one has strayed or run from God, Jesus Christ came and died on the cross so that anything one has ever done wrong, no matter how bad, or even so seemingly petty,can be forgiven. And let's face it - no matter where we are, or see ourselves, on the spectrum of goodness to badness, our need for Christ is exactly the same. Each of us needs to receive the salvation purchased for us by Christ on the cross. There is no sliding scale.

Sometimes these ones God is speaking to through the prophet Hosea are the ones furthest from Him. They may seem like the ones least likely to be considered God's people. They may be people who never expected they could be acceptable; who never felt they were worthy of having God bring them into a relationship with Himself. In fact, they may never have known, thought  or even been aware that such a relationship was possible or existed.

We owe it to them, we owe it to God, to inform them that this relationship is possible. We have been ordered by God to do it. This is a relationship they cannot even understand or comprehend until they are in it. Nor could we, before we experienced it. Our human words cannot convey the hint of a beginning of an inkling of what this relationship is like. But through our words, and by our encouragement on an Alpha course, and especially the hearing of His word, the Holy Spirit can bring life to even what might seem like the deadest heart.

If anyone comes to God, hat in hand, so to speak, through Jesus Christ, God will never say, "You are not mine."

He has said so.

Blessings,

John

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wonderful People

Image
Anglican Diocese of Athabasca Synod - Peace River Alberta  Friday Oct 13 I drove 5 hours to Peace River to make a presentation at the Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Athabasca. Bishop Fraser Lawton would love to see as many of his parishes as possible running Alphas. Many of the delegates are actually familiar with Alpha, although, having run it often in the moderately distant past, may not be so familiar with all of our new materials. So Friday evening's dinner was turned into a model Alpha supper, including jokes and the showing of the invitational first video of the relatively recent Alpha Film Series. This version is hosted by Toby and Gemma, a hip young pair of presenters, and targeted at the Millennial generation, the 18 - 35-year-olds. I always say that baby boomers like it too because they too like to pretend they can still be young and hip. Between Friday evening and Saturday morning I met many great people and found quite a bit of enthusiasm for Alpha. If all comes ...
Read more

Whirlwind Tours

Image
Because, as the title of this blog indicates, this is a diary, it will not always contain great theological or philosophical revelations. Sometimes it will be just what a diary is - a record of my thoughts and/or activities. I have set myself a bit of a busy schedule over the next two weeks, but that's the whole point, isn't it. Even though this is my retirement career, I still treat it as a full-time job. Basically, I do my best to devote 9-5, five days a week to my Alpha duties, and Saturday and Sunday are never ruled out if Alpha stuff needs attention. So... my schedule as it stands so far for the next couple of weeks includes two presentations at St Paul's Anglican Church in Edmonton this Sunday, trips to Westlock and Morinville, AB, a Pastors' lunch presentation in Whitecourt and visits to churches in Provost, Wainwright and Lloydminster. One thing I like to do wherever I go is check out a bit of each town's history and sources of local pride. Many Alberta comm...
Read more

On the Road Again

Image
I'm in Grande Prairie this week, ostensibly to attend  a dance competition where my daughter, Jen's dance studio is competing, and doing very well, if I may say so with a bit of fatherly pride. However, as I do not yet have a travel budget, I stole the opportunity to make calls on the churches in town, with some very encouraging results. I have previously visited most of them during my time with Alpha, so this was a matter of renewing relationships and re-introducing myself in my new capacity with Christianity Explored . Most calls just involved friendly conversation and ministry updates. I have also told all my churches that I am happy to encourage them with Alpha as well, so I shared the joy of what is probably the main Grande Prairie Alpha church, over the number of new believers coming to faith through their Alphas. Then, however, without my having even mentioned it, he produced material on a new discipleship program they are considering - Discipleship Explored - ...
Read more