The Experience

Okay, sneak peak at my sermon for this weekend…

We live in a scary time. Have you watched the new recently? A friend had their boss laid off today - the layoffs got close to home again. The stock market is more than a roller coaster - it’s sea sickness on the Titanic….

How did we get here? Are we scared yet?

For years, we’ve been fascinated with homeland security. What has made us secure?

1) A strong defense and offense. Tighten borders. Attack countries that seem a threat. Tighten our borders.

2) Build a strong economy. We do this by encouraging people to spend. We do this by making money available to them - your home value is going up so refinance and take money out; we get 0% credit cards in the mail; we have 0% car loans which puts money into the auto makers pockets. Bush said it after 9/11 - go out and SPEND!!! GO SHOPPING! And we have. My life is currently deficient because I ONLY have a Palm Centrino - not an iPhone; I have a decent sized TV- not a LARGE flat screen; and my newest piece of furniture came from Craigslist. That’s okay though - I have car loan and an SUV that I put part of on a 0% credit card (which is 0% no longer! - Dave Ramsey calls this stupid tax!)

3) Enforce our morality no matter what.

And yet, it’s all fallen apart. The word depression is now common on the news - bringing us flashbacks to visions of the Great Depression - which I wasn’t there for - but I’ve heard was scary bad. In haste to fix this, the government passed a $700 billion bailout - which about half of it has been spent - and I’m excited to tell you that it has fixed our economy and we are back on level footing!!! NOT!

So, as someone who wants to be a radical Christ follower, how do I respond?

Frankly - I am excited.

Now, I come from a conservative Christian tradition which places a huge emphasis on prophecy and end-time scenarios - and so all of my friends from back in the day will probably read this and think - “Yes, he’s excited because it means it’s the END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT!!! and Jesus is coming. Which is great for him, but I’m scared of the disaster that happens before it and what if I’m not ready and what if I mess up and GO TO HELL!!!”

Nope - that’s not why I’m excited. I hope Jesus comes back this month. But I don’t know if it’s right now or 6 months or 60 years… I think it’s coming soon - but I don’t have the holy script - (and - subject of a different note or something, but it seems when people do get “the script” they start living out of fear and control instead of faith and rest… - but I digress…)

I’m excited because I think that as a Christ follower I actually have something to say. And simply put, in this culture of fear, I have hope.

And my hope is simply this - we get to finally get our priorities in tact and get back to what God has been saying all along.

1) My kingdom is not of this world - otherwise my followers would fight. Funny, the fighting hasn’t worked. Time for something else. I am ashamed that Christians promote war. Government of the people, by the people, for the people is NOT a theocracy!!!!

2) Money is not where peace comes from. Peace does not come from a 401K; peace does not come from financial security. Peace comes from a spirit of Thanksgiving because we were lost and God rescued us before - and He will do it again; peace comes from presenting all our petitions to GOD - not our financial adviser or mortgage company.

3) Romans 1 says that God gave them over to their sinful desires. Since we cannot change people - why are we going to war with them? Maybe what they need is Jesus looking into their eyes saying “neither do I condemn you! Go and sin no more…”

So, I’m excited. I’m excite that we may see an amazing true spiritual revival of something that means something to people and makes a difference in their lives. I’m excited that we get to present hope when everything else has fallen apart. I’m excited that we get to remember that money and control never satisfy and we are pushed to rest in God taking care of us!

And that is my rant for tonight…. What do you think? Put up some comments….

I grew up with rules. Lots of rules. Don’t eat this. Don’t say those words. Don’t think this. And on and on. A good Christian family. And I’m not sure the rules growing up were all bad- I’m not sure how to teach heart to my own kids!

The Bible says, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5 NIV)

I wonder if sometimes my spiritual experience was similar to this… A form of spirituality, but denying the power that God could actually do anything in my life to change it - so we talked more and more about what we were supposed to do and not do and hoped that we could change.

However, the power of change is not within US! The power of change is - according to Jesus - is in Him! Could it be that we are simply missing it all when we focus on the guilt and trying to convince ourselves that we are supposed to do something else to “be good enough!”

In the book Irresistable Revolution, pg 269 it says, ”

Growing up, I was told that good people go to church. And then I looked around and watched the news and found a church full of sick people and a world that had some decent pagans. And I studied sociology. My studies taught me that the higher a person’s frequency of church attendance, the more likely they are to be sexist, racist, anti-gay, pro-military, and committed to their local church. And I figured if that’s what it  means to be a Christian, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be one, or whether even Jesus would want to be one, for that matter. I wondered why Jesus didn’t take back his religion. As I’ve heard my old mentor Tony Campolo say, “If we were to set out to establish a religion in polar opposition to the Beatitudes Jesus taught, it would look strikingly similar to the pop Christianity that has taken over the airwaves of North America.”

The only solution I can see is if we finally grab a hold of two foundational doctrines of  Jesus - confession and repentance.

To confess our problem - I have a problem, I can’t do it, I can’t fix this stuff. I put on religion like a jacket, but in the end I’m just as messed up as my neighbors; I’m just as selfish as the people I’ve looked down on - and I can’t deal with it any longer! I choose authenticity - admitting my problems!

To repent - to turn away - to turn to the only One who can do a stinking thing to help us - the Almighty God - Lover of the Universe, and Champion of Lost Causes.

Oh, Mighty Jesus, change us… Make us a trophy to the universe that You can change lives.

I hate the word church. Thinking of the word church can give me pictures in my mind of stained glass, pews, organs, somberness (defined as reverence), uncomfortable suits (yes, when I was a kid I had an adorable 3 piece pin striped suit), church politics, and grumpy old ladies (I like old ladies. I’m not so sure about grumpy old  ladies… Okay, grumpy people in general can give me a rash).

I overheard a conversation a couple days ago about church. About church is simply moving parishoners from one church to another church.  And I know the attraction to this. Whenever someone new shows up at The Experience, I’m excited! I’m even more excited when they come back for week two. The Experience IS NOT for everyone! It can be a bit strange, especially if you define church by the above mental pictures. But, when people show up, it’s exciting! And stealing someone from another church is thrilling.

But, I’m tiring of the thrill. I don’t want to be called a church anymore. I’m going to have a hard time breaking the habit. When we launched The Experience I remember wanting to kill the word church - but it was too ingrained in me and in others. But, I like the word Spiritual Family so much better. I like the word Community so much better. (I also like the words Ice Cream a lot as well - but that’s besides the point.)

I guess too many people have been burned by “church.” Too many people have felt that church was more about “church” than about people. Too many people have felt, as a friend told me a few days ago, that “church” just seems to pile on more guilt.

The Spiritual Family - the Community - is about transforming a community. It’s the call of the disciples by Jesus - when they saw a crowd of hungry people - to “give them something to eat.” Poor, uneducated, simple, blue-collar fishermen are told to feed 5, 6, 7, maybe 10 thousand+ people - in a moments notice.

That is the call of The Experience - and any group of people who feel they are followers of Jesus. It’s about changing the world in a positive way - feeding the hungry, comforting the divorced, challenging the arrogant, playing with children, and changing the world.

Oh that we would change the world… Oh that we would not play “church.” Oh that we would not simply move people from church to church - but see “net kingdom growth” - people who today do not know the power of Christ Spirituality in their lives finding the reality of Jesus living in them.

It’s 11:47 pm, and I just got home a little while ago. I just got back from about 12 hours in my Envoy with Jerry Woods. We just drove our route we are going to take on October 15 - as we ride bikes 300+ miles for Project Patch. (For more information on our ride, click on KTSY’s website )

I’m looking forward to our trip even more now. We traveled some great roads -and saw some great countryside! It was beautiful! Waterfalls coming out of the side of a mountain (a lot of mountains!), a lot of cows, a nice older man with a great beard who gave us directions back to Old 30… It was wonderful.

And what was crazy is that some of the place we went were so close to the Interstate. Now, I love the Interstate - it’s such a quick way to get from point A to point B. But, there is something magical about getting onto slower roads and seeing some amazing land.

The difference, really, is just getting off the rat race and slowing down a little.

Reminds me of a spiritual journey. Sometimes life may look pretty dull - but simply slowing down, and getting away from the rat race is often a simple way to experience the beauty of a spiritual journey.

So - slow down a little; take some time to see God’s wonder….

My wife has returned home! I’m so happy!

I have a lot of respect again for single parents. And mine single parenthood was only for a few days. The fun thing was it gave me some great time to bond with my kids.

Balancing schedule, things to do, job, and making time for kids is really hard! I’m excited though that I took some time to just be with the kids. Work on building a fort; get ice cream cones, etc.

As we are on the 40 Days of Purpose together, take a little time to just be with God - relax, listen, read, and renew your purpose!