blessed reunions…

I was reading a few days back in the Chronicle of Narnia series, “The boy and his horse”, and was captivated by a line in that book that has haunted my thoughts.  Aslan, the great lion (God) meets up with the horses and two children and slowly begins to explain their situations and his actions.  As all four of them asked Aslan about why he did such and such to others, Aslan always replied by saying, “I can only tell you your story, not theirs.”  That line has been haunting me.  I love it.  I hate it.

Today I went out to the river to be alone with God.  I needed this time alone because God and I have some relational issues to work out.  Darkness and hardness has crept into my life.  I feel like God has hurt me in deep ways, and people around me try to encourage me and let me into their lives and offer advice that seems to fix problems…like, “if you only believe”…”God answers prayers, he did so for me in this way”…so on and so forth.  But, Aslan only can tell you your own story.  The “why” and “ways” he works in your own life.  It can be used to encourage others, but it can not be prescriptive, because Aslan, can only tell you your own story, not others. 

reference to “Jerk Essays”

I want to clarify again, what my intent is with the Jerk Essays.  They are only my rough around the edges thoughts.  They are conversations that I believe many people want to have but won’t go there because they will sound like a jerk.  So I have taken the liberty to do just that.  They are unrefined and maybe anti climatic, but hey, iron sharpens iron.

So here is a preview of possible contents:

If you have been around well meaning evangelical Christians, you may of heard the phrase “Take up your cross!”  I really wonder if those who say it, or try to, really understand what that means.  I know many who have said it to me, myself included, and really mean to say, “just get over yourself!”  If that is what you really want to say and wrap up in a serious statement that Jesus said, we are doing a great dis-service to the potency of that statement.  I have also heard it used to counsel someone to get over a self-control issue, like quit smoking, or don’t believe that, or act a certain way, etc. etc.  Once again, I think that is a misuse of the statement.  I do think those who say it mean well, but I am not so convinced that those sentiments are at the heart of that statement Jesus told his disciples.

Hmmm…

If you want to build a ship, don’t summon people to buy wood, prepare tools, distribute jobs, and organize the work.  Rather teach people the yearning for the wide, boundless ocean…

Antoine de Saint Exupery

Triads of a missional life…

In what I hope to be a quick comeback to my absence here, I want to investigate a simplictic receipe to missional living, maybe just simply a reminder for one who follows Jesus (as to the ‘why’).  I want to call it the triads of a missional life. 

Paul often writes about these triads in his letters.  They almost always appear to be the main ingredients (maybe the only ingredients) that make up of our following Jesus.  Faith, Love, & Hope.  These 3 themes resonnate with Jesus life, they ressonate with the birth of the church, they ressonate today with those who dare follow Jesus.  I do not want to get into all of intricacies of them.  But, I do want to get into a certain passage were Paul brings them up in a unique fashion.  It is in this verse were one can find the ingredients to living a missional life.

“We continually remember before our God and Father your WORK produced by FAITH, your LABOR prompted by LOVE, and your ENDURANCE inspired by the HOPE in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:3).

Generous Community #2

The notion of a generous community (found in Acts 2-6) is intriquing.  This utopian picture of a community found in Acts, doesn’t stand alone.  It is seen in other parts of God’s community.  A good example of this is found in Deuteronomy 15.  But furthermore, we see this type of generosity, extravagant giving, taught all through the Gospels and the letters to the early churches.  They can not be ignored.  The only difference about Acts is that we see it being lived out in reality, while in the other letters is given as a command or principle to base a community on.   What a dangerous combination.  Today, we read stuff in the letters to the church and say, “That’s impossible.  Nobody does that.  What is generous to me may not be the same to them.  Plus, this is just the way it is.”  It grabs us by the throat and that is not a good feeling.

A Generous Community

I want to look closely at the marks of the radical community that Jesus dreamt of.  Looking at the heart of this community gives us a clear view of the Good News that can radically transform lives, communities, and the world at large.  We have glimpses of this dream in Scripture.  Some clear ones can be found in John 17 or the ever famous Acts 2:42-47.  But for this conversation, I am going to land on one topic in Acts 2:42-47.

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.  Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.  All the believers were together and had everything in common.  Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.  Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.  They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.  And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

Conquest…a different method?

“And having disarmed the powers & authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”  Colossians 2:15

A new method of conquest.  Not a conventional one, nor a popular one.  The way of sacrifice.  The way of the servant.  The way of God.  It was a conquest.  Jesus won a major battle.  No doubt about it.  But it was a different method.  A method that got Jesus murdered, mocked, ridiculed, spat upon, and yet glorified, praised, worshipped, and loved. 

The way of the cross.  This is part of the Gospel.  This new method of conquest is littered all throughout the New Testament.  We especially see it in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  For instance,

“Blessed are the meek/gentle, for they shall inherit the earth/land.” Mt. 5:5

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” Mt. 5:7

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Mt. 5:9

faithful resistance…

About a two months ago, I started struggling again with my calling to go to Seattle.  Through 2 circumstances, I began to question if I should be going, but to my surprise God was doing a different work.  He was not trying to get me to see my confirmation in calling or to steer me out of that direction.  No, He was taking me into the dark chamber of my heart were the crap is.  I saw things in there that frightened me.  I always knew they were there, but since I always ignored this chamber, I had no idea how bad the situation has gotten.  You know, it is like knowing you have to take the garbage out, but in laziness you let it sit in your kitchen a little longer than it needed it to and the next thing you know, you have created a new species of flies.  What I saw in that chamber surprised me and embarrassed me.  I had no idea that I have grown to be insecure in my faith due to my inadequacies, identity confusion, fears, and selfish desires.  When I saw that, how I longed for a tangible sin issue to be my problem.  That would be easier to tame.  This moment now became an opportunity for me to decide what to with this room.  Close the door and turn my back and know what lingers there.  Or make it beautiful.  I craved beauty and said… “let’s do this.”  This is a beautiful mess.  It is all about perspective.  

arrived…

I and a close companion of mine, have been dreaming the dream that God placed in our hearts over a year ago.  God stirred in us to go out the Pacific Northwest to plant a church in Seattle.  From that moment on, it has been prayer, conversating, worrying, laughing, and speculating what the future holds for us and the team that God had brought together.

I have never been to Seattle.  Today I stepped foot on our future new land.  But, with each and every step that we took, I sensed God whispering to me, “This city, I give you.  Take as much of it as you can.”  Our promised land.  God told us to go, we went. 

My heart all of a sudden feels a great burden for Seattle.  I won’t get into all the particulars yet, but I sense that we are here to bless and to proclaim freedom and to be cocreators with our creator God in order to restore its original beauty.  I do not doubt that.  Nor do I believe that it is not beautiful.  It definitely is.  But it is only a glimpse.  The Kingdom of God, the mustard seed, has been planted.  We pray that the Kingdom of God comes in power (of blessing instead of cursing) and not in word (plain talk).

consume it all

“And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.  He said to them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers.

And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.  But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, and they said to Jesus, “do you hear what these are saying?”  And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” 

We are all products of the consumer driven world.  We like getting and or receiving products.  We like gifts.  We like services that tend to make life convenient or simplistic.  We love our computers.  Have you ever wondered what your life would be like if you lost your laptop?  Mine got stolen a few months back and I was shocked at how paralyzed my life felt.  We love people making us food and cleaning up after us.  We love that we can go to a gas staion and pay without going inside.

We love our little media devices.  If we don’t want to be social all we have to do is put in our little ear buds which are plugged into our ipods.  We don’t have go to stores to buy music, we can just download it.  We even don’t have to go home to watch TV or movies, thank you internet.  We don’t have to read books anymore because we just listen to them.  In fact, we don’t have to think anymore either because the tv and media do it for us.  All we have to do is watch tv and phony counselors on the tube can diagnose us with all our ailments and we believe them because they are on tv. When things go ill in our lives, we medicate ourselves with consumer products.  Some like to buy clothing to feel better.  Some eat while others drink.  The best part of it, is that we don’t have to go anywhere to buy them, we can do it at home!