Name it and claim it...

“Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.”  Yeah, so I have a confession.  I grew up in the Baptist Church and have spent the majority of my adulthood serving and working in the Baptist Church.  I can hear my grandfather now.  “I was Baptist born and Baptist bred and when I die, I’ll be Baptist dead.”  Before I became an episcopalian, it was interesting watching my small, country Baptist church that sat on the edge of town morph into a mega church filled from the ceiling to balcony and main floor with people spread from wall to wall into that worship space.  

Since I’ve moved onwards through confirmation and began the soul seeking process for what ordination might look like for me, my former church has moved into a massive 3,000 seat edifice and currently runs multiple Sunday worship services and weekly bible studies.  I’m not bashing mega-churches.  I think that they are great.  I just prefer to worship in a smaller, more intimate space, where my pastor knows me and I can call them without having to go through a bunch of deacons, armor bearers and altar counselors. 

One thing that has been ingrained on me from the Baptist Church is the “Name it and claim it” theology.  In the eighth chapter of Matthew we see an example of this “name it and claim it” faith in action, with the story of the healing of the servant of Jairus, a Roman centurion.  Jairus’ servant fell sick and he asked Jesus to help him.  Without thinking, Jesus said “I’ll go heal him.”  The kicker is Jairus’ response.  “Lord, I do not deserve that you come under my roof.  But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.”  Now this is the type of faith that even caught Jesus off guard.  Jesus commended Jairus for his faith, which Jesus had not found in all of Isreal.  Without even going to Jairus’ home, Jesus healed his servant and affirmed Jairus by saying “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.”  

During this advent season, as some of us are naming and claiming what we want on our Christmas lists, even though it’s Jesus’ birthday, let us be ever mindful that we, like Jairus are not worthy for Jesus to come under the roof of our hearts, which are simultaneously filled with love for God, peace, anger, wretchedness and bitterness.  Our salvation and adoption into the group home of faith have made us worthy.  Worthy to stand before the King of kings and be presented faultless and blameless with great joy.  Even though our record convicts us, God, through his mercy acquits us.  Our sins have been expunged by the blood of Jesus.  What miracle are you believing God for?  A restored relationship?  A closer walk with the lover of souls?  Peace in your mind?  Healing for your body?  If God through Jesus did it for Jairus, he will certainly do it for us, his beloved.

Peace,
Karsten