Power and Release

This is the "Montgomery Advertiser" article for January.


I called it the vase of power.  It lived in the living room of my friend, Brad, (names have been changed to protect the innocent).  It didn’t look like much of a treasure to me, but it sure was to his mother.  The vase claimed a special spot in the living room, an off limits place to all children.  Of course, the fact that we couldn’t go in the room made us want to go all the more, and one day, that’s exactly what Brad and his sister, Katie, did.  That day, the vase took power over everyone.​

Brad’s parents went out to dinner and left the oldest child, Mike, “in charge.”  Brad and Katie bolted through the living room, straight into the vase, which split straight up the middle.  With quick action, big brother Mike glued his mother’s treasure back together and turned the cracked side toward the wall. Everyone agreed their secret was safe.  

​And though the vase seemed fine, each time their mother walked by the living room everyone held their breath, sure that this day she would notice and the secret would be out.  They became so afraid of what might happen that they began avoiding her altogether.  The big brother even started to wield the secret’s power over his siblings.  “Do this, or I’ll tell.  Do that, or she’ll hate you forever.” They became slaves to Mike and the secret of the vase.

​Then one day Brad and Katie could take it no more.  Through a stream of tears, they sat their mother down, apologized profusely, and confessed.  Their mother smiled.  “I’ve known all along.  I’ve just been waiting to hear it from you.”​In that instant, their mother released the great power that held Brad and Katie in its grip.  

With the confession came punishments, but it was nothing compared to the guilt that oppressed them for so long.  It wasn’t pleasant for a short time, but the relationship with their mother was repaired, and in it they found love and forgiveness.  They all moved forward, but first they had to name and claim the thing that had power over them.  Only then could they release the hold it had on their lives.  They had to go through confession to fall into the arms of forgiveness.  Until it was out in the open, they would serve it in one way or another.

​The beginning of a new year is a time we make resolutions to do better, or move in a new direction.  We are ready to jump to forgiveness and the new life on the other side, but if we don’t acknowledge those things that separate us from God and the good he intends, they will always be waiting in the living room of life, reminding us of the regret and shame that rarely allows us to truly move forward.  

​I believe one of our greatest fears is that we will be uncovered and left that way.  If the secret of what we've done or left undone gets out, we will be in a free fall that won't end.  This even applies to our relationship with God.  Although we say we know there is forgiveness with God, sometimes we doubt it.  We feel that if God really knew, he couldn't really forgive.

So we try to move forward and wonder why we always end up where we started.  We cover ourselves with the secrets that sap us of energy and dry up our souls.  We become slaves to the lowest common denominator and cover ourselves with bad behavior that left unchecked will ultimately cause us to do things we regret. We justify such behavior by telling ourselves it's the only way to get ahead or that everyone else is like this or that, or at least I'm not as bad as that.

​God calls us to be more.  As children of the living, loving God, we are not just like everyone else.​

Jesus shows us where to begin.  By the River Jordan, John the Baptist asked people to repent and turn to God.  So Jesus, the one who was already clean, already in perfect relationship with God, crawled down the muddy bank and entered the water. John resisted, but Jesus knew this was an important starting place for his ministry and what he would do.  He stands right in the middle of the dirty water with us, in the cracked places of our lives.  He is broken so we made be made whole.  He shows us through his ministry, death and resurrection how to be reconciled to God.  It doesn’t begin at the cross or tomb.  It begins in the cleansing waters of repentance and confession.  

​When we turn to God, confess and repent, we will hear the same voice that Jesus heard when he emerged from the water.  “This is my child, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”  (Matt. 3:17).  We will be covered through forgiveness and strengthened to serve in new ways.  We will be freed at last from those things in this world that have power over us.  Through that confession and forgiveness we finally find inner peace and what it means to be beloved.

​Who or what will we serve this year?  This is an important question that will not just determine the course of our year, but the rest of our lives.