Bono

I just heard Bono Speak via a video interview with Bill Hybels @ the 2006 Leadership summit. I am speechless. Bono hit the church between the eyes. He shared an illustration: Suppose you witness a car accident. When you walk up to the car the driver is hanging out the door, bloody, unconscious. The closer you get to the car the stronger the aroma of alcohol becomes. What do you do? Do you say: “Oh, it’s a drunk driving accident – he had it coming – this is a result of his decisions – not my fault – I’m going home. “ If you are a Christian you can’t do that. The scriptures won’t let you. It is the same with the AIDS epidemic/emergency. Even though it is not our fault – even though it is annoying to help these people who are in this situation by no fault of ours – the scriptures mandate that we must help these people. Bono said that we excuse a lot of the problems in the world by saying “It is just the way the world works”. While Bono concedes that that is in fact the way the world works; it is therefore time to change the way the world works. Sound like something you have heard before? If you are a Christian it should. This was Jesus’ message. THE WORLD IS NOT RIGHT – WE NEED TO CHANGE THE WAY THE WORLD WORKS!! HOW? LOVE. Jesus has called us to change the world in the name of love. www.data.org www.one.org

Wow

I know that it has been a super long time since I have updated; sorry about that. I really have no good excuse. I wanted to post today because I met an old man that inspired me and I hoped that sharing his story would encourage you too. I am in Biloxi, MS on a mission trip to rebuild homes ruined by hurricane Katrina. While I was waiting in line to get food yesterday I met an old man named Mark. Mark has spent his entire summer working on mission trips in the south. He has worked on trips in New Orleans, Biloxi and a few other places along the gulf coast and still plans on doing more. This man inspired me because he dose this all on his own. The church that he recently started going to dose not do summer missions tips. Through the organization that is organizing the trip I am on, if an adult volunteers to lead a construction site their cost will be waved. So this old man decided to spend his summers on the road working with teenagers he dose not know rebuilding homes.

The Only Thing That Counts

My favorite verse in the Bible is Galatians 5:6b "The only thing that counts in faith expressing it self in love." (NIV) This verse comes near the end of Paul's letter to the Church in Galatia. The Church in Galatia was wrestling with something that all of the churches in the first century had to deal with: What should the relationship be like between a believer of Jesus and the Jewish Law? The Jewish Law according to some rabbis included over six hundred commandments and is referred to as The Mitzvot. One of Paul's central messages to Christians was that it was not necessary for them to follow the Jewish Law any more. The Jewish Law was a system Jews followed in an attempt to stay in a good relationship with God. Paul?s argument was that since Jesus had come and paid the price for every person?s sin when he died on the cross, it is now possible to be in a good relationship with God without the Jewish Laws.
So here at the beginning Galatians 5 Paul is telling the Church that fallowing the Jewish Law is useless. In Paul?s mind if someone tries to follow the Jewish Law to stay in a good relationship with God Jesus is of no value to that person. Paul goes even further to say that if a person fallows one of the commandments in an attempt better their relationship with God on their own, apart form the grace that only comes from Jesus, they are obligated to follow all of the Jewish Laws!
By now you are wondering why this verse means so much to me. This verse is so important to me because it reminds me that despite everything God has given me the ability to do ? none of those things are as important as way that I love. It is important for us to notice that this verse not only says to love, but that our love must be an expression of our faith. That means that people should see a reflection of God in the way that I love; that kind of love is bigger than just being nice to people. That kind of love is the kind that requires that I make sacrifices in order to show my love for someone.

Messy Spirituality

I recently finished Mike Yaconelli's Messy Spirituality. Mike does amazing job putting our spiritual journey into a healthy perspective. I took the time to read through the book at a slow pace and tried to fully process everything he said. God really spoke to me through Mike's words. Everything I read about in the book resonated deeply with my own personal experience. I feel so much more adequate to be the Christian God wants me to be after reading this book.

Through Messy Spirituality and other ways God has been teaching me a lot recently about removing the guilt from my spiritual life. In January Allen Hood from the International House of Prayer came and spoke at a chapel service at my school. Allen shared with us how he had come to a sort of break through in his own spiritual life when he learned how to get over the fact that he is a sinner. He said that before this epiphany most of his prayer life consisted of talking to God about the sin in his life, whether he was asking for forgiveness or asking for help in avoiding a particular sin, most of his prayers where about sin. Until one day he felt like God saying to him "I am over the fact that you are a sinner!" Allen realized that God had already done what was necessary to over come the sin in his life and that he was allowing sin to be barrier that prevented growth in his relationship with God.

I don't think that Allen's message was that we should ignore the sin in our lives, but rather that we should confess it, and repent of it and move on. If we dwell on the sin in our lives our relationship with God will not grow like it is capable of doing.

The next month Robb Zarges of Straight Ahead Ministries came and spoke about the work he does with intercity youth in Boston. During his talk Robb spoke about the imagery most people have of God when they are confessing their sin to Him. There are a couple ways people view God while they are confessing sin in their life he said. In each of these views he started by describing a scene where you and God are sitting down across from each other talking. One of the typical views is of God becoming increasingly irritated as you list all of the things you have done wrong it climaxes when God stands up and screams "DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND I SENT MY SON TO DIE FOR YOU?! I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU CONTINUE TO JERK ME AROUND LIKE THIS!! WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?" Another view is one where God is disappointed and saddened by what you have done; His response would be some thing to the effect of: "I don't understand why you keep doing this? I love you so much and it breaks my heart to see you sinning over and over again. I am so disappointed in you." Robb said that these two views along with some similar variations often describe how Christians feel when they are confessing their sins to God. Robb offered a much more healthy view point. He said that he would imaging the scene this way: You and God sitting down across from one another talking and as you begin to confess your sins to God you begin to look down. It is hard to look him in the eye anymore, you know He is mad at you and disappointed in what you have been doing. As you continue to list off the things you have done against God he reaches over to you and puts his arms around you. "It's okay, I forgive you," God tells you. He holds your face in his hands and looks you in the eye and says "I will never stop loving you." Robb reminded me that God is there to help me over come the sin in my life, not to be upset with me over it.

It is so freeing to know that God loves me in spite of my imperfections and that He is bigger than any of my mistakes.

Small Groups

Does the church have to organize small groups? I mean if they are so important and good for spiritual growth, don?t you think people could organize their own? Why can?t you say to your wife, ?honey I would really like it if we were in a small group Bible study with some people from church. Can you help me think of two couples we could ask to come over this Sunday after church and see if they would like to start a Bible study?? If this small group thing is so important for developing a feeling of community with in the church body ? why don?t people start them on their own?
?Well for one thing; how would new people in the church get plugged into them? They would not even know about them.?
You mean to tell me that it is too much to expect a church member to go out of their way to invite a new person to their Bible study?
?But there are some families in our church that are not very plugged in and they might slip through the cracks.?
If the agenda of the Bible study is to spend more time with the people you like lots of people will slip through the cracks. If the purpose of the Bible study is to get more people in the church involved in reading and studying the text with a group of people and to build a sense of community in the church body ? why would you let some one slip through the crack? Say you notice a person that you know is not in a Bible study ?

"Wait how would you notice, if there is no list of people who signed up to check if they are missing from"

Oh right, well in that case I guess you might have to get to know people at church, have conversations with them, ask them if they are in a bible study ?

"That would take a lot of time; I would have to poor energy into a relationship with someone I don?t already know."

Yes you would. Back to what I was saying though? so you notice someone is not in a bible study, you ask them to have a cup of coffee with you at the Starbucks down the road after church, ask them if they want to start a bible study with you ? be on the look out for more people who are not in a bible study ? ask them to join you- before you know it, you have a bible study and the loner did not slip through the crack.

"But I would have to leave my bible study to have one with him."

You might, you might not. Do what is healthy for your schedule. You might have to make some sacrifices if this community thing is important to you. That?s what it is all about right?

The Church

These are some thoughts I had writen down a few months ago about the Church. I would love to hear your thoughts on this.


What is the Church? What does it look like? What does it do? Who is the Church for? Why does Church exist?

What is the Church?
The Church is a body of people who believe in God and in His Son who died and roses again, Jesus Christ. This body of people is the bride of Christ. They have been commissioned by Jesus to represent Him in the world, as individuals and as a whole.

What does the Church look like?
The Church does not look like a building. The Church does not look like a group of people who meet regularly. The Church is a group of people who sever the community around them because of their belief in Jesus and the love they share with Him for their community. It looks like Christians loving people.

What does it do?
The Church acts as Christ did while He was on the earth. The Church meets the need of those around it. The Church meets the need of those with in it. The Church is God?s feminine side, (bride of Christ) the nurturing, caring, loving, compassionate, representation of Christ on earth.

Who is the Church for?
The Church exists for God and everyone not in it. This is not to say that the Church should not take care of those within its own body, but to claim that as its purpose would be like saying the purpose of my existence is take car of my body. How selfish is that? Any healthy body can recover from injuries (especially the one married to the Great Physician), and any responsible person knows the importance of maintaining personal health. Those things should not require thought, they are a given. (Only an extremely unhealthy person exhausts all of their resources marinating their own personal health.) The things that demand the churches attention are the millions of people who are out side the body.

Why does the Church Exist?
The Church exists because Jesus went back to heaven and left His people to continue His work here on earth. He sent the His Holy Spirit to help us accomplish this. The church is to do what Jesus would be doing.

Hi

Hello! I have decided to begin a blog in hopes that it will become a place for people to openly and freely discus their thoughts on God.

Is Starbucks like Church?

I have just found an interesting post on Subversive Influence about how Starbucks can parallel church. "Starbucks, Snobbery, and Church Vocabulary" is a great thought provoking post.

Although I am a fan of Starbucks (almost a Starbucks snob, but not quite), I agree that the atmosphere created at a typical evangelical church can feel a lot like a first time trip to Starbucks.

any thoughts?