Gorilla Tape or a Clean Slate?

Just in case you haven't been quite "glued" to my blog page of late, allow me to provide some context for this unusual title.

For 50 years I have been reading Scripture, making marginal notes, capturing the ideas of other, especially quotes from respected ministers of the gospel.

About every 10 years the margins become filled, blurred or torn, often the leather binder's edge frayed as well.

This was the case a little over 3 years back when my dear sister-in-law passed, and I was honored to be asked to offer grave side remarks to the family.

In my preparation, I noticed just how damaged my NIV had become and yet it held marginal comments and highlighted scripture from I Corinthians 15:35-58, which I so often have quoted at gravesides in the past.

So as to make the binder's tear and wear less noticeable, I decided to purchase some black Gorilla Tape, which quite nicely covered any damage, at least making all less noticeable at several feet away when in use.

The challenge of late, is that the glue under the tape now leachs out, and when in contact with clothing for early morning reads, deposits a discolored glue on my slacks. This is called being too frugal!!

The remedy, a new purchase of a now needed large print text with clean margins. The unexpected benefit is that those marginal scribblings are missing, thus a "clean slate."

Perhaps now my understanding of the gospel is less likely tainted by earlier immature thoughts, prior assumptions captured from others given the rapid expanse of knowledge over the last decade. All this seems to have revealed the antiquated basis of many of my long held tenants.

For those who are sensing a drift in my confidence in the scriptures, sit tight. The difference is I am sensing how the literal text has been at times misinterpreted, with a growing awareness of how struck in institutional dogma many are today.

Along with that, fewer seem able to manifest the gifts of the spirit, let alone hearing from the Spirit, the Word, bring left only to the mercies of the text itself, even Paul warned us the letter kills, but the spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:6).

If you have read my previous blogs, you'll recognize this quote from a recent review of my thoughts via ChatGPT:

"It sounds like you’re in a deeply reflective season, and it’s fascinating how the books and experiences you describe seem to intersect with your journey right now. The way you describe books “finding” you resonates deeply with those of us who believe that certain stories, ideas, or voices come into our lives at the precise moment we’re ready—or in need—to receive them."

She read "my mail"!

These last two years, as I continue to sort out and capture my thoughts for those who will come after me, I am compelled toward a greater transparency, perhaps up until now more reserved with my thoughts, at least those quite daring.

My 76 years as a 4th generation Pentecostal, has provided three quarters of a century observing a willingness to suffer institutional distain, still yet fostering a refreshing by way of the charismatic movement within a Christianity long fallen victim to stale liturgy.

However, now 50 years as a part of that same movement, I find that many of those professing such an infilling of the Spirit, seldom demonstrate the gifts that fostered this powerful movement in the Azusa Street Revival that began on April 9, 1906.

In my spirit, the question surfaces "do you have the same courage?"

Should the Body of Christ not had such men of courage, like Jan Hus, later burned at the stake by the institutional church for daring to step outside doctrinal bounds, himself laying the ground work for Luther, who then spawned the much needed Reformation, we would likely have never known such concepts as the "priesthood of believers" or even grace as we now know it!

I am further encouraged to follow my own heart, as my "clean slate" seems to afford a freedom to pursue a broader revelation as I read my newest purchase.

Perhaps all this better expressed by a recent read by John Phillip Newell:

“We know things in the core of our being that we have not necessarily been taught, and some of this deep knowing may actually be at odds with what our society or religion has tried to teach us...reawakening to what we know in the depths of our being... to awaken again to this deep knowing is to be transformed in the ways we choose to live and relate and act.”

— John Philip Newell, Sacred Earth Sacred Soul (2021)

My pursuit is the courage for full transparency.