Matthew 5:4::Happy are the Sad?!?

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 

What?  That doesn't make sense.  I get that only people who are sad need comfort, but when you see that blessed is actually a joyous term, how can you say that we are happy when we are sad?

I guess, we have to look more closely at the words used.  "Mourn" is the focal word for me when I read it.  What does that mean?  Is it simply sadness?  Isn't that what we do at funerals?  Yes, but the word is much more loaded than that.  The Greek word is actually pentheo and it caries with it a similar understanding to what the big fish did to Jonah...that's right - spit up, vomit, hurl, blow chunks.  The understanding is that there is something on the inside of us that is hurting us, so we have to get it out.  Sometimes this can be ugly, but it is definitely needed.  So, here's my new translation: "You will be happy when you hurl, because you will feel better."  Okay, maybe not.

Take the first in context with verse three, though - blessed are those at the end of their rope.  If there are things eating us up on the inside, we must have a place where we can get those out.  We must have a community that will see our end-of-rope status and still love us.  We have to have a community where we can get things out, so that we can be comforted.  We must.  Many of us walk around everyday with pain and hurt and mistakes bottled up on the inside that are eating away at us.  Eventually, those things will build to the point where they spew out - and you cannot help it.  The smart thing for us would be to find that community of Christ-followers that will listen as we "mourn" with them.  They will hear our hurts and through their willingness to be used by God, will over us comfort.

Our communities must be this way.  Jesus is teaching his inner circle that this is the kingdom he is ushering in.  In a culture where the religious would do everything they could to hide their problems, Jesus brings an honesty and openness into the equation.  Blessed are you when you get out on the outside what's killing you on the inside because only then will you get the comfort your soul needs and support for the journey.  It's not just about letting it out though.  Those who hear the confession, must be willing to bring a glass of encouraging water or offer a towel of admonishment to the one confessing.  That's the set-up.  We don't just come into a group, vomit all of our problems and walk away.  God speaks through the community to bring hope, healing and strength to the confessor.

I want to be part of an honest community - one that is comfortable at the end of the rope, but understands the value of healthy confession.  I think we all have an innate longing for a place to know and be known, love and be loved...to confess and to be confessed to.  

TK Chapters 18+ :: Inviting In

Well, today, I'm going to finish up the posts on Tangible Kingdom by combining the last few chapters.  I am glad that we ventured out in this book together, but it's gone a little long and I'm not sure who has read the book, who has finished the book and who is waiting to jump back in when we move on.

Saturday night, I wrapped up our final night at family camp with a lot of Tangible Kingdom thoughts.  I taught about the Living Out and Inviting In at the back of the book.  We've discussed the Living Out, but here's the recap..

• LEAVING is about replacing personal or Christian activities with time spent building relationships with people in the surrounding culture.  Selfishness is the enemy of leaving.
• LISTENING is eally more about what you do with your eyes instead of just your ears.  Arrogance is the enemy of listening.
• LIVING AMONG is participating in the natural activities of the culture around you, with whimsical holiness.  Fear is the enemy of living among.
• LOVING WITHOUT STRINGS is giving your life away to others without expecting anything in return.  We love because that's simply how Jesus lived.  Expectations are the enemy of loving without strings.
  

That brings us to the INVITING IN part of living in God's Kingdom in a tangible manner.  Once we connect with those in the culture around us, we must be clear about what we are inviting them into.  Halter describes three areas in which we invite people into...

1. Communion represents “oneness” - those things that make up our communal connection and worship of God.  The more we become “one” with Christ, the less consumer oriented we will be.
2. Community represents aspects of “togetherness” - those things we share as we form our lives together.  The more we do “together,” the less individualistic we will be.
3. Mission represents “otherness” - the aspects of our life together that focus on people outside our community.  The more we do for “others,” the less materialistic we will be.

Consumerism, individualism and materialism are the greatest enemies of biblical community today.  Every excuse we make about engaging in the life that Christ wants for us.  It keeps us from engaging with those who walk the same journey with us, and it keeps us from living it all out in the middle of the culture that wraps us up in everyday life.

Tangible Kingdom has proven to be a very rewarding read for me.  I have been affirmed by much of the book and challenged by others.  While the book started off a little bit like every "missional" book, and tempted me and others to discard it because it was just another pastor who seems to brag about drinking and riding his Harley, there was enough in each chapter to keep me reading and laughing.  Then it kicked into hyper-drive and was a great read after that.  

I'm not sure if I'll venture down this road again with a book, but I'm glad we did it once.  Next post is back to "embracing the Christ-life in every place with everything, everyday!"

Chapter 7 :: The 1,700-Year Wedgie

Well, after getting a bit off-track at the end of last week, I hope to refocus our attention on the book. In so doing, maybe we can clarify the journey we are on just a little. The discussion was good on Sundays, but not what I had hoped. By the way, I had a great Sunday with my church yesterday. We worshiped, we played, we celebrated dads and it was encouraging. So, for those of you who might be worried that I'm not experiencing anything good in my Sunday expressions of the church, that just is not the case.

Now for today...The 1,700-Year Wedgie. Just reading the chapter title brought back memories of 7th grade sleep-overs at friends houses! Once I got passed my juvenile tendencies, I settled in for a great 7-page chapter. Here is the first part that grabbed my attention:

"When we call for the ancient way of church to return, we are calling for a return to this revolutionary position, outside the center of the dominant culture." (p51)

Right now, I am sitting at "The Chick" (Chick-fil-a), writing and I am listening to music that at one time was reserved for the privacy of one's own heart and maybe a youth campfire service. As I look around, no one is bowing, no one is lifting their hands, no one is clapping, no one is singing (out-loud). The Chick just might be the most popular fast-food restaurant in our area. There are always people here. That being said, "worship music" plays on the stereo and people hardly even notice. I love The Chick and I hope they keep playing the music, but to me it is an example of how the church has lost it's revolutionary position.

"The ancient church influenced the world not by lightening up their values or by veiling them, but by living them out in plain view of the culture around them. Their lives exposed and challenged the present value system with new Kingdom values." (p51-52)

I see this as achievable for the Church today. I do not want to go back to primitive dwellings, no electricity, no cars, no this no that. I have said before that I love our modern amenities. However, there is a place in the culture that the ancient church occupied that I want to get back to. Don't misunderstand our push for ancient church as a push for method - it's about mission!

Halter then moves into 3 specific cases where Kingdom values replaced current values...and can again!

1. The Value of Sacrificial Community (Acts 2:44) - operating like a spiritual co-op, where people had their needs met within the community
2. The Value of Confrontation (Acts 5:1-11) - because incarnational practices are relational, confrontation is much more direct and affective.
3. The Value of Inclusive Community (Acts 11:1-18) - God was getting Peter ready to change how Peter viewed people, especially the "nonbelieving Gentiles." The Good News was there for everyone - man, woman, young, old, slave, free, Jew and Gentile.

It's easy for us to get caught up in conversations about Sunday morning - nice conversations, by the way - but ultimately we all have to ask ourselves serious questions about our experience, no matter what flavor. In the early church, nobody repainted the picture to make it more attractive - in fact, a case could be made that Jesus often made His Way less appealing to those with whom he shared. "God's strategy of challenging valueless values with Kingdom values was the way the church grew in respect and in numbers." (p54)

These three specific values are increasingly difficult in the sterile environment of large group gatherings, but not so in smaller groups of relationally connected people. Yes, we can all come together and pool resources and gather 1000 backpacks at school, but the impact of a small group pooling their resources to support a family in the group whose husband has lost his job, is not only revolutionary to the one being served, but to the rest of the group as well. Sure, the speaker at a large gathering can "confront" everyone in the room with the words he says, but personal confrontation from people we trust and who know us goes a lot further for both the confronted and the one confronting. We can have services that involve people in large room of different colors and maybe different versions of the same belief, but in the smaller group context we can have people of any, all or no faith sitting in a room discussing their views of everything from Tiger Woods to the early apostles, and it's good.

This chapter gave me further clarity in the reason we are sailing in uncharted waters as a small church plant. We refuse to settle for good things, when better things might just be around the corner. As others have stated recently, different does not always equal better, but when the goal is to see people relationally connected to God and to their neighbors, different methods must be explored, lest we just repeat the same patterns of ineffectiveness as our predecessors. I for one, want more and I know there is more out there.

What Do You Think?

In a recent interview with The Wittenberg Door, Rob Bell was asked how his church started (Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, MI). His response follows:

"Seven years ago, a group of friends were just dreaming of something better. I guess the natural evolution of each generation is to explore what it means. How to live the way of Jesus here and now. So we started and it now feels like fifty years packed into seven. Mars Hill is an old mall. Our "architect"—I say that as a joke—says everything about the church should scream "Welcome to our church service! Now get the hell out of here." We say, "This isn't the church, this is a church service. It's just an hour where we have some teaching, some singing and you'll hear about things in the community." If there are 43 "one anothers" in the New Testament—serve one another, carry one another's burden's, confess to one another—you can only do a couple of those in a church service. Until you have a community that you are journeying with, please don't say you are a part of this church. You just come to a gathering. We are very intentional about that. The question is, "Who do you call when your brother ODs on cocaine? If your mom is in the hospital, who comes and sits in the waiting room with you? When you cannot pay your rent, who do you go to and say please help me out?" That's your church."

How does his response strike you? I'd really like to get some of your thoughts regarding this one, so fire away! I will respond to your thoughts!