Since we spent the last few weeks talking about what we are to be as a church, I thought I’d post this image to remind us what we are not…
Apologies if you missed this past weekend and are left scratching your head on the relevancy of this… 
God has always had a place of residence within the world - it has just taken different forms over the years. Initially, it was in a garden. When sin and brokenness entered the story, He became a visible presence with His people within a tabernacle (tent). When His people had a permanent residence, God’s dwelling became a temple. This was not the literal dwelling place of God, but one that was necessary to help the people understand His character and desires for them. He literally dwelt in the world through the presence of His Son. Finally, He now resides within the hearts of His people, the church. We are the primary reflection of God to an unbelieving world. How do we reflect Him? By taking on His character as we interact with the people around us. God is primarily seen in the space between us.
When the Fall hit, it was not just us, as humans, that were broken, but the space between us was also broken. The heart of the followers of Jesus must be to bring redemption into that space.
How has God been real to you as you have experienced Him in the “Space Between” yourself and a follower of Jesus?
If you were part of the Pathways community last summer, you might recall that we took an offering to provide everything that was needed to supply clean water to an orphanage in Africa. We were thrilled to see the Pathways community step up and offer more than twice what was needed.
All the plumbing is now in place, and here are some pictures from the orphanage:
As we’ve spent the last month talking about the mission of the church, it is a blessing for me to see this example of Pathways pursuing God’s mission and heart for our world! If you’d like to see more of the orphanage, there is an entire album of photos available here.
Here is the chart we presented as part of the teaching on Sunday. (If you need a refresher on it, you can catch it starting at about the 34 minute mark in the podcast.
Please share your thoughts as we dialogue about it a little further:
-What do you like about how this chart explains what mission can look like in relationship to community?
-What do you not like about it?
-What parts of how it all fits together are still unclear to you?
Starting in June, we will enter into a summer of dealing with what relationships look like as God intended them. We spent some time at a Staff Meeting discussing possible title’s for the series (which we have not yet landed on), but let’s just say that it digressed. We began joking about how churches love to do series based upon the new movie titles that are coming out…so we have a few title options for you. Feel free to vote.
Spiderman 3: Web of Relationships
Relationship Transformers
The Bourne Relationship
Jurassic Relationships 4
Oceans of Relationships 13
Relation-Shrek (not to skew the voting, but this was our personal favorite)
I can see the posters now…
I just got back from the Costco by Silver Lake. It’s our day to bring snacks for my younger boys baseball game, so I needed to make a Famous Amos Cookies and Caprisun run. Miraculously, I made it out of the store with only those two things in tow. At the cash register, an older lady was checking and a younger guy was boxing things. He commented on the sacred beauty of a Famous Amos cookie and I let him know about the ball game that they were being purchased for. The lady ringing me up made the statement, “When my kids were playing sports, we weren’t allowed to bring fun stuff, we could only bring fruit.” I told her that was too bad and she then makes the statement that I still can’t wrap my mind around…”Well, it was Christian.”
Huh?
The only reply that came out of my mouth at the moment this hit me was, “Aren’t Christians allowed to have fun?” I’m still bugged by this idea that Christians lead the league in B-O-R-I-N-G. Didn’t Jesus say He came to give us life to the FULL and somehow we have translated that to “no fun stuff”.
Just thought I’d share a moment in my day with you.
I’m studying for our upcoming Summer Series which deals with Relationships. I hope to capture that idea within the bounds of how God originally intended for them to be lived out. Not often, in this life, do we truly experience relationships in that way. My own brokenness shines through in most situations.
In an article I read this morning, it states this,
“Earlier this year, a major study by Duke University and the University of Arizona shook the marble walls of the American Sociological Review. The twenty-year project concluded that Americans are becoming more isolated at an alarming rate. In a paper bluntly titled Social Isolation in America, researchers stated, ‘The number of people who have someone to talk to about matters that are important to them has declined dramatically. [from 1985 to 2004] … We went from a quarter of the American population being isolated…to almost half of the population falling into the category.’”
All of this has led to a greater search for connection through para-social interaction (internet communication/television/text messages) which has led to greater loneliness. There is something about how God has wired us to need one another, yet we run from each other.
What are your thoughts as you read the above quote?
How can the church respond, building community and meaning into people’s lives?
This is another example (Like we talked about in “Affluenza”) of how the church must be counter-culture!
I think this idea ties in pretty nicely with what John is saying this weekend.
“If one of them, even the least spectacular one, is missing, the face is incomplete. Together in the one mosaic, each little stone is indispensible and makes a unique contribution to the glory of God. That’s community, a fellowship of little people who together make God visible in the world.” — Henri Nouwen in Can You Drink The Cup?
You may remember that Dean shared this quote a few months ago. It’s perfect for us to revisit it this week. Sometimes in churches it is difficult to try to balance having community with each other while also trying to remember that the church is here to bless the world, not just ourselves. It sometimes seems like mission and community are in contstant tension.
Henri Nouwen helps us rethink that in this quote. He describes that true community happens when we make God visible in the world together. Genuine community happens in conjunction with mission. Do you agree or disagree with what he has to say here? What is a time when you have felt the greatest sense of connection with others?
“God, why does it have to be that way?”
My hunch is that I’m not the only one who asks that question at least a few times every week. Things happen around us and around the world every day that just can’t be what God intended. Even as we feel the turmoil of this broken world, we long to see God restore humanity and creation to what he intended them to be. And that is the nature of the Kingdom of God — to see the Kingdom is to see life as God intended it.
To be the church is to join God in redeeming and restoring creation to what God desires that it would be. As the church, we long to see God’s way, God’s will, happen on earth. That is the nature of the redemptive Kingdom. Knowing that, our question this week is a simple one, but worth a lot o f thought — how have you seen the Kingdom of God in action? It could have been this past week, or it could have been a decade ago, but how have you seen God’s redemptive work in action firsthand?
I really have not been in tune with American Idol this year. I’m usually not watching much TV on Tuesday nights and on Wednesday, when they are voting people off the show, I’m at our Home Group.
What I have seen tells me that the right people are now in the final 3. I like Blake Lewis for the unique breath he brings to each song he does. I like Jordin Sparks because she shines. I like Melinda Doolittle because she is humble and rips up (in a good way) any song she sings. America has chosen well.
Just today I discovered another fun little fact. All of us in the Northwest know that Blake is from Bothell and is at this very moment doing a concert downtown and will later sing the national anthem at the Mariner game. He’s a hometown boy. If you were watching the show earlier in the season, Blake was asked what bands have influenced him. He named two bands from the Northwest – one being the Panda Conspiracy, which Pathway’s own Katie Clayton plays in. I feel connected (through a few degrees of separation) from Blake.
At the same time I discovered part 2 of my fun fact. Jordin Sparks is from Glendale, Arizona – my hometown. I lived in Glendale from first grade through my college years. Following college, I moved across town to Mesa, AZ and lived there for 14 years before moving up here. Today, she is performing a concert of her own downtown. Now, I feel connected to Jordin as well.
Who to vote for? Blake all the way!