The Wonder of Worship

Sunday, November 18^th, ends the teaching series Blue Like Jazz with a look at Worship. I like what Miller says in Chapter 17, “Too much of our time is spent trying to chart God on a grid, and too little is spent allowing our hearts to feel awe. By reducing Christian spirituality to formula, we deprive our hearts of wonder.” (p. 205)

Worship has two dimensions private and public; it’s in our private time of worship that we devote our hearts to God and it’s in our public/communal worship where we demonstrate our hearts to others. Remember whatever we value close to our hearts and spend the majority of time in we become. For me, I don’t spend enough time in private worship of God---how about you?

Oh, don’t get me wrong, I do worship. I worship certain television programs, sports, getting together with friends---some noble entreats...some not so noble. Yet, there is that nagging truth...”whatever we value...spend the majority of time in we become...”

I muse a lot these days about spiritual things and like Miller often my mind doesn’t understand, but “my heart feels wonder in abundant satisfaction.” (p. 205) One of the key “Millerisms “that struck me in BLJ came from this chapter---“there are things you cannot understand, and you must learn to live with this. Not only must you learn to live with this, you must learn to enjoy this. And so it goes....please believe me; I’m trying to learn this thing called humility. How about you?

This I Believe

“At the end of the day, when I am lying in bed and I know the chances of any of our (my) theology being exactly right are a million to one, I need to know that God has things figured out, that if my math is wrong we are still going to be okay...I don’t think there is any better worship than wonder.” (p.206) God does have things figured out. Amen, Mr. Miller....and Selah

Grace,

Bob

Another Look at Love

This past Sunday (November 11^th) Andy challenged us with some Donald Miller’s words from Blue Like Jazz. In Chapter Thirteen, entitled Romance, Miller mused, “I’ve had about fifty people tell me that I fear intimacy. And it is true. I fear what people will think of me, and that is the reason I don’t date very often. People really like me a lot when they only know me a little, but I have this great fear that if they knew me a lot, they wouldn’t like me. That’s the number one thing that scares me about having a wife because she would have to know me pretty well n order to marry me and I think if she got to know me pretty well she wouldn’t like me anymore.”

Love is a little scary, isn’t it? Miller was afraid of “being found out” and so are we. If you love God, have you ever found yourself hiding from God? Andy challenged us to allow love to grow into willing to sacrifice...a sacrificial love. Innately we all want to love and be loved; to know and be known. But it is scary. The funny thing is that this love thing gets even stronger when we find out about another’s warts and all.

The Jesus Way

How did Jesus practice love? As the saying goes...let me count the ways---one way is to step up living a life of service; our needs at The Loft are simple---greeters and connection point at 9:29 and pouring Loft Java at the Café---any takers?

A second way is encouraging others to live life in community. Do you know someone who needs to be connected to a core group---after all, that’s where Lofters deepen their experience of expressing and receiving God’s love. Do you have friends who need to attend “Speed Dating”?

A third is giving. Who can’t get involved in helping feed Costa Rica kids this Christmas during the “Stuffed” teaching? And...a secret---we gotta pay for the electricity, lights, staff and stuff. Love is consistent giving of self including finances.

Finally, another way is to be bold and become an investor in Kingdom work and invite those unattached to a faith community to The Loft...muse on this for a moment.

It’s been said that the investor/inviter is the one who’s responsible to help their guest navigate the experience. That seems simple and easy enough...want to try it? Let’s commit to practice this love thing a little and invite someone apart from God to come to The Loft with you during the Static series beginning Nov 25th. Who knows...it may be a little scary to do that, but that’s what love demands.

What about it? Are you an inviter and investor toward those you meet along the way? How are you doing in ways that Jesus practiced loved? Need to step up living a life of service, encouraging others to be involved in a core group, simply give more and often? When was the last time you invited someone? Love is, indeed, a little scary. Selah

Grace,

Bob

God's Romance

This Sunday, November 11^th, we will look at Chapter 13 of Donald Miller’s book, Blue Like Jazz. Miller learns from his friend Paul that marriage is so much more than he ever thought it would be (p. 146). “One of the ways that God shows me He loves me is through Danielle, and one of the ways that God shows Danielle He loves her is through me.” He goes on to say, “We learn that we are lovable or unlovable from other people...that is why God tells us so many times to love each other.” Pretty good stuff...it’s worth musing about a minute.

Dictionaries usually defines love something like this "an intense affection for another person based on familial or personal ties". Often this "intense affection" stems from a sexual attraction for and strong emotional ties toward that other person. We love other people, or we say we love other people, when we are attracted to them and when they make us feel good.

Notice that a key phrase in the dictionary definition of love is the phrase "based on". This phrase implies that we love conditionally; in other words, we love someone because they fulfill a condition that we require before we can love them. People also love based on feelings and emotions that can change from one moment to the next. A couple may go through a rough patch in their marriage, and they no longer "feel" love for their spouse, so they call it quits.

Can anyone really comprehend "unconditional" love we learn about in Scripture? Many use the example the love that parents have for their children is as close to unconditional love as we can get without the help of God's love in our lives. We continue to love our children through good times and bad, and we don't stop loving them if they don't meet the expectations we may have for them. We make a choice to love our children even when we consider them unlovable; our love doesn't stop when we don't "feel" love for them (i.e., angry, detachment, disappointment). This is similar to God's love for us, but God's love transcends the human definition of love to a point that is nearly impossible for us to comprehend.

God is Love: It is truly Unconditional
God is Love, and His love is very different from human love. God's love is unconditional---it's not based on feelings or emotions. He doesn't love us because we're lovable (doesn’t this relate well to BLJ) or because we make Him feel good; He loves us because He is love. He created us to have a loving relationship with Him, and He sacrificed His own Son (who also willingly died for us) to restore that relationship. (John 3:16)

The Bible tells us that "God is Love" (1 John 4:8). When the Scriptures say, "God is love," they aren't telling us that God is some vage, warm fuzzy feeling of love. The writers of Scripture weren't saying that in our limited form of human love we will find God. Not at all -- in fact, when we read that God is love in the Bible, this means that God defines love. And when we say that God defines love, we don't mean that He defines it like the dictionary might define something -- we mean that God is the very definition of love itself. There is no such thing as love without God. As hard as we might try, we cannot define love outside of knowing God..yes—now love is beginning to make sense and so is Chapter 13 of BLJ!

God is Love: True Love Only Comes Through a Relationship With Him
God is Love! As such, true love -- God's love -- can be summed up 1 John 4:7-11: "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God, and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. “

God’s romance is pretty powerful, uh?

Muse on this a moment: I guess if I really want to know this love - true love – more and better I need to get to know God more deeply. If I don’t or don’t place this as the priority of my life, what does that say about me? Selah

Grace,

Bob

Confession

We cannot leave the subject of confession without musing about The Great Confession of Peter (or at least I can’t). When Peter made the confession to the ultimate question that was asked by Jesus it started a radical movement. His confession was more than lip service; it was demonstrating faith in action.

I guess part of my BLJ confession booth exercise really needs to be asking myself: Is my confession lip service or one of action? Visit and reflect on Acts 6:3-15; 7:51-60.

It is so easy to be caught up in what is commonly called “legalism”---a do and don’t checklist. Yes, correct decisions and behavior, albeit, I admit, sometimes a struggle, is a demonstration of what the Holy Spirit is doing in a Christ-followers life---a call to holiness. This thing Peter experienced seems to be much more....a calling to a fully devoted life of following the Christ; one that calls to demonstrating faith in action. Peter’s confession changed everything about Peter’s life and all those who choose to follow Jesus. I don’t know ‘bout you, but I think Donald Miller of Blue Like Jazz fame and I need a “gut check” every once in a while to make sure that we are putting “first things first.”

...and that gut check will (aka confession), as Andy mentioned this morning, “will create space for God to work.” And that, dear friends, is really something special. So...how’s the confession booth thing working for you?

Finally, I really like Miller’s confessions to the Reedies (p. 123). I mentioned these in an earlier muse this week (e.g, not doing much about feeding the poor and healing the sick; lashing out at those when he felt threatened, mixing politics and spirituality). Miller focused on those things that seemed to get in the way of the central message of Christ.

You Know What?

I think that’s a great illustration of putting “first things first.” If we are willing to commit to do more (act) then Jehovah is glorified and we’ve joined God where He is working in the world. I’m trying to practice this more and more in my life and guess what....my decisions are getting better, my behavior and attitude is self-correcting and my do and don’t checklist is decreasing. Simply amazing---no simply grace. Selah

Grace,

Bob

Some more thoughts about confession

Check these out:

Anonymity is sometimes a sanctuary for truth. So a Oklahoma church discovered when it created mysecret.tv as a sort of anonymous internet confessional. Set up just a month ago, the site has already received more than 150,000 hits and 1,500 confessions, says LifeChurch pastor Craig Groeschel. Though "Absolution is not part of the bargain, just the beginning of release... We confess to God for forgiveness but to each other for healing... Secrets isolate you, and keep you away from God, from those people closest to you.”

Don’t believe me: visit http://www.mysecret.tv

Groeschel said he knew the handshakes and smiles each weekend probably hid a lot of personal pain. But he has been stunned by the weight of the confessions: molestings, abuse, secret affairs. Because the site is anonymous, the church has no immediate way of reaching out to any who responded.

And...

Man confesses to 1953 hit-and-run
February 25, 2007

A man received a suspended jail sentence after confessing to running down an elderly churchgoer with a car, then leaving the scene more than half a century ago.
Verlyn Brady, 77, pleaded guilty yesterday to reckless driving in the 1953 hit-and-run death of George Lewis Dalton in this small, southwest Virginia town.
Brady said he wondered for years whether it was a deer or a person he struck one October night. He waited until last summer, just before he underwent open heart surgery, to contact authorities.
Dalton, 74, and his wife were crossing a road in front of their home about 3 kilometres south of Hillsville on their way to church when he was killed. The driver disappeared into the darkness.

We should allow God to search our heart and life and to allow the Holy Spirit to bring brokenness and repentance.

Perhaps this explains why “newbie Christians” are often the most effective evangelists. They are still vividly aware of their need for grace, readily admit their weaknesses, know they are still in process, and have yet to put on their pious mask. 

This is a hard muse...but keep truckin’

Confession shines the light of truth on our brokenness and invites others to join us in our struggle. But, what is God’ purpose for brokenness? Muse a time on 2 Samuel 12:18-24 to discover three. That I may:

· Recognize God’s sovereignty (vv. 18-19)

· Discover that recovery is critical (vv. 20-23)

· Receive reassurance from God (vv. 24)

As we complete our time together musing about Miller’s confession booth, one may have some more questions about brokenness. I think we can examine the lives of many biblical characters for some insight and guidance. For example:

· Peter and Broken faithfulness toward Jesus (John 18:12-27; 21:15-17)

· Paul and Broken health (2 Corinthians 11:30-33; 12:1-10)

· Jacob and Broken relationships (Gen 27:30-41; 32:9-12; 33:1-11)

· Moses and Broken behavior (Exodus 2:11-25; 3:1-10)

· Rehab and broken morality (Joshua 2:1-24)

· David and broken fidelity (2 Samuel 12:1-31)

· The Demoniac and broken emotions (Luke 8:26-39)

Before we get too depressed---remember....grace...grace...grace...His grace is sufficient!

Have you ever been placed in a situation that seemed too much to handle? How has God handled your brokenness or choices in life to affect someone else? What broken area(s) of your life is God challenging you to deal right now?

Join me Lofters and rejoice in SonicFlood’s song:

Stir in me, a fire that the world can not explain
I come to worship you.
Stir in me, a passion that my heart can not contain
I come to worship you.
Chorus:
Hold me, break me, mold me and make me more and more like you,
I come to worship you.
to love you, fear you draw ever near you as I worship you,
I come to worship you, oh Lord

Miller is right; confession is good for the soul; it was liberating for him ‘cause he was out of the closet---a real Christian. Selah

Peace,

Bob

We Enter the Confession Booth

In the New Testament there are at least twenty-two examples of what we might expect to see when the church (The Body of Christ) gets together. We call these, the “one-anothering” verses. This one will speak to us this Sunday.

"Therefore confess your sins to each other,
and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”   James 5:16 NIV

Sin isn't a popular topic at church these days. It's not very "seeker-friendly." Think real hard, when was the last time you heard a sermon about confessing your sins to another person? It seems that for the most part, we as Christians have been ignoring this particular command for quite some time...perhaps this is a can of worms that many church “talking-heads” would rather leave unopened. Certainly on the surface it might seem that this kind of confession could become very messy, but just the same, should we continue to ignore simply because there is risk involved?

May I be so bold to think what we need today is a new church culture of moral and spiritual authenticity. Donald Miller in his book, Blue Like Jazz, hits us directly in the face with it.

Sunday’s teaching focuses on BLJ’s confession booth in Chapter 11. Miller and his friends decide to set up a confession booth at Reed College and “confess their sins” to other Reedies. It’s a powerful story is restoration and hope. Here’s part of Miller’s confession list to Jake, the first to enter the confession booth:

· Jesus said to feed the poor and to heal the sick. I’ve have never done very much about that.”

· Jesus said to love those who persecute me; I tend to lash out….you know, if my ego gets threatened.”

· Jesus did not mix his spirituality with politics; I grew up doing that---it got in the way of the central message of Christ…we carry our own agendas into the conversation rather than just relaying the message.”

As a result of this confession booth, Miller and his friends are changed. They became more involved at Reed College for Christ…through the local homeless shelter to feed the poor, through events and Bible studies on campus—they started seeing friends come to Christ.

A sentence toward the end of the chapter (p.126) jumped out at me... “I felt very strongly that Jesus was relevant in this place. I felt very strongly that if He was not relevant here then He was not relevant anywhere.” Indeed, Miller was now out of the closet---A Christian…willing to share his faith..it felt cool. (p.127) Cool indeed.

This I Believe

The Benefits of Mutual Confession:

· Spoken out, our sins first become more real to us. The twinge of guilt so easily rationalized or ignored is now named for what it really is, an affront to God.

· Hidden sin is a stronghold for the Evil One in our lives. He uses our failures, and especially our repeated failures to accuse us of our unworthiness as a disciple. Confession breaks this hold over us.

· We need to take our masks off; we need to be real and this is the authenticity that Donald Miller longed for---that we do also---to be accepted by others just as we are---to know and be known.

· When we confess we discover we are not alone. Our personal struggles are usually much more common than they are unique.

Miller discovered that night that Reedies already knew most of his weaknesses and failures as a Christ-follower. He learned how their opinions softened when one begins to agree with the obvious.

Shall we learn from BLJ, dear friends, that hypocrisy destroys our witness? The World joins the Reedies to watch us closely to see if our lives match up to our words.

I’m going to confess to you right here, that mine often does not. How are about? How is the confession booth working for you?

Muse on this for a moment...

Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
(Psalm 139:23-24)                                         Selah

Peace,

Bob

Some more thoughts about Life Is Drama

Shakespeare said: "The world is a stage, the life is a drama and we are just the actors in the drama."
So it is in Blue Life Jazz and very evident that each of our lives’ is a “do-it-yourself project”, which just needs a blueprint; a guide; a Master.

Bertrand Russell, Nobel Laureate, mathematician and philosopher, put it this way: “Unless you assume a God, the question of life’s purpose is meaningless.” Christ-followers know there is God.

Rascal Flatts “Life is a Highway Lyrics” puts it this way:

Life's like a road that you travel on
there's one day here and the next day gone
Sometimes you bend, sometimes you stand
Sometimes you turn your back to the wind
There's a world outside every darkened door
Where blues won't haunt you anymore
Where the brave are free and lovers soar
Come ride with me to the distant shore
We won't hesitate
To break down the garden gate
There's not much time left today
{Chorus:}
Life is a highway
I wanna ride it all night long
If you're going my way
I wanna drive it all night long

So Life is Drama; if you believe it…now it’s time to resolve---here are some precepts I’ve found helpful.

(1) I have everything I need. Do you believe that you have been provided everythinig you need to live as God intended? Really it’s our choice to align ourselves with God and place our hands our hearts around God’s provision.

Read 2 Peter 1:1-11. Muse about Peter’s urging us to “make every effort” to grow in godly character thereby remaining effective and productive for Christ Jesus.

(2) Biblical resolution is a narrow road. Resolution has two pathway alternatives: the less traveled road leading to the kingdom of God and the things of God; and the well populated road of the world. Actions (resolutions) define these pathways during the crisis element: Jesus’ way of discipline and obedience—or the way of the world.

Read Matthew 7:13-29. Muse about the options for living.

(3) The Narrow road is hard but rewarding. “Working out our salvation is difficult. It’s about discipling ourselves to led “God work in us to bring about life transformation and, by example, attracting others to Jesus as the result! It’s Kingdom building. This is what Brian McCormick spoke about this morning. We need to ask ourselves if we as Christ-followers and care about our role as ambassadors for Christ so much that others will see it. Do I resolve daily to reflect Christ’s climax (His death on the cross and resurrection); do others really see Christ in me?

Read Philippians 2:12-18. Muse about working out our salvation with a joy-filled heart.

Take some time and soak in Brian’s teaching from this past Sunday (October 28, 2007); if you have a copy of Blue Like Jazz, reread Chapter 3. God views the universe (and all of its creation) as drama; obviously our drama climaxes in the reality of the cross. Life does include comedic, satiric, and tragic seasons, doesn’t it? How is this resolution thing coming for you? Selah

Grace,

Bob

The Season of Resolve

 

We are beginning our “season of resolve” through The Loft teaching series Blue Like Jazz. Donald Miller, didn’t like jazz music because it didn’t resolve—there wasn’t a final resolution, decision, solution, settlement, or call to change. Until…until he saw a man playing the saxophone and for fifteen minutes the man didn’t open his eyes (author’s note).

Miller went on to say that he finally understood…you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself; it’s as if they are showing you the way. Miller muses “I didn’t like God because God didn’t resolve” and then his personal journey continued…as told in Blue Like Jazz.

This Sunday, October 28^th, we will be challenged to understand that “Life Is Drama.” Miller tells us in Chapter Three of BLJ that writing or telling stories include three elements (1) setting; (2) conflict; and (3) climax---it does sound like life, doesn’t it? Of course, the ultimate climax for the Christ-follower is Jesus Resurrected; however, every day our “life-drama” is filled with times we must resolve to “follow Him” or follow the world---and so it goes…our setting.

Muse on this for a moment…

Do you see it; our life is drama. Our day-by-day routine “life” as well as those times we declare as “defining moments” do involve a setting (situation), a number of predictable (and sometimes unpredictable) conflicts—either through external circumstance or purposeful internal decision-making and a climax (call to decision or resolution).

Fully devoted Christ-followers are challenged daily through our regular routines (daily tasks) and “conflicts” as we face decisions to demonstrate devotion to Christ or surrender to the world. I don’t know about you…I’m becoming a little uncomfortable with this muse.

I’m not sure I like looking at life as drama. I’m kinda comfortable with completing my “to-do” list or checking off my tasks in Microsoft Outlook. As John Wesley taught us---“How is it with your soul today? Or, as we say today---what condition is your condition in?

And so it is…

Sunday’s teaching on “Life is Drama” gives me a clarion call to live a fully devoted life in community and to the practices of Acts 2:41-47. I am called to personally or individually (thus communally) live out my journey of faith. How shall I resolve to respond--- through a life of intentionality and personal disciplines… through worship, the sacraments, learning in community, service, giving and community with fellow believers… or just by going with the flow of everyday life? Selah.

How about you? Do you feel that life is drama? How are you doing in those every day decisions? How about those big decisions? Are you looking to Christ in your life every day?

Grace,

Bob

Some More Thoughts About Doggie Love

A couple of weeks ago I mused about my Chloe and her unconditional love toward me.  It does, indeed, cause me to pause and think about my need for a community that demonstrates God's love toward me.

The past week the national news has been filled about doggie dilemmas.  First, have you heard about Ellen DeGeneres' doggie dilemma?  It got pretty wild and nasty.  On Tuesday, Ellen broke down during the taping of her show revealing, through floods of tears, that a dog she had adopted and then given to her hairdresser's family, had been taken back by the rescue agency he came from. On Wednesday, she continued her "public appeal" for the agency to return the dog and her "private demands" that lawsuits would soon begin to fly if they didn't. 

Also, appearing in the media last week several stories about lost dogs and what their owners were prepared to do to have their beloved pets returned---it ranged from a vacation trip to a $350,000 ransom paid for the return of a German Shepard to a family in the NYC area.

It's amazing how we all respond to different situations, isn't it?  Think about how we respond to what we are passionate about and to things that make us cry or sad----should I even musing about how we respond to things that make us angry?

Here's some Scripture for meditation:

- What are you crying over?  (Luke 7:36-50)

- What are you angry about? (Proverbs 8:13)

- What are you passionate about? (Revelation 3:15-20)

Some of us are passionate about watching sports; some about pets; some about playing golf or tennis; some about exercise (not!)---too few of us about about the purposes of God.

Donald Miller ended Blue Like Jazz with this statement, "I was watching BET one night, and they were interviewing a man about jazz music.  He said jazz music was invented by the first generation out of slavery.  I thought that was beautiful because, while it is music, it is very hard to put on paper; it is so much more a language of the soul...I think Christian spirituality is like jazz music.  I think loving Jesus is something you feel."  (p. 239)

Muse a minute..two..or three about your passion for the things of God and His purpose for your life.  Do you feel it; is it really in your soul; are you living your life with real purpose?  Selah

Peace,

Bob

Love is the Essence of Community

Last night a core group from The Loft who is primarily composed of families who participated in the TWUMC Family Mission trip last summer to Costa Rica hosted a reunion dinner for all who went on the trip and some who are scheduled to return there in January. As is the Methodist tradition, we stuffed ourselves with a potluck dinner---laughter; fun and fond affections abounded for adults and kids alike.

What struck me about our time together was the parallel between what our group was experiencing and what we are currently studying in Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians---the Word certainly has become alive to us through this experience in community.

Authentic community begins with our mutual love in Jehovah God; this agapé love extends to those we connect with in community and then expands to those He places in our path (those we connected with in Costa Rica). As stories were told and retold last night---the friendships formed; the needs discovered; the generosity and love toward one another and toward Los Guido Methodist Church in Costa Rica displayed---I (we) need to pause a moment and muse---

How great is our God; how great His love for us is; how great it is to be in connection.

And the really neat thing is---the journey of missional purpose in Los Guidos for this core group is just beginning. It is beginning just because and for love.

As Don Miller in Blue Like Jazz reminds us, too often “the problem with Christian culture (is that) we think of love as a commodity. We use it like money…” (p. 218) Miller realized that he, too, was guilty of this and he was making a mess out of everything----and that he was disobeying God. Miller repented.

Miller grew in this agapé through community and reaching out to others with no expectation of getting anything in return or expecting that the others would fall into “lock-step” with him. I see JOY---the kind of joy Paul was exhorting Christ-followers in Philippi starting to bubble up.

How about you? Are you passionate about where God has placed you? Have you joined Jehovah God on a great adventure? It can begin in community. Selah

Grace,

Bob

Some Thoughts about Missions and BLJ

On Saturday, during the men’s missions emphasis breakfast, I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Darrell Whiteman, VP of Mission Education and resident missiologist for The Mission Society speak passionately of the changing Christian world--North America in decline and becoming increasing pluralistic while in the continents of Africa and South American, parts of Asia, especially China, millions are hearing the good news message of Jesus and responding. Whiteman cited the example of China where in 1949 there were 1.5 million Christ-followers and today some believe there are more than 130 million; in less than 30 years or so up to 600 million Africans would claim Christianity as their faith.

He said, “no longer was the saying one more Christian, one less Chinese” was relevant. The Chinese had learned that they could retain their culture and heritage and become a follower of Christ.” And so, according to Whiteman, it goes around the world; no longer did anyone have to abandon “themselves” to become a Christian or emulate the “Western Missionaries.” Can I hear an AMEN; we rejoice in what is happening throughout the world! Good news indeed.

As I heard Whiteman’s passionate voice and saw us nodding in agreement that no longer “one more Christian, one less Chinese” was relevant, I began to muse about my conversation just that morning with a missionary at the same breakfast. We talked about TWUMC and, in particular, The Loft, which he had visited and what we are doing to reach those disconnected from the God and the Church or at least the unattached----particularly the post-modern generation.

Although gracious about our mission, I could tell he was reluctant; the missionary asked me, “Do you celebrate the sacraments?” “Of course we do, I said.” What I was really thinking irreverently was… yea, and tomorrow we would even have a choice between grape juice and wine; what about you?

Of course, I do understand his meaning that we must not dilute the Gospel message, honor tradition, and uphold the core doctrines of our faith, but no wonder we are losing the battle here---in The Woodlands, Texas and throughout North America, when many of us think, at least in part, that we must “abandon ourselves” to become a Christian---“one less Chinese and one more Christian.”

This I Believe

The field is ripe for us to share the gospel here in The Woodlands and wherever God places us. I’m thankful for the post-modern expressions of churches springing up and multiplying---the Mars Hills, Mosaic, Donald Miller’s Imago- Dei and so many others…and TWUMC’s The Loft. We no longer have to become one less “Chinese” to become a Christ-follower.

One of the really cool things I like about Blue Like Jazz is that it gets me to think….to muse. Once Miller became part of his faith community (Imago-Dei) and experienced the unconditional love of an authentic biblical community he could relate to and following the precepts of Jesus, he began to love Republicans, NRA, fundamentalists, anti-environmentalists, Bible thumpers, and the Church in all its expressions. He, for the first time, began to see all the “Chinese”--- those were foreign to him--- truly as brothers and sisters in Christ.

We are truly thankful for those called to the foreign mission field; let’s continue to support and pray for them and share in their part of the world when and how we can. However, there is much work to be done in our corner of the world---right here at 1-45 and The Woodlands Parkway.  We are blessed at TWUMC as we get it; we can be Christian and our Worship expression can be different.

How about you? What are your thoughts about becoming and being a “real Christian?” So, our journey continues…Selah

Grace ,

Bob

Looking at Life

I know... I know...I know that Blue Like Jazz has its critics. Some feel that every book they read has to be filled with deep theological content and correct political and/or social thought; maybe I am just shallow (you don’t have to be so quick to agree) and I find a certain humor in seeing bent out of shape church-goers feel that all Christ-followers must fall into the lock-step of “I don’t drink, I don’t chew and I don’t go with girls who do” as the single standard-barer of our faith---and I really don’t drink, certainly don’t smoke or share the “life” experiences Miller writes about in his adventures at Reed College. (Maybe because I remember when I was one...)

Yes, Mother. I do jot notes in my Bible and underline it in yellow and I no longer wear a suit to church. Don’t get me wrong, it’s OK if you do dude up in your Sunday finest, but it’s OK if I don’t. I don’t think you have to really dig too deeply into Jesus’ words to see that he had a lot to say about this sort of hypocrisy. Yes, BLJ is earthy, irreverent and frank; it is also real and thought provoking when you give it a chance.

This I Believe

In order to grow along our journey, one must muse about life-changing events or those people, experiences and events that have shaped or reshaped (or shall we say continue to shape and change) our life. In “Living with Freaks”---Miller’s look at living in community-p. 175---changed his perspective… it changed him to become others-centered. As he writes, “I didn’t like the feeling of having to work with people…living in community made me realize one of my faults: I was addicted to myself.”

I don’t know about you; I believe one of the exciting things about the possibility of becoming connected in our core group is that I expect that each of you will gently remind me when I’m acting as if I was addicted to myself and, even better, model for me what a others-centered life is all about.

What are some of the life-changing events that have shaped your life? Or even a better to question to ask ourselves, when was the last time a person, experience or event helped reshape your life?

My prayer is that living in connection with one another, the Holy Spirit will work mightily in each of us in the “renewing of our mind.” Selah

Grace,

Bob

The Possibility of Community

 

I want our Loft Core Group to think a few minutes about the possibility of being in authentic community. We’ll take a close look at Acts 2:41-27 and what it means to “be” in authentic community the next couple of times we get together.

It’s a possibility for us; there are no guarantees that we will all reach it together. We must become so committed to one another that we will “willingly” enter into and pass through what Dr. Scott Peck calls “the tunnel of chaos.” Sounds daunting and a little mystical, doesn’t it; believe me it is and more. Want to get a taste? Read thoughfully the first few chapters of the Book of Acts. Think these early believers had an easy transition to connectiveness or “life in community”….meditate on the passages some more.

Yes, we have a possible of authentic community together----it’s mystical and communal; it’s Holy Spirit driven and an invitation to an Interdependent life. And we are just beginning…..

To start getting ready for the journey, I’d suggest reading and “musing over” Blue Like Jazz---particularly Chapter 15. My prayer is that we will begin this journey together learning from Miller’s spiritual walk (albeit complete with bumpy county roads, sinkholes and detours) to learn that life really isn’t about self; begin to shed the thought that it’s OK to be addicted to self; and that there was more than one radio station to be turned into my mind (see p. 181).

Some of us might think I’m already past all of this; I ask you---dig deeper; read Acts again and see the heart of God’s people in connection. What do you see? What do you want? What is possible together?

Life Without Community

Life without community isn’t a pretty sight. Here’s how Gregg Levoy describes it:

Common Cold of the Soul

“To sinful patterns of patterns of behavior that never get confronted and changed,

Abilities and gifts that never get cultivated and deployed—until weeks become months…and months turn into years,

And one day you’re looking back on a life of deep intimate, gut-wrenchingly honest conversations you never had; great bold prayers you never prayed; exhilarating risks you never took; sacrificial gifts you never offered, lives you never touched.

And you’re sitting in a recliner with a shriveled soul, and forgotten dreams and you realize there was a world of desperate need; and a great God calling you to become a part of something bigger than yourself, you see the person you could have become but did not…” (adapted)

Good News

But, dear Friends and fellow Lofters, we do have the great God calling as He did in the Book of Acts at Pentecost. We have the Possibility of becoming part of something bigger than ourselves and the Hope of seeing the person God created us to be in authentic community. Do you see it? Can you feel it? Do you really want it?

Next Step

Take a few minutes and reflect on Lavoy’s thoughts and the biblical adventure of the Christ-followers pursuing God purpose for their lives found in the Book of Acts. Write down your thoughts about the possibility of and need for living a life of becoming connected and a prayer of hope for our group.

I pray it will be a powerful experience for you and a giant step down the path in our journey together. Each of us individually may be at different stages in our spiritual journey but we are all at the beginning point of becoming connected together and this is a possibility and our HOPE.  Selah

Grace,

Bob

Journey Alone or In Connection?

 

In my Tuesday night core group last night we "mused" about Donald Miller's thoughts about his journey with God.  In Blue Like Jazz (p. 175), Miller writes "Before I lived in community, I thought Faith, mine being Christian faith, was something a person did alone, like monks in caves.  I thought the backbone of faith was time alone with God, time reading ancient texts and meditating on poetry or the precepts of natural law..." And he continues, "If other people were a part of the Christian journey, they had small roles...Faith was something you did alone."

Yes, we all know many that "do" their spiritual life alone and, of course, we are all at different intersections in our journey.  But, after my study of Scriptures, I believe that the Holy One wants us to live life in community----that is---all of entire life including our spiritual walk.  Dare I say, He created us for that!

Miller walks us through he discover of this biblical truth in BLJ in his classic, non-religious speak.  As he puts it, "The most difficult lie I have ever contended with is this: Life is a story about me." 

As was Miller's case, one's spiritual life is a journey.  BLJ begins with his statement that "I am was early in my story, but I believe I will stretch out into eternity, and in heaven I will reflect upon these early days, these days when it seems God was down a dirt road, walking toward me...now He is close enough I can hear His singing.  Soon I will see the lines in his face."

This is our Hope, is it not, dear friends.  Journey alone or in connection?  For me, I choose community.  How about you?  Where are you in your spiritual journey; how far are you down the path?  Is God down a dirt road walking toward you or is He now close enough you can hear His singing?

Blue Like Jazz --- oh yes, dear friends, God is "resolving" for those in connection.  "Is your soul beginning to sing." I hope so; I join Miller in wishing you to sing something true and beautiful (p. 240)

For our Loft Core Group, we are beginning this new road in "connection" together.  Let's just trust God, shall we?

In Hope--Grace,

Bob

Some Thoughts About My Need for Community

Yesterday my daughter showed me a picture of Chloé, my beloved pet (Chihuahua-Shih Tzu mix ). Chloé is now 16---deaf, blind and a little weak. We won’t have her with us much longer and it makes our family sad. But, in her day she was a looker; the picture was of my daughter’s high school graduation picture taken 14 years ago with Chloe prancing on her lap. It brought back many memories of how all relationships are precious---you pet lovers know exactly what I’m musing about. Even today, it’s amazing how often when one of our kids run into high school classmates of long ago they ask about Chloe.

Through the years, Chloe has taught me much about life and relationships. I vividly remember the day my wife brought her home from work---just a little fur ball---and announced that her name was Chloé (Carolyn’s favorite perfume at the time). Our pet’s unconditional love, protectiveness, encouraging “words”, joy-filled spunk, steadiness in bad times, and comfort in trying times speak volumes about how we are to live life in community---or at least they do to me.

I’ve also learned some about how our Holy God has created us and our need for community through Chloé’s life. Although her time with us may be just little longer, her unselfish and enduring love continues---even though she rests or sleeps much of the time in this season of her life, she still likes to cuddle up to one of us, lick us on the hand---“it’s OK, I hear,---we did life together.”

Rereading the Chapter 18 of Blue Like Jazz on community again this morning, Miller’s story of his visit to San Francisco and early morning coffee with a guy named Bill came alive (p. 185). Bill ran this B&B that Miller stayed at and certainly had the spiritual gift of hospitality. He cooked, cleaned and picked up after the guys that stayed there and usually received no thanks---and with a “joyful” heart!

Miller asked him how he kept such a good attitude all the time and his response grabbed me… “if we are not willing to wake up in the morning and die to ourselves, perhaps we should ask ourselves whether or not we are really following Jesus.” This is the picture I’ll remember from Chloé’s life, she woke up every morning with unconditional love toward her “master.”

I have to ask myself this question---Am I waking up every morning with unconditional love (agapé) toward my Lord and to those he places in my life? I don’t know about you, but I have a little work to do in community. Thank you, Father, for your unconditional love and for your grace.

Peace,

Bob

October 08
BLJ - Living with Freaks

BLJ's chapter on community is subtitled "Living with Freaks"----I don't know about you, but when I first read (and thought about) it, it brought me back to a important time in my life....a defining moment that I will share with the core group on October 21, 2007. No, I didn't feel (or believe I looked "freakish") but inside I realized I was, in many ways, living a "freakish" life---one drifting with the flow; my reality was surviving in a hellish situation (Viet Nam) and existing soul-less.

One of the chapter quotes I read the other night is found about the About a Boy movie (quote on p. 180) I confess... I like movies and often will use them (as you will see) as examples we can relate to in discussing our spiritual walk. The lead character, Hugh Grant, is a man living a lonely and relationship-less life although he hasn't realized it yet or, at least, accepted it. As Miller puts it, Hornby (Grant) believes that life is a play about himself, that all other characters are only acting minor roles in a story that centers around him. Miller admits that his life felt like that. In my defining moment, in another season of life, I, too, realized that. In many aspects (roles) of my life, I was in a One Act play---and I felt empty.

This I believe:

Real relationships give purpose; real relationships bring balance to life; real relationships in community bring wellness and wholeness to life. And...it begins with a REAL relationship with Jesus. How about you? Do you relate? Does this make sense. I hope you are willing to share a defining moment with the group next time we meet. ---- Until then---Selah.

Grace, Bob

We began our journey together on Sunday, October 7 at The Loft. Collectively our prayer is to become known to one another, to love one another, to encourage, pray for and support one another, to worship our God and to celebrate together. For the next month or so we will learn about each other and begin to care for one another---we begin by learning from Donald Miller's life and spiritual journey through Blue Like Jazz.

This Blog is dedicated to our group as a place for musing or reflection---that's why I entitled it Loft Community Musings. As Christians, we are called to be people of Spiritual Disciple---one of which is a life of quietness or contemplation. By definition, musings are one's words or discourse intended to express its author's reflections or to guide others in contemplation.

We begin....

Last night we listened to Miller's words about community. If we are honest with ourselves, we certainly can relate to Miller's assessment that we have thought (or still think to a degree ?) that Christian faith is something a person (me) did alone and that we (I) have (or I am now) living and contending with a difficult lie---"that life is a story about me." Praise be to God that our Father brings us to community (may I dare to say, even this new Loft Core Group community) to "rid us (me) of this deception." (p. 182) Thoughts worthy of discussion and a time of musing.