Community

If you've talked to me this summer, this post won't be very new to you.  God has  been rocking my world from Spring Break until now with the idea of community.  When I was in high school, I could be described as disgustingly independent and arrogant of my status as a self-proclaimed super Christian.  I had an egotistical case of "give-me-Jesus" that saw other people as non-essential and even hindrances to my faith.  Thomas a Kempis carries some of this same feel as he talks about the inward life.  He describes leaving the world so he can pursue God.  This is often the case in monastic thought, and I was a monk in 11th grade.

At this point, Friar David really loved to be recognized as spiritually mature.  He would never get really honest with people, because then everyone would see how immature he really was.  For this reason, he strayed from community because appearance was just so important.

A lot changed when I went to college.  I lived with guys who wanted to be more like Jesus.  I was in classes with these guys and hung out with them.  I realized I really enjoyed authentic community.  I talked about hard stuff with these guys and they got real with me.  I didn't always keep up my monastic, saintly exterior.  I allowed myself to be honest and I realized how important that honesty was to my soul.

That summer, I worked at Deer Run Retreat Center.  It was by far the best summer of my life.  I lived in tight community on a team with 21 other college students who were passionate about Jesus.  We were a team.  The first two weeks were made up of training in which we did a lot of the usual team building exercises.  We also spent every night sharing testimonies.  This was integral to our team unity because it built such trust.  Everyone knew everyone else's business and we loved each other and the Lord so much more because of that.  I lived in a single room with 8 other guys and I miss those times.  I was encouraged so many times in so many ways by so many people.  I love each of my staff members dearly and I long for more time with them.

This last year of school I took a trip to Rhode Island where we partnered with a evangelical church in the area.  The thing that struck me most was the community emphasis there.  Every part of the service was focused on the congregation as a whole.  From worship to prayers to the sermon, even transitions, every part of the service was focused on the body of Christ as a whole.  On Sunday nights, they had what they call "service review."  The church gathers in small groups in people's homes to discuss the service.  They prayed for one another and ate together.  This church was a beautiful picture of the body of Christ.

God has been so gracious to me in teaching me about community.  I have grown in humility and love for others because I've learned more about God's design for relationships.  I look forward to continue to see God teaching in this way.

Guilty Pleasures

It's been a while.  I've neglected this blog for a long time and I'm excited to start writing again.  So far, this summer has been phenomenal.  I'm interning at my home church just outside Memphis and I'm seeing God do great things in our students and in me (more to come soon).

Donald Miller has recently become one of my favorite authors, which may get me excommunicated from some circles.  I love his heartfelt stories and themes.  The way he meanders through a book, subtly teaching me truth is wonderful.  I get to the end of his book and feel this overwhelming sense to do something.  Only then do I realize how valuable his work was for me.

Most recently, this sensation came in the form of Searching for God Knows What.  My boy Miller exposes man's tendency to simplify the God of the universe and his relationship with his creatures down to a simple formula.  It goes a little like this
1. Do stuff God likes.  Read your Bible a lot.  Pray.  If you do it enough, God will like you.
2. Vote Republican.  It's what Jesus would do.
3. Repeat

Now I'm not opposed to reading, praying and voting Republican, but so many times these things can become cold and thoughtless.  We identify God with our agenda instead of identifying ourselves with his.  We trade relationship for religion in the form of a formula.  Donald Miller's book is a call back to authentic relationship with God.

The most helpful theme in his book for me is the lifeboat.  You're on a cruise ship and it gets attacked by an aquatic Godzilla.  You have just enough time to get to the lifeboat with a few other strangers.  After a day or so in the boat, you realize one person has to sacrifice themselves so everyone else can live.  Everyone on the boat begins to bargain for their lives, knowing they must be better than everyone else so they can be guaranteed to live.  Miller tells us we live our lives this way, desperately struggling for recognition so no one throws us out of the lifeboat.  We search hopelessly for the affirmation that can only be found in relationship with God.  We try and get to the top of the food chain in our lifeboat world so we will finally be fulfilled.  It doesn't work.

I realized through reading this book that I am addicted to success because I'm addicted to affirmation.  I've GOT to win, or I'm a failure.  I've got to succeed, or I'm nothing.  I live in the lifeboat, hoping I won't get thrown out.

Praise the Lord, he laughs at the concept of the lifeboat.  Jesus' whole life and ministry deny the reality of the lifeboat.  Serve others.  Be last.  Take up your cross.  He opens our eyes to the reality that we were made for relationship with God, not some petty comparison game in a lifeboat.  So, by God's grace, get out of the boat