movement seven: good
tonight is one of those lazy kind of saturday nights where you take your shower after dinner and just sit around doing all of those things you never make time to do or nothing at all. i like nights like this, no pressure to be out and about, going or doing.
i enjoy this type of rare, uneventful evening.
time to listen. time to sleep. [or try to sleep] time to be still.
i finished velvet elvis and i must say the last chapter was definitely my favorite. usually, i'm not one to give away endings, but i think this is different. it's gotten me all fired up and i can't fall asleep. i am prompted to share my favorite passages, arranged and rearranged, taken apart and then pieced back together:
[the first church understood that people are rarely persuaded by arguments, but more often by experiences. living. breathing. flesh-and-blood experiences of the resurrection community...now it's our turn. it is our turn to rediscover the beautiful, dangerous, compelling idea that a group of people, surrendered to God and to each other, really can change the world.
the church is at its best when it gives itself away, and this is because blessing is always instrumental. God doesn't choose people just so they'll feel good about themselves or secure in their standing with God or whatever else. God chooses people to be used to bless other people. God has no boundaries. God blesses everybody. people who don't believe in Him, and people who do. people who are opposed to God and people who aren't. even people who do violent, evil things.
God's intentions are to bless everybody.
the church doesn't exist for itself; it exists to serve the world.
it is not ultimately about the church;
it's about all the people God wants to bless through the church.
i am learning how to suffer well. not to avoid it but to feel the full force of it. ultimately my gift to the world around me is hope. not blind hope that pretends everything is fine and refuses to acknowledge how things are. but the kind of hope that comes from staring pain and suffering right in the eyes and refusing to believe that this is all there is.
it is what we all need...
hope that comes not from going around suffering...
but from going through it.
the church is like a double-edged sword.
when it's good, when it's on, when it's right...it's like nothing on earth.
but when it’s bad... all the potential gets turned the other way.
the most powerful things happen when the church surrenders its desires to convert people and convince them to join. it is when the church gives itself away in radical acts of service and compassion, expecting nothing in return, that the way of Jesus is most vividly put on display. to treat people differently based on who believes what is to fail to respect the image of God in everyone. oftentimes the Christian community has sent the message that we love people and build relationships in order to convert them to the Christian faith.
so there is an agenda.
and when there is an agenda, it isn't really love, is it?
it's something else. we have to rediscover love, period.]
velvet elvis. rob bell.
passion 06...any takers?
i enjoy this type of rare, uneventful evening.
time to listen. time to sleep. [or try to sleep] time to be still.
i finished velvet elvis and i must say the last chapter was definitely my favorite. usually, i'm not one to give away endings, but i think this is different. it's gotten me all fired up and i can't fall asleep. i am prompted to share my favorite passages, arranged and rearranged, taken apart and then pieced back together:
[the first church understood that people are rarely persuaded by arguments, but more often by experiences. living. breathing. flesh-and-blood experiences of the resurrection community...now it's our turn. it is our turn to rediscover the beautiful, dangerous, compelling idea that a group of people, surrendered to God and to each other, really can change the world.
the church is at its best when it gives itself away, and this is because blessing is always instrumental. God doesn't choose people just so they'll feel good about themselves or secure in their standing with God or whatever else. God chooses people to be used to bless other people. God has no boundaries. God blesses everybody. people who don't believe in Him, and people who do. people who are opposed to God and people who aren't. even people who do violent, evil things.
God's intentions are to bless everybody.
the church doesn't exist for itself; it exists to serve the world.
it is not ultimately about the church;
it's about all the people God wants to bless through the church.
i am learning how to suffer well. not to avoid it but to feel the full force of it. ultimately my gift to the world around me is hope. not blind hope that pretends everything is fine and refuses to acknowledge how things are. but the kind of hope that comes from staring pain and suffering right in the eyes and refusing to believe that this is all there is.
it is what we all need...
hope that comes not from going around suffering...
but from going through it.
the church is like a double-edged sword.
when it's good, when it's on, when it's right...it's like nothing on earth.
but when it’s bad... all the potential gets turned the other way.
the most powerful things happen when the church surrenders its desires to convert people and convince them to join. it is when the church gives itself away in radical acts of service and compassion, expecting nothing in return, that the way of Jesus is most vividly put on display. to treat people differently based on who believes what is to fail to respect the image of God in everyone. oftentimes the Christian community has sent the message that we love people and build relationships in order to convert them to the Christian faith.
so there is an agenda.
and when there is an agenda, it isn't really love, is it?
it's something else. we have to rediscover love, period.]
velvet elvis. rob bell.
passion 06...any takers?
posted by jill m at 9:10 PM
1 Comments:
Jill... thats awesome! That is right on w/what we have been discussing here lately... how funny. Rob Bell has these NOOMA events here in LA and Kevin went to one a few weeks ago. Small world it seems... good to know the Spirit moves all over the place! Way to catch on to the movement! I've got to read his book... and then maybe some of Erwin's too and see the similarities/differences in these leaders.
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