The Love and Respect Now author and blogger talks about her newest venture, The Illumination Project, a small group study series based on relationships
You will only ever have two choices: love or fear. Choose love.
(Jim Carrey)
Regardless of your religious or philosophical leanings, as human beings we have two choices regarding our approach to the future: we can live a life shaped by decisions born out of fear, or born out of love. Ultimately those choices affect our spiritual, emotional, and physical health and profoundly colour the way in which we see the world around us.
Joy Eggerichs, author and blogger personality behind Love and Respect Now, is looking to tackle this issue of choosing fear or love head on. After a broken relationship, a bout with depression, and a stint at Francis Schaeffer’s L’Abri with a broken ankle, Eggerichs says she came to a realization that had been percolating for a while.
“There was a season in my life where I kept so much from my parents. And then after my broken engagement, everything went out onto the table. As difficult as it was, there was so much freedom in that process,” says Eggerichs.
“I think there are so many people living the same way, hiding things from those they respect, hiding things from God,” she says. “They can find freedom by bringing those things to the light and sharing them with older and wiser counsel.”
Thus was born The Illumination Project, a six-week small group study series intended for people of all ages and backgrounds to discuss living a life shaped by love and freedom in Christ, not by fear. Ostensibly, the series is about relationships, but in discussing both relationships and faith, Eggerichs says you inevitably find yourself speaking about life and human experience as a whole.
“When I observe elderly people there is oftentimes a calmness. They have seen a lot, and don’t seem to be as reactive as the younger generation,” says Eggerichs. “I think that is there for a reason: the very elderly are not necessarily making changes in the world like younger people can. But I do think that when that reactive mentality is founded in fear rather than a desire to make change, it quickly morphs into cynicism.”
That cynicism, she believes, is a quality that can rob Christians of their joy and undermine their fruitfulness. After all, Eggerichs states, “It is so easy to be cynical without doing anything!”
Combatting that cynicism requires a humble heart and the ability to hold a meaningful conversation, a dying art in the age of Internet trolling and Facebook debates.
The Illumination Project attempts to spark discourse using the method Eggerichs practiced at L’Abri: designated times of conversation during which people are free to share and discuss their thoughts on their current theological studies. Each session of the six-week course begins with a filmed conversation between Eggerichs and her father, Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, author of Love and Respect.
“The overarching theme of the videos and conversation between my dad and I,” she explains, “is how to seek counsel from those older and wiser who care about you. Here’s the thing: you don’t have to agree with everything they say, and that’s OK. Instead, we thought, let’s show how to disagree and learn from one another.
Eggerichs continues, “From what I see in Scripture, the old are supposed to teach the young, and the the young are supposed to be bold and live without fear. But for the young, without the covering of wisdom, of people who have gone before, it is easy to stray into the realm of cynicism or a feeling of superiority.”
Ultimately, The Illumination Project strives to create exactly what the name suggests: an “aha!” moment of revelation to each person involved. In doing so, Eggerichs hopes those involved will be actively equipped to reach outwards in love, to choose love, rather than becoming insular and succumbing to fear.
Featured photo of Joy Eggerichs courtesy of Love and Respect Now.
