Rachel Corrie, aloneness and God
I have no evidence other than her name that Rachel Corrie might have
known God. Yet she said one of the most profound things I have ever
seen. Here is what she said when she departed from Olympia on her path
to death under a bulldozer in Israel:
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We are all born and someday we’ll all die. Most likely to some degree alone.
What if our aloneness isn’t a tragedy? What if our aloneness is what allows us to speak the truth without being afraid? ...
-- Rachel Corrie
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Some people try to tell me that I have to remain in "fellowship" with
other believers. They say that I need to be "accountable". They even
twist scriptures about believers being assembled into a corporate
dwelling of God to support their ideas of "church" meetings. But
scripture tells me that Noah stood alone against a world of darkness...
that Abraham left home and family to live in a faraway land... that
Moses spent 40 years alone in the wilderness... that Elijah ministered
alone... that the prophets often stood alone against evil... that John
the Baptist came alone from the wilderness to minister... that Jesus
went into the desert alone to be tested before He ministered to people
and often went to the mountains alone to seek God... and that when His
people scattered, He went to the cross alone.
We seldom have any idea how "alone" we are even when in the middle of a
large crowd. People seek to belong to groups of like minded people
(clubs, political parties, gangs, religions, etc.) - they even exclude
others to make themselves feel more "special" and more "accepted". They
don't even see the burden they carry in order to insure that they
"belong". But Jesus said that His burden is light and His yoke easy.
The truth is that unless we can learn to stand alone in Christ, we will
never be able to clearly speak the truth in love when we are with
others. Our words and actions will always be colored by the fear of
being rejected. There will remain some trace of "man-pleasing" in all we
say and do. This is part of the paradox of "losing your life in order
to gain it".
Likewise the "oneness" that Jesus asked His Father to bring to us (John
17) requires us to follow a path that sometimes leads through deep
aloneness before we can become pure enough in heart to love
unconditionally and to receive the fullness of God's Love.
God has no shortage of power or will to bring us into oneness in His
image which is Christ Jesus the Lord. All we have to do is ask Him
sincerely and receive with joy whatever discipline and chastening He
chooses to accomplish it in us.