ONE of Them
February 20, 2025
Our Winter Embers Theme
I don’t think God said it that way.
I imagine the Trinity in a family conference, discussing the plight of their beloved fallen creation, stressing a different word in the phrase.
One of them.
“I’ll become one of them,” Jesus offered.
It’s all in the italics.
If Jesus had said “one of them,” it would have pulled Him down into our shame. Instead, He lifted us up into His glory.
And so He became one
of us. He lived our life, pain and limitations with us, and then had the connection He needed to pull us out of it.
I’ve found myself knocking on a lot of doors these past few years. Introducing myself. Offering an apology, a request to pray together, a box of donuts, a grocery gift card. All to people I would have once considered a them, but through unexpected (and unasked-for) twists in my life path, I find myself one.
This is where I choose to either look down on them as a beneath-me people group, or see them as created treasures on a difficult life path. This is where I choose to enter their shame or pull them up into my glory. The glory which is mine because Jesus pulled me up into His.
This, my dear nieces and nephews, is the heart of The Gospel.
And it will be the theme of our quarterly Camp Fire event this Sunday. “Winter Embers, A Beach Party” is a 6-hour sample of our summer camp. We’ll heat up the house, wear shorts and play beach games. Then we’ll worship till we encounter the Holy Spirit and let Him challenge and equip us to live the Great Commission. The teaching will be Rated G in content but not in Holy Spirit. Kids don’t need watered-down challenges. Their young hearts ache for the full-on opportunity to love and be loved.
You can sign up for it using the following link if you’re Age 7 or up. (Yes, older is fine as long as you’re not offended by simplicity; we just might put you to work.)
When I was little, my parents would lead us in singing the following song at our home church in Cambridge, and it has gripped my heart ever since. It begins with the Father asking this of Jesus:
“Will you be poured out as wine upon the altar for Me?
Will you be broken as bread to feed the hungry?
Will you be so one with me that I may do just as I will …
To make you light and love and life, my will fulfilled?”
Jesus then responds:
“Yes, I’ll be poured out as wine upon the altar for you.
Yes, I’ll be broken as bread to feed the hungry.
Yes, I’ll be so one with you that you may do just as you will
To make me light and love and life, thy will fulfilled.”
Then Jesus turns to us
and asks us the same question His Father asked Him. And he gives us the chance to respond in kind.
When I’ve said yes, it’s because I’ve had no idea what it was going to look like. Otherwise I wouldn’t have had the courage. But I’m glad. As much as I’ve disliked the process of becoming one
of them, I’m grateful for how He’s used it to make me more like Him.
Hope to see you Sunday!
Aunt Michelle
Dear Nieces & Nephews, Did you know that rules stimulate the desire to break them? It says so right in Romans 7:5. “For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.” Bingo. The source of all my parenting woes! The law. Rules. What’s a parent to do? Get rid of rules? “By no means!” to use Paul’s phrase. Jesus didn’t come to get rid of the law, but to fulfill it. So if I’m to follow His parenting example, I don’t get RID of our rules, I fulfill them. What?! What in Heaven does THAT mean in the heat of battle? I wish I could give a clear, concise answer, but all I have is hints that I’m collecting in a bucket. Do you care to join me? If not, skip the next twelve paragraphs and jump back in where I tell you Lexie’s inspiring story. This is what I've got in the bucket so far: Rules, like “The Law” of the Old Testament, reveal the existence of naughtiness. Without them, we wouldn’t even know what's naughty. We need them. The problem is, they also stimulate a desire to break them. Which leads to pain. (Keep reading Romans 7-8. It paints quite a picture.) If God provided a way out of this pain with sacrifice born out of deep love (dying on the cross), maybe we can do the same for our kids so they can experience it first in the natural realm. “This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you,” with natural consequences we neither rescue them from, nor remove ourselves from. We’re still there, with them as they suffer. Yes, we suffer too. Ugh! But with the kind of suffering that brings joy. Maybe God-inspired deep-love-sacrifice releases our kids from the tyranny of forbidden-fruit-infatuation and sets them free to live in a new way, deeply rooted in connection instead of rules. Because our connection to them pulls them into our connection with Christ , facilitating their connection to Christ , which sets them free from sin and changes their whole mindset. Eventually. In a slow progression of their minds learning to choose Spirit ways over sinful nature ways. One small painful step at a time. While we parents have absolutely no control over which way they choose. One of my dear ones stashed every forbidden candy box and wrapper ever collected in their dresser during my ongoing war against sugar in our home.
Dear Nephew, What do you want for your birthday? Like really, really want , so deep down you’re afraid even to say it? I feel like God’s waiting for you to say it. He knows what you want, He just wants to make sure you know what you want. So say it. Then hold onto it with all that tenacity you’re famous for, until you see Him bring it about. He put your deep desires in you for a reason. It’s been a painful process of sorting it out from the surface wants that are so fleeting and even damaging. When I used to take you all shopping and you got to choose something you wanted, the other kids would quickly grab something off the shelf. But for you, it would become such a process. You were so worried you were going to choose the wrong thing and be disappointed. These past few years, you have had many disappointments. From rejections of your love, to devastating breakdowns, to friendships not working out, and then all these health problems. Disappointment times infinity. I believe it’s been a process of sifting in your heart that has been so painful you don’t know what to do with it. I hate to watch it. I hate to see your pain. I think breakthrough is right ahead of you. It’s probably not going to look like you expect it to, but I think it will look many times better. Above all you could ask, think or imagine. Because God’s goodness is infinite. Where it looks like He has forsaken you and let you down, He’s just not coming through in the small things because He needs you to let them go so you can grab hold of the big things He’s offering you. There is so much champion in you. So much skill. Such refreshing wit. Such a winning smile. Such a blend of tenacity and tenderness. I can’t tell you how proud I am of you. How relieved that we are still close. I want to team with you for whatever is ahead. I love you from the bottom of my heart, Aunt Michelle
Dear Nieces & Nephews, You’re always on my mind. I’m hoping that with the approaching holidays and Camp Fire gatherings (more on this later), I will see you in person soon. In the meantime, here’s to writing again! I was part of a mom-care panel a couple weeks ago, sharing with homeschool moms some of my triumphs and failures in caring for myself while caring for children. The next day, while that was still on my mind, Aunt Marian called to offer me a week’s stay in a cottage at Christmas Mountain in The Dells because of a last-minute cancellation. I accepted, and God took such good care of me there! I decided what mom-care ultimately means is letting Him care for me, and cooperating as He directs me to assist. We moms would call that “obedience.” A good friend told me recently, “Michelle, if I was God, I’d give you an A+ for effort and a D- for results. But that’s not how God grades us. He grades us on our obedience. Some plant, some water, but it’s God who provides the increase. Just keep doing what He tells you to do.” OK. I can do that. I’m actually really good at obeying. I mean, I can put my nose to the grindstone, grit my teeth and plow as only a mule can. I’d make a really good mule. I’m not so sure mules are happy though. Our Midnight is, but … well … she’s never worked a day in her life and knows nothing about obedience.
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