The other day I was in a store, and all the cashiers had on their Santa hats. I thought, “Wow!” From the week before Halloween, to the end of the year, it is all about retail sales. The problem with that is that we skip right over one of the most important and most valuable holidays of the year. Thanksgiving, unfortunately, has been reduced to the traditional turkey meal and some football. We make a mistake when we forget the deeper significance of this brief reminder, though. Thanksgiving is about pausing from our consuming long enough to appreciate how good God has been to us. Yes, I said it…God has been good to us. I know it is politically out of fashion to interject God into the public discourse without acknowledging six or seven other deities for equality sake. We really need to reclaim the power of the spirit behind Thanksgiving. While Halloween has been captured by costumes and candy, and Christmas fights for its life against shopping and Santa, Thanksgiving is carefully tucked away for our deeper repose. Granted, it is hard to package, market, and sell gratitude. (Not that they don’t try!)
Since the focus is on keeping our economy afloat, I think this year will be even more so a cursory sentence or two about Thanksgiving and then back to consumer confidence, retail sales, and bloated bailouts. Perhaps you are experiencing a tougher year this year than in previous ones. Maybe a little less to be grateful for this year, right? Well, this is why I am writing this. Our gratitude should not ebb and flow based on our bottom lines. In fact, Thanksgiving was born in tremendous adversity. While 2008 may have upped the anty in the challenges department, we are far removed from the hardships of the originators of this sacred day. Faced with near starvation, outbreaks of disease and deaths, the early Pilgrims didn’t forget to be thankful…truly thankful.
Here is the proclamation of Governor William Bradford: “Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as He has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience; now, I , your magistrate, do proclaim that all Pilgrims, with your wives and little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday the 29th of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three, and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor, and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for His blessings.”
Experiencing Grace,
John
posted by The Gathering's Leadership on 11/20/2008
A lot of people just don’t care anymore. Either cynical or indifferent, most people are so wrapped up in their own lives that they have little time or focus to give to others. At least to give away selflessly. A great deal of human relationships are based on, “What’s in it for me? How does this help or advance me?” Very few people anymore give of their time or their emotional energy to others who have nothing to offer back in return (at least on the surface). For example, do we stop to help people who are caught in a jam if we expect absolutely nothing in return? Am I as motivated to serve somebody if they cannot in any way advance my career, provide a financial benefit, or meet some emotional need in my life?
I want to tell you about a group of people who are doing just that. You have heard me mention in the past of our involvement with the Nicholas Youth Treatment Center. This is a housing facility for young men at risk and being processed in the juvenile court system. There is absolutely NO reason why a bunch of safely sheltered, southern suburbanites should even be involved. Except for the fact that God put us together. It is a long, but really cool story of how we wound up partnering with their administration. Several months back, one of our small groups adopted the NYTC as their service project. First, once a month they would go to the center and connect with the young men. Then it grew into twice a month. Basketball, volleyball in the rain, flag football, campfires, and other connecting points have allowed them to break down the walls. They are now even taking the guys through a study of the book, The Purpose-Driven Life.
Recently, something extraordinary took place. For the first time in the institution’s history, our small group was given an invitation by the young men. They wanted the couples from our group to come and have Thanksgiving dinner with them on Family Day. The administration called and made the request. They said that no one from the outside has ever been invited. This has been traditionally for the young men and family only. However, the young men really wanted our group to come to this event. Wow, caring about someone else definitely made a difference! None of these young men offer financial benefit, personal advancement, or emotional benefit to our group. They just answered the call. They left their comfort zones and went anyway. Ironically, I think if you were to ask any one of them if it has been worth it, fighting back the tears, they would tell you that they are the ones who have received the most! Dare to care. It does make a difference…in everybody!
Experiencing Grace,
John
posted by The Gathering's Leadership on 11/13/2008
I think the one thing that all of us look for in this life more than anything else is security. It is a part of self-preservation that we want to know that life is going to be o.k. We want to know our families are o.k. We want to protect our health, our jobs, and our investments in this life. We make our plans and insure our possessions. And then…life happens. We are often reminded that in spite of our deepest desire to insulate ourselves from threats to our security, and our best plans to avert any detours, there are often circumstances beyond our control. I guess I personally had fallen into a false sense of security that after the Great Depression of the late 1920’s, that economists had learned the lessons of failure and would ensure that would never happen again. Greed, pride, and corruption have led us to some of the most turbulent times of our generation. Families have lost years of retirement and investment through no fault of their own. There is an air of uncertainty and apprehension about the future.
So what are people of faith supposed to do in times like these? First of all, be real. Spiritual platitudes and spiritualization’s are no answer for the real experiences of this life. We are, after all, people. We feel insecurity, fear, anxiety, and threats just like everybody else does. Admit it! However, the difference is our response. We don’t stay in our human responses. Faith allows for a different perspective. First of all, times like these remind us that the only constant in our lives is God! He is our source and our security. Secondly, we learn to trust Him in times like these…or not. Yes, uncertainty will stretch us. If we allow it to, though, we will see new and deeper ways that God is real in our lives. Take all the stuff away and what do you have? If you find God there, you are a rich person!
Experiencing Grace,
John
posted by The Gathering's Leadership on 10/09/2008
Galatians 5:1 (NIV) “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Wow, what a powerful phrase! One that many Christians let roll right off the tongue in familiarity. Yet, it is seen in practice so little of the time. We have been making a journey on the weekends toward the freedom that was granted to the Children of Israel as they made their way out of the slavery of Egypt. As we are seeing, it is not an easy path. Most of us think, “If I could just be here or if I could just have that, then life would be what I want or need it to be.” The truth is, it has its own set of problems to be faced. We are to be free in our lives and our spirits. Why is it, then, that so many Christians are so tied up and so bound up in their own issues. Depression, discouragement, addiction, and broken relationships are rampant in the community of Christ followers. What makes us any different than the other greater population at large around us? Ignore the systemic ‘better than thou’ arrogance of the average Christian and you are not much further removed. Oh, we are staunch in our beliefs, passionate in our politics, and certain of our rightness. Yet, we are still bound.
Freedom comes in being released. Freedom comes in seeing what God sees and not being limited to our own view. Freedom comes in shedding the baggage of the past and the chains of our minds and heart. Freedom is a way of life. There is nothing like it in the world. We have to fight for it and not allow the “old ways” that we are conditioned to and comfortable with to creep back in. The Children of Israel repeated an odd phrase over and over. They said, “We should have never left Egypt. We had it better in slavery than now.” They asked Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die?” The huge oversight on their part was they couldn’t enjoy freedom because in their minds and hearts they still thought like slaves. Breaking years of conditioning can be hard. However, do not forget…Galatians 5:1 (NIV) “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Do a body check…mind, heart, and soul today. Are you free? Free from unforgiveness? Free from the past? Free from the conditioning of your thought life? Run, and take a deep breath. Enjoy the freedom of what Christ has availed to each one of us!
Experiencing Grace,
John
posted by The Gathering's Leadership on 09/25/2008
It is not often that you have a hurricane in Ohio, but this past weekend we did! Power lines went down, trees fell on houses, thousands were left picking up the rubbish and dealing with no electricity. The amazing force of winds and the damage that they are able to inflict is awesome. My wife said come here, and we both looked out the window in time to watch our barbeque grill being flipped through the air. We considered ourselves fortunate that we had so little damage in light of what many suffered.
One of my friends emailed me an amazing story. She told me of God’s protection over their family as a large, old tree came crashing down in her yard. It could have easily fallen on the house and done tremendous damage! Fortunately, it fell sideways and landed in their yard. However, my friend also told me about two other little trees that she had been nursing along. She just knew that her little Dogwood and the other young decorative sapling were toast.
Amazingly, here is what she wrote to me…“On the third outing to look at the fallen tree I took some pruning shears out and dove into the top portion. I had to know what happened to the dogwood… its gruesome fate seemed to parallel my own stormy life. The little tree, after surviving two terrible winters, had to die with the crushing of a massive tree. So I stood there clipping branches searching until I saw what I couldn’t believe… The little dogwood tree with a trunk no more than 1 ½ inches thick was standing! The little black rubber strap around its trunk still trying to hold it upright from the wind now held it up against the weight of the downed tree’s branches. I frantically snapped the dead branches to release the weight off of the little tree and saw that the dead tree trunk narrowly missed the sapling by literally inches. A miracle in my mind! In fact, now the large downed tree provided shelter for the young sapling as its massive limbs sacrificially protected the little dogwood from the severe winds. This was a supreme gift to my heart and a reminder that Christ gave His everything to protect me from the storms of life.”
Wow, isn’t that amazing. Most of us have probably felt the weight of a giant tree crashing in around us. We felt certain the outcome was doom. Only to discover that the crashing weight around us had actually protected us from being exposed to a storm we could never hope to survive. Don’t lose hope! Wherever you are, God has His eye on you. You are important to Him, and He has a great deal invested in you! The storm will pass, and when it does…mercy is revealed!
Experiencing Grace,
John
posted by The Gathering's Leadership on 09/18/2008
To say that pastors get phone calls is almost absurd. Crisis calls, calls of concern, informational calls , counseling calls, and even nuisance calls come in a steady stream and a steady dose. Today, though, I got a call from a friend that every pastor should get once in a while. Our church places people in small groups where biblical community is lived out. One of the high expectations that we place on our groups, though, is that they remain outwardly focused. To many, church groups by the sheer nature of function become closed and inwardly focused. With gluttonous attitudes of consumerism and entitlement, they gorge on steady diets of self-serving and self-fulfilling ministries. The result is stale, self-centered Christians who end up meeting each other’s needs, but never reach beyond the borders of their own group.
The Victory Project www.victoryproject.org has offered us ample opportunities for our groups to take on lasting commitments. Each group adopts a different phase of the ever-growing scope of caring for the least, the last, and the lost. Going to the site of the crash and renewing hope, offering help, and bringing real solutions to tough life problems is changing our community and changing our lives in the process. My friend is very good and very successful at what he does. He could EASILY isolate himself from the real problems of others around himself and his family. Instead, he along with the other members of his group dive in! His call was to tell me about last night. You see, last night consisted of their group making their regular trek to The Nicolous Youth Center. At-risk youth have the opportunity to hang out with our folks for a few hours and just experience unconditional love. Imagine, otherwise sheltered suburbanites crossing all sorts of barriers and loving on confused, angry, hurt, and at-risk kids. After months of cultivation and a couple of very competitive games of volleyball, they all sat down together to discuss The Purpose Driven Life. Incredible questions and dialogue were the outcome of this investment. As they break up, the youth say to one of the newbies, “See, we told you these guys were bangin’.” (I assume that is good. J) In fact, I know it is, because every time we leave, they say, “You guys are coming back, aren’t you?” Amazing stuff!
I am grateful for this call and this cause. I for one am sick of the church being a usual, do nothing crowd. All they can come up with is a complaint list of what the church isn’t doing right in their eyes. Do you want to get well? Do you want to get over yourself? Go and serve someone cold water in Jesus’ name. Be careful, though; you will lose your heart in the process! See ya on the front lines!!!
Experiencing Grace,
John
posted by The Gathering's Leadership on 09/11/2008
What if real church didn’t look like your neighborhood church. What if real church was something completely unusual, out of the ordinary, and radical. This past weekend I used an illustration out of a book by Neal Cole called Organic Church. In this book he talked about a group of Christians that decided to go where people are, rather than waiting for them to come to us. They started establishing “churches” or groups in pubs, community centers, coffeehouses, and all different types of community gathering places. I have not been able to get this one particular instance out of my mind, though. One group went to a bar called Portfolios. They were more or less the Green Berets because Portfolios was a coven of witches, vampires, Satanists, and warlocks. This is Hell’s kitchen. After a few informal conversations, one of the guys, Tim, was able to make a connection with Manuel. Out of curiosity, several of Manuel’s friends came over to intervene. Undaunted, Tim continued to share the power of Romans 6:23 with Manuel. Within a week, Manuel was baptized nearby on a beach. Within three weeks, he had brought and baptized himself three more of his own friends to Christ.
The power of the gospel to break the darkest hold on the hearts of men is staggering to me in this story. However, this really should be the norm. Jesus told us that the gates of Hell wouldn’t withstand the forward march of the Kingdom of God. And yet, we seem so content with the status quo. I know that I have been guilty of putting God, the church, and His Kingdom in my box. What if each of us blew up our boxes (culture, self-expressions, and conveniences) and went to where the people really are? What if we got in a position that God was truly able to put His incredible power on display? I am challenged by this notion, and I hope you are as well. Surely God is sickened by the lukewarm, self-serving consumerism of the modern expression of church life. I don’t know if you’re ready to take on a Portfolios or not, I am not sure I am; but we could start small and work our way and our courage up to that! Look around you…what if God wants to use you to start a fire? Who knows, a whole community, business, school, neighborhood, might be changed!!!
Experiencing Grace,
John
posted by The Gathering's Leadership on 08/28/2008
Recently, a couple of our leaders and I went out to The George Foster Home. This is an incredible place that works with the Montgomery County system to find temporary housing for at-risk boys in the community. Some of them have had minor run-ins with trouble and they find themselves looking for answers. One of the great gifts given to our church by God is the partnership of adopting this home. One of our small groups of suburban couples has taken on this whole household of inner city boys to love on in the spirit and name of Jesus Christ. Amazing! It has transformed us as much as it has helped them. We have been focused over the summer on a series called “Undoing”. We have been Undoing the damage, Undoing the stereotypes, and Undoing the negative effects of our enemy and his stronghold on our community. We will culminate this by heading down to this and other sites to Undo some damage. This brings me back to my story.
As we were walking through the house looking at some of the ways that we could bless them with improvements and repair, we came across an extraordinary young man. Now, don’t get me wrong. It is not that every kid down there is not extraordinary in some way. Each has his own story to tell. However, there is one kid who grabbed my heart. As we walked in, this small, young black teenager looked up at us. He flashed an infectious grin our way. He greeted us politely. As we interacted with him, he respected us with polite responses…“Yes sir, and no sir.” When we finished, he handed his homework to the house leader to be graded. “You all done?” he asked. “Yes,” was the reply, “you can grade it, but they are all right.” “They are,” the answer, “how do you know?” “Because, I am good at math.” With that another grin. He grabs his bus token and is off for an appointment. Lorenzo, the 6’ 6” leader of this band looks at me and says, “Do you know what Decapolis is?” “Well,” I stammer, “I know it is a city in the Bible.” “That’s right.” he says. “That is that kid’s name. Let me tell you his story.”
He proceeds to tell us how this kid had come to them a few weeks back. He said he is one of the most incredible kids they have ever had. For the last eight months, he has been homeless. He got on the bus to go visit his father. His father is in the hospital dying of Lupus. His mother died about a year ago with Lupus. He has been living on the streets by himself. As a sixteen-year-old kid, he would still take himself to the free clinic to get treatments, hoping to prevent Lupus from coming his way. Stunned! I stood there thinking: I have two teens at my house within months of this kid. A third within a couple of years. I cannot imagine them living on the streets. I am going to get to know Decapolis. Hopefully, we can show him what loving support looks like. In the meantime, I am proud to be a part of a group of people so committed to caring, loving, and sharing. The incredible people Undoing things around here are leaving their comfort zones, leaving their stereotypes, and leaving the damage in their wake…Undone!
Experiencing Grace
John
posted by The Gathering's Leadership on 08/14/2008
Well, it happened again. Another extraordinary day. For a second time since our inception as a spiritual family, we used a beautiful summer day to go to Eastwood Lake (an outdoor public park) and have a baptism. We sat on a hillside and practiced what Christians for centuries have done. One by one people came to a temporary microphone and shared their commitment to Christ. A brother and sister, husband and wife, singles…all moved emotionally as were we by their boldness to follow Christ. Their stories echoed throughout the park as onlookers and people in the park were able to hear.
One by one and two by two we took them out into the pristine setting of the water’s edge and placed them in a watery grave, pnly then to bring them up to the new life that Christ offers each of them. It was like the early church. It brought tears to our eyes. One man in particular said this was a special day for him, because he was burying a lot of his previous life before Christ that had actually taken place in that park. Only Jesus can do that!!!
The day was gorgeous. After witnessing and sharing together the event of our Christian faith, we sat down together and had a picnic. Enjoying one another’s company, children running and playing, and just relaxing in perfect weather, it was almost like a Norman Rockwell painting. Only God however, could paint a picture like this one. The weather, the fellowship, the sunset over the water, and oh yeah…redemption!
Experiencing Grace,
John
posted by The Gathering's Leadership on 08/06/2008
It seems that our church has developed a theme of UNDOING. You might ask what does that mean. Well, I have been doing a series on the weekends throughout the summer focused on this very topic. Most people are focused on their doings. Quite frequently, the Bible deals with undoings. Undoing the past! Undoing the damage and the negatives of traditional church life and church people. These are the themes that have been adopted. And let me tell you, it has been a journey.
It has taken us down into the urban areas and the poor sections of our community. We aren’t doing the traditional “drive-by churching’s” we are saying to this community, “We sincerely care.” I like to think we have made a dent with our Victory Project, but I have to tell you that whatever changes we have made in their lives and community, it has been multiplied exponentially in our church. It has changed many of our stereotypes, many of our perspectives, and many of our conversations.
But here is the kicker; it isn’t just the inner city! Since we have been focusing on this, I have noticed conversation after conversation of well dressed, well manicured, educated and successful people needing the Undoing of Scripture. In reality, this is the place true connection begins. There are millions who think they are super spiritual because of the façade they are able to uphold in a church community, the façade of having it all together. The truth is God has His hands full working with us until we are undone. Moses, David, Paul, Chuck Colson, Franklin Graham are all examples of people who discovered the power of Undoing. When the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.
As I listen to people tell me with passion and energy in their voices their reports of the opportunities to connect with God in an Undoing, it is thrilling to my soul. Do you give to others without expectations? Do you serve without a built in prospect of reciprocation? If so, then I will see you Saturday at our next Victory Project event at Rollandia. Another opportunity to Undo some things in the name and love of Jesus! By the way, we’ll be undoing some things at Eastwood Lake this weekend too. Thank God for His Undoings!
Experiencing Grace,
John
posted by The Gathering's Leadership on 07/24/2008
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