Authentic

I picked up an old book the other day called JESUS/NOW by Leslie Brandt. He wrote some cool words that I want to share with you.



The person who is deeply committed to God and his purposes,
Who accepts his or her own humanity,
Its fallibility and failures,
Who responds to God’s forgiving love
And indwelling Spirit,
And recognizes the injunction and call
To be a loving servant,
Who emulates Jesus Christ
In His loving and sacrificial servanthood,
That person is an authentic Christian
Who truly is assigned to building God’s Kingdom
In the world today.

Thanks-Giving

thankful
for the sun shining this morning through the windows and bathing the room
for Crosby, Stills, and Nash playing on the machine
for my wife Joy Ellen Hupp LaSuer who seems to be sticking close my whole life long
for the coffee in the cup
for family and friends
for The Presence that doesn't leave despite my anxiety and lack of understanding
for the life of Jim and Mary Payne and so many more beautiful lives
for my blue jeans and sweatshirt
for sabbath
sweet sabbath.
Shalom to you my dear companions. Shalom.

the rhythm of the Kingdom

the rhythm:
of the Kingdom coming inside: being a part of the community of God's children, receiving transformation, caring for each other......
of the Kingdom coming out there: doing our daily work, loving our family and friends, noticing and honoring the Village Pantry worker....

the rhythm:
of the Kingdom coming inside: light and love and glory coming into our inner being...
of the Kingdom coming out there: volunteering so someone can get medical care...

the rhythm:
of the Kingdom coming inside: church ministry to teens and children, young families, and older adults...
of the Kingdom coming out there: schools, hospitals, government, people being fed, prisoners visited and prepared to exit into the world...

the rhythm:
of the Kingdom coming inside: transformation as God desires...
of the Kingdom coming out there: transformation as God desires...

the rhythm:
of the Kingdom coming inside: fun and food and sleep and music for us...
of the Kingdom coming out there: fun and food and sleep and music for everyone...

A Picture of My Emerging Journey

Trev and I go to the Emergent Conversatiion in CA. and hear a guy named Brian discussing some things with some other dudes on stools.

Joy and I begin the trilogy of A New Kind of Christian...wow.

Trev and I travel again to CA ...this time to go to the Creation Spirituality event. This leads to living within the wonder of creation and realizing that the story of the fall is very true...just not that true. And by the way, Matthew Fox told me that not only can I challenge/dialogue with the scripture in the local church but that I must!

Christ Church friends engage in the conversation.....Tom, Mark, Marcus, Trev, Nancy, Schnepps, David and Josh, Aaron, ...................................................!

Joy and I read Marcus Borg.

I, and we, travel to keep learning.

It becomes about the life of Jesus. How did he live, and how are we therefore called to live.

It becomes about the Good News that the Kingdom of God, the Mission of God's Love, is breaking through right now and inviting us to join in.

And what does an emergent church look like......caring for and enjoying each other, gathering around Christ and his ways, and then going out to live and love as he leads having the dust of the rabbi on us.....I'm still not sure. The journey continues.

Whatever

Wow. Got a day off. Kind of.
So tired. Ready to ......listen to music cranked up.
Rachel's coming home today. ....that's cool.
Life can get pretty freaking serious.
Jamie dog is sleeping in the sun...inside that is....fairly cold outside.
Leader of the Evangelicals who's combated homosexuality is accused of homosexuality.
But we are all human....true?
Need to go to a movie soon.
Are there humans out there?
I hope Kevin's new job is good stuff.
I hope Christ Church's 3rd service goes excellently.
I wonder if there is still a Lafayette over there.....it's like a parallel universe thing.
Ok, I'm out of here.
Peace.

In Any Size Church!

Last night I went to one of my charge conferences. It's a small church in the heart of Anderson....50 people in worship....they run a ministry for children who have a parent in jail...most of the new people in the church and in the community come from broken situations in life...out of the 50 people attending worship, 15 sing in the choir...and they continue to become like Jesus for the sake of others.

What I have discovered as I have visited 40 churches so far is that God's Mission can happen in any size church! I have some large churches who are working very hard and doing some amazing things to touch people's lives both in and outside the building. And I have small churches that are alive and well and seeking to be faithful and change one life at a time.

I must admit that somehow I and most of the UM's I've known have lost sight of this over the years. We have dismissed the reality and power of the small and medium sized churches. Growth in church size is indeed one of the signs that the Kingdom is happening in our midst but so are other things like people deepening their faith and seeking to do God's will both inside and outside the community of faith. And this church in Anderson, even though they are indeed having some numerical growth, are also being faithful by the planting of spiritual seeds in the hearts of at risk children and others.

So, this Jesus follower says,
Hey, check it out, there's good news and that is that the Kingdom of God is happening right now in and through all sizes of church communities!