Graceland

Bearing the Cross

freaknoc — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 05:43:58 +0000

I’m bearing a cross, this cross can’t be seen , it can’t be taken from me, this cross is all but invisible, but still I feel it. Everyday He told me, everyday, take it up, carry it . You must die, you must embrace death, just as He did. I see in my minds eye , there he is taking that cross, bearing it for me, blood running down his tired face. Eyes that are swollen shut, because of the previous beatings that he recieved. Then I stand, I look at myself in the mirror, I wonder , how? how do I do this thing, how do I live like you, love like you? Eyes swollen from tears as I wonder. Then he says its all at the cross, take it, bear it and die. In this invisible cross I find death, but I also find freedom, for he who has died has ceased from sin, he has ceased to live and it is now you that live in and through me.

I have died, that I may live

You died and rose, that I may live

Come sweet aroma of death that I may have His life and His grace

that I may take upon me his burden that is easy and light

A New Reformation

freaknoc — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 05:40:47 +0000

Reformation - rescuing from error and returning to a rightful course.

There is the beginnings of a reformation beginning to rumble under the surface, men and women that call on the name of Christ are beginning to have their eyes opened to the reality and the intent of the church of the New Covenant. There are beginning that following Jesus Christ is not found in the Institutional church or in the systems that have long been established over the last 1700 years. We are finding the freedom of the Son of God, no more are we to be bound. The bride will have her full expression, she must and shall go free. This New Reformation will not be battled upon church doors or in seminaries, but it will take place in the hearts of the disciples that long to see Christ expressed through his body, the church in its most full expression. We the disciples of Christ stand firm upon the scriptures and are Priests of the most High God a Kingdom of Priests. We will no longer accept that the ministry of the church rests within the hands of a separate Clergy class and that it is the job of the laity to simply sit and support said Clergy with with our service and our finances. We choose to resemble the Body of Jesus Christ and His expression through this Body to the world as representatives and Ambassadors of Gods re-conciliatory work and love to this world. We will no longer pay tithes that have no basis in New Covenant scriptures and are used to support both the Clergy and other unnecessary expenses instead of being used to care for those in need , whether they be in the body or outside of it. We will follow the teachings of Jesus Christ , we oppose all wars that men fight in this world, we stand behind the doctrine of nonresistance and choose to be peacemakers. This New Reformation will forever change the face of the Body of Christ and take the Church the last distance the the Protestant Reformation of the 16Th century failed to go. As this New Reformation moves subversively through the Body of Jesus Christ the revolution will move to houses and streets and in everyday life. We will throw off these shackles that have imprisoned those that have called on Jesus.The Disciples of Jesus Christ will finally see that God has gifted them for more than simply to be a spectator once a week. Finally after all those years Jesus will again be recognized as the Head again and the Disciples of Jesus will once again see the Spirit of God moving in and through His Body.

I believe this New Reformation is coming and that the time is now, we must tear down the walls and the institutions that have stood uncontested for centuries, not with force or anger but in love. We the Bride must call out for our husband , our savior and our Lord.

It is time……

Believe

freaknoc — Thu, 28 May 2009 04:51:12 +0000

I have in my time in the world of parenting learned a lot about life and spiritual issues, my kids have taught me a lot about how I am look to God or how I respond to God often. My son A.J. really floored me on something yesterday. Now let me preface by saying I have reading a book by Leo Tolstoy on the Doctrine of Nonresistance. The other day A. J. while at school was looking at the project of an older kid, when this kid slapped him. Now of course a teacher saw what happened and moved right in. A. J. did nothing in response. The part that floored me in this story came later that afternoon. My Father in law who picks my kids up from school was informed of the incident by A.J., when his response was “well did you slap him back?”. A.J. retorted “no Papa, a christian shouldn’t do that” My Father in law who is a christian himself asked him “well did you give him the other cheek to hit?” Later he continued to tell A.J. that if you don’t slap the guy back he’ll just keep doing it. I thought about this for the last day or so and it made me wonder how often we are more like my Father in law with respect to the teachings of Jesus than like A.J.. So often we read what Jesus said and just don’t believe that it is necessary to take it seriously. We hear the teaching to turn the other cheek and make excuses for not doing that. We hear Jesus say love your enemies and we say but justice must be done. The teachings of Jesus so often run contrary to the average christian and viewed by many as not reasonable. we live a culture of violence, most everything that we are as a society was taken by force and by some violent act. This country was founded upon a bloody revolution and a lot of the major land acquired by this nation was obtained by the bloodshed of someone. Yet we Christians glorify this regularly and celebrate battles that cost the lives of more than Americans. We have so ingrained ourselves within this ideal of violence and the power of force that we have forgotten Jesus who said to love your enemies and bless those that curse you and to turn the other cheek and not to resist an evil person. We have to go back to Jesus and what he said and ask ourselves , yes we believe in Jesus, but do you believe Him when he said those things that seem so impossible to imagine Maybe what is to make us different is that we will stand in stark contrast to this world and its values as well as those so often promoted by the church. we are to be an army of the weak walking in love and compassion and forgiveness and love. May we all be like A.J. in a childlike faith following Jesus and believing Him in everything He taught.

Quiet

freaknoc — Sun, 17 May 2009 07:40:58 +0000

I have, for the last couple days, been muling over a few things in my head. I have really remained silent on things mostly because over the last week or so God has really shown me that I need to conserve my worlds and reserve judgement more often. I am starting to wonder if all the battles I’ve waged are worth it. Now of course I’m speaking of the battles I’ve waged over Ecclesiology and the contemporary/traditional/institutional/ church. I mean, I really do believe the things I’ve written about and have shared with others verbally, but isn’t God capable of using anything. I mean haven’t I and countless other said that as we looked at secular bands and found soul searching lyrics or have watched movies or TV shows that speak volumes to our spiritual needs and even of Jesus and the redemption that He brings. Why do we need to try to make everyone think and see the world the way WE do? Isn’t there value in using the culture around us to show the Jesus of 2000 years ago. I mean I would never fault a missionary for using the culture of the nation that he ministers in to reach and make disciples of the people of that nation. But yet we in this new movement do that to those that , maybe corporatize the church, but that is the dominant strain of our culture today is the corporate power that is exerted on our TV’s and on billboards and even on our websites. Here is my take on the issue of discipleship. The reason that there are not more people that step from the believer/christian mode to the disciple mode is that it is hard. To take up your cross and follow Jesus is not easy. To acknowledge that it is no long we who live but Christ in us that lives is difficult, and in truth most people(mostly myself included) don’t want to give up that life. I promise that if the church looked more like the NT church and discipleship was really a requirement, then, most of those large buildings would empty out. I am relearning how to be a disciple of Jesus by Grace and in His love. I however am willing to accept that this road is not easy and is not traversed by a lot of those that call themselves His, that fact makes me sad, but I take comfort in knowing that even Jesus had that same problem(John 6:66). Because we live in a comfort centered culture Christians/Believers don’t want to take the chance on discipleship and they don’t want to leave what is comfortable. I will now go back to my quietness.

Follow

freaknoc — Fri, 15 May 2009 05:20:41 +0000

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; ¹⁰that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, ¹¹ if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. ¹³ Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, ¹⁴I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
¹⁵ Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. ¹⁶ Nevertheless, to the degreethat we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule^“ let us be of the same mind.Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. ¹⁸ For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: ¹⁹ whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things. ²⁰ For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. Phil. 3:8-21

I want this to be my life, I want to follow Jesus, learn of Him, obey Him, trust Him and His Grace and love. I want to study Him, and let His life shine through me and be His Disciple. I want to feed the poor and preach the Gospel. I want to be a sinner that is a saint, one that is a new creation that still can’t let go of old habits. I don’t want people to call me wonderful and smart and insightful. I merely want to see in me the beauty that is Christ in me the hope of glory. I want to see what it means to be a child of grace. I don’t have to have something pithy to say on my facebook status, unless its necessary. I am not here for a popularity contest, I’m here to live in Christ and to be His.

Childhood

freaknoc — Wed, 13 May 2009 04:35:35 +0000

This part 2 of the story of me.

The first real memory I have of this life is of a trip my family took to Chicago to visit my family, I don’t remember much of the actual trip and time that we were in Chicago, but there is an episode that sticks in my brain, somewhere in Missouri , we got a flat tire and on some Interstate, next to a large rail yard I noticed some tubes hanging on the chain link fence next to us , I asked if those might help, but my brothers said they were train tires, something that I thought true of trains almost till my teen years. That really explains my childhood, my brothers playing me for the fool and the easy one. As the youngest of 4 and a surprise at that I was mistreated and sensitive. I was sort of my parents favorite and my brothers never let me forget it. I even have to admit at this point in my life that my mom babied me way to much, something I believe was because of my limited mobility on my left side. I was very much a mommas boy I was climbing on my mom’s lap well into my 10th year of life and being a big kid that was no small feat for my mother to endure. I was a shy and reflective kid , I still to this day feel like an outsider many times among even those that I might consider friends. Oh Friends, I grew up in you typical Orange County Suburbs, one in West Anaheim, the other in the East of Anaheim. In West Anaheim I had one friend a girl 5 years my older, I can’t for the life of me remember her name, but she was pretty. In East Anaheim , a place I moved to in 1979 I had numerous friends, enemies, and users. Our house had a pool, a luxury that pretty much everyone of my friends didn’t posses. So of course in the Summer my house was the place to be. My pool was usually limited to 3 of us, so quickly the three became Me, Joey, and Scott. We became close and stuck together all the way through High School. We had many adventures in and outside of our neighborhoods, we had football games, and exploring times( one of our favorite places was the storm drains that went under the city of Anaheim. We even had names for them, Heaven and Hell. We explored them, trying to avoid bats and bums and only God knows what else. we also had fights, fist and verbal alike. I of course was always the coward, cowering every time things got physical, I was not much for getting beat up, though I know and knew then I could take a punch. I was always the nice guy, even as a kid, something that really never changed throughout my life. I learned during this time that there really isn’t such thing as a best friend. I only saw a lot of bad in my freinds in those days and saw a lot of selfishness. I myself have always been more sensitive, the kind of person that cared for animals and never wanted to hurt others even to my own pain. This got me the dreaded wimp label, for most of my school life. The last story I want to leave with is again for me to see God present in my life. As a young child, I hated the classes I took for my first Communion at St. Anthony’s parish, but I always loved the idea of this Jesus. So when the adults got on the subject of anyone from history to have dinner with, the usual came up, FDR, John Kennedy,Abraham Lincoln. But me being me thought I’d throw out my suggestion, ”Jesus” I said, my mom said oh that’s a good one butch and carried on. That thought stayed in my head to this day. Its one of those things that has always made me realize that always , God has been watching over me.

Peculiar

freaknoc — Wed, 06 May 2009 04:30:05 +0000

Many times the Bible calls those that are God’s , peculiar. So I wonder what makes us peculiar. Is it that we don’t sin, many religions have things classified as sin, so maybe not. Is it that we worship what we don’t see, could be, but again many do and seeing as the human mind is predisposed to worship, maybe not. I think it is that we as a people will give of ourselves and render ourselves as dead in order not only to serve God but to love our neighbor as well as or enemies. We will give to those in need and sell our stuff to meet others needs. Of course all these things are characterized by one thing…. Love.

More……

freaknoc — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:37:18 +0000

In my last post I asked the question “who am I?”. I am at this point no closer to answering that question then I was a few days ago. I do however have a sense that I’m called to something great, granted that could be my relationship with God or raising a kid or 2 that changes the world. But I feel that those are not it. One thing that has hit my mind even in just the last couple minutes is my strong sense of justice and of right and wrong. And necessarily right and wrong in a purely moral sense, but in a sense of justice, biblical justice, which I partially believe to be the righting of a wrong that has damaged or destroyed a part or the whole of a community and the bringing of forgiveness and reconciliation. as a child I was taught to look out for number 1 and remember the little guy. but maybe it should be to look out for the little guy and remember who God made you to be. Now I don’t always believe that justice comes through governments, it can but the justice I speak of should come through the Church, the church should be the peace maker, the church should be the one that brings healing and reconciliation. God’s justice demands this.

God help me to stand in your justice and to speak out to your church and its need to be the instrument of justice in this world.

Maybe this is my point and purpose, Lord let me not grow cowardly or tired or discouraged in seeking to see your justice meet-ed out.

Who am I?

freaknoc — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 07:01:09 +0000

I have been thinking a little over the last few hours, I’ve been contemplating a question, Who am I?. Thats my question, I seem in myself to know very little about Kelly Tague, I tend to be defined by the people I am surrounded by. I’ts funny I have thought that I was here for something , something great?, I don’t know. I have a hard time believe that this is my lot in life. I believe that I may need an avenue of expression or to learn something. Maybe even see Gods purpose for my life. Who is Kelly Tague? at this point I can’t fully say. I do know he is someone who has deeply held beliefs that he holds onto with a strong resolve. He is very sensitive and tempermental. He is usually loyal. but doesn’t take rejection well. He enjoys expressing himself, but is fearful of said rejection from those he considers his pears. He is a coward and gets angry about it. He likes to think he is smarter than he really is and shuts up when he feels as though the conversation is above him. He doesn’t care what others think, but again is to cowardly to express what he really thinks. He loves art and sports and his family, but doesn’t act like it (towards his family). He needs confidence in his voice, both spiritually,intellectually and artistically. He needs to use the deep resolve and loyalty that is so strong within him to express himself even if others may disagree or be bothered by it. In total he needs to take time to let God define Kelly Tague for him. God let me not fear and let me trust you in all things.

Kelly

Idealistic

freaknoc — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 07:01:06 +0000

I am usually pretty negative about a lot of things, I’m not exactly a glass half full kind of guy. I mean we have to face the reality that this world sucks and thaqt for the most part people make crappy decisions and devious about a lot of stuff, myself included. But for some reason when it comes to the church that pessimism regarding human nature stops and I begin to expect something better. Now I’m not talking about sin, cause we all blow it , whether in the church or outised of it we sin. I’m mostly speaking in regards to social issues and when I say issues I mean justice and compassion. I speak with regard to things likeslaveryor womens rights and how the church in America fought against these things , how so often to this day the church is still segregated into its own races, when we are told in scripture that there is niether Jew nor Greek, Barbarian or Scythian. Now I’m not ranting necessarily about those things in particular, my soapbox has more to do with the way the church in this country seems to just ignore the abuses that happen to creation or even to the creatures. I believe that if the church was really acting with Christ as its life and the Holy Spirit was flowing out of her that every christian would have a deep compassion not only for other people but for the animals as well. Now I’m not saying that we would all be vegetarians,I just believe that the stories of birds singing as saints prayed or of people like Francis of Assisi care for Gods creation have a believeability to them because the bible tells us that there is a gentleness and love to those that have Christ living in and through them. I do believe that an animal can sense the presence of Gods spirit. I do believe its a shame how that the bible believeing church in America has been overrun by an agenda that fits the powerful and elite more so than the the weak and needy an agenda that would seek to abuse or destroy creation rather than protect and nuture what God has made. May we as the church become more than a sunday morning club that spews and lives by an agenda fueled by ideaology rather than by the Spirit of Grace and Compassion that flows from the Father. May God change His bride into that lively and amazing people that doesn’t see people as things to dominate and subdue but to see people as those created in the image of God and creation and animals those things that as the creation of God testify of God.