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There is a story that Jesus said would be told where ever the gospel is told. It is the story we discussed on Thursday night two weeks back. The story of the sinful women who came into the pharisees house where Jesus was dining.
As the story goes, this sinful women welcomed herself into the home of the pharisee who was hosting the meal and proceeded to cry uncontrollably, pouring her tears over Jesus' feet, as though she was pouring out a basin of water to cleanse him. She then used her hair like a freshly cleaned towel to dry his feet. Even still, she anointed him with an expensive jar of oil, releasing a beautiful fragrance into the air that, I'm sure, even covered the cent of the meal. She out did the owner of the house, the host of the meal, and she wasn't even invited.
As this woman performed this act, the other pharisees and guests started to murmur in shock that Jesus was letting this sinner touch him in this way.
Jesus responded to their murmuring by telling a story to the host. In this story there were two people who owed the same man money. One of the people owed a lot of money, and the other one owed not so much money. Both where forgiven of their debts, but one went away rejoicing even more.
Jesus asked the host which person he thought went away happier, to which the host replied, "the one who was forgiven of the larger dept."
Jesus then turns, looks at the women, and says to her, "Your sins are forgiven"
I'm sure Jesus' eyes where full of compassion and the deepest love one can display, and he continues and says,"Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
Since the night that we talked about this verse, I have been thinking quite a lot about this story. I have been thinking about the pharisees and how they judge this women right away, basically casting her to be less then human.
I have been asking myself, how do I judge people?
Why do I judge people?
Who would I be disgusted to sit at a table with?
Why does one Judge?
Where the pharisees hiding any thing, and am I?
Do I love little, or a lot?
Not only have I been thinking about the pharisee, but I have also been wondering about this women. This women recklessly exposes herself. Steps fully into the light, the light of Christ non the less. Then throws the mess of who she is at God in the flesh, with every chance of being thrown out and laughed at, but instead she is received even more then the one who was feeding God. When thinking about her side of the story it makes me ask myself,
Am I truly walking in the light?
Am I hiding anything?
Am I afraid God would throw me out if I did an act like this?
What am I afraid to lose?
Am I actually afraid to gain?
Do I love a lot, or a little?
The the last person in the story to examine is Jesus. I continue to be amazed more and more by this person, the person of Jesus, the more I read the scriptures and share in life with others. In this story, Christ extends love to this women. Not just any love, but the purest love possible. A love that is asking nothing in return, but instead wants to give this women everything she needs, and what she needs is to be treated as a human. She needs to have someone look her in the eyes with love and acknowledge that she is valuable, more valuable then the jar of oil she just anointed Jesus with. Jesus' side of the story bring me to ask the questions,
Do I look people in the eyes with love?
Do I encourage people to walk out in who they are and seek to give them what they need without wanting anything in return?
Am I extending much love, or a little?
This story is a very challenging one, but an extremely beautiful one. Out of all of those question I found that I focused the most on the one about judging others.
If the pharisee thought he was capable of being as sinful as the woman would he had judged her, or would he have accepted her?
Or did he know he was as sinful as the women and was wanting to hide and cover his tracks, so he points the finger at her instead of dealing with what's inside him?
There is another a time when Jesus is teaching, and in his teaching he retells the commandments of Moses. When restating these commands, he steps up the difficulty level. He says things like, if you are angry then you have already murdered, if you lust you have already committed adultery, and if you have coveted something thats not yours then you have stolen.
I started thinking about this teaching. Often times I hear this taught as, be good and try to control your mind, stay away from being mad because that leads to DEATH, stay away from coveting because that leads to DEATH, and stay away from lust because that as well leads to... DEATH.
I was thinking, maybe Jesus was trying to get us to realize a deeper truth. Maybe he was eluding to the fact that we have already committed the worst of the worst sins. We have already killed, we have already had affairs, we have already stolen, we are already racist, we have already been full of hatred, unforgiveness, and every other kind of wickedness. We are already well wicked people.
Paul says in one of his letters," I am the chief of all sinners." In another one of his writings he says, " I do the very thing I hate."
Maybe paul grasped this truth. Maybe thats why Paul's ministry was so powerful. He saw no distinction between himself and everyone else around him. Instead he saw everyone around him in himself.
I think that we, as followers of Jesus, need to grapple with this thought. We need to in a sense, I think, embrace the fact that we are the worst of the worst. I need to embrace the fact that no one has sinned worse then me, because I, by Jesus' retelling of the law, have already done despicable things, terrible things that shouldn't even be mentioned.
I don't say this to bring guilt and condemnation.
I say this to bring life and freedom.
How is excepting the fact that I am a terrible person bringing life and freedom?
I believe that when we start to embrace our crap and the truth about who we are, what we want to do and what we have done, it allows us to encounter hope that other wise would have eluded us our entire life. A hope in the reconciliation of all things, that all things means even me! Praise God!
A hope that is the person of Jesus.
As we embrace our wickedness, and when I say embrace I by no means am saying that we hold onto lies about ourselves, and sulk around saying I am terrible, I am unworthy, and God can't use me. We get to say those things only once, then Christ brings us into the light with him. He embraces us deep into his love. We still remember those things, and even boast in the fact that we were once such people, for the fact that Christ is strong where we are weak. For the fact that where we are weak God is strong.
Paul said, "... I was weak to those who were weak.."
He never said I was strong with the strong.
Brilliant!
Don't worry I am coming back to the idea of judging others.
As I was thinking about this idea of admitting, I am the worst of the worst, I then realized if someone was to come to grips with the fact that they are quite a sinner, then they would never judge others. Instead of judging others they would look at those around them with compassion and a heart of understanding. Because they would see others in themselves.
They would look at a prostitute and realize that they are only one small step away, or no step away at all from being in the same position. They would see the prostitute in themselves, and have a deep sense of love and compassion, realizing that there is no difference.
The person who steps into the light, and boasts in their weakness, would see a homeless person and their heart would break. The repentant person would know that there is no difference between the two of them, but truly they are both broken hurting people. Instead of this person holding his nose at the smell of the homeless individual, and not wanting to make eye contact, he or she would be able to embrace the person who is homeless, and connect eyes, connect with a deep and sincere love.
The one who has come to grips with the fact that they are already perpetrators of the worst kind of atrocity, would look at a man or women who is a cross dresser or trans-gender person and see themselves inside that person. As this repentant person gazes into the others eyes, they would be filled with love, compassion, and a deep desire to pour into this individual, because the repentant man realizes he or she has received much.
The person who has excepted there own faults will look at the person who stand them up with love. They will look at the one who talks behind their back with compassion. They will look at the person who breaks a promise with forgiveness and kindness. They will be able to view others this way because they, them-self, understand the great reality of Jesus, and how he looks upon them with compassion and love. They will be able to forgive and have compassion even through painful situations because they know that Christ has pardoned them of so much and has extended his hand of forgiveness time and time again.
Maybe the people we judge aren't that different at all. Maybe I gave to extreme of examples, maybe its the way people dress, talk, look, musical taste, dance parties they do or don't go to, or maybe occupation.
And the list goes on and on and on.
We are all from the earth. We are all made of dirt. We are all fragile. We will all return to the dust of the earth.
Have we accepted the fact that we are extremely broken people?
Do we truly believe that?
Are we still in the dark?
Maybe we prefer the dark?
I feel that often times when we are judging others, we do it to create a distance. We are afraid that the people we are coming in contact with will discover who we truly are. We are afraid these people, who are actually just like us, will blow our cover, and everyone else will see that we are just like them. We put people in boxes, so that we can stay in our dark, dimly lit, cold, isolated, and what we think to be safe box.
The problem with being in this box, and keeping others out is that we are unwittingly keeping Christ out as well. In turn, we become like the dinner guests praying to... really praying to ourselves, that the person on the other end of the table will not blow our cover. When we refuse to let our cover be blown, or blow it ourselves, we refuse to receive grace and hope; we refuse to receive God's only son, the person of Jesus' Christ, our Lord, in a deep and meaningful way.
Some day all of the deeds done in secret will be shouted out on the rooftops, the bible says.
I want to shout out the truth about me before that guy on the roof does. I find there to be a lot less negative consequences when you confess your own deeds, before someone else rats you out.
Maybe you are at a place in your walk with God where you feel quite alone, and can't sense God.
Maybe have read this and your first reaction was, "I could never murder someone, its just not in me", " I would never cheat on someone in a relationship, I am faithful", "I have stolen once in my life, but I would never do it again, and I was only 4 I didn't know any better."
Maybe you are terrified to admit to who you really are because you hate it.
Maybe your afraid of losing the people around you, so you want to do everything right, and afraid that if you do come into the light, everyone and everything will leave you.
Maybe you have never truly felt the love of God in a deep and meaningful way.
Maybe the thought of actually experiencing this love, is more terrifying then never being loved at all.
These are all fears that could be very real and painful, but the one thing I do know is that we will never discover the fullness and truth of Christ as long as we pretend we are in the light. It is as though we are holding a glow in the dark sticker, thinking that it is enough light to get us through a pitch-black forest. Maybe its a really bright sticker and truly does help, but the thing is it will run out of light without another light to recharge it.
Are we going to walk out in faith, completely terrified, maybe everything will fall apart, maybe we will be disappointed, and maybe everything you have believe will fall part.
Maybe.
but,
"I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little."
and I would say has felt little love.
The amazing thing about Christ is that he lets us choose. But he extends love and continues to pursue us, despite our choices. His grace is vaster then all the ocean combined.
No one ever said this Jesus thing was easy (if they did they were lying). No where does it say that the Way to life is an easy one. The bible actually says the opposite, it says its hard and a narrow gate, but in the end it's good, its beautiful, it's full of grace, it's full of compassion, it's full of forgiveness, it's full of a true selfless love, and it's the realist thing there is.
What does it look like when we step into the light; when we break into the dinner party we weren't invited to, to fall at Jesus' feet?
It looks like us feeling very vulnerable hunched over on our knees in tears, as we realize what is truly inside of us. We don't even have the energy to sit up. But it doesnt stop there. Because that is when Jesus wraps his arms around us like a warm blanket on a cold winter night. He then learns forward and puts his mouth near our ear to whisper his secrets to us, the way he feels about us.
And we hear the soft, gentle, loving words, "I know you, and love you. I know the plans I have for you, plans for you do be free, and no longer to be bound by fear, and pain. I have called you out of darkness, and adopted you into my family. You are set apart, a royal priest, now you are apart of a holy people. You are my child with whom I am well pleased. I knew you in your mothers womb, and have been pursuing you since the day you were born. You are my child, go and be free. Your faith has healed you, go in peace, for I am always with you, and will never forsake you."
That's what I believe walking into the light looks like. Jesus begins to speak into us the reality of who we are made to be, who we are in him.
Let's be a people that stand by each other in all of our ugliness. That when the truth comes out about one another we don't judge, but we look with the love and compassion that Jesus has looked on us with. Let's live in such away that we encourage one another to come into the light because we love a lot.
Let's be a people that are willing to look ridiculous in our pursuit of God. We are willing to break into dinner parties and cry all over the guest, because we desire to experience and share with others the love of Christ.
Let's be a people who take this love with us were ever we go. That we would be open and walk in the light and admit that we are the chief of all sinners, then step forward clothed in the Hope of Christ. In a love that turns cities upside down.
I love you all very deeply, and am well stoked to be able to share life with you!
Grace and peace,
Chris
p.s. I thought this was going to be a short post, but I guess I got carried away... Oops...
In Mesopotamia, in the ancient world, there were many accounts for the creation of everything. Some of these accounts will sound familiar to us, because the greeks and romans adopted many of them. There were stories of gods, having children and fearing that these children would conquer the older gods, so they tried to destroy them by eating them. One of these gods escaped, his name was zeus. The way the story goes is, there was an epic battle, a fight, a struggle where Zeus defeated the older gods, and set free the younger gods. This fight and struggle created chaos in the universe, and out of this chaos the world was born. (that was a brief and bad retelling of the story)
While this story was being told there was a group of people in the same part of the world with a different story. These people had a story that involved only one god. These people believed in a God that preexisted time. This God was never born, nor could he die, unlike the other gods that the surrounding areas spoke of. These people believed that this God, didn't have to struggle to put the universe into motion. This God didn't struggle, nor was he involved in an epic, cosmic battle which created the heavens and the earth, but instead he spoke. This God didn't have to raise a finger, but spoke and all of the chaos of the universe fell into complex and beautiful order. This God was so great and powerful that all he needed to do was say a word and the mysteries of the sea came into being. With a Word the depths and the wonders of the vast ocean were separated from the awe inspiring mountains and plains of the land. With these words, He spoke countless creatures of all colors and sizes. Everything from the earth worm, to the great whales, to the sparrow, and the lilies of the field came into being with just a word. With his words He spoke humanity into existence. He spoke and created a creature that was in his image. A creature able to think, create, love, do good, and able to speak words.
In the gospel of John we hear a simplified, yet even deeper, account of creation.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not over come it.
Wow, such a beautiful and rich account and picture of this all powerful God. A God that didn't need to struggle, didn't need to fight, didn't use chaos, but used a Word to bring order, beauty, mystery, and love into being.
And now that same Word that was in the beginning, is in us.
How powerful our words must be.
In gospel of Matthew Jesus is speaking and brings up this idea that what ever you bind up on earth will be bound in heaven, and what ever you ask for from heaven will be given on earth. He says " if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven."
This is a powerful verse, and I feel often times gets used out of context. Many times this verse is used for the "health and wealth" gospel, or "if you want a new Benz, just ask and believe and right now God wants to bless you with a NEW CAR!!!" "God wants you to be RICH and SEXY so just ASK!!!"
Not so.
If we look at where this verse is placed, it is surrounded by verses dealing with sin and repentance. embedded in verses dealing with what "true greatness" is, and is being hugged by verses speaking of temptation and forgiveness, and serving others.
Not exactly the anything we hear from the TV.
Last night we continued to explore the idea of foundation and what we are currently standing on and how we can begin to rebuild. We expressed these foundations we are standing on or the ones that we want to stand on by drawing on a paper brick templates.
We then broke up into smaller groups to speak it out. To use our words to express where we want to go, what we are struggling with and what we want to repent of.
I believe the asking Jesus talks about, is the asking for what we need, freedom from our addictions, freedom from our complacency, freedom from our hatred and freedom from our unforgiveness, freedom from our old foundation and our old ways of life, and freedom to step into the light, into life.
I believe just as God spoke the world into being, our words are full of power.
The power to bring life or bring death.
The power to encourage or the power to tear down.
The power to bring hope or the power to bring fear.
The power to move mountains, or the power to make even bigger mountains.
The power to break down our shaky foundations before the flood and the power to build a new one.
Our words are full of power.
As we move forward lets not fear our words, or the Word, but lets use them to speak light into each other. Let's be bold and step out and speak light into our own lives. Let's use our words to break off the chains and the burdens we carry. Let's use our words together to cry out for God to come and set us free and lead us into that truth and understanding that he talks about.
Let's ask for help.
Let's be needy.
That verse in Matthew is great, but in writing this i realize often times we don't even realize what we do need. We think we know, but we don't. With out knowing it we created God in our own image to fill what we think we need, to give us what we want. We keep asking and asking for what we "need" and God seems silent. We cry out and think this verse is bogus, because we don't see what we are asking for coming into the light.
Maybe we are asking for the wrong things.
I think all of us in the group are asking God for something, we are in a place of need for the most part. I'm going to make a bold statement, and I could be wrong, but maybe we are asking for the wrong things.
Maybe we have put God in our box so we can get what we "need", or really want.
Some of us are saying I need a Job, I need my family here, I need to be alone, I need direction, I need to be someplace different, I need more money, I need more vision, I need... and Lord you know I need... once I get that I'll be where you want me.
All these things are really good things, and things I believe God wants to give, but maybe they aren't what we need in this moment in time.
Maybe instead of telling God what we need we should be asking God what we need. We need to humble ourselves and admit, we don't have any idea of what we need, and put our desires to death. We should take the risk and stand still and say what do I need, then once we hear, let's ask for it together.
Let's surround each others and be one voice, use one word, and stand on one foundation.
Where there is light there is no darkness. So let's speak light into our own lives breaking off the old lies and speak life into one another's life.
Let's walk forward and build this foundation together, and invited others who need to rest on our foundation to rest with us. Let's invited others to be weak with us, and believe that just maybe God will be glorified in our messy broken lives. Let's invite others to build with us, and to teach us.
Grace and peace,
Chris
As we read the story of God’s people we read of many ups and downs in their journey of discovering their creator. As we know the Jewish people ended up in exile, under the Assyrians at some point in their history. In the book of Ezra, there is a king who finds favor for these Israelites, and allows them to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple, the Temple of God. It is pretty amazing how much favor this king has for the Jews. He gives them back all their gold and silver and says they need to go back to the land and build a temple to their God so that they can offer sacrifices. He even givens the animals and grains for sacrifices.
After a group of Jews go back to the site where the temple is to be built they start laying the foundation. This was not an easy task. Not only did this foundation need to be perfect because the temple of God was to be built upon it but also there was all the rubble from the previous temple. Back in those days when a city was conquer by another city, they would destroy it and burn it down. The temple was one of those things that had been destroyed. As the Israelites started to lay this foundation, the cities around them started to come against them. The last thing these surrounding cities wanted was the worshipers’ of YHWAY back in town. Last time they lived there they ruled the area with an iron fist. The people in the surrounding countries and cities, started to complain to the king. They would also try to distract the Jews from building.
At one point the governor of the area asks them, “Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure? And what are your names?”
And the Israelite builders while continuing to work replied, “We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago...”
I think it’s awesome that here these men don’t want credit for this foundation, for their hard work, but they find their identity fixed in God.
What would it look like if when people came to discourage us from doing good, from changing old habits, from breaking off addictions, we stood so firm in Christ we could just answer, “I am a servant of the God of heaven and earth,” and kept on pressing into God.
As the story ends up, the foundation is laid and the temple eventually built. I am sure for these builders, priests, servants of the God of heaven and earth that building this foundations was terribly hard and quite honestly terrifying. Not only did they have to move old stones, they had to re-dig and lay new stones, not only did they have to lay new stones but they had to watch their backs to make sure they didn’t get attacked while building this temple, and not only did they have to guard themselves but they also had to rest and breath, and remember why they were even laying this foundation. They were laying this foundation for the Hope the God would make them a people again. That God would build the house of Abraham and fulfill his covenant. The Hope that God would use them to bless the nations.
Last night we asked a few questions. We asked what does it really mean to have a good foundation in Jesus?
What have we currently built our foundation out of?
How can we help each other build a foundation?
And maybe when Jesus says house, he is alluding to something much greater then we realize.
Tom said something pretty awesome last night. As he was looking into this part of Luke and thinking about the rest of the bible he reminded us that foundations are spoken of a lot in the Old Testament. The Hebrew Scriptures, or Old Testament say that God laid the foundations of the world… Wow.
Lets think about that...
If the foundations of the world are built upon God, the Holy Spirit, Christ then that means, art, education, science and tech, justice and government, business, family and even religion are supposed to be built off of the foundation of God. If Jesus says this foundation is built by putting what I say to action, then that means we have to live with a radical love everywhere we go. As live this way we will be planting good seeds that break away the old broken foundation, and we will begin to lay a new foundation that will house people for generations to come.
If we live the way Jesus taught we will inadvertently repave this world, with God’s good and true foundation.
If we live the way Jesus taught the systems and ways of the world works will be flipped upside down.
If we live the way Jesus taught us the covenant made with Abraham, that we would bless the world, will become a closer reality then it was the day before.
If we live the way Jesus taught us we will be partnering with the creator of the universe in his world redemption plan. Man, How exciting is that.
I believe God has been building up our foundation as a group and as individuals for some pretty epic things. Let’s not stop talking with God through out our days and seeking to grow and take his lead.
As we move forward to build our foundations, lets not worry yet about what kind of house we want on top, but more importantly what this house is built on. Let’s remember that this foundation building is active, not passive. Our foundations are not finished because we say a prayer to Jesus, but they are started when we accept Him. Lets build this house, this house of people together. Leaning on each other when we need it, resting when we need it, allowing one another to barrow our little slab of concrete if theirs gets washed away.
Lets have our actions be full of grace and love, and never forget that our foundation is what EVERYTHING else is built on. That means our jobs are to be built off of this same foundations, our schooling, our relationships, the way we deal with all of our time, the way we deal with our money, the way we deal with our stuff, is all to be built off of one foundations. We don’t need a summer home and a work home. We don’t want a Church home and an everything else home. It’s all one house, and we are that house. That means our view of Jesus needs to be even bigger then it already is, if we are to fit all of that onto a foundation of Jesus. We may have to forget what we have already been taught and relearn who God is. Relearn that God is bigger then we are, God set the foundations of the earth, and God can not be stuck in a box. This foundation should be a home for all the spheres of society, and a foundation to bless the nations, and even our neighbors.
Grace and peace,
Chris
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
In the Bible there is a story of a man named Zacchaeus. I'm sure you are probably familiar with this story. This man Zacchaeus was a very wealthy man, maybe even the wealthiest in one of the richest and most plush cities of the day. One day he hears that this teacher is coming through his city, not just any teacher, but one who has been causing quite a ruckus in the surround territories. A teacher who's teachings are so compelling they draw crowds that are unheard of. These teachings are the teachings of life, but so challenging many walk away sad. A teacher who's life brings an authority to his teachings that no one has ever seen before. Because of this teacher, God man, Jesus many walk away free, liberated, healed, and praising God. Zacchaeus wanting to know what this man is all about decides to position himself in such a place to see and maybe even encounter this Jesus. This short man Zacchaeus takes the risk of standing out, being attacked(he had a lot of enemies), and looking like a fool by climbing a tree to see Jesus. When Jesus walks past he looks straight at Zacchaeus, and tells him that he wants to stay at his house. As the story goes Zacchaeus decides to give away half of what he owns to the poor, as well as apologize and make amends to those who he has wronged.
The bible is full of these stories, stories of people taking huge risks of being vulnerable, weak, stepping out in faith to position themselves to see Jesus, to experience God.
There is another story of an "Unclean" women who has been sick for many years who pushes through a crowd to just barely touch Jesus clothing.
There is the story of a man in the Roman military who is extremely generous with his possessions, and gives much to the Lord by giving to the poor.
There is a story about a two blind men who follow Jesus calling out to him, and follow him into a home, despite being ridiculed.
There is a story of a community of people who believe so much in this Jesus they decide to pray and worship and eat together daily.
There are many more stories that are similar to these. Stories of people or groups of people who very intentionally position themselves to see God. Some of these stories are stories of great risk and faith and others are stories of people doing things that might come more naturally to them. But even though they all positioned themselves in different ways, in the end they intentionally put themselves in a space to see and experience God. The common ending to all of these stories, is that they all end with a powerful and life changing encounter with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
This past Thursday once again was very encouraging for me. We talked about how we feel as though we are in a transitional phase. In the words of Josh we are smashing the hierarchy, and wanting to lead this group together. We all expressed a desire to step out in new ways, ways of accountability, ways of going deeper with Jesus, ways of being more vulnerable, ways of encouraging those around us, ways of being challenged, most importantly stepping out in new ways to experience Jesus.
I feel as though we as a tribe, community, family are at a place in our story that is similar to the stories I told up top. God is giving us the opportunity to step into a position to experience him, to learn from him, and to be healed by him. This position will look different for each of us, but all of us can encourage each other to do that.
As we continue on this really exciting journey lets ask ourselves some questions, and encourage each other in these questions.
Where do we as a group want to go, or where do we feel God is leading us?
Where do we as individuals feel called to go?
What does it look like for us to position ourselves to see Jesus,
Do we have to climb a tree,
Push through a crowd,
Give away half of what we own,
Walking in what seems to be the dark until we get to the room Jesus is in,
Pray and worship and eat with friends,
Seeking forgiveness from those we've wronged,
Or forgiving those who have wronged us,
What will it look like for us to get a glimpse of the Creator, liberator, Savior?
This can be a scary leap of faith for us, but thank God we are not alone in it. We are all here for one another to support and love and encourage. Lets be a community that supports each other in our doubts, in our fears, in our weakness, in our joys, in our success, and in our freeing encounters with the Majestic Creator.
Once again I am excited to be asking these questions and taking these risks with everyone of you. I am so grateful to have all of you in my life. I'm excited to see where God will lead, what He will say, and how He will bring Healing, Joy and Freedom to us.
Let's go deeper, encourage each other, and lead this thing together.
Grace and peace,
Chris
The Gospel, what a crazy and deep thing. When I say crazy I of course mean unbelievably awesome, deep and far reaching into everything we call life.
The book of Acts is one of my favorite books. Its a story of a community of people trying to figure out what it means to live the teachings of Jesus. It's a story of people doing incredible things through the power of the Holy spirit, and also missing some of the point of what Jesus was saying when he living among them. It is so comforting to read this book and to read how they kept missing the point, yet they were still used so mightily. This crew of people were on a journey of discovering life and freedom from there hatred of others, there struggles with sin, there exlcusionism, and their relationship with man and God, but while on this journey God was using them to Heal the sick, Bring sight to the blind, Destroy poverty in their community, destroy poverty in the world and introducing people to the person of Jesus in a deep intimate and communal way.
This movement was started with couple hundred of the people that lived with Jesus, worked with Jesus, with him when he died, with him when he rose, and there when the Holy spirit dropped on them. Yet they still had to learn who this Jesus was and what he was about as they lived life together. They were, in a sense, the first wave of this new movement of the Way. There message was very familiar to the Jewish message but was a little different on some points. They lived in a land that hadn't heard the message of Jesus, the message of true freedom, the message of Life. This tribe of people were trying to figure out what it looked like to live this message, because simply speaking it wasn't enough to turn the world upside down. They learned to be generous, to love one another, to serve those who weren't in there tribe. But this was a process we read about. There were certainly points of break through were they really got some of the principles, but then there were other parts that took them a bit of time to figure out.
The other day I was watching the Inauguration at the Temple Student Center. I noticed a few things as I was listening to the speeches and seeing the people around me. I noticed that when Obama, or the Rev. who gave the closing benediction mentioned anything bible, religious, or Christian, people around me would react in a negative way. They would either shake their heads, or give a grunt that expressed how they felt it was not needed to speak of God. Not everyone responded in this way, it was really only a handful of people that would act this way. But it got me thinking of the story of Acts. It made me think that we in some ways are in a very similar place as the early church. We today live in a culture that has heard a message that is kind of like the message that we want to live, the message of the gospel, the message of the life of the person of Jesus, but they, the people around us, haven't truly heard it. They may have heard a piece here or a piece there, or heard a story that is similar in a lot of ways to the one we are exploring. They may have tasted the kingdom of God here or there, but I don't think they have heard the story of the person of Jesus that starts with in the beginning, and ends with liberation, freedom, and joy.
I then got really excited, and thought, "What an honour that I get to explore this life and live it in such a way that I have the privilege to introduce the people around me to the person of Jesus." I was comforted remembering about the church of Acts and how messed up they were, and I thought, "Yes! Even I can be apart of this global ruckus God is wanting to continue, despite how F'ed up I am, and how I truly don't understand this message fully." All I know is that I need to love others, break myself open and serve those I come in contact with, not to "save souls", or to get people into the "church club", but because thats what Jesus did for me, and I want people to meet this God Man that has brought freedom to my life.
Last night was an awesome night. I was well encouraged. We sat together after sharing a meal and shared our lives a little bit more intimately together. We shared what God has been doing, how we have been falling short, how we are scared, how we don't get it, how this Way of life continues to elude us, how we are worried, and how we are week. But I truly believe that in our brokeness of Thursday night the Holy Spirit was there in power and might. He was there ministering to us. There encouraging us. There saying its ok to be weak, I am there for you, you don't have to get up because I will get down on the ground with you. I feel as though the verse that says in our weakness God is made strong, makes a little more sense to me. It encourages me to be weak a bit more often.
As we move forward into this exciting year, lets encourage each other to be weak, let's spur each other to live life more intimately with God and more intimately with those around us. Let's invite people into our lives, and break ourselves open and poor ourselves out for those around us. Let's continue to let our lives be living stones that are building a shelter for those in needs. Let's allow our lives to be woven together for those who are cold and lonely. Who knows where God will lead us, what he will teach us, and how he will use us!
Well crew, I am well encouraged as I said, and am so blessed to have everyone of you in my life, you make it easier for me to live a bit weaker, because I know you all are there for me! Thanks for the Love and Support.
Let's all lead this group together.
until next time,
Grace and Peace,
Chris
How fitting that we start this New Year in the same way we started last year, In the Beginning.
Vernon shared with us what God has been teaching him through Luke 6, as well as how that ties so beautifully to everything else in the Bible. We were talking about fruit and seeds and asking ultimately what kinda of plant are we and what is our heart growing.
It was great to see how God is seeking to teach us about who He is in everything, even in a simple little plant. That In the Beginning he was teaching us not only about how he made plants, but teaching us about the human condition. How he has made us to bear fruit, to tend the gardens, and to be apart of his harvest. In the Beginning He shows us that he has already put the seeds in the ground and in our hearts, not just any seeds, but good seeds to multiply beauty and truth.
It is challenging to examine our own lives and see how God is looking to grow the seeds in us. Some times its hard to actually believe that God has already put good seed in us, let people who we don't even like. Sometimes when we are getting ready to ask God to grow us more into His image we become afraid of the branches he might cut off, the dead branches, the branches we think are who we are and supporting us. We are afraid of giving up control of our own lives and the control we wish we had on those around us. But the truth that we need to grasp, is that when we loose control we are truly free.
No more dead branches getting in the way of the fresh, renewed, and restored branches. We don't have to worry about being wrong or right because its not ours to be right or wrong about.
No more clinging to things that fade and die like our material things, our jobs, our money, and our false sense of security, but being secure in the one thing that has already conquered death and decay, Christ.
But it can truly be quite terrifying to believe that God is in control and not us because we have known the other for so long. If we are to be honest with ourselves, and look at the way we live, we almost trust the dieing and the decay in our lives more then we trust God at work in us. Trusting God and stepping into the unknown is a scary thing, but a freeing thing. If we have nothing to loose then what can we be afraid of because we have already lost it? If we have everything to gain what are we worried about, we will only gain? If we have already put all of our desires and wants to death what are we afraid of we have already died can won't be disappointed when we don't get what we want, or think we deserve? If we know God then it is not an unknown because we are stepping into him, and the fruit will just happen, it will over flow out of our love and knowledge of God. Because love and knowledge for God is Love and Grace for those around us.
And Knowing God is Knowing our neighbor.
This year let's as a community as well as individuals seek to abide in God continually
in the mornings and in the evenings,
with friends and family and while alone,
in joy and in sorrow,
at the barbary and at our places of work,
while teaching and while being taught,
at our schools and on septa.
Let's encourage one another and Seek to renew our hearts and our minds so that we with out even thinking about it bear lasting fruit. Lets live life seeking to have Gods eyes for other people so that we can see what seeds God has placed in them, and seek to partner with the Holy Spirit and grow those seeds in others.
Let's Seek first the Kingdom of Christ, which is Justice, mercy, love and grace for everyone, and everything else will just flow with us, in us, and through us.
Let's throw off everything that so easily wraps us up, entangles us, and trips us and live this life that God has prepared for us.
I'm Excited to hear how God moves this week in our lives, and excited to see how God grows all of us more and more into a representation of Him.
As usual Grace and peace!
Chris
If you ever want to blog anything God has put on your heart Go for it. Just let me know and you can.
