Desire.

Each week we gather together with our newly forming community. And on the first Sunday of the month, we eat together! It's simple and profound to me, subtle and powerful. I'm convinced church is a happening, not a place more and more. It's something we are and something we choose to be.

Here are some of the thoughts shared as we journey through the "Art of Living".

I read a couple of excerpts from Brian McLaren's latest, "The Secret Message of Jesus". It is a fabulous read and I will post those excerpts and blog through much of the book here this week.

Here goes...

Read this verse repeatedly, slowly, thoughtfully. This is Jesus telling you, me, us, the world why he has come...for LIFE!

John 10:10 says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
I came that they (A)may have life, and have it abundantly.
I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it [a]overflows).
My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
I came so they might have life, a great full life.
I have come so they can have life. I want them to have it in the fullest possible way.
I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.”

Wouldn’t it be awesome if Christians became followers of Jesus – not just something we believed and debated and defended, but something we did, a way of living

Wouldn't it be great for a church to be known by how they live, party, give, mourn, patient, kind, generous, for people to say, “they know how to live”

The world is waiting for and in need of a better church – The world is waiting for a better us – A better version of me

DESIRE
We you think of religion / Christianity, we think all too often of what we are repress / suppress / hold back / bottle up / stifle / smother / keep in check / control / block out / hide / censor / squelch / kill / crush / forgo / miss / give up / abstain from / go without / do without / decline / skip / omit /what we’re against / what we avoid / what we don’t do / what we say no to / what we hate / ALL POSITIONED IN THE NEGATIVE – not about taking away from life, widling it down, stripping away, about embracing desires

Desire – to want something very strongly / a wish, craving, or longing for something / want / longing / crave / yearn / aspire / hope / expectation / faith / dream /

Read John 4 – Jesus traveling through Samaria (several subplots)
Usually in the morning but this is the sixth hour and this woman is here because she knows others will not be there

John 4:13 says, “13Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
15The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."

Eternal Life (English) – Olam Haba (Hebrew), meaning harmony with God
How do I have peace, harmony how do I live like I was created to live

Verse 16 - 16He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."

Jesus never condemns her…totally kind, considerate

She’s searching for something and man #1 – 5 didn’t do it
A lot like us…searching…and its not working…god shaped whole…an ache

Jesus sits down next to her and says…it’s not working for you is it
He doesn’t lead her away from her desires for love and meaning…he takes her farther in her desire deeper…tap into something with one man…wouldn’t leave you craving for more…that you wouldn’t have to keep coming back

The Weight of Glory – “If you asked twenty good men today what they thought they highest of virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you had asked almost any of the great Christians of old, he would have replied, Love. You see what has happened? A negative term has been substituted for a positive. The negative idea of Unselfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves, as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point. I do not thing this is the Christian virtue of Love. The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire. If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing. If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Jesus comes alongside of you and Points out habits and patterns of living that we search and try to fill that god shaped hole…it’s not working…maybe there is a better way

Jesus gets personal…and at her real pain…her real stuff and issues…and she changes the subjects and starts talking about current events…surface things…in this day people liked to talk about service things like the weather…isn’t it great that we’ve evolved so much?

He gets at her woundedness and desire for love…her real ache and longing to be loved…she switches it to the weather, obscure religious issues, current events anything to not get at my life not being the best

Kind and gentle ways…it’s not working is it

Searching pursuing filling the whole get rid of the ache and its not working
Trying to fix the cracks of our brokenness

Matthew 13: 44 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
45 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

Living as god created us to live…you get a taste of it and you do anything to get more…because you want it so bad…life works when you desire it more than anything

Absolute and unrestrained desire to get it

See something they want more than anything else / they embrace their desire for something better

Hebrews 12: 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Why does he do it…he has this glimpse of what is going to happen…how does he get through the cross…DESIRE…go through to get it

Ephesians 4: 28 Those who have been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

Talking to people in a church a community
Religion normally stops with the don’t do…
Always fails when it’s a list of No’s…cuts off desire…
Show him something he can do that will give him more of a rush…make something and give it to someone who knows it…stealing is the best they can come up with…something they will love more

Never taught to cut off desire…go deeper in them…the problem isn’t that were craving this…the problem is that this is all we’re craving

Let go…in order to embrace the better, the full, the desire, the best possible way to live
How often to we grab ahold of stuff that just isn’t great…we need the better to be pointed out to us…we don’t let go until we see something more and better
Clutch this stuff because we can’t
Religion says get rid of it…God is a god of desire…here, check this life out

Is it working for you?
Is this the best kind of life?
Maybe we’re missing something God created us for.
What are you holding unto, what do you need to let go of?
Habits, patterns of behavior, destructive attitudes,addictions, something you know is not the best,
I need to drop this…give me something to pull me in deeper, farther...