I Dream of A Church

Dan Kimball has expressed on his blog the very things that I have been thinking, praying and speaking about lately. That is, what the church should really look like.

His post I Dream of a Church is worth your read.

May we continue to seek what God's desires are for His church, and may we pursue them with all that we are.

I've Been With Jesus

I love what you said Brian. I've never heard/read/thought of this before. I feel less inclined to take for granted that I am the dwelling place of the Almighty God; more honored and privileged now that I know my history (as a temple).

I had the incredible blessing of meeting a man yesterday in whom Christ was vividly visible. His name is Charles Harvey and he is a missionary in Thailand who Andy, Steve, and Josh met (Steve has written about him on his blog - "Faces at the Feast," March 2, and I think Josh and Andy have too.) Carly, Steve, and Andy also had the privilege of hearing him share with our Thailand team last night. The Spirit was in his words, in his prayers, in the way he interacted with us.

He stayed in our home so I was able to spend a little one on one time with him as well as some time with just he, Andy, and I (no kids, ie. Uninterrupted conversation!). I am not exaggerating when I say this: I feel I have been with Jesus. He was so gracious, so generous in the things he said and the way he said them, so affirming, encouraging, and life-giving. I am more in love with Jesus after being with him. I feel compelled to spend more time with my Lord because of this glimpse I got of Him through this (self-proclaimed) ordinary Irishman.

I long to be like Charles - to be that intimate with Jesus, to bring that much glory to the Father, to have the constant Spirit-giving discernment and energy to minister to so many people. To say "yes" to something always requires that we say "no" to something else. So the question that naturally follows is: What am I willing to sacrifice, to say "no" to, in order to say "yes" to more of Jesus?

Body of Christ

I am preaching this Sunday on the Body of Christ, the Church. It has been a great study and I look forward to presenting it.

We as the Church are God's representation of Christ on earth today. We must not think of the church as a place, location or building, but rather as people. Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it well when he said, "The Church is nothing but a section of humanity in which Christ has really taken form."

Throughout history God has made Himself known and seen through the indwelling of temples. Today He chooses to indwell us and be made known through us. Philip Yancy in his book, Disappointment with God, put it this way:

"Three temples appear in the Bible, and, taken together, they illustrate a progression: God revealed himself first as Father, then as Son, and finally as Holy Spirit. The first temple was a magnificent structure built by Solomon and rebuilt by Herod. The second was a 'temple' of Jesus' body ('Destroy it,' he said, 'and I will raise it again in three days'). And now a third temple has taken shape, fashioned out of individual human beings."

If we have God's Spirit living within us, then He should be very visible to the world around us. If we, the Church, are the representation of Christ on earth today, we must continually be asking ourselves...How well does the world see Jesus?

New Conversation: The Body of Christ

Brian Eberly suggested a conversation on the Body of Christ (the Church). Seems fitting for a bunch of followers of Jesus from so many different walks of life to dialogue about. Chime in as you play your part.

Relevant Interview

My husband made me listen to a podcast today. We were in the car about half an hour away from our destination, and my plans for music were vetoed. He downloads Relevant Magazine's podcasts and listens to them generally on his way to or from work. This time, however, he had just recorded the lastest last night, was looking forward to listening to it, and knew that despite protest, I would enjoy it once I started listening (which I did). The reason I am bringing it up here, is that yesterday's podcast includes a telephone interview with Rob Bell, the pastor of Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and perhaps more widely known for his "Nooma" series. It was interesting to hear about his church, but more specifically his views on mission. If you would like to check it out, you can find the 05.12.06 podcast at www.relevantmagazine.com. The interview is approximately 18 minutes into the program.

Missional Aha Moment

I've loved reading everyone's posts. I'm sorry I didn't comment on everyone's. I'm trying to catch up on blogging and just reading them all was an accomplishment.

Almost a year ago I had what I guess I'd call a "missional aha moment." I was transitioning out of a 20-hour per week job at George Fox and was contemplating what my life was going to look like now. I don't remember what I was reading at the time that was influencing me (possibly The Present Future), but I remember being challenged in a church service to pray and ask God who he would have me reach out to.

As I asked God this question, three women came to mind, and I got excited because I knew that I had the space in my life to reach out and develop relationships with these women now that I was going to be home twenty-some hours more than I had been. (These women were moms with young children who were also at home during the day.) A couple months later, I felt God calling me to also develop a friendship with a mom from MOPS.

It hit me, in this missional aha moment, that this was kingdom work God was calling me to and I was pumped about it. I realized it was going to be the slow, hard work of opening up my life and calendar to new friends and making sacrifices in order to be with them or help them in their time of need, and I was still excited about it. (I don't usually get excited about sacrificing...who does?)

The past ten months have been awesome in that God has openend doors for relationship with these women in varying ways and to varying degrees. Perhaps I'll share some of these God-moments in a later post. For now, it's after midnight and if I want to be coherent, much less missional, tomorrow, I'd better get to bed. :-)

The Orange Juice

Today my mission was to get my daughter to school on time, which can be quite an accomplishment. To add to the normal chaos of getting to school on time, today was her turn to bring snack. Well, we did not have all the necessary items for snack, so an early morning grocery store trip was in order. We were running a little late and my daughter was disappointed that the Clif bar that she has secretly stashed behind the chips had been located by Daddy earlier that morning. So off to the grocery store to get the bag of apples needed for snack, replace the "taken" Clif bar, and get some orange juice.

At work today, I offered my coworker an orange juice since I had purchased the individual six pack. Her response was, "Are you serious?". I assured her that I indeed was serious and that I had extra. She then explained to me that she had been prompted by the Lord that morning to give her unopened orange juice to a man at the freeway on-ramp who was asking for money. She actively served the Lord and gave up her orange juice that she was really looking forward to since she's pregnant. It was a small sacrifice that the Lord in turn blessed her right back.

She was obedient. I want to be obedient but sometimes what I want to do and what I do are two different things. I want to be so in tune to Christ's desires that I am aware of His desires and love for others. That is my mission...to be more like the One who saved me and less about me.

deep gladness & deep need

Brian, I went to comment on your post and it got to be too long, so a short post seems more appropriate. I've had a growing sense that mission is connected to what brings us the most "life"...sort of Mom's experience of being in Mississippi. Good post "Mom."

Fredrich Buechner has this, now famous, quote that you are probably familiar with:

"The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." -from Wishful Thinking, 119

So many missionaries have told the story of how they prayed to God, "Anywhere or anything but this and there...and then God asked me to do just that..." Have you heard that testimony? I'd like to think that if I am listening well, God might help me discover what my deep gladness is so that I can intentionally move in that direction without having to be completely caught off guard that it brings me so much joy (although, I must admit, I'm not always that good at listening).

God, I'm sure of it, knows what would bring me a deep sense of gladness ("life abundant" as Jesus calls it) and don't we also believe that God is more aware of the world's deepest needs than anyone? This is a good encouragement for me to pray as Samuel did, "Speak Lord, for your servant is listening" as oppossed to a more common prayer, "Listen Lord, for your servant is speaking."

All of this to affirm two common threads that I hear us talking about: the mission that God calls us to will most likely be a source of great "gladness" and our outward mission will most likely flow out of the good work that God has done (and is still doing) within us.

Mississippi Mama and Dad

Here is a post I wrote some time back when Mom and Dad first left for Biloxi...seems fitting to share because I am very proud of their sacrifice and service....http://simplywalking.blogspot.com/2006/03/my-salty-parents.html

The Guild

The Guild

Mission in Progress

Since I have never done anything like this before, I am a bit intimidated. The previous postings are well written and thoughtful. This will be a stretch for an old lady called "Mom."

Missions has always been something someone else has done---way far away in the jungle.....................
To think what Dad and I are doing as a mission didn't cross my mind. After all, Biloxi, Mississippi, is in the USA! Actually, we have a huge mission field all over this wonderful country of ours. If I had wanted to go to the mission field, we could have stayed in Portland, Oregon. But Hurricane Katrina was an act of God and has opened a HUGE mission field on the Gulf Coast. Watching the hurricane occur on TV last August touched that spot in me ----what would you call it? I just knew we had to be here.

As those 'devine coincidences' do occur, Beaverton Foursquare had established a base in Biloxi, MS, during Hurricane Rita. The door was open--all we had to do was walk through it. God's preparation last summer was something only He understood. Breast cancer and chemotherapy is not any prerequist for gutting out houses and taping and mudding sheet rock that I would have required. But the Lord had other plans and here we are. Dad wanted a long trip after he retired. Biloxi was not a destination we had considered!! But Biloxi is truly a mission field. These people touch our lives in so many ways. The church we attend with the others from BFS blesses us weekly--they pray for us!! The neighbors squished in their FEMA trailers, bring baskets of flowers and candy! The man with terminal liver cancer whose house was demolished, fixes barbeque for us. The couple who own the only house standing, serve us Sunday dinner on a regular basis. Who is being blessed???
We feel this is where we need to be. Out of our comfortable cottage home, into a trailer. Out of the coolness of Oregon, into the steam room of south Mississippt. The Lord is awesome. The mission for us is a blessing. I just pray we are blessing them in some small way!!