So some things have been happening in my world the last few weeks that have made me wonder what might have been. There is so much water under the bridge as a result of choices I have made in the last 30 years. Most of which I realize I can never undo. One of the things I can work at turning around is the child like faith I had after accepting the saving grace of Jesus Christ as a troubled teenager. After that time it was ok to raise my hands in praise. It was ok to talk about faith. It was ok to talk about the problems I still had.
I left home and attended other “churches” where it was not OK to be open, transparent, vulnerable. It is time to swing back around to the faith of my youth. My children know the god of my church. I want them to know the God of my heart. They know the god that says you must not miss a Sunday. I want them to know the God that never leaves all week long. My children know a god that follows a program and a sequence that cannot be altered. I want them to know a God who works miracles in the wink of an eye and knows no schedule.
I am sure this will be a process of change but I am also sure the God of my youth can do it. I have no idea what that means, I am not sure I care. Life on this planet is short. There is an end. It is the ever after I am concerned with. Did I listen with the faith of a child and do as instructed?
I read the book So You Don’t Want To Go To Church Anymore and it is a must read, but only if you miss the initial love of the Lord that was tamed, trained, organized, prioritized and otherwise “adjusted” through normal “church”. The book has done a marvelous job of rekindling the spark of the childlike faith I knew when I first accepted Christ as my personal savior. It is ok to “skip church” to help out a neighbor. It is OK to get to know people in the “congregation” it is ok to be a child like believer in the grace of Christ. He met us where we were and he still meets us where we are, we just got to be willing.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Things you should not read.
So a friend of mine whom I have known for many years visited my wife and I a while ago. Our relationship has been on for a season off for a season and a spattering in between. I don’t know if I would be considered a good friend or just a friend. I am not sure I can determine where he (and her) are as far as my friends. I am not sure if they are just friends or good friends. Does it matter?
What I am sure of is that they are steel upon steel. The times of togetherness are challenging, encouraging, sometimes uncomfortable but always, always, always times I remember and reflect up during and after the times together. So we visited not too long ago and they told me what books they were reading and I wrote down the titles with the intent to in fact read the same books. Well time being what it is, scarce, I finally got around to it and wow is the first thing that comes to mind.
I have been a born again believer of Christ since my 11th grade in high school. That is a phrase that should mean little as it represents what most folks claim as normal. All too often I claimed to be Christian and all too rarely was that “title” a personal experience of being a disciple of Christ. I have not always had the kind of intimate relationship with Christ the person during my following 29 years. I remember the passion, the burning desire to tell the world that a personal faith in the saving grace of God is a real thing. I remember the joy of being real, honest, and open with a few like minded believers. I remember the freedom of being secure to say “I am a mess”. But it has not been a lifestyle that has been instilled upon me much less my family. Read on and you will see why.
I have also spent many years in the “church”. And after years of being in the “church” I find the church is not the body of Christ I knew in my youth or during my times of relationship with truly like minded believers. My time in the church is very “institutional” And therein lays the problem. Church is not an institution it is a relation. To be a disciple of Christ is to be in relation with Christ. To be the Church that Christ speaks of in his word is to be in relationship with Christ. Church is not a building or an institution it is a relationship of people seeking to be Disciples of Christ first and foremost. It is not the program, the worship time, the meeting of the “rules” it is building a relationship with Christ and sharing that with others.
A few of the books that my friends recommended are thought provoking to say the least. They have struck at a chord that has not been resonated in many years. So much so that it is likely time to get out of my “comfort zone” to do what the “institutions” discourages. It is to search for a body of believers seeking to be Disciples of Christ. Not followers of a program, a routine, or a tradition. To have the passion to share with others this Christ who meets us where we are at in all out yuck. To be transparent so other can see the Christ I see. The Christ who seeks to be so real in our lives that we are not ashamed to share him with others the relationship we have with him. To be willing to get out of our comfort zone and be real with our neighbor instead of being false and phony with the person sharing a pew with us in the “institution” and ignoring our neighbor on the street.
If you have read this and care to know the titles ask and I will gladly share but dont ask if your not willing to look upon the church in a different way.
What I am sure of is that they are steel upon steel. The times of togetherness are challenging, encouraging, sometimes uncomfortable but always, always, always times I remember and reflect up during and after the times together. So we visited not too long ago and they told me what books they were reading and I wrote down the titles with the intent to in fact read the same books. Well time being what it is, scarce, I finally got around to it and wow is the first thing that comes to mind.
I have been a born again believer of Christ since my 11th grade in high school. That is a phrase that should mean little as it represents what most folks claim as normal. All too often I claimed to be Christian and all too rarely was that “title” a personal experience of being a disciple of Christ. I have not always had the kind of intimate relationship with Christ the person during my following 29 years. I remember the passion, the burning desire to tell the world that a personal faith in the saving grace of God is a real thing. I remember the joy of being real, honest, and open with a few like minded believers. I remember the freedom of being secure to say “I am a mess”. But it has not been a lifestyle that has been instilled upon me much less my family. Read on and you will see why.
I have also spent many years in the “church”. And after years of being in the “church” I find the church is not the body of Christ I knew in my youth or during my times of relationship with truly like minded believers. My time in the church is very “institutional” And therein lays the problem. Church is not an institution it is a relation. To be a disciple of Christ is to be in relation with Christ. To be the Church that Christ speaks of in his word is to be in relationship with Christ. Church is not a building or an institution it is a relationship of people seeking to be Disciples of Christ first and foremost. It is not the program, the worship time, the meeting of the “rules” it is building a relationship with Christ and sharing that with others.
A few of the books that my friends recommended are thought provoking to say the least. They have struck at a chord that has not been resonated in many years. So much so that it is likely time to get out of my “comfort zone” to do what the “institutions” discourages. It is to search for a body of believers seeking to be Disciples of Christ. Not followers of a program, a routine, or a tradition. To have the passion to share with others this Christ who meets us where we are at in all out yuck. To be transparent so other can see the Christ I see. The Christ who seeks to be so real in our lives that we are not ashamed to share him with others the relationship we have with him. To be willing to get out of our comfort zone and be real with our neighbor instead of being false and phony with the person sharing a pew with us in the “institution” and ignoring our neighbor on the street.
If you have read this and care to know the titles ask and I will gladly share but dont ask if your not willing to look upon the church in a different way.
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