Other Than Christian

What do you do when you run into Christians who just don't get it? Christians who just want to get together and be "ministered to". Christians who have very little if any contact with the real world. Jesus told us to go into the world and make disciples. The only real way to do this is to go into the world and BE a disciple. To enter your community/culture with the same grace, compassion and mercy that Jesus did.

I find it disheartening that so many Christians think the only contact they should have with "the world" is to preach at them. An interesting idea since Jesus didn't make it a rule to do that. There is no record that He said anything to Zaccheus that even remotely could be construed as "preaching". Jesus ate with him and loved him. Interesting that we feel the need to add to Jesus example.

God has asked us to feed the poor far more than he has asked us to preach, and yet we prefer to preach, and even use this as a reason not to feed the poor,... unless we can preach at them. Much of the church is over-fed and lazy and make excuses for not serving the unlovely.

I met with a group of pastors this morning. One asked, "Is it our job to tell church people they don't get Jesus' message?" My answer to this was, "if Christians are not doing the things that Jesus told us to, regarding the people he died for(that is everyone), ie. feeding the poor and taking care of those less fortunate, then they are "other than" christian. It is time they knew it."

Christians who sit back, demand to be fed and don't do anything to love the world need to consider their "christian-ness". Who does God say "I never knew you" to? They are people who thought their actions spoke loudly of God,..... but in the end, only spoke of religiosity.

Micheal Frost has suggested that Jesus would never be allowed membership in most of our churches,... interesting.

Peace,

K

Renewal in the church....

Here is an Insightful letter by Richard Foster regarding renewal within church structures. He makes some comments that should at least make us pause to reflect critically on what we are doing, and ask ourselves whether we are being the effective or not.

His caution to the average congregational church is especially important, I think.

Peace,

K

These are the ways of Jesus...

So, as previously stated, we have been exploring our domestication. We had a "family meeting" in church a few weeks ago, to talk about who we are, what we are good at and what we need to improve on. It was pretty clear that we are authentic, we love each other and we are good at "doing". It was also clear that we need to be more introspective and spend time being quiet with God.

So, to keep us a little more mindful, I came up with a postcard that asks us a few horizontal questions and a few vertical ones.

Have you, Loved/Encouraged, Forgiven, Served, Eaten with or Fed someone? Have you Listened to & Learned from God?

The postcard is just a reminder of some very real things that we need to keep in the forefront of our community. These are the things that have drawn us together. They are things Jesus cared deeply about, so we need to continue to be an authentic community, growing in grace and loving the world.

Peace,

K

MVP should have gone to the Referees....

I watched the Superbowl on Sunday. I was not passionate about either team, but I did feel bad for Seattle. All the media is making a big deal about the Steelers "getting one for the thumb". This is understandable, but nobody is talking about the lousy reffing that took place. Consider two bad calls, that even Madden et al. admitted were bad calls.

1) The touchdown that was disallowed because of offensive interference. This was an call that was just dumb. Watch the replay and you see that the "push" wasn't even close to impeding the defense.

2) The holding penalty that called back a ball that was on the one yard line. The bottom line, no one could find the "holding" penalty.


If the Seahawks had of scored on the one yard line that would have been 14 points more for Seattle, however the trusty refs made sure they did their part. Seattle made some mistakes too, but the potential 14 points that the refs "determined" would have made the difference in who won this game. That sucks. I think it sucks even more that nobody is talking about the reffing blunders. The commentators made note of them during the game, but that is the last we heard of them.

It almost sounds like the church organized the Superbowl....... shhh let's not talk about our mistakes,... people won't notice...... or maybe the refs are figure skating judges in the off season.

Peace,

K

Domestication Sucks

That's right, The OD has been in existence for approximately 2.5 years, and we have come to the conclusion that we are on the verge of being domesticated. That is a bad thing. We have been slowly falling into a routine. That is a bad thing. We have become kind of comfortable. That is also a bad thing.

The good thing is we have a fairly large group of people who become very uncomfortable with being comfortable. So, in the past week, we have started to take some action. Mainly having open discussions about what we do and how we do it. This leads to new ideas and suggestions. Some of them totally loopy and some are great. The point is, we need to be constantly looking at what we do and why we do it, so that we are intentional and on point in our journey with Jesus. Our eyes need to be fixed on Him. Our lives must reflect Him.

Any group will fall into complacency after doing the same old thing every week. Domestication sucks, but it is inevitable, unless we determine to keep the spark that set us off in the first place. We need to have fun with God and each other. This is a love relationship after all, is it not?

Let's face it, people know when your in love because they see it on your face and in your actions.

So, pee on the carpet every now and then......... even if it ties the room together.

Peace,

K