Reconciliation - Engaging an Anxious World

The church is the be about the ministry of reconciliation, reconciling the world back to God. This is a ministry of restoring the broken relationship between God and humanity but creation itself. This is God at work in the world. He created a good creation and is at work in the world to restore its goodness. When we become so focused on getting “souls to heaven” we miss the larger Gospel and mission of God and fail to see the work he is doing in restoration. There is a world of brokenness in need of Gospel-visioned people to come in and breathe the Spirit into it.

How do we do this in the half-circles of our lives? This is played out on micro and macro levels; in the lives of people and in how we engage in the larger society. The question that rises within me as a struggle in getting involved in the lives of the people around me is that it can get messy and time consuming. When we hear of tensions in someone’s life it is easier to offer a caring word and a “hang in there.” What does it look like to listen in these situations and look for how God might have you work as a mediator? I’m not sure being a mediator is the calling of every one of us, but we can all develop the capacity to listen and help people take steps toward one another. The caution I wrestle with here is where the line is between mediating and meddling.

I’m not going to take the time at this point to offer tips for mediation. My primary focus here is to invite you to a time of prayer and inviting the Holy Spirit into your interactions with others. Be open to how the Spirit might be guiding you in your interactions with others.

How does reconciliation play out in our larger society? You can toss a rock over your shoulder and hit a major issue between people groups in our society (not to mention the entire world). Pandemic response, politics, cultural changes, school boards, etc. are all powder kegs waiting to explode. Each side is trying to win, and few people are listening. Winning is often more important than working together. We’ve come into a time where being “right” is more important than seeking unity. Paul says something in 1 Corinthians 6:7 that has bothered me for a long time, “Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?” He says this to a church that is fighting with one another and taking each other to court to win. Paul advocates for an attitude of being wronged for the sake of right relationship.

I assume you’ve already jumped to all the same thoughts I’ve jumped to here. Should we become a doormat for people to walk all over? Do we really need to become pushovers in every situation? Shouldn’t we stand up for truth and what is right? This is complicated and takes discernment. Jesus was silent before his accusers and allowed himself to be the ultimate doormat for the sake of reconciling a broken humanity back to God. Again, this takes discernment. When winning is the aim, reconciliation is never the outcome. When reconciliation is the aim, we allow the Spirit to move us in ways we cannot imagine ourselves.

I mentioned on Sunday the lesson Brian Freeland has taught me. The Civil Rights movement changed laws, but it did not change hearts. Reconciliation is the work of the church and the church simply failed to enter the difficult space of reconciliation. I want to give a small disclaimer here. I am not advocating for what some call a “social gospel” which calls for picking the side of reform in society and advocating for societal change. There is time and space for that in a different conversation. What I am advocating for is a “kingdom gospel” where thoughtful followers of Christ ask the ever-important questions of what the work of God looks like to bring about the Kingdom of redemption over and above the powers of this world. Is it possible to sit in the tensions of the culture war and advocate for peace? It is possible but it is rarely popular.

We are called to be people of peace in an anxious world. We must first be at peace with God and find rest in God’s presence before we can be a non-anxious presence in the world. James’s call to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry does not happen naturally. It comes from a deep relationship with God cultivated in times of quiet, simply sitting with God. There is much more to be said about these practices and I would love to have a longer conversation if you would like to email me. For now, I want to leave you with this image out of Mark 4:35-41. If you read this story as a metaphor for life in our world today, what does it look like to be the presence of Jesus?

Reconciliation - The Practice of Listening

Reconciliation is a great idea until you have something you have to reconcile with someone. It is easier to forgive someone and move on with your life than it is to go about the hard work of reconciliation. The work of reconciliation is the gospel lived out for the world to see. When we cheapen the gospel to only what happens to an individual in their salvation and miss the broader work of joining God in what he is doing to redeem the world, we sell the gospel short as a type of fire insurance for people’s assurance. The gospel needs to be reclaimed within the mission of the church to be about the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor 5).

This week I want us to focus on the basic tools needed for the practice of reconciliation. Reconciliation is not always about establishing who is right and who is wrong but about moving together towards a unity and harmony that bridges divides. This begins in our closest relationships, extends into the church, and should be a ministry of the church in the wider world. When there are divides between people or people groups, the first step we must take is one of mutual submission. Mutual submission recognizes that the only way to bridge a divide is through letting go of your desire to be right and to seek the higher calling of being righteous. When we take time to submit to others, we create space for walls to come down and relationship to be fostered. The struggle with mutual submission is we often want to see the other person submit so we are assured that we won’t be taken advantage of in our submission. Who then has the responsibility to take the first step in mutual submission? I’ll turn to this question in a min.

The second tool needed is the practice of listening. As a society, we do not value listening. We offer classes on speaking to help people become better speakers. We have debate clubs to help people beat others in arguments. We go to seminars to develop better tools of engagement so that we can articulate our points better so we can be understood. What would it look like to have a listening club? You can find seminars on developing the skill of listening, but they aren’t often prioritized in our culture. Listening has its basis in compassion and love. To truly listen to someone is to do everything possible within yourself to hear and understand another person’s view or argument to the best of your ability even when it isn’t your lived experience. Listening is active and fosters questions for deeper understanding and clarity. The path toward reconciliation is one of creating space where people feel safe to talk and share without judgment. Who then is responsible for first taking the position of listening?  

Who has the responsibility to take the first steps of mutual submission and listening? The person with the greatest amount of power should be the one to take the first step, not because they are in the wrong, but because they are the person with the most influence. It is hard to perceive whether we have more power over someone or not. There are a lot of variables that play into what power looks like, from economic influence to positions of leadership and even cultural influences of race and gender. Some of these influences are cause of a lot of debate but each of us are called to the higher level of humility in the way of Christ. Like Paul reminds the church in Philippi (Philippians 2:1-11), “in our attitudes toward one another, we should have the same mindset of that of Christ Jesus…” who set aside all his power to take the position of a servant and became obedient to death. He did this because he was secure in his identity and knew that God would make all things right. He didn’t need to “win” as we see “winning.” Instead, he was willing to lose for the sake of reconciliation. That is the Gospel lived out.

The best way to develop the muscles of listening is to practice it. Try one of these two practices:

Pick a diverse topic going on in our society. Find a news source that presents a different view than you usually hold (I recommend not going to the other extreme but finding something more central). Read the article with the intent of understanding their viewpoint to the best of your abilities. If you find yourself getting angry and arguing in your head, pray for peace in your heart and for ears to listen. A measure of maturity is to be able to entertain a differing view without fully accepting it. What do you find virtuous in the other view? Where do you see Christ working from their perspective?

Or, if you have a friend with a different view on an issue, ask them if you can take them to coffee to understand their view. Make it your goal to ask as many questions as you can to seek clarity and then be able to explain it back to them at the end.

It is best to start with topics that are less contentious to develop listening skills needed to seek reconciliation in more difficult disagreements.

The Practice of Reconciliation

In 1 Corinthians 5:11-21, Paul summarizes the mission of the church to be one of reconciliation. We help people find reconciliation in their relationship with God and we also help people find reconciliation in their broken relationships. Reconciliation puts us at the heart of the message of God as we live in a sin-scarred and divided world. Reconciliation takes community and is our witness to the work of Christ in the church for the world to see. Reconciliation is the act of peacemaking where the Gospel enters the space between two people in conflict. The practice of reconciliation is less concerned with establishing lines of who is right and who is wrong in a conflict to then proclaim someone victorious, though there are times when there is a person wronged by another. Most strained relationships are less about who is right and who is wrong but about broken communication, assumed intentions, and unmet expectations.

Reconciliation creates space to bring people together to hear one another in mutual submission to seek common relationship again. This can be a difficult and even messy process, but it is the work of the gospel in the world. The church should be the natural place where reconciliation happens. Those who have already been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ should have their minds bent toward helping others find reconciliation in their lives. This is the embodiment of Christ’s ministry in the world.

When Jesus offered blessings to those who sat to hear his sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5), he blesses the “peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” If you want to be called a child of God, you will be a person who makes peace. This is an active call. We are not called to be “peaceful” people in our demeanor alone, but to actively pursue bringing peace where there is no peace.

As we approach this practice, there are some key principles to being about the ministry of reconciliation. First, we must be quick to listen (slow to speak, slow to become angry – James 1:19-20). Listening is the bedrock of reconciliation. Listening allows us to understand the other person’s viewpoint to the best of our abilities even if we do not agree. Listening makes a person feel seen and heard to where they are validated in their struggle. Listening helps us be present to God’s presence in the other person’s life. Second, we reconciliation takes mutual submission. Each person must lower themselves to the other for the sake of relationship. The person who has more power has the greater responsibility to make steps toward submission. This is the model in Philippians 2:1-11.

When we are in conflict, we tend to be hesitant to take the position of listening or submission because we do not want to be bullied. We enter a spiral of talking over one another because we want to make sure our voices are heard rather than taking time to listen to the other. Who should be the first one to listen? We always want the other person to go first. In principle, the person with the most power should take responsibility to make steps of submission and listening. Power takes on different forms and it takes some soul searching to recognize where you have advantages over the other person. We will explore this theme in the weeks to come.

I need to give a brief disclaimer about what I’ve talked about thus far. The practice of reconciliation is not cookie cutter in its approach. These are principles that need to be considered in the practice and Matthew 18:15-20 provides a guide as well. There are different kinds of conflict between people, and it is important that approaches are adapted based on situations. Cases of trauma and abuse need different approaches than cases of difference of opinion and miscommunication. The spectrum of reconciliation needs a spectrum of approaches.

How are these played out in the circles of our lives?

Should Christians get involved in the world of conflict to help people groups find reconciliation?

What hesitation do you have about this practice?

As we engage the world around us, we are called to be peacemakers and create space for listening and understanding. Sometimes this means setting aside the desire to determine who is right and who is wrong to create space where anger and fear can be laid aside to seek deeper relationship and allow the Holy Spirit to bring about conviction and reconciliation.

The Lord's Supper - Sanctifying the Tables in Your Life

When we gather around the Lord’s Table, in faith we sit at the timeless table of God’s presence. This table extends back to the Passover table where Christ lifted the bread and wine and made a new covenant. It even extends back to the Garden where we communed with God in perfect harmony. The table we gather around also extends forward, in this timeless moment, to the great wedding banquet in the resurrection when the Lamb and bride are united (Revelation 19:6-9). At this table, every sanctified table from the beginning to the end, and all who have gone before us and come after us join us in this table of celebration.

This table breaks down dividing walls between people groups and makes us one new humanity and citizens of the Kingdom of God. This table is where our gifts are given back to God to be sanctified for the nourishment of the church and the reconciliation of the world. It is at this table that we receive the presence of Christ to then take his presence with us to be host at our tables and guest of his presence at the tables of the world.

God manifested his presence in a cloud, pillar of fire, in a burning bush, and in so many other ways throughout scripture. He then chooses to manifest his presence in the bread and wine at the table. The receiving of the Holy Spirit at our baptism is God’s presence being made known in us. Being attentive to God’s presence in us we become host of God’s presence at our tables for our neighbors to come and experience. Our tables are sanctified to be the space where the world encounters God. We do this through committing to being homes of love, joy, peace, and the other fruit of the Spirit in increasing measure. Our homes become the place where people find rest in a world of disarray. We don’t preach sermons to them. We invited them into a different reality, a realty where Jesus Christ is Lord, we’ve seen God’s intent for the world, and live into that reality.

In the same aim of Jesus’s ministry, we carry Christ’s presence to the tables around us where we are guests. We enter these spaces with an awareness that God is already at work and seek to join him in those space. Where do you see community happening in the spaces around you? I see community developing in the local breweries, the run clubs, at the local gyms, etc. How do we enter these spaces in a way that sanctifies them as holy spaces where people will experience the presence of God? I believe to answer this question, we must be willing to be led and be open to what God might do if we open ourselves to be attentive to what he is doing.

In David Fitch’s book, “Faithful Presence,” he shares a story where he and a friend are walking through town and he proclaimed, “These people are sharing the Lord’s Supper, they just don’t know it yet.” They developed the practice of praying a prayer for God’s presence to be made known before entering spaces where they would be guests.

At some point this week before entering a community space, pray this prayer: Lord, make me aware of what you are doing in the lives of the people I encounter in this space. Make me attentive to the needs of each person I meet as though I am attentive to Jesus himself. Help me to leave that person more at peace, filled with joy, and/or more in touch with the love of God. Lord, come quickly and make your presence known. Amen.

At the end of your day, answer these questions:

• Where did I feel the Holy Spirit tugging at me to act?

• Was I hesitant? Why?

• How would that situation have gone differently if I had slowed down to be attentive to God’s presence?

• Pray that you’ll be more aware and attentive tomorrow.

The Lord's Supper - We all have something to offer

When Jesus said that the bread and wine were his body and blood, the early church believed that through faith it really was the body and blood of Christ. They believed it to be part of the mystery of God, not to be explained. In the third century, Christian thinker Plotinus adapted the philosophical system of Plato and set out to explain what Christians before him accepted as mystery. Over the next few generations, and the establishment of the Church as a Roman religion, the Lord’s Supper moved from a small, shared meal, to a more organized corporate event for a larger congregation. Other thinkers continued Plotinus’s explanation of how the bread and wine were transferred, or transformed, within the Mass into the body and blood of Christ, and the term “transubstantiation” was coined by the 12th century. The changing of the bread and wine into the “literal” body and blood of Jesus led to gross superstition throughout the Middle Ages.

I hope I haven’t lost you at this point because I do have a reason for sharing all of this! When the Reformers (predominantly Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin) addressed the issue of Christ being present at the Lord’s Table in the bread and wine, they were responding to the superstitions of their day. While all three of these Reformers rejected the teaching of “transubstantiation,” Luther and Calvin sought new ways to explain how Christ was present at the Table. Zwingli, on the other hand, found no satisfactory way to explain Christ’s presence and concluded that the Lord’s Supper is only a memorial, reminding us of what Jesus did for us on the cross. You may have heard the Lord’s Supper called a memorial before. We got that from Zwingli, not the Bible.

When Jesus says, “Do this in remembrance of me,” we hear, through the ears of Zwingli, to recall the events of Jesus’s death for our sins. When the early church heard the word, we translate as “remembrance,” they understood it as remembering through reenactment. This gets to the heart of Paul’s message in 1 Cor 10:16, “Is not the cup…the bread…a participation in the blood and body of Christ” (my paraphrase). A brief example is that if you were to ask the early church to “remember” their graduation, they would put on their cap and gown, symbolically walk across a stage, and throw a celebration for the event. We see this kind of remembrance in how the Jews reenact their festivals each year.

When we are invited to the Lord’s Table, it is Christ who offers the invitation. He is present with us because he is host. When we are invited, Jesus asks us to bring what we have as an offering. Jesus uses simple but significant elements for the Lord’s Supper: bread and wine. He could have used something even simpler though that is provided for us in nature. Since we purchase the elements in bulk, we miss this significance. God gives us wheat and grapes. We take those things from nature to make the bread and wine used at the feast. Offering them back to God, he makes them into the body and blood of Christ. God gives us gifts, that when we offer them back to him, he transforms them into the spiritual nourishment the church and the world needs.

This participation in the elements of the Lord’s Supper is where our individual stories are baptized into God’s story. Each time we come to the table, we bring something to hand to God in faith that he can transform it into the nourishment of the church and the world. I may not be able to see how my small gifts can be used but I faithfully bring them to God. When I submit them at his table, he makes them the body and blood of Christ.

With this view of the Lord’s Supper in mind, go and read 1 Corinthians 12 with the context that Paul was calling the church to unity through the Lord’s Supper in chapter 11. We have all been given gifts for the building up of the church. Who am I to say that someone else’s gift cannot be used for the building up of the church when the gift is given through the Spirit?

John 6:1-15 is our focus passage for this Sunday. If you read each Gospel account closely, you’ll notice that the Gospel of John does not have the traditional institution of the Lord’s Supper like the other Gospels. There are some scholars who view the entire book through the lens of the Lord’s Supper and many agree that this story in John 6 utilizes the “words of institution” for the Lord’s Supper. When given bread and fish, “Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed…” (v.11). The imagery of this story is that Jesus takes a small offering and provides abundance at his table. You keep reading in this chapter and you quickly get to the section on Jesus being the “Bread of Life” (v25-59), where Jesus offers his body and blood to be consumed as the source of eternal life (v53-56).

• What do you see as insignificant in your story that, when handed to Jesus, can nourish multitudes?

• What areas of your life do you need to let go of to allow God to do his work?

• What do you see in someone else that is a gift from God? Take a moment to tell them this week.

The Lord's Supper - We are the Temple

When Jesus said, “This is my body and blood, do this in remembrance of me” (Mt 26:26-28; Mk 14:22-24; Lk 22:19-20; 1 Cor 11:24-25) the church took him at his word and believed, in faith, that the bread and wine was the body and blood of Jesus. They believed that when they came to the table, they were coming into the actual presence of Jesus Christ. They took this on faith and believed it to be part of the mystery of God. The gathering of the church is sacred because when we gather around the Lord’s Table, Christ is there as host. Keep this imagery in mind as you read these passages.

1 Corinthians 3:16-17

16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

1 Corinthians 10:14-17

14 Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf. 

Ephesians 2:13-22

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

When we gather together in the presence of Christ, the church becomes one in Christ. The imagery is an assembly of God’s Temple where God’s presence is known in Christ. When we receive the bread and cup, we participate in Christ and are continually transformed into his dwelling place. In keeping with the church being the new Temple where God dwells, I imagine the Lord’s Table as the Holy of Holies where we receive God’s presence to make us his Temple on the move.

When Paul wants to describe the structure of the church, he dismantles the old Temple imagery to make an important shift in how we understand one another in the church. In the old Temple, there were dividing walls that kept certain groups segregated. There was a court of priests, then of Israelite men, then Israelite women, followed by gentile men, and finally gentile women. Each of these groups had a wall to divide them. Imagine being a gentile, and especially a gentile woman, trying to join in the celebration and worship that was taking place. You literally have walls keeping you from seeing and even hearing the praise being lifted in the presence of God. When Paul describes the church, he says the walls of division come down and we become the very thing that contains the presence of God, the Temple.

The gathered church is the dwelling place of God through the Spirit. This is the vision proclaimed at Pentecost from the Prophet Joel (Acts 2:17-12), that God’s Spirit is poured out on all people. It is through the Spirit that men and women, sons and daughters, will have visions, dream dreams, and prophesy. This is poetic language to show the breadth of outpouring of the Spirit and how God will speak through his people. Later in the book of Acts we see Paul having visions (Acts 16:9), Agabus prophesying a famine (Acts 11:28), Cornelius the Gentile sees a vision of Peter coming to visit (Acts 10:2) and his family then receives the Holy Spirit (10:45), and Philip’s daughters being prophets (Acts 21:8-9). The Pentecost proclamation of the outpouring of the Spirit on all people sets the tone for what is seen throughout the spreading of the church through the rest of Acts. This list is far from exhaustive but the point I’m making is that the church in Acts is one on the move through the Holy Spirit as each person receives messages from God and then builds up the church and shares the message of God with others.

There have been times in the past when the church has kept dividing walls in place while celebrating the meal that breaks down walls. There’s a church here in North Carolina I read about in my research on Communion practices that used to have a section for slaves to worship. They then allowed the slaves to join their masters for the receiving of the Lord’s Supper to symbolize equality at the Table. What happens to the church when equality is merely symbolic at the table and not lived out in the rest of life? I know it is easy to be critical of people in the past so please hear me in what I intend in sharing this. The Lord’s Table should be a continual place of transformation where we evaluate our lives and relationships compared to what we are called to in Christ. I look back at these moments to reflect on where I fall short today and how we need to move forward better together. 

Questions for reflection:

• How would the Lord’s Supper be different if you focused on communal transformation rather than your individual transformation?

• How would Sundays be different if we believed Christ was hosting our gathering?

• What makes you resistant to the belief that Christ is present at the Table?  

Seven Practices for a Church on Mission

Over the last few weeks, I have focused on driving home the point that God desires to be present to and in his creation, has chosen especially to be present to us through the Holy Spirit, and that we should develop the awareness to be present to his presence in all that is going on in the world. We gather in the presence of God where Christ is host at the Lord’s Table. We receive his presence to be a church on mission in the world. We share Christ’s presence at the tables of our homes where we are host to our neighbors. This is where real relationships are kindled, and the gospel is lived on display for them to see and experience. As a church on mission, we enter the spaces of the world around us with God’s presence as guests at their tables. As guests, we show up as servants, ready to reveal God’s power of love in how we engage in their lives.

This Sunday I am going to introduce the seven practices/disciplines that we will study for the coming months that will help shape us into a church on mission. These are ongoing practices that are at work in the three circles of our lives. There are other practices where God is especially present that are left out of this list, like baptism and marriage. These practices of the church are one-time rites. We are focusing on practices that continue to shape us as people who are attentive to God’s presence in and around us. There are other important practices/disciplines for the transformative growth of Christ followers that are more inward focused by their nature, like meditation and scripture reading. The seven practices we will focus on are intentionally communal and are practiced in every area of our lives.

These seven practices have impact first in the close circle where committed followers of Christ gather. They then impact the neighbors who surround the Christ follower in the dotted circle of life. These practices then move into the world where the church joins with God in the half circles, especially in and amongst the hurting and marginalized. These practices create space for organic growth in the church toward mission as we encounter the presence of Jesus and then extend that presence faithfully into the world.

The Practice of the Lord’s Table is the time where followers of Christ gather with others to participate in God’s story of redemption and allow God’s presence to continually baptize our stories into His story.

The Practice of Reconciliation puts us at the heart of the message of God as we live in a sin-scarred and divided world. Reconciliation takes community and is our witness to the work of Christ in the church for the world to see.

The Practice of Proclaiming the Gospel is the announcement that God is Lord over all things. This announcement of hope is that all things will be made right, and God’s presence is breaking in even further into this creation. We are the people of hope who get to point to what God is doing amongst the mess!

The Practice of Fivefold Gifting invites us to receive and use God’s gifts poured into different people for the sake of God’s mission. Being attentive to the presence of God in one another, we equip each other to use the gifts God has given for the building up of the church and the reconciliation of the world.

The Practice of Being with the Least of These is the way in which God makes his presence known among us. He has a special place in his heart for the forgotten, marginalized, and dejected. When we are attentive to God’s presence in their lives, we commune with Christ himself.

The Practice of Being with Children puts the values of the kingdom on full display. In children we find wonder, honesty, joy in the little things, and a playfulness many of us have lost in our adulthood. Being with Children helps us rediscover the simplicity of being a Child of God.

The Practice of Kingdom Prayer is our continual acknowledgment of our submission to God as Lord, our desire to be more available for His mission, and a longing for more of His presence.

We will take each of these in a three-week series, looking at their biblical basis and how they are lived out in the three circles of our lives. My prayer for this year is that our imaginations will be ignited as a church and we will take steps with these practices to transform who we are as a church on mission in NoDa.

Half Circle: The Church as Guest in the Word

Back in the early 00’s when I was in college, there were a lot of Christian books coming out about how to live the Christian life in “radical” ways. These books would then tell the stories of the .2% of people out there who would make drastic changes to their lives to go live on mission for Christ. I was always in awe of these stories but many of my peers, myself included, felt inadequate in comparison. While these stories were moving and spurred us towards taking great steps in our faith, it was difficult to imagine the vast majority of Christians taking those radical leaps of faith to live in extreme ways for Christ. One of my friends and I kept joking about writing a book called “Mundane Christianity” where we told stories of faithful followers of Christ who were transforming the world where they were in small ways.

Our focus this year of being faithful to God’s presence is that kind of Christianity. It is where every Christ follower is attentive to the presence of God in their life and attentive to the presence of God in the world around them. We do this together in community through the practices of the church on mission in the three circles. We’ll talk more about these practices next week. This week we will focus on the half circles of our lives and how each of these spaces become our mission field.

I am a firm believer that when we set out to “do evangelism” we are typically doing it wrong. There was a time when “evangelistic programs” worked but they are largely counterproductive in our society today. Evangelism is best accomplished through genuine relationships where we are guests in spaces in the world. The world needs to experience Christ in tangible ways where Christians respond with compassion and love to what is going on in their lives. We cannot know what is going on in their lives if we are not in real relationships with them. When we find people marginalized and hurting, we look for how God is already present and working and we join him in his work.

We take the position of guests in people’s lives as those who carry God’s presence. We do not force our way or insist our way on others. We arrive in the world as servants, aiming to better the people we encounter along the way. There are groups of Christians in our society who try to instigate change through positions of power. This rarely brings about the reconciliation to which the cross calls us. The cross ignites a revolution that, in the words of NT Wright, “happens once and for all when the power of love overcame the love of power.” God’s ways do not make sense to the world. The gospel calls us to a subversive way of living that undercuts the power of this world through acts of service that transform our communities. When we fight the culture wars, we forget the power of the cross and the mission of the church.

The power of the cross is the power of love, lived in real relationship with people where they are to then walk with them toward Christ. First, we must be transformed by God’s presence in our own lives to then inhabit their spaces as guests. This week we will focus on Jesus sending out the 72 in Luke 10. Read this passage and reflect on what Jesus calls them to do:

• What does it mean to offer peace before entering the space?

• Should we continue to stick around if the peace is not received?

• V16 – What does it mean to have the presence of Christ when you speak and are rejected?

• V20 – Whatever great things might happen in your life, what is it that you are supposed to rejoice in? How does this help you work from a place of humility?

• V23-24 – Through the work of the Spirit in our lives as those who are sent on missions from God, we will see and hear things that prophets and kings longed for but did not see or hear. Pray that God will give you eyes to see and ears to hear what the Spirit is doing in the world around you.

Dotted Circle: Where is the Church?

The church is gathered around the Lord’s Table to become the temple of the Lord, as Paul describes in Ephesians 2:19-22. The church carries the Presence of Christ from that table, where he is host, to the tables in our homes where we are host of his presence for our neighbors. If you wanted to draw near to the presence of God before Christ, you had to go to the Temple and get as close as you were allowed depending on your gender and heritage. Christ tore down these dividing walls (Eph. 2:14-18) and gave the Spirit equally to all people who have become part of his body (Eph 2:18, 22; Gal 3:26-29).

People no longer have to go to the temple to experience the presence of God. The temple is on the move and meets people where they are. The church moves from the Lord’s Table to our own tables and the tables of the world. This week we will look at being host at our tables and the following week we will look at being guest at their tables.  

The church is on mission to be attentive to and to carry God’s presence into the world. To be a church on mission, we must recognize that there is never a moment when we are not carrying the presence of God with us for others to experience. This should fundamentally shift how act in the world and interact with those who need to experience God’s presence of peace. The table in our homes, what we’re calling the “dotted circle,” is intended to be a bridge moving the church toward the world and moving the world toward the church. This is the place where the world can see lives lived on display who are transformed by the presence of Christ. The dotted circle is important for continually launching the church into the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:11-21)while also being a space to introduce seekers to the followship of believers.

Our focus scripture this Sunday will be Luke 15. Jesus tells three parables in this chapter: The Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son. Read these parables a few times this week but make sure to keep the context in view. In 15:1-2, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law saw that Jesus was spending time with the degenerates of their society. The tax collectors and sinners saw something in Jesus that was attractive and wanted to know more about the good news he had to offer. Jesus was scoffed at by the religious authorities, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” In other places, like Matt 11:19, Jesus is called a glutton and a drunk because of those in which he offered fellowship. Jesus’s response to their scoffing is to tell these three parables.

Questions to reflect on as you prepare for Sunday:

• Make a list of the people you spend the most amount of time with. How many on that list do not have a relationship with Jesus?

• What is your biggest fear in investing your time and energy into having real relationships with people who do not share your values and worldview?

• Spend some time in prayer asking God to reveal to you who you struggle to have a relationship with and ask that he place you in situations where you have to explore Jesus’s depth of love and compassion for those people.