Experiencing True Community

          This past week our students started a new series entitled We.  Here is a snapshot of this series, “In following Christ, there is one truth that most of us forget--we were never meant to do this alone. We need other people. It's critical not just because we need friends, but also because in community we understand more about who God is. We see how He is working in other people's lives. We learn things that God has taught them, and we get an opportunity to love and serve others. The WE series helps us discover the "WHY" behind community--why we need it, why we should pursue it--and why it's more than just what you do every week after a communicator speaks.”

Each week includes a discussion question/point that our parents and their students are encouraged to wrestle through together.  The first week’s discussion question reads as follows, Where do you have the greatest sense of community in your life? How has this been a good thing? How has it been a difficult thing?

Community has always been one of those things that I have absolutely longed to feel.  There is simply something about being connected to a group of people who genuinely know you and authentically care about you.  This past week I had the opportunity to discuss this with our students and recount the fact that it is no wonder that God desires for us to be in community as He has been in community with the other two members of the Trinity since the beginning of time.  Just as God has always existed in community, He instills that same desire into our lives as well.  For me personally, I have been able to experience community through my family, friends, small groups and mentoring relationships.  There have been times where the sense of community has been extremely strong and other times when community hasn’t exactly worked, which I will explore next week.

After thinking back through my life, there was one particular occurrence where I personally felt as though the greatest sense of community existed.  This happened during my sophomore year of college when I was connected to a small group of guys which consisted of me and two other young men, who continue to greatly impact my life even today.  This group really started simply because we were experiencing several challenges that college life brings to you, trying not to fall into temptation, and we all had a desire to grow in our faith.  We began to meet weekly reading Scripture, praying together, and sharing about our lives.  We quickly discovered that we were able to be transparent with one another, without the fear of judgment, pray for one another, and share advice as we had it.  By sharing our hearts with one another openly and honestly we were able to experience community in what I believe was the purest sense of the word.  We were able to share our hurts, fears, and anxieties without the worry that others would and hear about them or that we would be looked down upon because of our shortcomings.  The other two guys in the group would listen with open minds, lift the struggling one up and share about our experiences with the honest desire to see our brother in Christ lifted up.  We were focused on growth, encouragement, and love which made this a wonderful group to be a part of and allowed us to experience true community.

However, this group didn’t come without its share of challenges as well.  The first challenge was developing the ability to trust others with our joys, hurts, challenges, and apprehensions.  All three of us had encountered hurt in our lives, but the desire to be authentic with someone else eventually trumped that fear.  We knew that we could share openly and honestly allowing us to not give into the fear that had once controlled us.  The second challenge was perhaps the more difficult because as the three of us became a close knit community, others saw what was taking place and wanted to be a part of our group.  We didn’t want to seem like a click but we knew that we had something special and we wanted to keep it this way.  This became increasingly difficult as we would try to let others join but the depth of love and confidentiality never was the same with someone else in the mix.  These two other young men still serve as a constant voice of love and support in my life today and without them I shudder to think where I would be today. 

So as you examine your own life today, where do you sense the greatest amount of community in your life?  Why is this the greatest source and you do you treasure/guard it?  What makes it difficult to experience community in your life?  I challenge you to examine your life and figure out how to find true community in your life as this is what God desires for you to experience with others.

Moving Out of the Comfort Zone

          This past week our students concluded their series entitled Collide.  Here is a snapshot of this series, “Ask anyone who's ever run into a sliding glass door that was closed, or went for the same baseball as a teammate, or experienced a fender bender at a stoplight-a collision changes things. Whether it's a bump on the head or a cracked bumper, something is not the same as it was before. The same thing happens when we collide with God or His truth or even other people. We're changed. But unless we put ourselves in a position to collide, everything will stay the same. So are you ready to change, are you ready to collide?”

Each week includes a discussion question/point that our parents and their students are encouraged to wrestle through together.  The third week’s discussion question reads as follows,   As a Christian, is there something you feel like you should do, but for some reason-fear, uncertainty, discomfort – you’re reluctant to do it?  How can you push yourself out of that comfort zone and make it happen?

            Throughout my lifetime my parents had several conversations that I simply didn’t understand.  They would try to teach me what was right and wrong, how to live my life, and even help guide me through some challenging decisions.  However, despite their best intentions my stubborn ways always seemed to triumph, usually forcing me to learn lessons the hard way.  I recall several times that my parents tried to have a conversation but I simply disregarded their input and went on my own path. 

As a parent now I am finding it interesting to see the need to have those special conversations with my children with the hope that they will turn out alright, make good decisions, and have a good life.  Even though these conversations seem to be instigated mostly by the parents, there are some times that the “challenging” conversations need to be turned around.  There was one such occurrence that I recall from my freshman year of college that forever changed the relationship between my father and I.  This conversation was something that was difficult, challenging, and honestly I was reluctant to have it initially but it was a conversation that needed to happen.

Before I continue I feel that it is necessary to set the stage of this conversation.  As a freshman at a private Christian college I was looking at things through some new lenses.  I was being challenged in my faith by our professors, staff, and my peers.  I began to find myself understanding new characteristics of God, taking big steps along my faith journey, and discovering what it meant for me to be a Christian.  After the first few months of college I was feeling great and then we hit our spiritual renewal week.  This was a week where we had special speakers, extra chapel sessions and usually were “pushed” out of our comfort zones.  It was during my first spiritual renewal week that the uncertainty, discomfort, and even fear began to creep into my relationship with my dad.  While my father always supported me, came to my events, and was a constant voice in my life there was still one area of my life that I was unsure about, which was his faith journey.  During my first spiritual renewal week, I remember the speaker challenging us to share our faith, especially with those that we love the most to ease our fear about their eternal destiny.  As I listened to him speak I knew that my dad went to church every week, prayed, and even helped others but had he given his life to God completely?  This was something that I was unsure of.  Normally, I would have felt alright with not pursuing this conversation but a few months my dad had encountered a battle with cancer that could have ended his life.  Thankfully, God healed him but I was still unsure about his spiritual well-being.  On a Tuesday night I found myself calling my dad, in tears, to get an answer to this question.  I remember his reply being short and to-the-point (which is typical for my dad) when he said, “Matt right before my first surgery this summer (as he had two to remove the cancerous tumors from his body), I gave my life to God and fully surrendered every bit of control to Him.”  Those words calmed my spirit and helped me to feel at peace with the challenging situation that I was facing, but even more so changed the landscape for my relationship with my dad forever.  Something happened in that moment that changed the way we related to one another.  Never before had we really “talked” (even though we always talked we never really had those heart-felt conversations until after this phone call).  We began to tell each other that we loved one another at the conclusion of our phone calls, and sought to learn from one another with the desire to have a better relationship than we had before. 

You see I felt like I needed to have this conversation to ease my fears about my dad’s relationship with God even though it would be difficult, lead me to work through my uncertainty and fear but it was necessary for me to have the conversation in order to find a peace in my life.  While the conversation was difficult to have the outcome of having a peace and enjoying a great relationship with my father have been well worth it.  It was challenging to push myself out of my comfort zone but the results of doing so were well worth it.  What situation or conversation is God calling you to have today that may be one of discomfort or even fear but have a great impact on your life?  I challenge you to push yourself out of your comfort zone to face this conversation or situation in order to see the results of what God would like to accomplish in your life.

Learning from the Unlikely

 

          This past week our students continued in their series entitled Collide.  Here is a snapshot of this series, “Ask anyone who's ever run into a sliding glass door that was closed, or went for the same baseball as a teammate, or experienced a fender bender at a stoplight-a collision changes things. Whether it's a bump on the head or a cracked bumper, something is not the same as it was before. The same thing happens when we collide with God or His truth or even other people. We're changed. But unless we put ourselves in a position to collide, everything will stay the same. So are you ready to change, are you ready to collide?”

Each week includes a discussion question/point that our parents and their students are encouraged to wrestle through together.  The second week’s discussion question reads as follows, What is something that you have learned about God from a person or source that wouldn’t necessarily be labeled “Christian.” 

            I have a shameless confession to make; my wife and I have enjoyed the show American Idol for several seasons.  Despite the constantly changing judges and the challenging auditions, there is something about the show that pulls at our heartstrings with the opportunity that the show provides to propel someone into stardom.  As we watch each week it seems that we are amazed with the sheer talent of the individuals but recently there was another thought that came through my mind. 

Music can remind us of situations and/or circumstances as well, which is what happened to me a couple of weeks ago as we were watching the show.  A particular song came on that made me begin to think back to my high school days but with a little bit of a twist.  The song that was performed was Joan Osborne’s One of Us.  I remembered the song coming out, its popularity, and the message behind it.  I recalled hearing it for the first time but this time I began to listen more intently to the lyrics.  After listening to this song again I found that several of the lyrics provided a glimpse into the theology of Joan Osborne illustrating a different view of God entirely than what I have.  However, rather than writing the song off entirely because of the difference of views I found myself thinking through the theology presented to see if there was any “Truth” that could be pulled from it.  Many times I feel that Christians are nervous to see if there is Truth presented in songs, movies, people, and circumstances because they are afraid of what may be lying just beneath the surface.  Please understand I am not advocating listening to anything but Christian music or only watching Christian movies because I believe that there is value in “colliding” with people who are different than us in their words, thoughts, and actions.

Think about your own life for a moment.  Are there certain songs, movies, or books that you have seen/read and because of your personal relationship with God, your understanding of that particular item has changed?  Has it impacted your life in a positive way by causing you to grow more on your journey of faith?  Have you been able to find some sort of Truth that God may be seeking to teach you about?  Music, movies, and books have the ability to pull at our heartstrings and provide some insight into our lives.  Why are you drawn to a particular song, movie, or book?  Is it because of the theme that is presented through the lyrics or theme?  Maybe those pieces connect with your heart on a deeper level because of a circumstance in your life, and maybe, just maybe God is trying to convey that truth to you through this unlikely means. 

In my personal life, the most unlikely source of someone/something that taught me about God was a conversation that I had with a young man that I graduated high school with.  This young man cared for others selflessly, tutored the majority of our class through the difficult subjects/classes that we were taking, and helped around the community several times.  It wasn’t until after we graduated that I found out something really interesting about him.  We were at King’s Island strapped into the front seat of a roller coaster, climbing the first hill and we started talking about faith and God.  (I understand this was the most unconventional time but it was when it happened so I went with it).  As we climbed that first hill I told him that I was impressed with service to others, his love for his classmates, and that he was probably one of the best examples of Christ that I had ever seen.  It was at that point he told me that he wasn’t a Christian; in fact he told me that he was an atheist as we plummeted down the first drop.  I was shocked to hear that this was the case as we modeled the love of Christ towards others so freely and openly.  To find out that someone who wasn’t a Christian was modeling Christ this well made me feel a little embarrassed.  That day I realized the need to embrace my calling as a Christian, which is to model the love of Christ because this person who didn’t acknowledge there was a God was doing a better job than I was. 

So I ask you today, who or what is teaching you about the love of Christ?  Who or what is the piece of Truth that you could pull away from that song, movie, or book to enrich your walk of faith?  Please note that I am not saying to disregard any type of censor in your life but rather look at things with a different lens while being sensitive to your own sensors.  Can you learn about God and His love for you from something that isn’t necessarily Christian, of course you can.  So who or what is impacting your journey of faith that wouldn’t typically be labeled “Christian?”

So Now What?

          The experiences of the Lenten season including Holy Week and Easter have always amazed me.  It seems that every year God does something truly remarkable in my heart to remind me of the depth of His love for me as His child.  We journey through the forty days of Lent starting with Ash Wednesday by examining our hearts to see the sin in our lives.  For some this marks the start of “giving up” something to focus more intently upon the God who created them so uniquely.  We then travel the road by searching our hearts, discovering more about God, and deepening our faith through the next several days. 

            At the conclusion of the Lenten season we reach a time that has fascinated me for the past several years because of the interactions and dialogues that take place.  As we reach Maundy Thursday we reflect upon Jesus breaking bread with His disciples for the last time and then serving in the purest form by washing the feet of the disciples.  What has amazed me about this exchange is that Jesus serves (both food and through His actions) all of the disciples including Judas, who would betray Him in just a few hours.  I have often wondered how I would respond if I were in this situation.  How many times do we choose to turn away or serve with the wrong intentions because of a past hurt or exchange with someone?  If we knew that something terrible was about to happen would that change our outlook of serving to one of ignoring that person or situation?  I have to admit that several times I have wondered how I would respond if I were in that room with Jesus and the truth is I don’t really have an answer yet.

            Next we move to Good Friday, where we see Jesus arrested, beaten, denied, and eventually crucified.   This entire exchange has shocked me because someone who Jesus trusted and taught betrayed him into the hands of the soldiers.  The other disciples abandoned Him in His time of greatest need and Peter, who vowed to never leave the side of Jesus several times, denies Him three times.  As almost everyone who had followed Jesus during the past three years walked away from Him, He chose to subject His body to several horrible beatings and eventually death on a cross.  I have often wondered what the soldiers who beat and eventually crucified Jesus were thinking.  Did they ever stop to question why He didn’t resist?  Did they ever question why there was so much hatred towards this one man?  Did they ever take a step back to think about the potential repercussions of their actions?  As I have reflected upon these questions I have wondered about my own life.  How many times have I verbally acknowledged that I desire to follow Christ, yet turn away from Him in moments of difficulty?  How many times have I taught one thing about God’s love yet done something entirely different with my words or actions?  How could Jesus still love me, despite the number of times that I have sinned?  Despite my own limited understanding, I do know that God unconditionally loves me, cares for me, and desires to see me live a life focused towards Him.

            After Jesus’ crucifixion I imagine the next couple of days felt like an eternity.  This man, who had proclaimed that He was the Son of God, was gone.  He was lowered from the cross, placed in a tomb, and left to decay like every other human being.  This man who had walked the earth, performed numerous miracles, and taught people about the true meaning of life had just left the picture entirely.  Those days must have been filled with questions, doubts, and uncertainties surrounding what Jesus had taught and lived.  I’m sure that the disciples sat around wondering how a man that they loved so much and who taught them amazing things was suddenly gone from their presence.  As I have thought about these experiences in my own life, how many times do we question or doubt what God has taught us?  Doubts and questions have often times lead to the greatest amount of growth in my spiritual life.  Doubts and questions should not be discouraged but rather encouraged as we move along our journey of faith.  How many times do we sit waiting for God to respond, when He has already paved the way for our lives, but we are too afraid to follow?  As you examine your life today, how do you respond to waiting?  Do you sit back and wait for God to make everything crystal clear or do you step out in faith, climbing the staircase step-by-step as it is being built?

            After these various events we arrive at the culmination of our Lenten journey with Easter.  This wonderful day is one full of celebration, smiles, and joy that Jesus rose from the dead.  We rejoice on this day, celebrate with corporate worship (with several people that are desperate for a connection with God), and delight in the promises of God being fulfilled.  This glorious day is one where we are reminded that God can take any tragedy in our lives and turn it into a triumph.  This wonderful day came at a price though, of one man laying down His life, bearing all of our sins, so that we could one day live in paradise with Him.

            After journeying through the Lenten season we are often filled with joy and reminded of the love that Jesus expressed for us on the cross.  But then we move into another week with the same problems that existed before.  Where are the promises of God then?  Where is that reminder that what we celebrated just a few days earlier with the resurrection of Jesus from the tomb in our lives?  Have you ever felt that way?  Have you ever asked the question, “So Now What, God?”  We need to remember that the disciples were not simply trained overnight.  The church (meaning us, not the building) was not built in a matter of minutes, but rather over a great deal of time, sacrifice, and suffering.  Our journey doesn’t end with Easter but rather continues on throughout the remainder of our lives as we grow towards being a more devoted disciple of Christ.  What opportunities are presenting themselves for you to grow in your faith following Easter?  What opportunities are arising that may stretch you to deepen your faith?  What are the opportunities for you to experience a resurrection in your own lives today?