About six months ago the four of us pushed two mini-tables together at Starbucks. A chance meeting had found us in the same coffee shop for two separate meetings. A musician, a pastor, a health care consultant, and a finance professional; two acquaintances and two strangers sharing the presence of the Spirit with conversation that was deeper and richer than the coffee we were drinking. When we pushed the tables apart, there were no more strangers. Only friends, connected by the sinew of the Spirit.
Friday night we gathered in the home of the health care consultant. About 40 of her family’s friends had come to share some food, some music, some of their monetary blessing, and some love in support of the finance professional who was headed to India with his wife and their son to do battle against poverty and despair in some of the worst slums in the world.
The reach of that Spirit-led coffee shop conversation had grown wider and embraced friends, friends of friends, Christians and non-Christians, Sunday morning golfers and Sunday morning church goers. The Spirit moved freely (and freeingly) as the conversation around good food and good wine created an atmosphere of warmth and community.
the health care consultant, she welcomed people into her home
the finance professional, he told his story and engaged those who had gathered with a reality of life in Indian slums that touched them deeply
the musician, she took them even deeper- to the very depth of their souls
the pastor, he kept his mouth shut because the Spirit was already at work
the Spirit, the Spirit of Christ moved so that 250 children of God will have new shoes and in order that all in the world will know that God is love
a love that is far beyond measure
that touches us at the depth of who we are
and who we wish to become
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
*living water, strangers, truth and grace
Water. Two hydrogen atoms bonded to an oxygen atom. With it- life. Without it- death.
Jesus, full of grace and truth, comes into this world and announces himself to be a new and different type of water. He declares himself to be living water, gifted to the world directly from the source of all life, his Father. Christ himself, a new living water that refreshes and quenches our inner beings at a deeper level of who we are.
And just as the hydrogen and oxygen atoms are bonded together, this gift of living water cannot be separated from the story of its giving. Take away oxygen and you have H2, or hydrogen gas, no more water. Pry Jesus’ teaching about living water away from the woman at the well in John chapter 4 and you no longer have living water.
The gift to the world, this living water is given to a woman who is an outcast among her own people. She heads to the well at noon as one who is not welcome to draw water with the other women of the village who meet at the well in the cooler morning hours. She is a Samaritan, one of “those people” who have little regard for God or the proper way of doing things. She is (and should always be) a stranger to any good upstanding God worshiping Jew.
Any good and upstanding Jew-- except Jesus. This one who is sent from God meets her at the well. On her terms. Truthful about her past and full of grace in his presence, he engages her and welcomes her into a new life of spirit and truth. “I am he,” he tells her, the one who comes to unite us all in a life of spirit and truth.
His disciples don’t get it. They show up and completely blow off the woman, ignoring her and dismissing her existence altogether. They ask Jesus if he is hungry and he tells them that he has already been fed by doing the will of God (by engaging the woman). As with many of Jesus’ teachings, this goes completely over the heads of those who should know him best, those who profess to be his followers.
But Christ’s stop at the well has not gone for naught. His teaching gives life. The woman, having drank deeply from the well of Christ himself, has headed into town and brought back a slew of people to meet him. Amazingly, these are the same people who have ‘estranged’ her and denied her the dignity of being welcomed in her own village!
These fellow strangers have come out to the well where Jesus is. They have come to taste this living water that is given freely to the estranged (and to those who would estrange) in order that they may be sustained at a deeper level of their humanity.
They come to meet a stranger, one who is like no other.
One that can quench thirst at a deeper level.
One called Jesus.
The Christ. A stranger. In his own world. Among his own. A stranger.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
so a guy walks into a bar...
Plenty of bad jokes and truly destructive stories could be told about strangers who meet in bars, but Christ's life-giving and restorative presence will not be denied a seat anywhere that we go...
Our leadership team meets weekly in the bar/lounge of a local restaurant to discern action and plan activities for our faith community. So last night we got together and you could feel the joy of being together just oozing out of our booth with all the hearty laughter and the intensity of the dialogue. After 15 minutes of this ooze, we began with a Bible study as we usually do and we were suddenly quite quiet as we each studied the text at hand. A man seated beside us (a stranger) leaned over and made a comment about the sudden change of volume and we told him we were doing a Bible study which took him a little off guard I think.
We moved from quietly studying the text to discussing the text, which happened to be about being “salt” and “light” in the world. Again, the dynamic life and energy at the table was so thick you could taste it as we shared our thoughts and feelings about this scripture as it related to us as individuals and as it relates to our life together as a community. We talked about adding flavor to the world around us, being that which preserves and sustains, shining through ‘how we are’ as opposed to ‘what we think’ or the 'things we do.' We engaged issues surrounding authenticity, depth of life, and Christ’s radical call to live differently in the world and for the world God loves.
The stranger in the bar who had become our neighbor walked over and wished us well as he headed to the doorway to head home (wherever that home was---or did he stop by because this booth felt like home?). It was almost as if he wanted another touch of this unexpected ‘something’ that was happening beside him.
We spent some time talking about the business at hand and departed for home ourselves. Before heading to bed, I went to the computer and found an e-mail from one of our leaders in of all place the junk e-mail folder. In part, this completely unjunky and pricelessly valuable correspondence said this:
"I walked in tonight with a heart and mind full of stress - racing a million miles an hour. After a couple hours of being in the presence of the amazing thoughtful and joyful people that you are, I walked out feeling loved, having laughed, being restored, and for the first time all day...... my heart was calm. Thank you for sharing your light with me and for "being" you.”
Thank you to Christ.
who we follow wherever that may lead---
who calls and energizes us to be light and salt---
for each other
for the stranger
for the world
strangers on this road we are all, we are not two we are one
Our leadership team meets weekly in the bar/lounge of a local restaurant to discern action and plan activities for our faith community. So last night we got together and you could feel the joy of being together just oozing out of our booth with all the hearty laughter and the intensity of the dialogue. After 15 minutes of this ooze, we began with a Bible study as we usually do and we were suddenly quite quiet as we each studied the text at hand. A man seated beside us (a stranger) leaned over and made a comment about the sudden change of volume and we told him we were doing a Bible study which took him a little off guard I think.
We moved from quietly studying the text to discussing the text, which happened to be about being “salt” and “light” in the world. Again, the dynamic life and energy at the table was so thick you could taste it as we shared our thoughts and feelings about this scripture as it related to us as individuals and as it relates to our life together as a community. We talked about adding flavor to the world around us, being that which preserves and sustains, shining through ‘how we are’ as opposed to ‘what we think’ or the 'things we do.' We engaged issues surrounding authenticity, depth of life, and Christ’s radical call to live differently in the world and for the world God loves.
The stranger in the bar who had become our neighbor walked over and wished us well as he headed to the doorway to head home (wherever that home was---or did he stop by because this booth felt like home?). It was almost as if he wanted another touch of this unexpected ‘something’ that was happening beside him.
We spent some time talking about the business at hand and departed for home ourselves. Before heading to bed, I went to the computer and found an e-mail from one of our leaders in of all place the junk e-mail folder. In part, this completely unjunky and pricelessly valuable correspondence said this:
"I walked in tonight with a heart and mind full of stress - racing a million miles an hour. After a couple hours of being in the presence of the amazing thoughtful and joyful people that you are, I walked out feeling loved, having laughed, being restored, and for the first time all day...... my heart was calm. Thank you for sharing your light with me and for "being" you.”
Thank you to Christ.
who we follow wherever that may lead---
who calls and energizes us to be light and salt---
for each other
for the stranger
for the world
strangers on this road we are all, we are not two we are one
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
A Prayer for the Ages
I think a certain 12th century Franciscan monk is smiling as the Spirit inspired words he penned breathe life into a new generation.
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