{"id":5754,"date":"2019-12-10T15:26:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-10T21:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jfbelievers.com\/?p=5754"},"modified":"2019-12-10T15:26:00","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T21:26:00","slug":"at-the-bottom-of-the-bluff-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/2019\/12\/10\/at-the-bottom-of-the-bluff-2\/","title":{"rendered":"AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BLUFF"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A HISTORIC\nTRAGEDY<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I grew up in a place called \u201cMaiden Rock\u201d<\/em>. It\u2019s one of many riverside communities that wind\ntheir way through our country, along the edge of an iconic waterway. A small township\non the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River, Maiden Rock<\/em> occupies a total of 1.18 square miles of beautiful Upper-Midwest\nreal estate. The first house was built there in 1853 by the J.D. Trumbull\nfamily. Over the next 150 years, the entire population of Maiden Rock grew to 119\nresidents, with a grand total of 31 families in it\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mine was one of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just south of the village is a steep bluff, after which the town is named. According to an Indian legend, a young Sioux girl named \u201cWinona<\/em>\u201d felt pressured by relatives to marry a man whom she despised. As recounted on a placard along Hwy 35 at the base of the cliff, \u201cIt was evening, and she had not been united more than an hour, before they missed her from the lodge. Nothing could be found of her until morning, when they discovered her at the foot of this precipice<\/em>\u201d. This young maiden never loved the man she married, and the misery was enough to bring her to the edge of a cliff and destroy herself, just to get out of the relationship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winona\u2019s body has since become a fitting illustration of an ageless truth: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Covenanting\nyourself with someone you don\u2019t intend to love, is suicide<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A MODERN REALITY<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The start of the coming year will mark the beginning of Covenant Membership for this little ministry. We will begin with a dozen or more individuals, conceivably, each of whom promise to strive for a healthy, happy, long-term relationship with the other people in our church. We\u2019ve waited a long time for this, and now we\u2019re about to pledge our loyalty to one another for all to see. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are we excited about that? Or do we feel like Winona? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing makes a person feel more vulnerable than when they bind themselves to somebody else, for better or for worse  <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I wonder if, either right now, or at some point in the\nfuture, we\u2019ll have applicants who seek to become a member of this church out of\nmere obligation. People who feel pressured by their \u201crelatives\u201d within the\nfellowship, but don\u2019t actually love the family they\u2019re marrying into. People\nwho reluctantly go along with the plan in hopes that no one will really notice\nhow non-committal they actually are. Outwardly agreeing to it all, but inwardly\ndespising the one to whom they promise their supposed affection, lacking the\ncourage to say something before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If that\u2019s the case, let me be clear: I don\u2019t want\nanyone to formally pledge themselves to this church out of a sense of duty or\nrequirement. If we are going to enter into a Covenant bond with one another,\nlet it be done with mutual<\/em> love,\nrespect, & commitment, or not at all. It dawned on Winona\u2019s family all too\nlate that traditions & formalities can\u2019t mask lovelessness for very long. In\nher case, it worked for no longer than 60 minutes. Let\u2019s all be careful of\nmaking the same mistake, lest we follow in her fatal footsteps. If you\u2019re already\nfinding yourself resistant to such a union with us, and yet intend to go\nthrough with it anyway, you\u2019ve already started your lonely walk to the edge of\na cliff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TAKING THE LEAP<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I am not suggesting that making a commitment like this should come easily or without concern. A Covenant promise is saturated with heavy implications, and if you\u2019ve given them the attention they deserve, you may find yourself with \u201ccold feet\u201d as the day draws near. Nothing makes a person feel more vulnerable than when they bind themselves to somebody else, for better or for worse. But rest assured, if you\u2019re<\/em> nervous about it, we<\/em> are too. Remember\u2026we\u2019re in this<\/em> together<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re excited for our future together and hope that you are too<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This is a big step for us to take, both individually and\ncorporately, and it\u2019s my prayer that we\u2019ll all survive the jump. A certain\namount of anxiety is to be expected, but let\u2019s not forget, so is enthusiasm & gratitude & joy<\/em>! This should be exciting!\nA wedding without happiness isn\u2019t much of a celebration, and if there\u2019s no delight\nbehind the joining of yourself to the people of this church, you might question\nwhether you\u2019ll be able to keep your vows for very long. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A FUTURE TOGETHER<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Every church has a pile of bodies at the \u201cfoot<\/em>\u201d of their own \u201cprecipice<\/em>\u201d. People who got themselves into a committed relationship with a particular ministry, only to regret that decision soon thereafter. At the end of the day they forsook their Covenant, wandered away, and died. But just because we saw them fall doesn\u2019t mean that we need to follow them over the edge. Can\u2019t we write a different story? Will we honor our commitment to one another?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone in this fellowship who is, or ever will pursue Covenant Membership, ought to take some time and evaluate their motives. If you aren\u2019t in this for the \u201clong haul\u201d, and you need some time to rethink, please do it now. Go no further until you really love us and unless you\u2019re ready to live like it. We\u2019d rather be \u201cleft at the altar\u201d than to marry a fraud. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your decision to Covenant yourself to our church is\ncompelled by genuine Christian love, we\u2019re excited for our future together and\nhope that you are too. But if it\u2019s being done out of obligation or pressure,\nplease understand, you are committing an act of spiritual suicide. It will\nprofit you nothing to enter in to spiritual Covenant if, in the end, you leave\nin a spiritual casket.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TODAY A BRIDE,\nTOMORROW A BODY<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Next year\u2019s census might change the population statistics\nfor Maiden Rock, Wisconsin, but it can\u2019t change her grim history. A little\nvillage named after a mangled body discovered at the foot of a cliff, who, only\none day prior, was a beautiful bride named \u201cWinona<\/em>\u201d.\nA young Sioux girl who chose a quick\ndeath<\/em> instead of life in covenant<\/em>\nwith someone she never loved. End of story. And, whether we like it or not,\nthat same sad drama has been repeated in Christian communities on both sides of\nthe Mississippi ever since. Will our little church family be the exception? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten years from now, when it\u2019s time for our<\/em> next census, will you still be alive\n& well, in faithful Covenant with us? Or will you finally grow intolerant\nof Christian unity, and choose to join the other ill-fated souls at the bottom\nof the bluff?   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A HISTORIC TRAGEDY I grew up in a place called \u201cMaiden Rock\u201d. It\u2019s one of many riverside communities that wind their way through our country, along the edge of an iconic waterway. A small township on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River, Maiden Rock occupies a total of 1.18 square miles of beautiful Upper-Midwest … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5755,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pastors-notes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}