Redeemed Community

Welcome back! Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoy your visit. Now Brewing: Starbucks Gazebo Blend (not as good as last week's Ethiopia Sidamo, but enjoyable nonetheless...)

I keep thinking about this idea of the church as the family of God; turning it over in my mind and trying to see what we can learn from families and the way they function together.

It seems to me that we are each given these families that do the hard work of raising us, shaping our lives, showing us love and acceptance, teaching us values, skills, and just generally providing us a place to grow up. Some of us have had horrific experiences in families, and some have had the privilege of growing up in the kinds of families that provided a healthy perspective on life for us.

But no matter what your family experience has been, I find God inviting us to join his family, and in so doing to find the love, grace and acceptance that can be perfectly enjoyed in the place where he is the head of the household. In other words, the church should be the most heavenly expression of family that we find here on earth.

Unfortunately, many of us have scars from church families just like many have scars from their earthly families. I'm not here to serve as an apologist for the disease that has sometimes been perpetrated in the name of church families. What I do know is that the church was meant to provided the environment for healing and growth that so many desperately need. We ultimately long for the kind of community and place of belonging that could be (and I might say should be) provided by the people who have become followers of Jesus.

Could you imagine a family where the brother put his interests to the side in favor of serving his sister? Could you imagine a family where humility replaced arrogance, and where mercy was valued more than the assertion of rights? See, I think that's the kind of family God envisions. It's the kind of thing that the church seems to fall short of often enough. But it's also the hope that it could happen that keeps me investing so much of myself in this beautifully imperfect family.

It's because I've seen flashes of its brilliance that I keep pouring myself out. It's because I've seen times when the church as the family of God functioned exactly as it should - and when it does it is priceless. I've been on the receiving end of a lot of mercy, grace, love and acceptance. And the way I see it, there are a whole lot of people in my community and world who are in need of that kind of experience. The more the church, as the family of God, moves towards offering that kind of invitation, the more credibility we have with those who are looking for a reason to believe.

I'd love to hear your experiences (good and bad) with the family of God. I want us to learn from each other, to hear the voices of other family members who will help us better represent the character of our father in the community both local and global. So, if you've got something to share, this would be the time and place to do it. Go ahead, let it out...

On Milestones and Moments

Today I reached a milestone of sorts. We tend to mark the importance of certain occasions based on years given to a certain task. Five, ten, twenty-five, fifty - these are important years to commemorate. But what of the importance of seventeen, or thirty-three, or even eight?

Eight years ago today, at about 1:00 in the afternoon, I walked out of the back room of a very hot, very stuffy church in Grafton, West Virginia to meet my bride-to-be. I watched her walk the aisle of that country church, and my heart swelled with the feelings of love, joy and pride that I thought I knew so much of on that day.

Come to find out, I knew very little of those things that day as I know them now. I now know that love is more beautiful and more painful than I ever imagined. I see now that joy is at once more profound and more lasting than I had ever dreamed. And I've learned that the pride that comes from being associated with a beautiful and radiant woman deepens as you go.

We were kids then. We were in love, we knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together, but we really had no idea what that meant. We said "for better or worse", but in my heart I knew that it would only be better. We said "for richer or poorer", but I was convinced that richer days were just ahead.

But we've learned what love is. We've discovered that joy comes in the most surprising moments, and in the quietest and simplest ways. We've discovered the contentment of companionship that gives us each peace in the midst of sometimes trying circumstances.

Eight years ago I stepped out of that room and watched Rita walk down that aisle to me - I haven't regretted it a day since.

Rita, I love you. Thanks for showing me love, sharing my joy, and being the pride of my life.

Family Foibles

I was very privileged to grow up in my family. I have two great parents, three siblings I love very much, as well as cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents who are all very dear to me. Of course, like any family, we have our quirks, oddities, and things that I have (at various times and on various occasions) found to be a bit annoying.

For instance: growing up I bore a rather uncanny resemblance to Little Ralphie of A Christmas Story. I spent years as a kid being called "Little Ralphie", and being admonished with calls of "You'll shoot 'yer eye out, kid!" And then there was the unfortunate Cheesecake Incident, in which I happened to drop a freshly made cheesecake on the floor of my aunt Susan's garage as I was bringing it in for my aunt Barbara's birthday party. I was continually asked not to carry important items at family functions for years!

Of course it was all in good fun, and there was never any doubt in my mind that my family, strange as they were, really did love me. I learned what it was like to find acceptance and genuine love in my family first, and it's helped me in life to (hopefully) offer that to others.

So when I thought about the church as the family of God, I couldn't get that image out of my mind - the quirky, sometimes odd, but loving family with which I grew up (that and that corny old song some of you will know, "I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God...").

The arrival of the gospel at the door to the heart of a person might be like the invitation to become part of the family. It might swing wide arms of acceptance and love that people have never otherwise known in an embrace of unconditionally offered grace.

At one point in his journey on earth Jesus was speaking to a crowd of people, and some of them began to inform him that his mother and brothers were outside. Jesus' response was that anyone who was obedient to his heavenly father was in fact his brother, sister, even mother - in short, his family. With all of its quirks and foibles, there's no family of which I'd rather be a part. Sure we've gotten it wrong loads of times, and we continue to do so probably on a daily basis. But I love my family. I love them enough to point out things I see that are wrong. I love them enough to encourage them when I see what is right. I love this family of God because I've found that, when it functions as it should, the grace and mercy of God flows freely through us.

So, do you have any family reminiscences to share (of the earthly family or spiritual family variety?) Maybe we can help remind each other of the beauty and diversity that lies within this God-family...

Family

Just in case anyone's here looking for a preview of tomorrow's message, here it is in brief:

We're going to be in Acts 16, verse 11-40. It's the story of Paul, Silas, Luke and Timothy as they follow Paul's vision about a Macedonian man to the city of Philippi. It features the conversion of Lydia (a powerful woman), an unnamed slave-girl who is demon-possessed, and the Jailer responsible for keeping Paul and Silas imprisoned following an ugly incident that resulted in a beating and incarceration.

Most famous for the jailhouse scene of Paul and Silas sweetly singing hymns (most likely not any that are found in our hymnbooks contrary to the opinions of some...), I'll be taking a bit of a different tack. We're going to look at the way that Luke describes the conversion of the families of both Lydia and the Philippian Jailer. Inspired (I hope) by some thoughts about my own family, we'll explore the idea of the church as the family of God, and the implications that has for our understanding of the gospel and its message, and the way we apply it to ourselves personally and corporately. We'll also be sharing the communion meal as a way of visually reminding ourselves of our connection to each other as the redeemed community of God in the world.

Those of you who are part of our community at New Life, I'll see you tomorrow. Those who aren't, well, I guess all I can say is I wish I could sit with you and share the communion meal in person, and be reminded of our connection. But since God is not limited by the constraints of distance or time, I'll pray in Paul's words, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all."

Change: Addicted or Avoided?

Good Evening...

I've been spending a lot of mental energy lately thinking about change. Change personally, in my family, even in my church. I've been thinking about what causes a person to branch out in a new direction, to follow a different path, and to advance the kingdom of God as we do.

In some ways I'm a change addict. There are certain things that I do to keep some variety in my daily routine. Right now I'm looking to change the appearance of this blog, inspired by my friend Dale's shift to a WordPress template. I scrolled through probably a hundred templates offered by WordPress, and saw a few that I liked. Then I realized that I'd select one that I liked, and would probably want to change it in about six months.

But in other ways I'm in change avoidance mode. I've eaten a turkey and cheese sandwich for lunch probably 5 days out of 7 each week for most of the past 4 years. We have several coffee mugs in our cupboard, but if they're all washed, I'll reach for the same mug each and every time.

What I do realize is that I don't want change just for the sake of change. Otherwise I'll end up exchanging one set of problematic circumstances for another set that's equally as troublesome. But I do want change of the kind that will make me a more effective carrier of Jesus' message of the graceful redemption of human beings.

I wonder what you think are the things that move us towards change. How do we change? Why do we change? And what kinds of things is God placing his finger on in your life that are in need of change?

Everything Changes

Welcome back.

I'm glad you've chosen to take a few moments out of your day to stop by. We're still brewing the Starbucks Ethiopia Sidamo (though if you'd prefer I would gladly make you a nice latte or cappuccino, depending on your preference). So make yourself at home, and I hope you enjoy the interaction.

Sometimes I think I have God and life figured out. There are those (brief) moments when everything seems to be working just right. There are no car repairs to be paid for, no arguments with my wife, and my two kids are behaving like little angels. But there are those other moments (eternal as they seem) when disappointments creep in, failure seems to be a daily occurrence and nothing seems to go just as planned.

It is on those days, those plain awful, nothing-going-right, days; that I need to be reminded that God can take anything he wants, and create out of it something to advance his kingdom. This past Sunday I talked about Paul and Barnabas and their good friendship that fell apart over, what in hindsight was probably a ridiculous and petty dispute. It would have been hard to see the potential for something better than what those two had already accomplished - these two had planted dozens of churches in their travels. And yet in their separation, with all of the pain that must have meant to them, God actually begins to move his mission forward into new places, breaking new ground.

God is not taken by surprise with your disappointments, nor with your frustrations and failures. In fact, they may present the most fertile ground for the growth of a new thing or a new direction for your life. It is possible that those disappointments are God's way of getting you to move on, to push out further into his mission of grace in this world.

So, if you're up to it, tell me: what's changing in your life? God is unchanging in his character, but everything he touches changes. As he's putting even his finger on your life, it's changing, and growing into a fuller expression of his mission, and I would love to hear how that's happening.

Grace, Faith and Spirit

Welcome back! Pull up a chair, make yourself comfortable. As I've learned to say from reading Alex McManus' blog, "You belong here." Your comments are invited, appreciated, and really needed to make this place better.

On Monday I posted on the topic of cultural christianity and missional Christianity. If you didn't read it, take a minute to do that, as I think it will give you some framework for today's post.

I've been doing a great deal of thinking about the differences between cultural christianity and missional Christianity. The key differences I see are in these three big words that come up in Acts 15 as the early church faces one of its most important decisions - are men and women who are not Jewish by birth going to be required to conform to the cultural norms of Judaism, or not? When Peter gets up to speak to the assembly of the elders and apostles, he argues pretty forcefully that the mission of Christ makes no distinctions about things like that.

He says that the gentiles (non-jewish people) had the same experience as those apostles and elders did. They had experienced the remarkable, amazing, life-changing grace of the living God extended towards them. They had, in childlike faith, trusted in the truth of the person of Jesus, God's son sent to the world for its salvation. And they had received, in some mystical but powerful way, the presence of the Holy Spirit as their companion, and guide into all truth.

I believe we need to see Christianity as a mission moving within the culture of this world to bring about its redemption and salvation. And if that means things get a little messy, and hard to define, I'm ok with that. I trust in the power of the grace of God, received by faith, and the leadership of the Holy Spirit in someone's life to effectively move them towards God's destiny for them.

So here are my questions for you today:

• What does the grace of God look like in your life? How can you extend that same kind of grace to others in your life?
• What does it mean for you to have faith like a child? How do you think you could honor childlike faith in others, even when you feel like their faith is not as "mature" as yours?
• Where do you see the Holy Spirit active in your life? Why do you think it's so difficult for us to allow the Holy Spirit to change people in his time, rather than ours?

Ok, feel free to answer all of those, a couple of them, or none at all. Thanks again for visiting, and for your interaction here.

Cultural Christianity

Good Morning!

Thanks for stopping by. If we were at my home, I'd make you a nice cup of coffee (currently Brewing Starbucks Ethiopian Sidamo blend) and we would sit on our couches and talk like friends. Since we don't have that privilege, perhaps you can take the time to brew the beverage of your choice, and find a comfortable place to sit. Feel free to comment if the mood strikes you.

Yesterday at the outset of my talk I referenced a GQ article from 2002. Take a few minutes to follow the link and read the article (it's the third post from the top).

Finished?

The early, apostolic church came down on the side of missional Christianity over its cultural form. If we are going to follow that same apostolic spirit and way (the way of Jesus) we're going to have to recognize the difference between the two. So let's think together about what we could do to change our view of Christianity from a culture with a set of external obligations to a mission moving within the culture to bring grace, faith, and the power of the Holy Spirit into contact with the culture.

It was this article, in combination with some reflection on Acts 15 that makes me pose this question for discussion:

How much of what we do as a church and what we expect people to become as Christians has to do with our traditions, and how much of it has to do with a deepening experience of the grace of God, through faith in Christ, and an increased awareness of the indwelling and leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives?

What do you say? Where do you find yourself (and maybe the church) just going through the motions that make us look Christian? And where do you see the possibilities for growing in grace, faith, and the leading of the Holy Spirit?

Courage

Courage: the state or quality of mind that enables one to face danger, fear, or vicissitudes with self-possession, confidence and resolution; bravery

I don't think of myself as a very courageous person. I'm not the first one to face danger or fear, and when I do, I seem to do so with something less than self-possession and confidence. More than once I've been reminded on a playground that I am, by all rights, a "fraidy-cat". I tend to play it safe, take few risks, and attempt to manage the risks I do take as carefully as possible.

But I'm learning, contrary to what much of my Christian experience has taught me, that in order to follow the mission of Jesus in this world, courage is a required asset. And in relationship to that, I'm discovering in very real ways, how important other people are to stirring up that courage within me. I suppose what I mean to say is that courage can be a shared asset, and must not be exclusively yours or mine.

I draw courage from the stories of men and women who are engaged in the same mission, who share the same heartbeat for seeing the world changed one life at a time. I take courage when I hear from someone who is facing desperate odds with the kind of courage that you only seem to find in storybooks and fairy tales. The biblical admonitions to encouraging each other are rooted in this awareness of ourselves in relationship to others. We are to take courage and strength from the stories of those who have forcefully advanced the Kingdom of God in ages past, while we shoulder the burden with our contemporaries and, by sharing the load, strengthen our souls in the face of grave danger.

What stares you in the eyes today and blows the chill winds of fear across the heated coals of your passion to follow Jesus? Do you need courage? Perhaps we can provide that for each other here. If there's something you'd like to share, please do, we can post our own comments, thoughts, and even prayers to help you draw strength from our stories.