History

I find it so courious when I hear those who were right there, up front in ministry with Brant Baker, say, "Why do you guys idolize Brant? Let it go and move on, I did."

History is attentive to the conditions in which people encounter and experience God. We encountered the person of the living God through Brant Baker and the ministry of Shekinah Fellowship.

The Hebrew people were intent on observing and participating in what happened in and around them because they believed that God was personally alive and active in the world, in their community and in them. Life could not be accounted for by something less than the life of God, no matter how impressive and mysterious their experience was, whether an eclipse of the sun, spots on the liver of a goat, or the hiss of steam from a fissure in the earth. God could not be reduced to astronomical, physiological, geological, or psychological phenomena; God was alive, always and everywhere working His will, challenging people with His call, evoking faith and obedience, shaping a worshiping community, showing His love and compassion, and working out judgments on sin. And none of this "in general" or "at large," but at particular times, in specific places, with named persons: history.

For biblical people, God is not an idea for philosophers to discuss or a force for priests to manipulate. God is not a creation that can be studied and observed and managed. God is person- a person to be worshiped or defied, believed or rejected, loved or hated, in time and place.

That is why the books of the bible immerse us in dates and events, in persons and circumstances- in history. God meets us in the ordinary and extraordinary occurrences that make up the stuff of our daily lives. It never seemed to occurred to our biblical ancestors that they could deal better with God by escaping from history, "getting away from it all" as we say. History is the medium in which God works salvation, just as paint and canvas is the medium in which Rembrant made created works of art. We cannot get closer to God by distancing ourselves from the mess of history.

This deeply pervasive sense of history- the dignity of their place in history, the presense of God in history- accounts for the way in which the Hebrew people talked and wrote. They did not, as was the fashion in the ancient world, make up and embellish stories. Their writings did not entertain or explain; they revealed the ways of God with men and women in the world. They gave narrative shape to actual people and circumstances in their dealings with God, and in God's dealings with them.

But for the Hebrews there simply was no secular history. None. Everything that happened, happened in a world penetrated by God. Since they do not talk a lot about God in their storytelling, it is easy to forget that God is always the invisible and mostly silent presence in everything that is taking place. But if we forget for very long, we will understand neither what is written nor the way it is written. God is never absent from their narratives and never peripheal to them. As far as these writers were concerned, the only reason for paying attention to people and events was to stay alert to God.

This is a difficult mindset for us to acquire, for we are used to getting our history from so-called historians, scholars, and journalists for whom God is not involved or present in what they study and write. We are thoroughly trained by our schools, daily newspapers, and telecasts to read history solely in terms of polotics and economics, human interest and environmental conditions. If we have a mind for it, we can go ahead and fit God in somewhere or other.

God was ever present at Shekinah Fellowship inspite of us people. He showed up and manifested His presence as He healed people. Many there were that got their first encounter with the manifested presence of Almighty God during a Shekinah Fellowship service. They will never forget it. We here are trying to recall the history and the power of God that flowed in and through Shekinah Fellowship. It is the people who were there that can honestly tell us the history of Shekinah Fellowship and Gods dealings there.

But alas, some don't believe in history being told, they would rather 'move~on' and walk away from a time in history when God showed up and healed people. A time when God manifested His glory. A time when God impacted so many young people with His touch. Today those same young people are in their middle age, God's beloved, God's permanant residence, encircled by God all day long, within whom God is at home. Will they tell the history of Shekinah Fellowship to younger generations? Or will they quietly go about their daily lives as if nothing of great importance had ever happened in the days of their youth...letting the memory and the testimony of Shekinah Fellowship fade away.

We know about Jesus Christ and what He did for us because people spoke and wrote about Him.

God bless our commitment as incense rising to your nostrils and the Whole-Burnt-Offerings on Your altar. Stamp Your seal of approval on what we do here in attempting to preserve the history of Shekinah Fellowship of Long Beach California for the generations under us. We worship You and we adore You Jesus.