What good is unsalty salt?

As I write, Brad and two of his friends from San Antonio, Steve and Dorian, are in the other room. They are crashing on my living room floor. Steve and Dorian have a flight out to Baltimore around 6am, so they needed a place to rest their weary heads before they go to the airport. It was fun visiting with Brad and meeting Steve and Dorian. God, may you bless their travel and allow them to meet You in a deeper way on this trip. May they come into contact with lives that may be touched by Your grace and be the hands and feet of Jesus to those they meet during this trip.

So, I was reading a great article by Dallas Willard called "How Does The Disciple Live?" He stirred several thoughts in me, but I really like his thoughts concerning the spiritual disciplines. Here is a quote from the article:

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"Disciplines are, in essence, activities in our power that enable us, by grace, to do what we cannot do by direct effort—by 'just trying.' We cannot, by just trying, succeed in loving our enemies and heartily blessing those who curse us. But by a wise practice of disciplines in the presence of Christ, we can become people who will routinely and easily do so."

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My life has to be a constant striving to become molded more into the shape of Jesus. He uses the term that we are to be "Jesus' apprentice" in the article. I like that term, because it is so full of meaning. As an apprentice, we are not perfect, but we are constantly walking with the master to learn the "tricks of the trade". The goal of an apprentice, however, is not to stay an apprentice, it is to eventually become a master oneself. I think that spiritual discipline in our lives helps to transform us from casual observers to people that are actively becoming more like little Christs here on earth (hence the term "Christians" that were given to the disciples in Antioch - Acts 11:25-26). They were ordinary men and women who, through their pursuit of Christ, began to look more and more like Him to the world around them.

How tired I am of looking like the world around me and not like Christ. The church today has lost its saltiness. It is nearly impossible to identify Christians in our day-to-day lives. We have to rely on Jesus T-Shirts, Christian Fish Symbols, or Yard Signs to find the people of God around us. I don't remember Jesus saying that the world will know us because we have a fish sign on our car. He said that the world would know us by our love. We sure can build nice buildings, but how are we loving those around us that most need it?

Potato Salad Confessions

So, I enjoyed meeting with a bunch of friends at the White's place for BBQ this last Friday night. We had more BBQ than I could eat, corn on the cob, potato salad, baked beans, and much more. It was all topped off by peach and cherry cobbler with Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream. I ate until I truly felt like I was gonna pop. But, better even than all that food, was the fellowship of believers. We didn't have a formal worship time and neither did we have a sermon. But, I still say that what we did that night was Church. It was the Church of Jesus alive today and sharing our lives together in community. Is it everything that the Church should be today? No, but it was much closer to real-life faith than any 2-hour service I've sat through on a Sunday. I laughingly joked about wanting to start a new church called "BBQ Church".

On a similar note, at Deeper last night, we did a "block-party-neighborhood-outreach" type of thing. There was a scary looking clown making balloon animals. (Is it just me, or did he look like some of the clowns from my nightmares?) There was a live band playing everything from My Girl to La Bamba to Better Is One Day. There were games, driveway chalk, hamburgers, hot dogs, lotsa cookies and such, and kids running all over the place. But, most of all, there was good fellowship and a spirit of bridge-building to the community. At one point, one of the neighborhood kids came up to Gerald to thank him for the party and Gerald told him to come again sometime. I jokingly said something about "same time, same place" next week and Gerald asked if I was trying to invent "Block Party Church". I laughed, but then I had some ideas. What if, once a week, or even once every 2 weeks, a group of Christians in community together, opened up a house in one of their neighborhoods for "Block Party Church". Let the neighbors know that there is a standing invitation to come by for some free hamburgers and hot dogs on those days. Play games, play music, eat food, have fellowship, and meet people who need God. Sure, sometimes you'd have zero visitors and sometimes you'd have 10. But, it would be an effort to "go" to where the harvest is and make connections. I reckon that model would bring more people into meaningful relationship with God than our standard "come-watch-a-show" 2-hour spectaculars on Sundays that no self-respecting non-Christian would want to get out of bed for.

Block Party Church and BBQ Church. What was said in jest, might actually ring with a tone of genuineness. After all, we read of many times in the Gospels where Jesus was "breaking bread" and having meals with "tax collectors and sinners". Hey, his first recorded miracle was at a party where he furnished more of the party supplies when they ran out! I like this quote from an article that Dina sent me:

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"In recent years I've come to realize that our religious institutions are not the church God sees. What God calls 'church' are all the people who know his Son as their Lord and leader. They are scattered over the whole world, growing to know him better and to demonstrate his character in the world. This is the bride God is preparing for his own Son."

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Alright, who's turn is it to bring the BBQ sauce to next week's bridal shower?

There is a bigger picture.

Lately, I've been wrestling with my sinful nature. More specifically, I've been wrestling with the demonic forces that want me to believe that, instead of revolving around the sun, the world revolves around me. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't consider myself a very selfish or narcissistic person. I rather enjoy serving and putting others first. However, my views of God, I've noticed, tend to be heavily skewed towards me as the center.

For instance, in the matters of my life, my prayers are about what God can and will do for ME. I seek God's will for MY life. I want God to speak to ME about ME. I've seemingly lost site of a world around me and the fact that I am but a tool in His hands. In the greater narrative of God's story, I am only but an extra. However, it seems like I demand the star dressing room from God. Even our worship tends to focus on ourselves and what God will do for us or what we will do for God. Here is a great excerpt from an open letter to songwriters by Brian McLaren:

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"Let me make this specific: Too many of our lyrics are embarrassingly personalistic, about Jesus and me. Personal intimacy with God is such a wonderful step above a cold, abstract, wooden recitation of dogma. But it isn’t the whole story. In fact—this might shock you—it isn’t, in the emerging new postmodern world, necessarily the main point of the story. A popular worship song I’ve heard in many venues in the last few years (and which we sing at Cedar Ridge, where I pastor) says that worship is “all about You, Jesus,” but apart from that line, it really feels like worship, and Christianity in general, has become “all about me, me, me.”

If you doubt what I’m saying, listen next time you’re singing in worship. It’s about how Jesus forgives me, embraces me, makes me feel his presence, strengthens me, forgives me, holds me close, touches me, revives me, etc., etc. Now this is all fine. But if an extraterrestrial outsider from Mars were to observe us, I think he would say either a) that these people are all mildly dysfunctional and need a lot of hug therapy (which is ironic, because they are among the most affluent in the world, having been blessed in every way more than any group in history), or b) that they don’t give a rip about the rest of the world, that their religion/spirituality makes them as selfish as any nonChristian, but just in spiritual things rather than material ones."

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Could it be that many of the "circumstances" that happen in our lives, happen not because God wants something for us, but that he wants to use us to minister and bless others? I know that I have been challenged by God to take a look at the "events" of my life in a new way. I want to see how He is preparing and using me in the broader scope of His plan, and not just how He wants to bless me. I want to change my faith from being self-centered to being others-centered.

Rethinking "Church"

I came across this great definition of rethinking what "Church" is:

"Consider this definition of church:

A loose-knit network of Jesus followers who gather together to encourage each other in their spiritual life and who go out, moved by the Holy Spirit, sharing and demonstrating the Gospel.

Loose-knit. Not formal membership, just a love-commitment to God and each other.

Jesus followers. The basic requirement for membership in the church.

Who gather together. Gathering to build one another up and to worship.

Who go out. The purpose of believers… to GO with the message.

Moved by the Holy Spirit. The one and only LEADER of the church.

Sharing and demonstrating the gospel. The reason that the church GOES.

Neither the church gatherings, nor the church’s “goings” had to have anything other than believers + the Holy Spirit. Nothing else was necessary for church to be church. Sometimes apostles were present, many times not. Sometimes elders were present, many times not. The church really is the followers of Jesus who engaged in gathering and going."

Along these lines, here is a great article the defines what appears to me to be a better definition of what Christ intended the "church" to be. A Description Of A House Church.

Things to ponder. More to come later.

New place to spew...

Well, I'm making the leap from Live Journal to Blogger. I just really like the feel of Blogger better and the customization options are much better. So, my short-term life on LiveJournal will now find a new beginning here.

Caleb and Jonah have been at a day camp this week at Brentwood Oaks Church of Christ. They have been having a blast and Dina and I have been in amazement at how quiet the house can be with just a 2-year-old and a 6-month-old here. It has been nice to have some time to get a few things done without constantly having to intervene in the struggles of 2 boys that define the words "sibling rivalry".

I had a good breakfast with Gerald this morning and am even more sure about some decisions that we have made for our family in regards to our relationship with our church, Round Rock Chapel. Specifically with regards to the youth and college kids. We want to minister to them in more of an organic fashion. We have lived life with them for the past couple of years and we want to find more ways to disciple them and be a community of faith that has an impact on the community that we live in. Instead of "framing" our events to fit what we think things should look like, we mainly just want to participate in a life lived to glorify Jesus, while surrounding ourselves with the people that are on the journey with us. We want more of a caravan mindset than a commissary. I don't want to provide a "place" that the college kids can come to be fed, but to provide a spiritual journey where we travel together and experience life together. What does that look like? I don't know yet, but we're learning and searching.

As for the job front, 5 days after I signed a contract to leave my own consulting business and become a consultant for another Mac consulting company, I received a notice that they were closing their Texas markets. So, that was a wash. The good news is that I can continue with my business, Macs-Sense, and I might get to inherit the company's client list for Austin. I am also hoping to partner in some form with the two other consultants who were laid off in the DFW area. Time will tell, but I really sense and smell that God has his hands in this pot in some way that we don't understand yet. So, I am again self-employed and needing to find some more customers to grow my business again. Continuing to trust in God to provide for my family's needs...

Well, I guess I'm gonna let this be my first transition post to Blogger from Live Journal and I'll post some more later...