What time does your service start?

When people find out that I am a pastor, there is usually a series of questions that they ask me: “What is the name of your church?” “Where is it located?” “What time does your service start?” Most of the time I will answer those questions directly with the proper responses, but there are other times I may insert some broader answers that make them stop and question my answers. They may ask: “Where is your church? And I will say, “right here”. Or they may ask: “What time does your service start?” And then I will say, “what time is it now?” Yes these answers are meant to a little sarcastic and confusing, but they usually help people understand that church is more than just an event, or a time, or location. The church is a movement. A movement that was never supposed to be constrained and constricted to a finite place and time. The church is a continuum that can function in any variable. The reason why my sarcastic answers confuse people, it because we have adopted traditions that are contrary to the first century church.  

Look at John 4:4-21

Jesus had a conversation with a woman about where people should go and worship. Jesus was taking a break at a well, and he met a woman there. Now the woman was at the well at an unusual time. She did this because she was ashamed of who she was, and what she had done, so she didn’t want people to see her. But she ran into Jesus.(of all people to run into right) After a pretty confrontational conversation, she recognizes that not only is Jesus Jewish, but he was a Jewish Prophet. This opened up a whole new world of questions for the woman. As a Samaritan she had a totally different religious background than Jesus. It was even decreed that Jews and Samaritans where not even allowed to be associated with each other, not only sitting at a well, in a common area discussing faith. But the woman liked what Jesus was saying and wanted to be a part of the freedom that He was offering.

So the woman asked Jesus the deepest theological question that she could think of: Where should I go worship? She said,” Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.(vs. 20). I love the response that Jesus gives her; Jesus tells her that there will be a time where none of that matters. Essentially Jesus tells the woman, you go worship wherever, and whenever you want to. If you want to have worship at this well, you are more that welcome to do so. Jesus set her free in thinking that the power of God that we experience can tied down to a location. God is bigger than a location. God is bigger than an event. God is bigger than our religious traditions. We cannot trap God and expect to control Him by our own religious experiences.

Jesus would be confused with our modern day church model. Jesus only used the word “church” only twice in the gospels. Jesus said more about circumcision than HE did about church. This was on purpose, because His favorite word was kingdom and His focus was disciples. Church is simply an extension of the kingdom of God with His people, where ever they are. This is what the “gospel” is all about. The “gospel” is made of people. The gospel has its power because people propel it.  We need to release God’s people and not retain them to an attraction.  We don’t need them in our churches, we need them in God’s world.“No empire building, No control, No Glory.”

This is the church that God is calling us to. This is the church that I want to be a part of. This is the church that you should be excited about joining. Not a building. Not an event. Not a time. God is calling us to a world that needs us, because it needs him. So what time does your service start? It starts right here, right now!

CHURCH!

808's and Heartbreak

I might be a little late, but as I was trapped in the Dallas/Love airport for 5 hours, I had the opportunity to completely absorb Kanye West's latest album-808's and Heartbreak. Now opinions start flying as soon as you mention Kanye and his musical expressions or musical genius, but this is not a musical review. This is simply an interpretation of Kanye's innovative music.

Regardless of being a fan or not, we are all aware of the darkness that has entered into Kanye's life with the death of his mother. Anyone who has ever lost anybody close to you will agree that it seems that you can never escape the darkness of death. But the darkness gains it's depth when we overlook the pain that someone is facing. This is what Kanye is explaining to us. You see an "808" is the sound used to create the booming base that we can so easily recognize in hip-hop music. An 808 is loud and it's presence can not be overlooked. On the other hand, a heartbreak, in contrast is very private and silent. We can't hear each others heartbreak because of the distraction of the 808 that we hear.

Pain is pain and we all experience it, but pain loses it power when people pay attention. The most powerful thing that I can ever do is say:"I know what that feels like". We can stop being human beings for each other. We have to dig deeper that the surface "I'm fine". No you are not and that is OK that you aren't.

Sacred history is littered with people that are referred to as heroes, but they experienced great heartache and pain. The bible is full of stories of people that dispel the belief that when you do things for God, everything will be great! It is actually filled with people that do everything right and everything falls apart. We have to understand that you cannot control people, places, or things, or most importantly--GOD. The freedom your life needs, begins when we trust no matter what uncertainty life unveils.

Let's look past the 808's of life, and assist each other with the heartbreak. Now this is genius.

CHURCH!

Inspiration from the Atmosphere

Life is too short...

Life isn't too short. Not sure who began this false accusation against life. Maybe it was some adventurist that was trying to promote a vicurious lifestyle. On the other hand, it may have been developed by a team of synics to portray life as a meaningless wrinkle in time. What ever the case may be, life isn't too short. The reason we allow this false statement to transform into a mantra is because we are not using life as we should.

There is a very small statistic of people who claim to have found the meaning of life; others continue to search, and the journey continues without the true answer. I have been invited into the first group, but I am uncomfortable until this minority becomes the majority. So here it is. Only continue reading unless you are ready to completly embrace a change. Only continue reading unless the quest for meaning has left you exhausted.

Ok. I'm glad you are still here. The meaning of life is....enjoyment. Life is here for you to enjoy, and everybody knows that you never want something to end that you enjoy. You see, we were created to always work, or push, or stress, or consume. No. You were created to be envolved with the rest of creation as an apprasier. Your life determines what in this world should be appreciated. Therefore, when we appreciate things that are empty and meaningless, then life mirrors the same.

Listen to the wisdom in Deutoronomy 6:1-4. God the Father of all known creation says, the only reason the decrees and commands were generated so that you may enjoy life. Enjoy life...? Doesn't sound like the typical voice of God, but it is. God is telling us that He puts rules into place, not to hold us back, but to release us to the freedom of enjoyment. Maybe the reason you haven't seen this level of enjoyment is because your life is marred with too much.

The key to enjoyment is simplification. I know this is a challenge, but underneath the layers of your life, is your peace. The question is, how despirate are you to want to experence the freedom of enjoyment. You next level of enjoyment begins right now!

A man that doesn't work doesn't eat, but a man that doesn't work smart doesn't live. Choose life!

CHURCH!

Monday's Mini Message 4-6-09

Reconciliation means to make peace where there wasn’t peace before. God wants to put everything back together, and that includes us. God wants to balance all of us. That means everything. Holistically: your heart; your will, your mind; your intellect; your emotions your past; your wounds; your failures; your worries; your anxieties. The things that keep us wake at night. Our addictions. Our Compulsions. It’s the struggles we have and we seem to never get rid of. When the bible speaks of salvation it is speaking of something that is holistic. Every last part of us back together. The same thing that can happen across the universe through Christ’s death has been extended to you and me. In every aspect of my being I should have total peace in.
We are going INWARD because we value wholeness. We want to be the people that are whole healthy people, who have stared our junk in the face, and our wounds, and all the painful stuff from the past, and are making peace with who God is, and who we are.
When we go in the INWARD direction we find out that our identity is marred and flawed. And we are trying to be someone else. Coming to peace with who you are and who God made you to be is coming to terms with who you are, and being ok with that. It is when we start asking fewer questions like; “Why am I not like so-and-so, and why do I not look like that? We spend our lives wishing we were someone else and we feel uncomfortable in our skin. To be whole is to go in the INWARD direction more and more and learning more about you. I’m ME and I am tired of being someone else. This is who God made me, and I am going to learn to be ok with that. And then celebrate that, not because I am so great, but because God is. The INWARD direction is getting more and more OK with who we are. Now once we can do that, we will see so much more and get so much more done!
We are committed to going INWARD. We are dealing with, and digging up the painful stuff that has been covered up. We are defining what is means to allow salvation to be holistic. And what it means to let God’s light to shine into every last area of our lives. We want to be the people that sees the junk, and the trash, and lets it out.
Jesus doesn’t just want to give us a ticket to heaven. No, He wants to heal and mend and put you back in balance with how life is supposed to be, here, now, today. Because you can be a “Christian” and be “saved”, and sing all the right songs, and actually be miserable. So you can be a super Christian and haven’t even begun to experience salvation. As we move INWARD we will see peace where there was not peace before. This is the life of one that follows Christ.
When we choose not to move INWARD and into this peace that is being offered, it is destructive. When we use what others have done to us as an excuse to not receive reconciliation we are destroying ourselves. Because we are driven by things that we are unaware of. There is a mystery behind the mystery, and we will continue to struggle, and wrestle and live fragmented lives until identify them and come to peace with them.
We believe that God wants to redeem every part of us, and that Jesus’ message of salvation is holistic in nature. We believe that all of life is spiritual life and that all of our fears, failures, and broken hearts can be restored and made whole. We value the INWARD journey because we want to be fully integrated people: mind, body, soul, emotions, and experiences all offered together to God.

CHURCH