LiFE - Live, Give, Do...

LiFE starts up again!

We are looking at the teaching in a Yancey book called the Jesus I never knew...

My hope(Todd M.) is that we see Jesus, really see Jesus as we learn together about the Jesus we never knew.

-LiFE

this week about what steps God is calling you to do to live your life as a greater reflection of Him. We've done lots of talking and we need to ready our hearts for some action...

LiFE

"We can not do great things, only small things with great love. It is not how much you do but how much love you put into doing it." - Mother Teresa

We spent the majority of our time in small groups last week looking at the cultural background/significance of the mustard seed parable. God often chooses to use the small, seemingly insignificant things to slowly and methodically do His work. I will attach the passage we read and some of the various groups' comments from their discussions (remember these are paraphrases of broader discussions):

Group 1
*"Small" people that God used to make great changes: The disciples, Mother Teresa, David, Billy Graham
*Billy Graham broke the mold, worked in a way that the church typically didn't work
*Church is too concerned with the bottom line
*Disciples went out and served vs. Christians today come in - to be in community - but then do not go to the people that Jesus served

Group 2
*Order can be a barrier to God - it keeps some people in and some out
*Subtle - Christianity should be more underground - not so "mega church", "bigger, better, attract more people" is out focus - but what really makes an impact is one on one
*Community - we've lost the ability to connect on a deeper level
*Infamous - we want to use people who fit in, who are "perfect" examples of "strong Christians"
*Kudzu - it grows no matter what we do vs. we try to plant things we can control
*Jesus seems to put things one step farther than we would like him to go, he was a deconstructionist - he removes man's structures.
*How do we get ride of what is not really of Jesus?

Group 3
*We're all agents of chang but God is really taking the world back and realigning it
*God's kingdom is present tense. Make Earth as much like heaven as possible while we're here.
*John 12:24: Die to self so I can be productive for God, dying seed is not pleasant at the time, like God pruning us (John 15:2) and remaining in him, the vine
*Kingdom of God is not just for the Jews, as they thought but God is inviting everyone in. Everyone needs and desires a home.
*Jesus was a trouble maker, we've tamed him down
*Psalm 97:1-6: His power was not in crushing but in being crushed.

Group 4
*Jesus turned power on it head, this is the mystery that we celebrate - Christ does things so differently then the power structures we set up
*Building our towers and sanctuaries hoping to reach God - we can get further from him in our "attempts" to reach him. Will the megachurches of today be the museums of tomorrow like the cathedrals of Europe? Will/can the church stay true to Christ but continue to grow and change to meet people where they are at?

Blessings,

LiFE

Hey all,

I have heard a small portion of what went on today. If you were there post your thoughts on class.

Enjoy your leftovers!

-LiFE

Hello...

I trust God and I trust that if you were in class today that God pushed and prodded us all.

Today, I really appreciated the discussion and thoughfulness. If you didn't know, I was very nervous to teach this week and I am just going to trust that God was speaking through me. I know that somethings that came out of my mouth may have been controversial for some and I am ok with that for now...God uses me sometimes to push and challenge, but nothing he isn't asking of me before hand.

We looked at the word extremist and wrote down the first word that popped in to our minds... Some of those words were fantatic, Sacrificial, right-wing and left-wing, gay/lesbian, violent, doritos, x-games...

Today's theme was extremists of love...

In my life during this book there has been a question that keeps coming back to me:

As Christians, what are we known for? And I guess the better question for me after today is why are we known for Truth more than for Love?

Today, I made a bold statement that I am willingly going to stand by. The church tends to err to much on Truth. What I mean by that in general is we are much more willing to vote against gay marraige than to build a friendship with gay people. What I mean by that is we are more willing to sit and protest and say that abortion is wrong than rise up as a church and say to people who are going to abort their unborn children that we will take them, We will take them all, we will care for you, we don't care how you got in to this, we will love you and care for you becuase we act on what we believe...

It is much easier to legislate morality and truth, then to enter the mess with people...

The one thing today that I keep wondering about as I left is "Why do feel like what I said is so shocking? It's not...God's job is truth, ours is love...Are we to oppose sinful behaviors? Yes, but it's how we oppose it that matters becuase I'll tell ya, if we start making the offer to take all the unborn children who might otherwise go the way of abortion than 2 things will happen.
1. We will have such a logistical problem that I don't know where to begin...how could we actually do it? Honesty, that is big enough problem that we would need God becuase it's impossible.
2. People would see that we really believe in Love that we talk about and they would be busting down our doors to know Jesus. Our grace and life would be radical...

Now, place your thoughts here...

Here are a couple of blogs that have been looking at this subject in different ways:
Greg Boyd: Check out his entries on waching Osama feet and his next entry where he says things way better than me:
http://gregboyd.blogspot.com/2007/11/washing-osamas-feet.html

The worst heresy. This is exactly the truth vs. love debate. He's good.
http://gregboyd.blogspot.com/2007/11/worst-heresy-imaginable.html

Also check out Neil Craigan(former Hope-intern and presbyterian Pastor in DC area, He has 2 intersting posts that are in this realm:
http://www.neilcraigan.com/brokenbonds_loosedchains/2007/11/culture-wars-ju.html

Neil also wrote this on this subject of what are we known for:
http://www.neilcraigan.com/brokenbonds_loosedchains/2007/11/reflections-of-.html


Dear Jesus help us to see that makin errors on the side of love is not radical idea, but a Truth that we live by. Help us to see that making an err toward truth is the exception and not the rule. Let us live messy lives because we are messy too.

Amen,
LiFE

Shane Claiborne writes, "The gospel is good news for sick people and is disturbing for those who think they've got it all together. Some of us have been told our whole lives that we are wretched, but the gospel reminds us that we are beautiful. Others of us have been told our whole lives that we are beautiful, but the gospel reminds us that we are also wretched. The church is a place where we can stand up and say we are wretched, and everyone will nod and agree and remind us that we are also beautiful."

Jesus is for losers. Soy un perdidor...I am a loser! A loser in the sense that I recognize my wretchedness...strike that...brokenness. What's the difference? Is there a difference?

This week at LiFE we experienced brokenness in three ways:

1. LEGOS
   The world tells us, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" But if we keep this mentality we find ourselves stuck in the rut of complacency...unwilling to grow, better yet, unwilling let God work on us. We must let brokenness be an ongoing part of our lives. Our mindset needs to change to, "If it thinks it's fixed, break it!"
2. MIRROR
   Brokenness does not mean self-defeat. Who we are in Christ does not change when we are broken. Spirit led brokenness leads us to a place where our identity comes from God...wretched yet beautiful. Click here to see a list of who you are in Christ.
3. POEMS
   We compared and contrasted two poems to see a pride filled view of self, and a broken view of self. What are the specific barriers to brokenness that you are experiencing in your LiFE?

James MacDonald defines brokenness as "an ongoing attitude of humility before and desperation for God."

Questions to ponder (or comment on!!):

• What brokenness am I experiencing right now? What is God reveiling through it?
• If I am not experiencing brokenness, what does that say about my relationship with God?
• Does God cause brokenness? Or is it self-inflicted? Or is it Satan?
• Add a question of your own...

Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your fallowed soil, your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers righteousness on you. -Hosea 10:12

Have a great week!

Jesus Made Me Do It

Most of us fear lots of things rejection, not being safe, poverty, evil, other people. The only comment Christ had about fear was in Luke 12:4-5 "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him." We don't have to fear the world because as Pastor Lentz reminded us on Sunday we serve a God of infinite power! He isn't safe, but He is Good!

We also looked at what the church fears and how there is a need to continue to build fewer walls (literally and figuratively) around the church. Here is a link that discuss the two models of church we looked at:

http://nextreformation.com/?p=1666#more-1666

The link at the bottom (A New Way of Thinking about Church) is another interesting read.

FYI: Tony Campolo is coming to Colonial Church of Edina this weekend. He will be talking about various challenging topics. More information found here: http://www.colonialchurch.org/Campolo/TC_Agenda.htm

Greg goes down with Flu...He's recovering-Which is good.

But we met down in the library and we compared and contrasted the American Dream vs. the Beatitudes. Those are found in Matthew 5 :3-12.

Are they compatible? Thoughts...

-LiFE