To the ends of the earth!

Story time Continues. I think I should just start writing a book, because these entries have been so long.

We as a group are in an exciting place. A place of stepping out into knew things, a place to experience God deeper, and a place to learn to love each other a little bit more.

I know I have been referencing to the book of Acts a lot as of late, but bare with me while I do it once again.
In the story of Acts after Jesus leaves his students and goes to be with his Father, the crew of people that were with Jesus were in a strange place of trying to figure out how to continue Jesus’ ministry. Up until this time they were kind of along for the ride. They would follow Jesus, learn from Jesus, eat with Jesus, and live life with Jesus. For the past several years before Christ’s death and resurrection everything in their lives revolved around this Jesus person. Everything they did in their lives from causing a ruckus in their churches, to washing or not washing their hands before a meal was wrapped around their teacher and friend.

After Jesus ascends into heaven they are at a loss with what they were supposed to do. They had learned so much, experienced ridicules things, and had their lives started on a transformation process, that we now know, spread into the world around them. The only direction they received wasn’t so much direction as it was prophecy.

Jesus said to them before going home, “… but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” How is that for directive guidance, basically Jesus just said you are going to travel, you are going to travel to you neighbor in the house next door, you are going to travel to your estranged brothers in Judea, you are going to travel to the people hate in Samaria, and you are going to go to places you never dreamt and probably didn’t want to go, you are going to the ends of the earth.

Great.

I’m sure they were thinking ok,
How do we do this?

What does this look like?

How will this make me money to live off of?

Do we start preaching?

Do we start feeding the poor?

Maybe I should start fishing again; I know how to do that?

Jesus, seriously, could you have been a little more specific with what this looks like?

As the story continues they decide to eat together, worship together, pray together, and live life like they were with Jesus. They chose to live life.

The crazy thing about them living life was that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit on them and 2,000 joined their numbers in one day. I don’t think it was ever in their plans to have 2,000 new people join their family in one day, I mean they were just trying to live life the way that was shown to them. But the transformation around them just flowed out of this way of life.

As their crew grew they realized that they needed to organize a bit better, because things where being over looked. Widows weren’t getting the food they needed, people filled that role, there was a lot of resource that could be used for those in need, so they organize for that, different people from different cultures where joining their crew, so they adjusted for that, they started teleporting around the world, so they had to adjust for that, visitors from other regions where coming and going continually so they needed to be open for that. But even with all these structures that needed to be put in place, they still tried to live life the way Jesus had shown. In fact this crew of people became known as, “The Way”, because they were demonstrating the way to life, both eternal life as well as life here and today.
This crew made many mistakes, but had grace to adjust and shifted accordingly. This crew was open to be challenged and was also very encouraging of one another. There were arguments, there were new things birthed, people had disputes on how things should look, but ultimately people had grace and peace for one another and that allowed them to move forward.

Now I know we didn’t hang out with Jesus in the flesh, and we by no means have 2,000 coming, (which I am quite glad about, that could get hectic.) but we are in a place of wrestling out what it looks like to live life as well as position this Thursday night thing in such a way that we can grow, and others can join us in our journey to The Way of life.
As we pray about the direction of our crew, our family, our mini tribe lets keep life in prayer as well. Let’s not forget that Thursday night is not about Thursday night, but it’s about something greater. It’s to help us Encounter the Living God, to learn how to live life, and we can never forget it is to help the oppressed, the tired, and the broken. Let’s surely put the structures in place that need to be in place, but let’s not let the structures become more important then Jesus and those around us. Let’s pray for wisdom, compassion, and a deep love for one another. With those things our love for Christ will grow, and our life will start shining in ways we don’t even realize.

I am super excited as usual with all that God is doing and has done in us and through us. I am stoked that new people have decided to join us in this journey and want to contribute. It is really exciting. We started this thing a year ago talking about the story of the bible and how God blessed Abraham to be a blessing to the nations. How the Cut Covenant that was made with Abraham continued through the Jews, and into Jesus Ministry, and that same covenant is ours. We have surely been blessed in this group, with good food, challenging and encouraging words, friendship and love. So lets bless others with those as well. Maybe living this life will take us as well to the ends of the earth!

Grace and peace
Chris