What a great week my wife and I had on our anniversary in Portland. One interesting statement was said to me: “Portland is a land of subcultures. Anything you want to find here, whether it is pirates, kickball leagues, hippies, clowns, ANYTHING…that subculture exists”. It was actually pretty funny to witness and intriguing to process.
My walk away was this: a lot of times I think we live in this fib that we have to move away and change everything to live missionally. This can be true and false. TRUE: many of us need to change everything if we were to really live this way. FALSE: we need to move away to accomplish it.
We have subcultures here! We have neighbors, teammates, coworkers, friends, and (listen up) enemies that need to be loved with the purest love of Jesus. To be honest, high school can be a highlight time for this because students are already immersed with these subculture opportunities. Perhaps this is what Jesus meant when he pulled a child on his lap and said we need to learn from them.
Living missionally means living on the edge…changing how we do this life thing…and figuring out how to intersect the ordinary with the extraordinary, bringing the kingdom of heaven to the hearts, souls, and realities of needy people.
Amen?
~deep thoughts from a shallow guy~
mn
Weekly thoughts from Mosaic Student Ministries
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Saved to Join the Game
There is this theme that has been floating around here a lot lately. Newman came back from Rwanda and really starting challenging us to join in with what God is doing in saving the world. I’ve been continuing to chew on this idea, and it is rocking my world. You see, when Scripture talks about our participation it opens a deep well of theological significance. Embracing what God has called us to do teaches us a lot about who God is. Let me point out just a few passages…
First of all, there’s this little encounter that Jesus has with a Samaritan woman who is burned out, dried up and beaten down by her own sin and brokenness. The conversation that Jesus has with this woman is amazing, but there’s one part that has stuck with me. You see, Jesus starts telling the woman about the “living water” that He could offer (they were standing by a well, so the metaphor seems appropriate. There are actually a lot of other great reasons for choosing “living water,” but that’s another conversation). Jesus goes on to tell her that when anyone drinks this water it will become in him or her a “well springing up to eternal life” (John 4:14). Now, what’s the purpose of a well? It’s where people come to get water. So, when we receive from Christ, he transforms us into something He uses to give to others. From the very beginning, before this woman had believed, Jesus is saying, “If you believe in me, I’m going to use you to minister to others.”
Later, Jesus is sitting around having dinner with His disciples. It’s just before He goes to be crucified, and He knows it. So, He takes this time to pass on His final words to the disciples. He tells them, among other things, that there is something different about how they are to follow His commands. He explains that slaves obey their masters but don’t really know his plans or why they’re doing what they’re doing. He says that He doesn’t call the disciples slaves, but friends, because He’s let them in on His plans. You see, God has made known to us His plan to redeem the world and has invited us to join Him.
Finally, in a letter to the believers in Corinth, Paul wrote that God “reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (1 Cor. 5:18). You definitely need to read the whole thing, but the key is this. God saves and redeems us, and then He invites us to be a part of His plan to save and redeem others. How tragic is it that we so often view ministry as mere “church work!” As if it is some chain of obligation that we wear! The God of the universe has shown that in His grace He extends His hand to invite us into the most exciting story ever told! As Newman has described it, the game is set. The winner has already been determined. We have just been invited to join the team and be a part of it so we get a ring at the end. So, you wanna play?
For His glory and our joy,
nr
First of all, there’s this little encounter that Jesus has with a Samaritan woman who is burned out, dried up and beaten down by her own sin and brokenness. The conversation that Jesus has with this woman is amazing, but there’s one part that has stuck with me. You see, Jesus starts telling the woman about the “living water” that He could offer (they were standing by a well, so the metaphor seems appropriate. There are actually a lot of other great reasons for choosing “living water,” but that’s another conversation). Jesus goes on to tell her that when anyone drinks this water it will become in him or her a “well springing up to eternal life” (John 4:14). Now, what’s the purpose of a well? It’s where people come to get water. So, when we receive from Christ, he transforms us into something He uses to give to others. From the very beginning, before this woman had believed, Jesus is saying, “If you believe in me, I’m going to use you to minister to others.”
Later, Jesus is sitting around having dinner with His disciples. It’s just before He goes to be crucified, and He knows it. So, He takes this time to pass on His final words to the disciples. He tells them, among other things, that there is something different about how they are to follow His commands. He explains that slaves obey their masters but don’t really know his plans or why they’re doing what they’re doing. He says that He doesn’t call the disciples slaves, but friends, because He’s let them in on His plans. You see, God has made known to us His plan to redeem the world and has invited us to join Him.
Finally, in a letter to the believers in Corinth, Paul wrote that God “reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (1 Cor. 5:18). You definitely need to read the whole thing, but the key is this. God saves and redeems us, and then He invites us to be a part of His plan to save and redeem others. How tragic is it that we so often view ministry as mere “church work!” As if it is some chain of obligation that we wear! The God of the universe has shown that in His grace He extends His hand to invite us into the most exciting story ever told! As Newman has described it, the game is set. The winner has already been determined. We have just been invited to join the team and be a part of it so we get a ring at the end. So, you wanna play?
For His glory and our joy,
nr
Monday, October 5, 2009
If You Don't Feel As Close To God...Who Moved?
By Paula Pinto
An anonymous author posted a quote on the Internet that said, " If you don't feel as close to God as you use to, who moved?" The words of the quote penetrated within me and perhaps you can understand why. There have been moments when I did not feel the presence of God. There were times when the struggles of life, the setbacks, the disappointments or even my own decision to give more priority to the busyness of "life," took precedence over my relationship with the Lord. Instead of my attention being focused on the things that are vital to our relationship with the Him such as praying and reading my word, I chose to do my own thing.
Other times I found it difficult to understand why, as God's people, we are not "always" consumed by His presence, and was challenged to accept that in life sometimes bad things happen to good people. Perhaps, to an extent, my anger about that distanced my relationship with the Lord. And then in the midst of that I stood there saying, "But God where are you?" Instead of the situations pushing me closer to God, I pulled away. I stopped praying as much, reading as often, and my worship started to seize.
There have also been times when maybe I was in prayer and didn't feel this overwhelming feeling, so I questioned as to why, if I am doing this, don't I feel anything. Why if I am making this effort to spend time with him, don't I feel like He's there to spend time with me, and so I refrained from doing it as often....bad move.
You see, in our Christian walk we can hold many positions. Some are called to be ministers, others to be teachers, there are some called to be evangelists, others to lead ministries, but the most IMPORTANT position that one must find himself in on a day to day basis is knelt down before the Lord in prayer and worship. That is what will always be the direct line of contact between God and ourselves. It is when we put that secondary and all of the other things before it that we fell the "drought" from his ever flowing goodness, mercy, peace, joy and ability to continue on in our Christian walk.
Does that mean that when we make a choice to do this on a daily basis that we will not feel "numb" at times or hard to feel the closeness of God? No. Having done all that, there are still times when our nature will battle against our spiritual being. But when we apply these principles to our life, we are not so easily defeated.
We know, as the word instructs us, that we ought not go by feelings. Let's face it, we can feel great one minute and moments later something could happen that changes our mood. Sometimes something doesn't even have to take place for our mood to change. As Christians, we cannot go by feelings, because feelings change, but when we are continually feeding oneself with the things of God, we know that our feelings at the present moment do not determine whether or not God is there or has left us abandoned. When we can adapt to the realization that it is not Him that moves away from us, but we that move away from Him, we can better get ourselves back on track by seeking him more frequently and rejecting those things which so easily try to beset us.
If, at this moment, you are feeling that you are alone, that God has turned His face on you, be encouraged my brother or sister that He is still there, and feelings of abandonment from Christ are lies. Truthfully, it may be either one of two things and that is that we have strayed away from investing in those precious moments with Him or going by our feelings. Nevertheless, both reasons should remind us to take the opportunity to kneel down before him, where He is certain to meet us and let everything else be secondary.
Paula Pinto is the Managing Editor and a writer for a New York newspaper. She is a member of the Christian based writing community Faith Writers, and writes a column called Christian Food For Thought, published monthly on Christian News Today.
Ms. Pinto can be contacted at pintopaula7@yahoo.com
An anonymous author posted a quote on the Internet that said, " If you don't feel as close to God as you use to, who moved?" The words of the quote penetrated within me and perhaps you can understand why. There have been moments when I did not feel the presence of God. There were times when the struggles of life, the setbacks, the disappointments or even my own decision to give more priority to the busyness of "life," took precedence over my relationship with the Lord. Instead of my attention being focused on the things that are vital to our relationship with the Him such as praying and reading my word, I chose to do my own thing.
Other times I found it difficult to understand why, as God's people, we are not "always" consumed by His presence, and was challenged to accept that in life sometimes bad things happen to good people. Perhaps, to an extent, my anger about that distanced my relationship with the Lord. And then in the midst of that I stood there saying, "But God where are you?" Instead of the situations pushing me closer to God, I pulled away. I stopped praying as much, reading as often, and my worship started to seize.
There have also been times when maybe I was in prayer and didn't feel this overwhelming feeling, so I questioned as to why, if I am doing this, don't I feel anything. Why if I am making this effort to spend time with him, don't I feel like He's there to spend time with me, and so I refrained from doing it as often....bad move.
You see, in our Christian walk we can hold many positions. Some are called to be ministers, others to be teachers, there are some called to be evangelists, others to lead ministries, but the most IMPORTANT position that one must find himself in on a day to day basis is knelt down before the Lord in prayer and worship. That is what will always be the direct line of contact between God and ourselves. It is when we put that secondary and all of the other things before it that we fell the "drought" from his ever flowing goodness, mercy, peace, joy and ability to continue on in our Christian walk.
Does that mean that when we make a choice to do this on a daily basis that we will not feel "numb" at times or hard to feel the closeness of God? No. Having done all that, there are still times when our nature will battle against our spiritual being. But when we apply these principles to our life, we are not so easily defeated.
We know, as the word instructs us, that we ought not go by feelings. Let's face it, we can feel great one minute and moments later something could happen that changes our mood. Sometimes something doesn't even have to take place for our mood to change. As Christians, we cannot go by feelings, because feelings change, but when we are continually feeding oneself with the things of God, we know that our feelings at the present moment do not determine whether or not God is there or has left us abandoned. When we can adapt to the realization that it is not Him that moves away from us, but we that move away from Him, we can better get ourselves back on track by seeking him more frequently and rejecting those things which so easily try to beset us.
If, at this moment, you are feeling that you are alone, that God has turned His face on you, be encouraged my brother or sister that He is still there, and feelings of abandonment from Christ are lies. Truthfully, it may be either one of two things and that is that we have strayed away from investing in those precious moments with Him or going by our feelings. Nevertheless, both reasons should remind us to take the opportunity to kneel down before him, where He is certain to meet us and let everything else be secondary.
Paula Pinto is the Managing Editor and a writer for a New York newspaper. She is a member of the Christian based writing community Faith Writers, and writes a column called Christian Food For Thought, published monthly on Christian News Today.
Ms. Pinto can be contacted at pintopaula7@yahoo.com
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