Stirred By Life's Music

Monotony is something people and organizations seem to fall in to quite easily. The mono-toned life is colorless, absent harmonies and movements...boring. Is that really life? Isn't monotony something other than life? Life is more than busy motion and noise. Life is a constantly developing symphony, choral, song...with heart stirring movements and harmonies. Layers upon layers of voices and instruments that express life's beauties and pains, joys and sorrows, hopes and fears, dreams and nightmares.

I love music. All kinds of music. One of my favorite things to do while driving or at home is to turn my stereo up to where I am fully enveloped and can physically feel the the sounds. Classic, Rock, some Country, Choral, R&B, Jazz...I listen to a broad range of stuff. Depends on my mood. Sometimes I conduct, sometimes I dance. Music moves me to tears of awe, to laughter, to pain. More often than not, something about it stirs me and causes me to keep seeing, keep hoping, keep acting, keep believing.

Life does that for me as well. I see and feel the pains, joys, fears, dreams of the world around me. It stirs me. Brokenness stirs me to want to act and restore. Life turn-around stories stir me to believe it can happen. Beauty and wholeness stir me to want to cultivate more.

How are you being stirred by the music of the world around you? Do you hear the music or is your world hum-drum monotony? Find the music again!

Your Story, My Story, Our Story

Whether a decision to be made, a ministry to be designed, or a statement to be interpreted, I always want context. I woke up early yesterday morning to the reality that contextual followers of Jesus is my "message" or "passion." It is the reason for my struggle with any church, ministry or follower of Jesus. It's why Divine design matters to me.

Each person was made and has a story. For me to try to live another person's story is to disregard who God made me to be. To disregard how my story fits the world around me is to disregard "us-ness." Ignoring context is to ignore my story, your story, and the wrapping of all our stories into the grand story of life. We need to learn to listen to the stories of the people in our world. Really listen. Every life situation has a context. Every brokenness and strength has a story around it. The church must learn to be God's life restoring influence within those story lines.

That's what Jesus does. That's what incarnation is.

Sensuous Living

Impact living should be context living. Context living necessitates sensuous living. My calling as a follower of Jesus in any given moment should be guided by:

• Where I am - Place
  
• Who I am with - People
  
• What I have - Provisions

Whether I am in my neighborhood or on the other side of the planet for ten days, the role that God would have me play in this world is based on these three dynamics.

The challenge arises in that observation is mandatory, which is more of a difficulty for some than others. However, we can sensitize our senses over time to the realities of the world around us. Begin concentrically. Look to the place, people and provisions immediately around you. Learn to pay attention. Tune your senses to the world around you - what you see, hear, smell, touch, and even taste. The more we are willing to pay attention through our God-given senses, the less we will find our resources wasted. Attention, when paid, is a good investor of resources. Our senses help make sense of the world.

So, begin living sensuously.

Body of Belief

While waiting with a few other leaders within the non-profit world to speak to a board for funding from a local foundation, I found myself stunned. A lady who arrived a little late sat down beside me and indicated having been to the Charleston Outreach website. "You are a faith-based organization, right?" I told her we were. She then asked, "Tell me more about what exactly you do."

Now, understand, this is a lady who walked in the door in a very engaging way. Lots of questions, strongly communicating that she had investigated all of her "competitors." That part was funny to me. No doubt I had a smirk on my face at some point. My explanation of our work included the words "helping churches work together to respond to basic human need." She laughed out loud to those words. Needless to say, I was uncomfortable. It did not end there.

"You are kidding me, right? You really have to help churches work together for human need. Aren't they supposed to be teaching the rest of the world how to do that?" She had no argument on my part. Then, she said words that choked me. "That's why I am not a Christian." She then stuttered around and left it at that.

I immediately thought of Jesus' prayer as recorded in John 17. Verse 23 says, "May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me...." It has become my passion. Collaboration is logical to me. Isolation is stupid, unless you have a disease no one else wants!!

We are to be the Body of belief - Jesus Body expressed amidst the world's broken.

An Attractive Life

There is an attractional ministry that the church/followers of Jesus should have. It is not a "come and see" event for people. It is not a "coming attraction" that happens from time-to-time or season-to-season. The attraction of the life of a Jesus follower is just that, the presence of life. More specifically, it is the Giver of life. Isaiah 55:5 says:

• Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations you know not you will hasten to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for He has endowed you with splendor.

Spoken then of the nation of Israel, now spoken to a "holy nation" of Jesus followers:

• But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. I Peter 2:9

What becomes attractive is a life of purpose, clarity, peace, joy, purity of conscience, loveliness, graciousness, others above self, etc. However, as was mentioned in Isaiah, the attraction and intrigue comes not from you and me, but God having endowed us with His presence. His presence makes the above realities possible. Such a life leads to an onlookers head-tilted gaze.

A person in darkness is groping, disconcerted, disoriented, fearful, aimless, longing for ability to see and understand the world they are walking in, etc. When you find yourself in pitch black darkness, the faintest of light becomes attractive. You are drawn to it. It's what you long for. So should our lives be as a city set on a dark hill. Intrigue about such a city stirs the onlooker: "What goes on there? How is that place different from my place? What will I find there? What will the people be like?"

Then, when the onlooker gets up close, does the splendor of that "city" become more evident? Or, does the vision of splendor deteriorate to a "just pass through" instead of a "stop, stay investigate and enjoy" response? If they stop and stay, will they find refreshing and guidance for their journey?

I want for my life to be an attractive life. I want for people to be intrigued. I want for people to be refreshed. How about you?

Pro - Life?

There is an inner struggle that has been building in me over the past few years that is anchored in the pro-life movement among evangelicals. The struggle is not about the message. My wrestling started with how the message is communicated. A number of years ago while reading and meditating on Isaiah 58 I was struck by a phrase. When I read it a picture formed in my mind that I have not been able to shake since - "If you do away with...the pointing finger and malicious talk...." (Isaiah 58:9). At that time the picture was of the pro-life movement and how venomous the messengers can be. The nature of political presence can be so intensely angry and spew hatred that espouses inner-tones that indicate hypocrisy. How can one hate another and say "I am a lover of life?"

Years after those first strokes upon a developing canvas, the painting has taken on new dimensions for me. If I am pro-life, I must be pro-all-of-life. Do senseless killings in the inner cities grieve me each time I hear a story? As I drive or walk down the street and see a dirty, drugged-out, lonely, homeless woman...do I weep? When I consider the level of child abuse - verbal, physical, et al - does it eat my lunch? Does war bother me? Do I really love and pray for my "enemies?" Does hunger and disease across the globe move me to wish I could just speak and remove it all!? Do I love as Jesus loved and gave himself? (Note: Jesus didn't just die on a cross, he also lived a life.) To these we may say, "Yes! Yes! Yes! A thousand times, YES!!"

Soooo...what are followers of Jesus doing about what are just some of the present, life-destroying realities mentioned above? What are you doing? How are you proving that you are a lover of life by being a restorer of life? God does include "...and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, THEN your light will rise in the darkness...." (Isaiah 58:10)

Oh, that we as followers of Jesus would be people who ooze his gracious and merciful power and presence! That we would be overwhelmed by the loss of life as it was when God in His triune expressions at the beginning of time spoke a vision into reality!

Are you really pro-life?

Who Do You See?

In the Ovidian version of the Greek myth of Narcissus, beauty was made ugly with pride. At first, his pride had nothing to do with his looks. It was just a general self-love. Then, he caught a glimpse of himself and liked what he saw. In fact beyond liking, he was mesmerized by the image reflected back to him in the waters from which he sought to quench his thirst. From that place, he would never know satisfaction. His deep love of the image of himself led to his wasting away unto death.

Who a person sees determines what a person does. If one looks into the face of another and sees her own reflection, the response will probably be based on self and not the other person. A person who rarely gets beyond the implications of his actions upon himself will rarely connect with the true and full realities of another person’s life.

Narcissus-like behavior has been the problem from the beginning – love of self over love of God and others. It is not that love of self is wrong or unimportant. Jesus said that his followers must love neighbors as one’s self. But, self-love must be in its proper place. Self-love can be debilitating. As the apostle Paul put it, the Christian should not consider himself more important than others. The way of Jesus is one of humility - where the attitude of self to others is servant, instead of master; an open hand that gives with graciousness, instead of a tight grasp upon power, position and possessions.

So, who do you see?

Just Ask

Our family is home on Sunday mornings for a restful time. We worship with the Body on Sunday nights. As I was making breakfast I prayed for God to lead me in the search for a construction ministry coordinator for Charleston Outreach. Our current coordinator is retiring in August. My prayer was for a godly contractor who has a heart for people, who could work some with Jimmie in the upcoming months to learn some things from him and could work part time. After praying I sat down to read "A Godward Life," by John Piper, to read the Scriptures and to journal. The Piper devotion was based on Psalm 121:3 and spoke of God being up all night - He never sleeps, he is always at work.

Then, about an hour later, my wife walked up. No, she wasn't the answer, but she potentially had the answer. She handed me a card and said, "You want to meet with this guy." She went on to tell me that he was a contractor that loves to hire guys to work for him who have lost a job or are just trying to get back on their feet. He is a visionary and an entrepreneur. As she described him, my mouth had to be wide open. I said, "Anita, you are not going to believe what I just prayed no more than an hour ago."

I don't know that this guy is the answer, but I'm sure going to make a phone call today! God never sleeps. He is always way ahead of us and can give us huge levels of direction and insight...if we would just ask.

As Walking Along

Matthew 4:18

"As he was walking along the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers...."

It is interesting that Jesus connected with people throughout his days on earth "as he was walking along." He was always on the move, interacting with and influencing people along the way of life's normal pathways. So should it be for Jesus followers. We should be "along the way" people. Our greatest opportunity for influence is where we invest most of our time. Jesus always made sure that he was in places of influence.
- Limited time with the pious
- Extended time with the broken
- Focused time with a handful of multipliers

Always "along the way."

INCARNATIONAL RESPONSE TO HUMAN NEED

It began with conversations, lots of them over a series of months. Each of the dialogues with human-service agencies started off with a question: “Where do you find yourself turning on a regular basis to find someone to help you do something that you can’t, and you keep finding no one there?” Then there was a bold statement, “That’s who we want to help the Church to become.”

Two and one-half years later the Human Needs Crisis Network (HNCN) has become a growing force for empowering the Church in her response to basic human need. An even greater miracle, this network crosses over a dozen denominations and throughout a three county area. The vision? Lives restored. It’s not enough for followers of Jesus to just pay a portion of an electric bill or provide a bag of food and send a person on their way. There should be a greater level of involvement.

An incarnational response to human need understands that the church is the body of Christ. In so being, she must be about life restoration – in this case, lives moved from crisis, to stability and, where possible, to self-sufficiency. The aim should be to come to a point when that individual or family doesn’t have to ask for help any more. That means personal investment and accountability. That’s where HNCN comes in.

HNCN provides churches with:
1. Growing levels of training for this redemptive response,
2. A regularly updated Church Resource Guide to assist them in response and
3. An Internet-accessed database for tracking the responses of other churches and agencies aiding in accountability.
All of these pieces to the Network provide empowerment for the Church to respond in such a way as to express the life-restoring presence of Jesus, as His body should.

See:
www.charlestonoutreach.org
www.charitytracker.net

NOT a Bridge

Our service to people should never be a bridge to something else - an under-the-covers agenda or motivation. When Jesus healed the sick and provided food for the hungry it was simply because they were sick and hungry and that was not okay to him. I am part of a new church that is sponsoring a Little League t-ball team this Spring. If the reason for sponsoring that team is for advertising purposes - banner on the field, name and logo on the shirts - it's about us and not the people. If the motivation is to be part of the community, have fun, and be a life-restoring presence, that sponsorship takes on a whole new expression. When people think you have an agenda it becomes difficult to connect. Agenda = non-authentic. People who are not part of "the church" believe that we always have an agenda, therefore trust never has a chance.

The purity of service with no ulterior motive becomes a breath of fresh, life-giving air amidst the stench of self-centeredness. Let people being exposed to Jesus not be an agenda, but a (super)natural reality because of the power of Jesus' presence through the whole of who you are.

Humble Stirrings

This morning I find myself humbled by God's goodness. There are a lot of things about me that aren't sharp. My memory for one. I read a book, and unless I am grabbed by the collar by a story or idea, I don't remember the content. I forget names, important dates in history.... My brain is not filled with great quotes that I can spit up for a needed moment.

But what I do have is a God brazened vision and passion that is unshakable. In everything that I do and every conversation I find myself in, what He is growing in me comes out. What is it? That we as followers of Jesus would BE his life-restoring presence in this world of brokenness. We are not mere messengers, we are God incarnated in this world. There are a lot of implications of such a reality and they aren't all easy. That's why humility is stirred.

"God, I can't be that person!" That's me. I can be a real jerk more often than I want to admit. I like for things to be my way. I am wrestling with the critical side of who I am. But, I am also learning that the critiques of "the church" that well up in me are God-given. Like my friend Reggie McNeal, I think I exist to persecute Christian leaders.

God is changing church culture. What presently is, is not good. She is very blindly self-absorbed in her motivations. That is why I bleed the same passion no matter where you cut or what the conversation entails - being God's life-restoring presence.

I accept those stirrings, humbly.

All I Know

I was awakened early this morning with a verse from the Horatio Spafford hymn, "It Is Well with My Soul," rolling in my mind. It was the following:

"My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!"

As I prepare to invest next week writing at Mepkin Abbey, a local monastery, I find it interesting that my waking thought was here. Martin Luther, though not the writer of this hymn, was a monk who wrestled so intensely with the blight of sin upon his soul. Then the light of God's grace illumined his darkness and set him free! He will be on my mind much over these days.

Interestingly, my last thoughts before bed last night were upon God's emotional gyrations displayed throughout the Old Testament; Hosea 11:6-9, for example. God the merciful-lover who wanted to destroy, but was compelled otherwise.

Somehow it all merges for me where the apostle Paul found himself speaking to the Corinthians: "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (I Corinthians 2:2). Paul did not want to obscure the power of God with human wisdom. What Christ had accomplished was enough.

This morning, with bliss!, that's all I know.