- Psalm 57 is a prayer of David. Here I rephrase it in my own words for today. Numbers represent the verse number.
1. I am begging you – although I have no claim to any sort of favorable treatment per se, please grace me with your presence.
2. I cry out to you, the one and true god.
3. Open me to heaven here on earth. Save me from my enemies, real ones and those who I create myself.
4. The depths of me, my soul … it is as if in my deepest place a hoard of beasts feast on my heart and soul.
5. But oh goodness I ask that you are the champion and turn my world into something glorious indeed.
6. It’s like I have been trapped. Not just me – my comrades, our idols … as if all our culture has led itself like lemmings off the cliff, like foolish and un-parented children walking blindly into traffic.
7. But arise! My very being, my heart-soul-mind-will-spirit: I rebel from this madness! Flowers bloom in the winter. Music emanates where there was no melody!
8. Awaken! Arise, the guitar of my heart. The greatest music booms from within. I awaken to a new day and dance to your morning melody.
9. I sing with unparalleled gratitude,
10. because an unparalleled love has come upon me, a wisdom that drowns the inner darkness and spills into everything I see.
11. Your Spirit overcomes me and gushes forth like a wild spring from deep within the earth. As I am lifted everything comes into a cosmic balance. I pray and desire this for all creatures in the universe, to experience this peace and to celebrate you.
- Sunday’s message. Part 3 in a series. Introduction. Part 1 and 2.
All this life is like a second womb experience. The womb is dark, and sometimes there’s not a lot of space, and you want to bust out, you yearn for something more. Things aren’t always fair in the womb; you know, environmental issues such as poor diet or cigarette smoke, or drugs or even abortion – some of us by natural causes are upside down. But for most of us it’s a pretty good place. Warm and cozy. You are fed. The food keeps coming. And in your striving maybe it seems as though you are the source of food. But it comes from above.
There is something more than this life you know. You realize it because sometimes the next life encroaches on this one. You can hear the music and the people talking, a loving parent caressing you from the other side.
Keep striving and one day the full glory of your new life will be revealed. Keep reaching, even amidst great labor pains, reach to advance into the kingdom that awaits … to which we are all naturally and super-naturally propelled.
This is the good news of the kingdom of heaven. Everything good comes from God, from above. We might not understand the birth pains, and some of it is caused by human imperfection, but there is a greater life to follow.
That … is the good news! God and the kingdom of heaven is near.
We are all to a degree evangelists, good-news tellers, any of us who believe in the God of the Bible.
Too often our evangelism is not good news; it’s like okay anecdotes or worse even threats of doom. The extent of many peoples’ evangelism today is inviting people to church. That may or may not be a good thing, but regardless we are not called to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of church. Our lives must point to Jesus – in word and deed.
I’m thinking of something we had in grade school, show and tell. Each child could tell about something exciting or show something – you could talk about your new pet or just bring it in, show it. And that’s what we have to do about the one thing worth sharing: God and his kingdom must be exhibited through our actions. Jesus was the first evangelist and his story is a case of show and tell: Loving on people through a ministry of presence: making wine and bread, dining with them, touching them, leading them to healing. He was a walking billboard of love and the kingdom of god.
So an evangelist proclaims God by bringing to reality the goodness of the kingdom o f heaven in this life. We are like parents nurturing the child in the womb by speaking through mama’s tummy; playing nice music; eating well; loving one another. By so doing, the next life is breaking into this life … and the evangelist has compelling evidence to go along with the verbal case.
Our case has been undermined at times not only by the fact that too often we are just dragging people to church, or failing to exhibit Jesus and the kingdom of God in our actions; too often we seem focused not on the kingdom of God but on the kingdom of hell.
The critical feedback of George Carlin can be helpful here. Carlin, an atheist who has died, bemoaned the way Christians nagged him to believe in God. In Carlin’s words, if you don’t believe in God, he will “send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live … forever … and suffer, and burn, and scream, until the end of time. …
“But he loves you. … He loves you. … He loves you and he needs money.”
Christians can’t be know as hell mongers. Let’s be known for heaven. Let’s bring heaven here and proclaim the kingdom of heaven. Let’s administer the spiritual milk of babes – speaking sensitively, and in 21st-century English.
Let me share the good news with you, and this is the most important thing I could ever say in my life – about the good news of the kingdom of heaven as near. This means that there is an alternative way. We are led to believe that everything we see is all there is. It’s all about the bills and the groceries and our material and fleeting stuff … the pursuit of happiness, a good job, success, good looks, a significant other, our favorite TV show, TIVO, Twitter, Facebook. A life so brief and then you are gone. There is war and hate and crime and failure. Even the best of life is filled with challenges and in the end vanishes like vapor.
There is something more, it’s an alternative kingdom that is only revealed in glimpses here in this life. But those glimpses are substantial. This is what Jesus meant when he said, “the kingdom of heaven is near.” It is all around you. It envelopes you. You see its fruit in the finest things: love, joy, peace, kindness. People fail so often, even the people we love, especially the people we love … and our idols, our stars, our football team, our favorite band; even religious people fail – especially religious people.
So we set our hearts on things above.
Just as there is the gift of free will – an invitation to be stewards of the world and to chose for yourself – there are the gifts of forgiveness, grace, and in fact you too are graced by this kingdom. The kingdom of God invites you into it, moment after moment, always forgiven. Just lean into it.
The world has failed so many people, our idols are failing us, politics and business and religion and bank accounts and families and sports teams are failing us. There is an alternative, and the alternative is real, it is encroaching, it is a kingdom coming near, nearer and nearer all the time for those who lean in.
The kingdom of God is near. Lean into it. Set your hearts and minds on things above. It is hear for you. That is the good news.
- Part 3 in a series. Introduction. Part 1 and 2.
Women’s Bible Study > Saturday, March 13, 2010
Series: Examining the Beatitudes
Simple exercise for today: Examine the 6th Beatitude
“Blessed are the pure in heart …” Matthew 5:8
Pure in Heart means:
- Morally upright
- Good
- More than appearances: Clean on the inside
- Self controlled
- Seeking after God’s righteousness (Matthew 6:33)
Pure in Heart does not mean
- Self-righteous
- Hypocritical
- Saying one thing, doing another
- Clean on the outside, dirty on the inside (Mt 23:25-26; Luke 11:39)
A note about “heart” in biblical Greek
- The heart in English evokes emotions, feelings and passions. While the Greek kardia meant heart as a symbolic seat of human passions, desires and feelings, it evoked much more than that. The heart represented everything about the core of a person: the intellect, will and emotion. The heart is the inner self. And it is also seen as the sphere of God’s influence. So it is the place where mind and body, intellect and will, meet the transcendent Spirit.
Life Examples
- Think of times in your life when you have been pure in heart. Perhaps you sought God even when it was difficult or costly, or let go of an old habit or something that others thought was good but you realized was not. How does it feel to be pure in heart? What are the benefits?
- Think of when you have been pure in heart in such a way that God, another person or group was well served. Explain.
- Think of when someone else has served you by being pure in heart. (Consider thanking this person today if possible.)
Self Examine
- What do you think about yourself when you examine this beatitude.
- Is being pure in heart a strength for you? Explain.
- Is this an area of change? Does God have something new in store for you?
- Where are you being led?
- What sins might you confess?
Envision
- How would your life be different if there was more purity of heart in your life?
- How would your most important relationships be different?
- How would AAC be different?
Reflection and Prayer
This morning during prayer time I was reading the journal of Susanna Wesley. The following seems to be helpful in seeking a pure heart, particularly in light of the Greek connotation that heart is not merely the seat of emotion but of mind and will:
… may I be exceedingly careful that my affections keep pace with my knowledge. … So may I learn … to submit my reason so far to my faith as not to doubt or scruple those points of faith which are mysterious to me through the weakness of my understanding. May I adore the mystery I cannot comprehend. Help me to be not too curious in prying into those secret things that are known only to Thee, O God, nor too rash in censuring what I do not understand.” Susanna Wesley
- Sunday’s message. Part 2 in a series. Introduction. Part 1.
Today’s topic: Prophets. So I would like to illustrate by speaking prophetically. You’ve been warned. My first prophesy is that in five minutes, you will all be running me out of town and trying to flog me and kill me.
The world needs God. The world is crying out, all of creation crying out as in birth pains, with its environmental crises, socio-economic turmoil, grossly-wide divide between haves and have nots. In this richest of countries we have pedophiles and this week the depressing rape and murder of promising girl-next-door Chelsea King. The world needs intimacy with its creator.
The world needs a Big Church.
But the prognosis is not good. The church has entered the entertainment business. It is one of many genres that consumers can choose from. The church is a nearby Costco-like edifice dispensing religious goods and services. And prophesy is bad for business. It offends people. Better to tell the flesh what it wants to hear.
If our church would be known for speaking prophetically rather than entertaining … we might piss a few people off and entertain fewer folks … and God might save us all in the process.
What the world needs is Big Church, but instead it is as if the body of Christ is in the hospital, on the operating table, in need of bypass surgery. It’s as if Christ’s arteries are clogged.
We have clogged things up for the apostles and the prophets.
Jesus has given the church several gifts so that it may be built up for fullness. But we have not accepted his gifts. We spoke last week about apostles. We are not sending people out into culture to embed the DNA of God. Now we examine the plight of the prophets.
The artery of prophesy is clogged indeed. The highways upon which prophets might travel have been barricaded. The church does not allow for prophets to speak the difficult truths of God and reform the church and in so doing reform the world.
Why? Why are our prophets silenced? We could blame it on the reformers with their cries of solo scriptura, or the dispensationalists or all the mainstream theologians of the last century who said prophecy was a dead office. We could blame it on the pastors who run the church from hierarchical, autocratic offices. But let’s all take this upon ourselves.
Try this out: Why are prophets silenced? In a word: Defensiveness.
Christians needs to toughen up, be able to listen to constructive critical thinking without getting so emotional and worked up every time a brother or sister has a little advice. We cannot be more informed by our mind-your-own-business culture – “to each his own” – than we are the Bible.
Remember that Jesus was a prophet. He ushered in an age of prophesy. He brought with him the Holy Spirit and has given it to each person. And prophesy is the means by which the Holy Spirit speaks to believers. We must tap into this dormant potential by believing the truth that indeed we are all to, some degree, prophets. And we have been given those around us who are resident prophets particularly gifted in hearing God and informing us.
This is why Paul in his writing as the church was being developed made the role of the prophet central to everything the church was doing. In his famous passages about worship and church gatherings the role of the prophet is always right there. Worship itself, the reading of Scripture and prayer, is a call to intimacy with God, marked by God speaking through us.
Prophesy is a manifestation of the spirit given for the common good (1 cor 12:7); given as a foundation of the church (Eph.). Paul said that “God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets” (1 Cor. 12:28). He said, “… the greatest of these is love. Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophesy” (1 Cor. 13:13-14:1).
So how do we do this? It starts with awareness, that we can all listen to God, and that we must exercise this through the priority of private and public prayer. Prophesy is something to be done in community. Our gatherings should devote time for prayer and open space to listen to God and engage in conversations. We must test every spirit together and discern whether or not this is really God speaking. It takes a lot of patience and grace. It also takes cooperation. The traditional, preacher-dominated ethos will have to give way to something more cooperative, even as we allow those with gifts of prophecy and teaching to perform their roles.
The beauty of true and divine prophecy is that is provides evidence. Jesus was asked how you will know you have a true prophet and he said simply, “by their fruit you will recognize them” (Mt 7:16, 20). Paul said that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control (Gal 5:22). So while the prophet might have immensely challenging things to say, in a loving and nurturing Christian community you should not expect him to be a rude and miserable old swearing and cussing grump. … Now, she might turn over some tables once in a while or call your religious leaders a “brood of vipers” (Mt. 23:33).
But hey, all of creation is crying out for God, and for a big church. So don’t stone the messenger. Amen.
- Part 2 in a series. Introduction. Part 1.
One ongoing experiment has been Table Talk. Tomorrow – 9 a.m. at LeStats Coffee House – we roll out our second Cafe Liturgy before having a chat about Servolution. Here’s the liturgy.
Lord, give us care to do everything you tell us to do, and to practice what we preach. May we not tie up heavy burdens on people that we are not willing to lift ourselves. We have one Master – you God – and we are all brothers and sisters. We have one Father, and you are in heaven. We have one Teacher, the Messiah. The greatest among us will be called “servant.”
For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
May we not shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. May we enter your kingdom, and may others enter with us.
May we keep Holy what is Holy. May we honor you in righteousness.
May we give generously to the church and also practice justice, mercy and faithfulness.
May we first clean the inside of the cup and dish – the inside of our hearts – so that then the outside will also be truly clean; people will know by our fruit that your Spirit is within us.
Give us your prophets and sages and teachers. Give us strength to receive them. Give us ears to hear them and respect them and welcome them as you, Lord.
How often you have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and we were not willing. Forgive us, Lord. Do not allow our homes to be left desolate.
Blessed is he or she who comes in the name of the Lord. Amen.
Women’s Bible Study > Saturday, March 6, 2010
Series: Examining the Beatitudes
Simple exercise for today: Examine the 5th Beatitude
“Blessed are the merciful …” Matthew 5:7
Merciful means:
- Kind
- Gracious, graceful
- Generous
- Forgiving
- Compassionate
- Healing
Merciful does not mean
- Self-righteous
- Blind to the flaws of others
- Without conviction or beliefs
Life Examples
- Think of times in your life when you have been merciful. Perhaps you were forgiving or graceful towards another person who was in need or who had not been shown mercy by others. How does it feel to give mercy? What are the benefits of being merciful?
- Think of when you have been merciful in such a way that God, another person or group was well served. Explain.
- Think of when someone else has served you through acts of mercy. (Consider thanking this person today if possible.)
Self Examine
- What do you think about yourself when you examine this beatitude.
- Is being merciful a strength for you? Explain.
- Is this an area of change? Does God have something new in store for you?
- Where are you being led?
- What sins might you confess?
Envision
- How would your life be different if there was more mercy in your life?
- How would your most important relationships be different?
- How would AAC be different?
Get ready. Cuz things are gonna start popping off. I’m probably a little manic right now (that’s not always a bad thing) but I gots some ideas. Some big ideas. Big ideas in a humble kind of setting. See, the thing is, I gotta get rid of this ego that eats up all the goodness inside of me. The ego that stops me from laying my life down for the only One that really matters. Sometimes I think my prayer should just be Lord, take everything away from me. Strip me of all my vanity and pretension. My selfishness. My disease of me, me, me. I get close and then I fall back into it.
It? Lust, greed, sarcasm, introspection, gluttony, all the things that let me obsess on myself and my needs. Not the needs of those who I could help. Definitely not what Jesus has intended for me. It’s like reaching out for that brass ring on the merry go round. I can’t quite reach it. I get close. I can almost touch it. My fingers graze its cool metal as it’s pulled away. It reminds me of how far I still have to go.
Lent’s been a great reminder of how much a slave I am to the things of this world. I think that I’ve read my Bible like once in the last 12 days. This with me giving up poker, eating out, picking up running and the like. I’m praying a little more but I’ll be honest I’m not the best at prayer. It’s a struggle for me to stop, shut down my head for a minute and communicate with God. The good thing is that I do feel His hand on my life in so many ways now.
I can see Christ’s hand in real life personal relationships that I have with people. My wife, my friends, the people I work with. I really am a different person 90% of the time. Most of the time without having to think about it. Situations where I used to just blow up I’ve been able to listen and even be compassionate to someone else’s feelings that differ from mine.
Anyway, most of y’all know that I belong to Adams Avenue Crossing. We had a great table talk yesterday that really made me come away inspired. It started off kinda discouraging, feeling as if we haven’t made much progress. We’ve been waiting to hear from God what He would like for us to do. I don’t think many of us felt that we had heard that much. After listening to TC and Sam all of a sudden I realized that God has been screaming at us and that I (can’t speak for others) was too frightened to listen to what He wants me to do. Because if I listen I’m going to have to sacrifice my precious time. To listen I’m going to have to forge relationships with people I don’t even know yet. To listen means I’m going to have to pick up my cross and follow. To listen means I’m going to have to lay down my life to gain one.
My problem has been thinking that, well, honestly, there isn’t a lot of people looking for help in Normal Heights. Then TC I believe nailed it on the head for me. If I can’t help people in this area that I’ve decided I want to help what makes me think that I can do it anywhere else. This is EXACTLY where God wants me to be. I’ve got to overcome my own damn self and start reaching out to people. There are people that need help but they might not be able to TELL me that to my face. But what if I put a flyer up in Lestats or Cafe Cabaret offering to help people? Mow a lawn, tutor a kid, pick up a yard, give someone a ride, type a resume, there’s all sorts of things I can do to give someone a hand. To be more than just a ministry of presence but to become a ministry of helping and loving on the people of Normal Heights. What better way of being present that being present in people’s lives.
I know I’m probably the far flung dude in our group. The thing is, I see people that are peripheral to our group doing great things. I mean Aaron from Hope Unlimited is out feeding the homeless in downtown once a month. How incredible is that? All it takes is one guy with an idea. One person helping one other person. All it takes is just to go ahead and do it. If you are gonna pray for me then pray that I can put down my own crap long enough that I can try to get rolling. That’s what I want. Please pray.
- Sunday’s message. Part 1 in a series. Introduction, Pt. 2.
What is an apostle? Who is an apostle?
An apostle is like a squirrel. It takes the tiny little acorn which has fallen beneath the giant oak tree … and caries this little seed away to a nice meadow, spreading the oak tree DNA.
The spreading of DNA is a bit subversive. The squirrel doesn’t really comprehend what he’s doing. But she is an apostle, a sent one, a messenger of DNA, an ambassador of the mighty oak.
Move now from nature to pop culture, from squirrels to rock stars: Music caries spiritual DNA that embeds itself in young people long before they start living out the messages of the music.
This shouldn’t be lost on us. Rock stars even understand their apostleship and at times mock the true apostle: … <I’m thinking of a rock goddess named Madonna – mother of Jesus, of all people! And how about the Blues Brothers, with their much-imitated saying, “We’re on a mission from God.”>
Now, while the real or proverbial demons are well aware of spiritual warfare going on through seed-scatterers, I am afraid the church is not so aware.
The church should be aware that its work is born out subversively, revolutionarily, not in decorated religious halls or pristine church buildings but in office buildings and neighborhoods, schoolyards and college dorms. The work is done as individuals act as squirrels for the kingdom of God. These apostles need to be fed.
The church at large needs to do a few things regarding apostleship.
> First we need to amend this erroneous belief, or misunderstanding, that apostles are dead ones. …
We need to stop deifying the 12 or 11 or 13 or 17 so-called capital-a Apostles … because from their blinding headlights we are unable to see the flickering stars all throughout the Bible and Christian history and in our midst today … untold numbers of apostles, “sent ones,” people who were and are spreading God’s DNA on foreign soil. People yearning and needing direction: Go!
> So, second, we must recognize, commission and equip the apostles all around us. These people enjoy being in the neighborhood, maybe they like the bars or the cafes or the beaches more than the church building. They don’t fit with all the singing and preaching and teaching. Our doctrines don’t resonate. They are called to action. Many of these people fall from the church for lack of a task or outward call.
> Hence, finally, the church as institution needs to start calibrating itself towards apostleship. After (1) amending the erroneous belief that apostles are dead; and (2) recognizing apostles all around us, (3) we the church as an institution and organism must invest financially and systematically in the art of sending out. Have some of the events in public places; free up some of the budget to be unleashed not in the building but out in the community. Pray and sing and do whatever you do in here … out there.
Adopt community projects. Dine with sinners.
This should sound familiar. Around every turn, the New Testament is a story of apostleship, written by and about apostles. Jesus was the first apostle: John 3:34 calls him “the one whom God has sent.” He could have lived on the mountaintop of an immaculate palace, or been worshipped inside a fabulous temple, but he took up residence with people and became servant to all … he was bar-tender, confidant, healer.
Jesus modeled apostleship and even pushed his own little chicky apostles out of the nest: Less than midway through the gospels of Matthew and Luke the 12 disciples are sent out, and Luke even tells of 72 others being sent. These followers are told to go and talk about the good news of the kingdom of God and heal people and drive out demons. Mainly they were instructed to simply go from house to house and around the community and sit and stay with people.
Eat with them. Accept their hospitality. Jesus was constantly in the act of dinging in intimate places with those far from religion, while the religious leaders were in the act of keeping at arm’s length; judging, consulting their religious books and emphasizing the Sabbath and their religious customs and ceremonies.
But Jesus realized that you can’t nurture a seedling or prune an oak tree if the seed is not first scattered. And so the pattern of the New Testament is the pattern of the apostle, sent ones. We can learn from them, mimic their behavior, realize that most of the story was set in places far from religion – in eating places, hills and highways, places where there were sick and needy and rebellious.
We can also learn from one of the more successful enterprises of the Western church over recent centuries – so-called ‘missionaries’, apostles indeed, who have embedded the DNA of Jesus all over the world, and now we in the developed United States are the global Christian minority. It is time to send the missionaries home. Bring back the apostles. And then we will be a big church, knit together for fullness.
- Sunday’s message. Part 1 in a series. Introduction, Pt. 2.
Women’s Bible Study > Saturday, February 27, 2010
Series: Examining the Beatitudes
Simple exercise for today: Examine the 4th Beatitude, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Mt 5:6)
Hungry for righteousness means:
- Fed spiritually, not just physically
- Concerned with spiritual outcomes … even more than physical
- Righteousness is proper relationship to the will of God
- Obedient, submissive
Hungry for righteousness does not mean
- Hungry for passions of flesh
- Content, happy, satisfied
- Well adjusted, practical
- Wicked
Life Examples
- Think of times in your life when you have hungered and thirsted for righteousness. Perhaps you were striving for more goodness in your life, or kicking an old habit, parting ways with old friend(s), making a big change, yearning for God-knows-what. How does it feel? What are the benefits of being hungry and thirsty for righteousness?
- Think of when you have hungered in such a way that God, another person or group was well served. Explain.
- Think of when someone else has served you by hungering and thirsting for righteousness. (Consider thanking this person today if possible.)
Self Examine
- What do you think about yourself when you examine this beatitude.
- Is hungering and thirsting for righteousness a strength for you? Explain.
- Is this an area of change? Does God have something new in store for you?
- Where are you being led?
- What sins might you confess?
Envision
- How would your life be different if there was more hungering for righteousness in your life?
- How would your most important relationships be different?
- How would AAC be different?
One ongoing experiment has been Table Talk. Tomorrow we roll out our first Cafe Liturgy before having a chat about Servolution. Here’s the liturgy.
- Talking points for mini-message given this weekend. Introduction to a series. Part 1, 2.
(Ad lib intro.)
The church is a concept that is illustrated with the brushstrokes of so many words. The church is the body of Christ. The church is the family of God. The church is a flock of sheep. The church is a building designed for the meeting of God’s people.
The church is a spiritual thing grounded in physical realities. And because the church is an agent of God, who is very, very large … the church itself is very, very large. At least in theory – but not always in practice.
And so we have a problem – we have a small church – when one or more of our concepts monopolize the grand imagery of church.
It is written on the canvas of Ephesians 4:11 and 12 and following … that Jesus has given the church several gifts – some people as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as shepherds and teachers – that together will
equip (God’s) people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
And so Jesus has given his church these gifts – apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers – which will together equip God’s people, build them up, so the church may reach unity, become mature, attain fullness … and no longer be infants.
But what if we have only accepted two or three of these gifts? What if we have failed to integrate the whole body and every supporting ligament?
Is it possible that we have idolized one or two word pictures at the exclusion of another?
I think the answer is yes, quite possibly. Quite possibly we hold in our hands a small church, agent to a small God.
Now, what we do not have is a small image of our church as a sheep pen. In fact, on the artist’s canvas of church, in our cropped photograph our concept of church is almost entirely one of a sheep pen – to use the Ephesians 4 language. The church is a flock of sheep, a barn.
Now it is entirely true that the church is a sheep pen. But that is only part of the picture. We seemed to have cropped out a few other details.
You see, it can just as accurately be said that, while the church is like a sheep pen, the church is like a sheep pen that sends … out … sheep!
It is true that church is a great huddling, cuddling, warm and fuzzy mass of sheep and shepherds and love and kindness … this ginormous sheep pen is also in the business of recognizing and preparing and ordaining and sending out battering rams … two by two … some alone even … some in small groups … to be apostles … sent ones … messengers.
So with the church we have a gigantic picture. The sheep pen or barn – the church building – is only a part of it. And now imagine the countryside, the mountains around the field where the sheep graze … in the jungle, in the city … the danger … the mission … the promise. The United States is waiting for the rams of God to venture out with the full cooperation and support of the sheep and the shepherds and the teachers. This is a Big Church, agent to a Big God …
Women’s Bible Study > Saturday, February 20, 2010
Series: Examining the Beatitudes
Simple exercise for today: Examine the 3rd Beatitude, “Blessed are the meek” (Mt 5:5)
Meek means:
- Empty before God, rather than self-confident
- “humble,” “gentle”, “lowly”
- “Meek and riding on a donkey” (Zc. 9:9; Mt. 21:5)
Meek does not mean
- Proud
- Powerful
- Important
Life Examples
- Think of times in your life when you have been meek? How does it feel? What are the benefits of being meek?
- Think of when you have humbled yourself for someone else in such a way that the other person has been served.
- Think of when someone else has served you by being meek. (Consider thanking this person today if possible.)
Self Examine
- What do you think about yourself when you examine “blessed are the meek”?
- Is this a strength for you? Explain.
- Is this an area of change? Does God have something new in store for you?
- Where are you being led?
- What sins might you confess?
Envision
- How would your life be different if there was more meekness in your life?
- How would your most important relationships be different?
- How would AAC be different?
I was watching a movie with my friend today. It is called Pride and Prejudice, a classic Jane Austin novel. Yes, the messages are clear. There is one message that is not emphasized in the scripts or the infamous novel. That is we see and treat God through the blind glasses of pride and prejudice. Our own beliefs, the deceiving information we hear from others, and the disappointment that things didn’t turn out the way we expected, blind us from seeing God for who He really is.
Our Savior who adamantly loves and adores each one of us. Our rescuer who is protecting us from the things we don’t know and don’t see. The lover who knows us better than we know ourselves.
As we come before God in prayer, let us take off our distorted glasses and seek the Lord for who He is. We are limited by what we know, but thankfully, God is not limited by us.
…trust yourself to the God who made you, for he will never fail you.” 1 Peter 4:19b
Queue soft background music, dim the lights, as the camera zooms in to focus on the radiant joy and endearing love emanating from God’s eyes to yours and yours to the Lord.
The End… or as we close in prayer, Amen.
Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:11-13
This weekend I am beginning a spoken series on the fullness and unity of the church as depicted in Epheisans 4:11-16 and elsewhere. Although we have discussed it at length here, I don’t think the redundancy is a bad thing. In fact I think this cuts to the center regarding the nature of the church and why it is floundering in the West: Basically, God has ordained the church to be in unity as the five diverse roles are performed together; but as it is, only a couple of the roles are dominating.
This is a hypothesis I have adopted from Alan Hirsch, whose Forgotten Ways Handbook (2008) was read by AAC last year. Hirsch, with Michael Frost, first published the concept in The Shaping of Things to Come (2003):
We think it is to the detriment of the mission of the chruch that the role of evangelist has been marginalized and made itinerant rather than localized. And we see it as even more concerning that the functions of prophet and apostle have been ignored by mainstream churches altogether. But we reiterate our belief that only when all five are operating in unity or harmony can we see effective missional engagement begin to occur. Pastors and teachers have had more than their share of responsibility in church leadership. It’s time for the recover of some sense of balance.
As a point of clarity as we continue to explore these concepts, I thought it would be good to establish some definitions. Again from The Shaping of Things to Come:
- Apostolic function, usually conducted translocally, pioneers new missional works and oversees their development.
- Prophetic function discerns the spiritual realities in a given situation and communicates them in a timely and appropriate way to further the mission of God’s people.
- Evangelistic function communicates the gospel in such a way that proople respond in faith and discipleship.
- Pastoral function shepherds the people of God by leading, nurturing, protecting, and caring for them.
- Teaching function communicates the revealed wisdom of God so that the people of God learn how to obey all that Christ has commanded them.
As I have mentioned in recent posts, with some help from Hirsch, AAC is an apostolic, prophetic and evangelistic movement. We should seek opportunities to assert our leadership even in a church culture preordained against apostles, prophets and evangelists. At the same time we should also yield to pastoral and teaching leadership in an effort to attain balance, which is God’s design for the church.
A letter from an actual member of Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A member of Dino Rizzo’s flock with some questions. I asked her if I could post this on our blog so we can get a response from all of our members that have an opinion. You see my comments below Daphne’s.
hey. you had mentioned that you and some people from church were going to read Servolution. I was wondering if y’all did and what you thought.
I am getting more involved in the Midnight outreach where we give roses & gifts to strippers and I am getting some negative feedback because we offer love without the push of salvation. I would like the opinion of Servolution from an outsider because I see points from both sides.
I think if we bring Love to strippers, it presents the opportunity for them to consider Jesus and the church as an option they may not have considered before. A local Baptist preacher who does not agree with Servolution made the comment, ‘If someone gave the Prodigal son a bottle of water and a meal with no strings attached, would he have still returned to the father?’
anyway, would love your opinion if you have one.
Grace & Peace,
daphne
We loved it Daphne! Still reading it as a group together. I think what you are doing really exemplifies what we are trying to do at Adams Avenue Crossing (our church). We are here to be Jesus’ hands and feet. And I’m not sure what the woman who was about to be stoned said to get herself saved by Jesus. I think he just went ahead and saved her and told her to go and sin no more. I think what you are doing is a beautiful example of reaching outward to the people that are in the most need of Christ’s redemptive love. Hey, do you mind if I post your letter on our church blog so we can see what everyone else thinks? Oh, and who are we not to offer the same grace as our Lord has given to each and every one of us. Just a couple of my thoughts. Hope y’all are having a great Fat Tuesday out there!
bub-a-lic-ious
well the woman caught in adultery was told to go & sin no more. We don’t tell the girls to stop sinning. We just say we love them and are praying for them and to let us know if they need anything. Then if they do need something, we give again with no strings attached, no salvation message preached, no push for them to join our church.
Please post this and let’s see what is generated. I believe we are doing good or I would not do it. When I quit dancing and wanted to clean my life up, I had no idea where to go and if a church would accept me (and the first one I went to did not, they asked me to leave) so I think our no strings attached love is a good thing but I also understand the criticism from us not pushing salvation. Today is the day of salvation and sin should not be tolerated.
And look, I am all about grace. I think that sums up what we do. We offer the grace for them to seek a relationship with Christ despite their sin. And really, their sin is no worse than mine, except I know better. Right??
We might think we are the first Christians to care about the poor. But of course, others have come before us. Toyohiko Kagawa (1888-1960) was a Japanese minister to the poor, evangelist and prolific writer. Kagawa’s beginnings were humble enough: He was the illegitimate son of a philandering businessman and a geisha. Both parents died when he was four. His foster mother, his father’s wife, was violent. Kagawa wound up at his rich uncle’s home and was schooled at a Buddhist monastery. But he was disowned for his allegiance to Jesus Christ, introduced to him by an American missionary.
From that point, poverty was his lot. While at Kobe Seminary he developed distaste for doctrine at the expense of action. During and after seminary he spent five years in the slums preaching and tending to the sick and addicted. He slept with the poor and fed them on his meager income. Then he voyaged to the United States to study at Princeton University and Seminary. He became convinced that charity alone was not enough, that the systemic causes of poverty must be attacked. He returned to Japan for a life of activism and writing. In the 1920s he was arrested twice regarding labor activism. He wrote novels in jail. Upon release he founded various humanitarian organizations and then focused on evangelism. Japanese military police arrested him in 1940 for peace propaganda and for apologizing to China on Japan’s behalf. He lectured around that time in both the Europe and United States, where he lobbied in vain against impending war . His many books (over 150 published) include Behold the Man (1941), Brotherhood Economics (1936), The Challenge of Redemptive Love and The Cosmic Teleology (1957).
Kagawa’s spirituality was deeply rooted in the redeeming love of God manifested in Jesus Christ. His call to individuals and nations was to ascend towards God through prayer and abiding in Him. The result is an integration of the inner and outer life, evidenced in such fruit as love, global peace, simplicity, collaboration, ecological harmony, justice and equality.
For further reading, see R. Schildgen, Toyohiko Kagawa (1988). There is also a movie about Kagawa, named after his first novel, Before the Dawn (Shisen o koete).
‘He cannot save himself’-
Long ago
The crowds
Reviled a Man
Who came
To save them.
And I,
Who fain would follow him,
Am spent.
For I can see
No hope
For the slums …But oh,
The pity, the pity!
My people
Must stay
In the city;
So this six-foot shack
That shelters me
Is the only place
Where I want to be.
My office is on the second floor of a church building. The largest congregation that meets here was hosting a funeral. The man was 53. My dad died at that age. I took my Bible downstairs, drawn as I often am by the wonderful gospel music of the Exodus choir. As I paid respects and soaked in the event I couldn’t help but think that we need more funerals, to remind us of our brief stints here. And I could not help but admire the congregation with all its respectful men singing songs and tending to those who mourn. And the whole thing resonated with a train of thought I have had lately about the church and Ephesians 4:11.
This Sunday I will commence a series of short monologues given before the United Methodist congregation, caretaker of the building and my second-floor office. I will be thinking out loud regarding the relationship between pastor/teachers and apostles. Adams Avenue Crossing is a movement of apostles, “sent ones” who have been commissioned to bring the church outside the building – lone mountain sheep commissioned to spread the proverbial sheep DNA outside the sheep pen. We have done so with zeal and holy discontent and at times I think a bit of self-righteousness. Of late I have realized that while at times we sent ones operate as if there is no need for an earthly shepherd, the DNA of the church is hardwired to irreducibly connect pastors with apostles. In other words, the church building needs the missionary … or as it relates to AAC, the missionary needs the church building. We need funerals. We need pastors. We ourselves are sheep, albeit apostolic (sent) sheep.
So I for one am grateful to have people like Pastor Donald Owens of Exodus or Bill Jenkins of Christ United Methodist keeping me on their radars. I am one of theirs. Similarly I appreciate Ed Noble of Journey Community Church, from which the majority of AAC has come. He has remained faithful to sit down with me periodically and in doing so ensure that we are not merely adrift. Due to the unique calling of AAC we are experiencing comradeship with several churches. I think that’s the nature of a sent one - sent not by one flock but several. Add to the mix Fletcher Hills Presbyterian Church, which will be joining us for a trash walk on March 20.
This is integral to our purpose: We can help other churches realize God’s call to apostleship. Conversely they may help us realize that there is more to the church, and Ephesians 4:11, than being sent. More to follow …
Women’s Bible Study > Saturday, February 13, 2010
Series: Examining the Beatitudes
Simple exercise for today: Examine the 2nd beatitude, “Blessed are those who mourn” (Mt 5:4)
Mourning means:
- Aware of realities
- Being sensitive
- Compassionate towards God, self and others
- Willing to cry even when it’s not cool
Mourning does not mean
- Too hurried to listen
- Cold
- Inappropriately cheerful
Life Examples
- Think of times in your life when you have been mournful? How does it feel? What are the benefits of being mournful?
- Think of when you have cried for someone else in such a way that the other person has been served.
- Think of when someone else has served you by “feeling your pain.” (Consider thanking this person today if possible.)
Self Examine
- What do you think about yourself when you examine “blessed are those who mourn”?
- Is this a strength for you? Explain.
- Is this an area of change? Does God have something new in store for you?
- Where are you being led?
- What sins might you confess?
Envision
- How would your life be different if there was more “mourning” in your life?
- How would your most important relationships be different?
- How would AAC be different?
