*This here was scribbled on my notebook yesterday. We were still under the wrath of Typhoon Paeng, which meant we didn’t have electricity, and I was going between writing and re-reading Dune.*
I suppose it’s good. I mean, the wind is really strong outside, and it’s raining. Unclear if we’re under a storm signal. I couldn’t check because I couldn’t go online, and I couldn’t go online because the power’s out.
I say I think it’s good because… well, here I am. I’m in no rush to write a lot, but I guess I do want to write, in the absence of 99 percent of other distraction.
I could have done some writing in Bolinao when I was there mid-October; now that I think about it, it may have been counterproductive. This, considering the meaningful, valuable conversations I’ve had with Ian, Donn, Pola and yes, even their boys.
No, this seems to be the perfect time to write. So far, so good.
Yesterday I preached, and in my preaching I allowed myself to be vulnerable on two fronts: Revealing to all what my fears were in the form of imagining the worst that could happen to me, and hinting at my plans for what I imagine were my successes.
After the service I spoke to Lanz, a member of the congregation and one of my business partners; I expressed my regret for sharing a little on my plans and what I wanted, to which he said: It’s good, and it’s actually good that I revealed something. He had me thinking on the alternative, which was to stay quiet, meaning I would be leaving my core team and the rest of the congregation to speculate and make all sorts of assumptions.
For all the ‘motivational’ memes and graphics we expose ourselves to on social media, sometimes, I’m learning – sometimes, silence betrays us.
Besides, the main point of the message, on top of these ‘revelations’; it was, and it will always be Christ. Now that I think about it, it was for Him that I was willing to let the people in on my vulnerabilities. It was because of any confidence I have in Him that I was able to respect whoever was listening at the time, even with just a little of what I try to keep close to me more than most other things.
I guess that’s how you use liability – to flex the value of an asset, and what an Asset it is! This is no less than THE Asset of assets, the Lord Jesus Christ!
And now that I think of it, one reason why I think we can call Him that is because He’s more than just a resource, but He IS the Source… He is THE Source (see what I did there?). Source of sources, Source of resources who is Himself the Resource of resources in the sense that we interact with Him, as He interacts with us, in more than an Asset interaction, but an utter and absolute union.
Whereas an asset can be here today, gone tomorrow, we are in and with Christ all the time, and until the end of time, and beyond. And… there lies the superiority, the reason for His being the Asset of Assets – it is in His presence.
Presence, just as I’ve been led back to re-reading Dune; Presence, as I’ve read Duke Leto Atreides having – You may not interact with him, you may not even be talking to him, but you do not doubt – you KNOW he’s there. And so it is with Christ: He is in us, with us, and we know, one way or the other, whether intentionally seeking, distracted, or idly sitting; He is with us, just as we are with him.
I suppose this is timely for this last Quarter of 2022, and for this season, for it is in the birth of Christ, or rather, in the events leading to His birth, that the angels proclaim that He would be known, among other names and titles, as ‘Emmanuel’
Emmanuel. God with us. God IS with us. Later on in the Gospels, Christ would say apart from Him we can do nothing. This lines up to what the prophet Isaiah shared so many years, so many generations before Christ, when he shared that God considered the ‘righteousness’ of the people to amount to filthy rags – worthless, and hazardous, even.
…So even when we think we did something, it ultimately amounts to have no worth. Apart from Him, we could do nothing.
But surely, this is to say that with – Well, there it is. There it is.
Where’s the scripture that says ‘With God, all things are possible?’ – It may not precisely lead to my point but it does add value to this present musing.
Apart from God, we can do nothing.
With Christ, everything we do has value.
I’ve had to stop before writing that second line. Somehow I hesitated to write the direct opposite – ‘we can do everything’, as if to say that the focus ought to be on us and our doing.
But perhaps, sure, on its own, it’s questionable; maybe if we include both statements?
With Christ, everything we do has value.
With Christ, we can do everything.
And we say it twice, perhaps, to emphasize that both claims are preceded ‘With Christ’.
I’m happy with that.
And, perhaps that adds validity to our saying that Christ is the Asset of Assets; For without Him, anything we do call assets are of no lasting worth; Yet, with Christ, sure, we can do everything, but more importantly, Christ is the infinite value to anything and everything involving us – all we do, all that is done to us, all of it has its infinite value in Christ.
Yes, I’m happy with that.
But it goes on; Because see, since Christ adds infinite value to everything- ‘everything’ naturally including our past, we can have peace beyond understanding, knowing all that has happened to us has been deemed valuable. But in our celebrating this Truth which is bound to touch a good number of us still trying to reason out all that’s happened to us so far, let us not neglect – Well, actually, we’d be greatly restraining ourselves if we do not go deeper into the other aspects and perspectives. As we go on, I’m compelled to share:
The message of the cross is foolishness for those who are perishing, but for us who believe, it is the power of God unto salvation.
I say this as a prelude to having us consider, that in the presence of our everlasting Savior, not only do with have peace with our past, but power in the present, unto the future. In other words, Christ is the Asset of Assets, the Source of Sources who allows us and directs us to re-source all we were and all we are to create, in celebration.
I was thinking about the themes for each week for this final quarter of 2022, just so that my worship time would have appropriate songs ready. While I was doing that I observed and was pleasantly surprised to see that December 25, 2022 is going to fall on a Sunday. And the word ‘Birth’ was the first thing that came to mind. Was it to be a theme for next year, or leading to the next year? Perhaps; December 25, is, after all, the last Sunday of this year.
But after all we’ve written so far, we see an elaboration for ‘Birth’; that is, we create out of celebration of His ultimate, intimate presence. (There’s a clean explanation of the true value of sex if I ever saw one)
The pandemic is over; let’s spend more time with each other, and utilize the power to create. In communing, there is celebration, and there is creation.
To clarify – In communion, we celebrate Christ, and in our celebration of His presence as a community, there is creation. New ideas. New revelations. New inspiration. New action. New responsibilities. New motivation. RE-newed ideas, etc.
Indeed, Christ makes all things new.
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
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