The amazing story of God and his people continues...
This was received from a member of our community in relation to sharing a Thanksgiving meal at a local AIDS hospice that is home to 29 men and women living with and dying from HIV/AIDS. I love the honesty. It is inspiring. Loving is not always easy but it is right and it is good. They took a leap into unknown God territory. It takes a leap of faith to follow Jesus into the places that naturally we would rather not go. I am proud to be the church with people just like this.
They say, "Just wanted to let you know that I will be at North Winds tomorrow. I have to be honest with you, I’m excited for the chance to grow and learn and love on people, but I am very anxious about it as well, because I hate to say it, I have never done anything like this before. Is that not crazy? I committed my life to Christ over ten years ago and have never stepped out of my comfort zone enough to love on people...... I am looking forward to it, but I wanted you to know, in case you saw me acting a little weird, or not looking like, I know what I’m doing, it’s because I don’t know what I’m doing. I know it’s just about sharing life with people, which I am good at, but anything you can point out to me would be helpful."
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Friday, November 2, 2007
The Dangerous Taste of Hope.
"Signs of Emergence" continued.
...if we are seeking the new, then what we were practicing was the old, and therefore God was not in what we were doing anymore.
Such a divine departure is rightly shocking to us. We see an example of it described in Ezekiel 10: God ups and leaves the temple. "No temple, no place, no people, no box, no church, not agenda, no theological position will ever require me to stay where I am don't want, be co-opted into something I only half agree with, be pressed into the service of some cause you made up because I am who I am."
We believe that there is no box that God fits all nice and tidy into...There Is No Box!
To admit that God can and will leave is to allow the dangerous taste of hope into otherwise stagnant waters. It is to admit that the life of the disciples is not sedentary but nomadic - moving on to where sustenance lies, not staying where sustenance once was. It is to appreciate that the journey of faith is not a static conversion but an evolution of the Spirit. The very fact that God can move on means that hope is possible. That we are not stuck with what we have. That this isn't it.
We are beginning to move on, to let go of the side of the pool, to wade into the deep. We at times seems to live, move and be in this place between where sustenance was and where sustenance is. We must keep moving forward rather than lunging back in times of uncertainty. Aren't you glad that in all areas of life, that this isn't it.
...if we are seeking the new, then what we were practicing was the old, and therefore God was not in what we were doing anymore.
Such a divine departure is rightly shocking to us. We see an example of it described in Ezekiel 10: God ups and leaves the temple. "No temple, no place, no people, no box, no church, not agenda, no theological position will ever require me to stay where I am don't want, be co-opted into something I only half agree with, be pressed into the service of some cause you made up because I am who I am."
We believe that there is no box that God fits all nice and tidy into...There Is No Box!
To admit that God can and will leave is to allow the dangerous taste of hope into otherwise stagnant waters. It is to admit that the life of the disciples is not sedentary but nomadic - moving on to where sustenance lies, not staying where sustenance once was. It is to appreciate that the journey of faith is not a static conversion but an evolution of the Spirit. The very fact that God can move on means that hope is possible. That we are not stuck with what we have. That this isn't it.
We are beginning to move on, to let go of the side of the pool, to wade into the deep. We at times seems to live, move and be in this place between where sustenance was and where sustenance is. We must keep moving forward rather than lunging back in times of uncertainty. Aren't you glad that in all areas of life, that this isn't it.
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