Christ Plays in Community

The church continues the resurrection life of Jesus, but it isn’t done according to our preferences (which is what we often prefer and try), but according to the community that God wants to make – one of all different kinds of people. If we don’t honor that diversity, we are not honoring God’s desire for a community of undesirables (people different than what we’re comfortable with – whatever that may be) that He will put together, unified in the life of Christ. Luke’s gospel is full of Jesus going after people on the margins.

The way to cultivate the fear-of-the-Lord in community, according to Peterson, is baptism and love. We are baptized in the name of the Trinitarian community. We are brought into a community that includes the Triune God – as well as others in community and we, just as the Trinity expresses love within its being, so we are called to love our community. Not called, commanded. Baptism includes saying ‘no’ to our selfish ways – that’s repentances. The flip side is saying ‘yes,’ which is following Jesus – and that means loving the community.

Community doesn’t happen just between us, the Bible (or any other book, including Peterson’s), and God. It happens in relationship with others people. Love is exercised on the vertical and horizontal axes. There’s nothing better than enjoying great friends and family in community. But God is, I think, particularly honored when we love those we find unlovely (and when those who find us unlovely love us as well).

Don’t post it, but think about who you find difficult to love. Why not love them in some tangible way this Christmas season?

The Battle at Kruger

I'm teaching on 1 Peter 5.1-14. Watch this and then read 1 Peter 5.8.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjibWWTevdA&feature=related

A great picture of why we need each other.

Sabbatical #19: Be Our Guest?

I miss my family. Suzanne, Eliana, and Vivian will be here tomorrow evening, and I can’t wait. But I also miss my church family. Being immersed in church life, it’s been almost 10 years since we’ve looked for a new church. I’ve visited a couple mega-churches where anonymity is expected, but over the last couple weeks I’ve tried to visit smaller churches. I couldn’t find the church I was looking for in Milwaukee, but it was my discomfort with Plan B that I wanted to post about.

I was in the neighborhood, I presume, of the church I was looking for but couldn’t find (I’m becoming increasingly disenchanted with Mapquest) and I saw a Lutheran church. I’ve never been to a Lutheran church. I thought about going, but I worried that I wasn’t dressed nicely enough. I wasn’t sure where to park. So I didn’t. I went and read my Bible at a coffee shop.

Now the Lutherans are our brothers and sisters, as far as I understand Lutheranism. And still I was not comfortable going there. It put me in the position of the guests who come to Cypress Church. It can be awkward, intimidating to go to church, particularly when you aren’t a believer.

But what if you actually get in the door and make it to church? I did that yesterday (Father’s Day) and I was greeted at the door and someone shook my hand when I left. The senior pastor did, too. It was nice, but nobody else talked to me. I felt alone (reason #587 that I can’t wait for my family to get here!), which didn’t trouble me to a great degree. But what about the person who was dying for someone to reach out to them, to show them the love of Christ?

To be fair, this is one of the bigger churches in my hometown and I was really impressed with the church in many other ways. I’d probably go back and I’d have to make the effort to get plugged in to their community.

I’m thankful for the great ministries that welcome people, like the Greeters and the Connection Center, but there’s no substitute for the person sitting in the row behind you tapping you on the shoulder, welcoming you to the church, and maybe even inviting you to lunch.

Young Adult Ministry (YAM): Fellowship

Thanks for a great night again at the Bujarski's. I enjoyed spending time getting to know some people in small groups that I didn't know as well. I hope you were encouraged in getting to know some people, too. Maybe you'll even invite some of your new Christian friends over to watch "Lord of the Rings!" We talked a lot about fellowship tonight. Feel free to share anything you'd like to add to the discussion, or where you need to grow in fellowship and what you're going to do about it this week.

I need to track down some more people and invite them to next Thursday. There are some people who weren't interested in the college group so I figure they wouldn't be interested in the YAM, either. This is a new thing so I need to get over it, and my own insecurity, and make sure I give them an invite on Sunday.

What about you? Where do you need to grow in fellowship?