one of the things that always scratches at my heart after our sunday night dinner is the incredible abundance of left over food. whether we are a group of 9 or a group of 29, we always always have more food than we can eat. we wrap it up, we divide among ourselves, and probably a lot of the left overs are eaten (although i can confess that i have ended up throwing out more than i would like to admit).
but i just keep thinking about how we are insulated and warm with piles of food and there are hungry people right outside the window. hungry for food, hungry for the love of Christ, hungry for connection and friendship and someone to care about them.
in all the things we have been talking about lately, this tension between our inward and outward vision has been the most salient to me.
a couple of weeks ago, i mentioned to some of you that our food and love abundance reminds me of the story of the isrealites and the manna. when the gift of food rained down, they gathered it up - even more than what they needed to feed themselves and their families for the day. and it rotted. rotted and stank and drew flies and disgusted everyone. we can't let the incredible blessings of our gifts, our love for each other, our resources, and the training ground/spring board of our group rot. not only will we end up turning our noses at it, but so will our neighbors.
all that to say, i do think that it's valuable that we can continue meeting together, encouraging one another, praying together, giving thanks, praising the LORD, remembering his blessings, and strengthening one another to go out and be the salt and the light. but i also feel really really strongly that if we keep it all for ourselves it will start to stink.
still pondering what this could mean for us, but wanted to put it out there. let's keep talking about this, ok? it's important.
here's a link to a recent sermon posted on the sojourner's page about the rich guy and the beggar lazarus - it's kind of along the same ideas....
http://blog.beliefnet.com/godspolitics/2007/10/why-rich-people-will-or-wont-g.html#full
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
bartering skills
so the idea of "bartering" our skills has come up several times recently and i think it is a neat idea.
my hope here is to start a thread of people listing what they can offer!
what do you do that can help others in this community save resources, time, etc?
i can:
-cut hair
-design stationary, invitations, business cards, announcements
-be a workout buddy (running, biking, swimming, tennis, lifting weights)
-teach soccer
-plan menus/make dinner
-share my car
- barter: barter is a form of trade where goods or services are exchanged for a certain amount of other goods or services, i.e. there is no money involved in the transaction. It can be bilateral or multilateral as trade. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barter)
my hope here is to start a thread of people listing what they can offer!
what do you do that can help others in this community save resources, time, etc?
i can:
-cut hair
-design stationary, invitations, business cards, announcements
-be a workout buddy (running, biking, swimming, tennis, lifting weights)
-teach soccer
-plan menus/make dinner
-share my car
Monday, June 4, 2007
hope
This is a phrase that I pieced together from various things I heard this last weekend away. As it seems to coincide with our conversation last night, I thought I'd share it. It is my prayer for our community...
that we would be a group of people
living a common life
characterized by grace and love.
I realize that may not sound profound, and yet I think the actualization of such a group in its truest, realist sense, would have a profound effect. It would have to point to Jesus.
American Heritage Dictionary defines "characterize" as "To be a distinctive trait or mark of; distinguish."
Imagine a group of people distinctively marked by grace and love! I'm choosing to believe that the Lord could (will?) do this among us.
Thoughts?
that we would be a group of people
living a common life
characterized by grace and love.
I realize that may not sound profound, and yet I think the actualization of such a group in its truest, realist sense, would have a profound effect. It would have to point to Jesus.
American Heritage Dictionary defines "characterize" as "To be a distinctive trait or mark of; distinguish."
Imagine a group of people distinctively marked by grace and love! I'm choosing to believe that the Lord could (will?) do this among us.
Thoughts?
Friday, June 1, 2007
Qualities of a Disciple
In the conversation of being like Jesus, Kelly (some of you met her she was here with us a couple of weeks ago) had told us she would send us a copy of "Qualities of a Disciple" (the qualities her community has chosen to live by) to share with us. So here they are:
- A person who puts Jesus Christ before others, self and possessions
Luke 14:26-27, 33
- A person of love
John 13:34-35
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
- A person of prayer
Luke 11:9-13
Matthew 6:9-15
- A person of the Word/who takes Scriptures seriously
John 8:31-32
2 Timothy 3:16-17
Hebrews 4:12-13
- A person who bears fruit
John 15:7-8
Galations 5:19-23
- A person of the Great Commission
Matthew 28:16-20
2 TImothy 2:2
- A person of unity
John 17:20-23
- A person led and empowered by the Holy Spirit
Acts 1:8
1 Corinthians 2:9-10, 16
As I ponder this list, I just imagine what it would be like to live like this; and not just me a group of friends living this way could change the world. If we could be constantly in touch with one another over becoming more like this . . . how would our lives change and how would the lives of those around us be changed. I would love to hear some thoughts of all of ours around what challenges us from this list, what we desire, what we hear the Lord nudging us on.
`
As I ponder this list, I just imagine what it would be like to live like this; and not just me a group of friends living this way could change the world. If we could be constantly in touch with one another over becoming more like this . . . how would our lives change and how would the lives of those around us be changed. I would love to hear some thoughts of all of ours around what challenges us from this list, what we desire, what we hear the Lord nudging us on.
`
Monday, May 14, 2007
Getting Started . . .
Many of us have been gathering in some way, shape of form for the last five months, and many smaller groups of us way before that. Over the course of the last couple Sundays it has become apparent that we need to be continuing to deepen our understanding of "what" this is and "what" comes next.
We are beginning to extend the conversation of living like Jesus together into our weekly lives together. There will be bumps and bruises along the way to figuring out how to best extend the conversations from the gathering table on Sundays into our hearts and minds throughout the rest of our week, and into our whole lives, but it our hope if living as Jesus.
Over the course of these last months, we have talked about . . .
From these topics there has arisen a lot of great discussions, but as we discussed a couple of Sunday nights ago it has been very easy to keep these discussions in the theoretical. As it came to light, this may be because we have no parameters around which to understand our commitment to one another. Nick Shea made a comment that summed things up a little about "okay, so now is when we actually start to live as a community" . . . This is a scary thing for most of us, yet you would not be here if it were not for a yearning of this kind that has been planted in your heart.
Sunday night, thanks largely to Kelly, we were able to talk about defining some of the elemental things we are committing to live by. It is by knowing what we are committing to that we can begin to see the fruit of living those elements out together, and yet uniquely in our giftedness and calling. We start from the commonality of intention -- being disciples of Jesus (or whatever else you prefer to call it) and we extend it even further to specifics around what does that really look like played out. To think that we could even come close to purposing something that is exactly as God intended is a little lofty, so I would hope that we might just be able to agree on a baseline of things . . . some of us will want to tend towards the simple and the few, and others of us will want it to encompass all the specifics and make sure 'the list' is complete. I hope that we will use some of our personal time with Jesus, and time one on one with each other to flush out the depth to which the things we choose are core beliefs and expression of a disciple of Christ. I believe we all have to come to a compromise on this to some level . . . we have to decide that it's worth getting out of the boat and onto the water with Jesus. We have to continue the journey, allowing (and trusting) God to make course corrections along the way.
What I am asking is that we would focus on the task at hand and that is "just doing it". Beginning to ask questions of each other, and allow others to ask questions of us that align us closer to being a disciple of Christ -- and most of all doing it together.
We are beginning to extend the conversation of living like Jesus together into our weekly lives together. There will be bumps and bruises along the way to figuring out how to best extend the conversations from the gathering table on Sundays into our hearts and minds throughout the rest of our week, and into our whole lives, but it our hope if living as Jesus.
Over the course of these last months, we have talked about . . .
- Trusting others with our hearts and lives
- Living more intentionally with each other -- physically, emotionally and spiritually
- There is a burning desire within individuals to be true disciples of Christ
- There is a sense of wanting to live and shine among those that don't know Him
- Fear and it's ability to stunt our growth and progress
- What is a disciple
- What is community
From these topics there has arisen a lot of great discussions, but as we discussed a couple of Sunday nights ago it has been very easy to keep these discussions in the theoretical. As it came to light, this may be because we have no parameters around which to understand our commitment to one another. Nick Shea made a comment that summed things up a little about "okay, so now is when we actually start to live as a community" . . . This is a scary thing for most of us, yet you would not be here if it were not for a yearning of this kind that has been planted in your heart.
Sunday night, thanks largely to Kelly, we were able to talk about defining some of the elemental things we are committing to live by. It is by knowing what we are committing to that we can begin to see the fruit of living those elements out together, and yet uniquely in our giftedness and calling. We start from the commonality of intention -- being disciples of Jesus (or whatever else you prefer to call it) and we extend it even further to specifics around what does that really look like played out. To think that we could even come close to purposing something that is exactly as God intended is a little lofty, so I would hope that we might just be able to agree on a baseline of things . . . some of us will want to tend towards the simple and the few, and others of us will want it to encompass all the specifics and make sure 'the list' is complete. I hope that we will use some of our personal time with Jesus, and time one on one with each other to flush out the depth to which the things we choose are core beliefs and expression of a disciple of Christ. I believe we all have to come to a compromise on this to some level . . . we have to decide that it's worth getting out of the boat and onto the water with Jesus. We have to continue the journey, allowing (and trusting) God to make course corrections along the way.
What I am asking is that we would focus on the task at hand and that is "just doing it". Beginning to ask questions of each other, and allow others to ask questions of us that align us closer to being a disciple of Christ -- and most of all doing it together.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Why 40 Hours . . .
40 Hours, the name of this blog, reflects one of my theories of relationships. Some of you saw the title and understood it immediately, but I know others will want an explanation so here goes:
Over the last couple of years, I have recognized that as we get deeper involved in the art of living a productive American life it becomes increasingly difficult to acquire and maintain meaningful relationships. So I began to spread this idea of 40 Hours to significant relationships. Now I have done no conclusive study that this figure is a real figure . . . it is purely theoretical, but I choose it because it is basically the number of hours it takes during High School or College to hang out for a whole weekend with one person and to make a lifelong friend.
In post college life and in the midst of career and family is is very difficult to ever find 40 Hours to dedicate to relationships. It takes a lot of effort and concentration, and so most of us live without the experience of significant and influential relationships in our lives - the kind of relationships that "spur us on towards love and good deeds" (Heb. 11:24-25).
So the name of this blog is an expression of our desire as a community to know one another at great depths, to be involved in the levels of each others lives where we experience unconditional love and where we experience giving unconditional love. And where our love will be evidence of Jesus to others.
So there you have it, an attempt at an explanation.
Over the last couple of years, I have recognized that as we get deeper involved in the art of living a productive American life it becomes increasingly difficult to acquire and maintain meaningful relationships. So I began to spread this idea of 40 Hours to significant relationships. Now I have done no conclusive study that this figure is a real figure . . . it is purely theoretical, but I choose it because it is basically the number of hours it takes during High School or College to hang out for a whole weekend with one person and to make a lifelong friend.
In post college life and in the midst of career and family is is very difficult to ever find 40 Hours to dedicate to relationships. It takes a lot of effort and concentration, and so most of us live without the experience of significant and influential relationships in our lives - the kind of relationships that "spur us on towards love and good deeds" (Heb. 11:24-25).
So the name of this blog is an expression of our desire as a community to know one another at great depths, to be involved in the levels of each others lives where we experience unconditional love and where we experience giving unconditional love. And where our love will be evidence of Jesus to others.
So there you have it, an attempt at an explanation.
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