This is just a bit of my thoughts the last day or two, so if you are used to reading Steve this maybe a little different!
So we are trying to plant a church in Buffalo New York. What I feel like I am here to do: to love Jesus with all my heart and pray that love will overflow onto those around me, that I would invite people into my life and live beside them until God moves us or offs us (haha!), that I would be a woman of encouragement to those around me that Jesus lived, loved, died and then came back to love some more so that we could experience a life of restoration, healing and redeemption of both our own lives, those around us and all of creation.
What the rest of the christian world hears that I am here to do: open a building where people who believe the exact same things can come and gather once or twice a week to sing songs and talk about the bible.
Ok so that was a bit cynical and I am sorry, but I feel like there is this culture in christianity that even people who have not grown up in it believe it: we are hear to have a nice life and be good people and believe that Jesus died for our sins, so that we could repent and believe and go to heaven. Give me a break!!!!! Does Jesus really care if you go to heaven NO, he cares about how you live not how you die because it is about soooooooo much more that the afterlife. So that being said and with deepest aplogies about the cyncial nature and dark humor, please laugh, I am (kinda of!)
I experienced a life with a community of people that was so amazing and life altering that it could only be God at work in it. Why am I so sure? Because all of those people were just like everyone else in this world except one thing; that they really and truly believed that their Jesus was God over everything from their pride to their finances, from their parenting to their occupation. There were no delusions about having a nice life and attending church twice a week to study the bible and sing songs.
Their very being existed through and for Jesus and his plan of loving and restoring the world. The goal of their lives was not to become a successfull father, husband, wife, professor, businessman, or even pastor. Their goal in life was to love Jesus with everything they had and allow him to become the success. Being in this community of people was something that I had thought I would never leave and even now since having left miss more than I have words to express sometimes. But I did leave that community ( I was sent out, I didn't bail) and I left it for one reason; I felt like Jesus had more for us somewhere else, he showed Steve and I that around this world there are people who don't even have a slot for what this kind of life with Jesus and community looks like, nor would they even dream of being able to live this way. It was this drive to go get the world saved, it was this pulling at our hearts to go to a new place and live our lives with Jesus the best we understand how and to also live for others as well. A life of service and love...
SO here is the 'but,' it is so hard to carry this picture around in my heart and soul; of a community of people passionately in love with Jesus and learning to love and care for each other and the world around them, when I feel like in America we don't need community. Instead we are quite content to cram the newest best technology into our lives to replace the gaps where relationships used to be. We are happy watching TV instead of playing with our kids or talking to our wives. We are on the internet instead of having real life communication with a person across the table from us.
3 comments:
You guys and gals should let us know who is doing the writing at the beginning of the post.
I do believe that Jesus cares if we go to heaven. I don't believe that was His primary goal for us though.
I think that you're saying that we don't need "Americanized" community but in it's place we need Jesus based community. That is the community that you left to plant a new one to live out Jesus' will on your life. Does that sound about right. I like the over all feel but am not doing well with bringing it in together right now.
Caleb..
I guess I would say that I can not speak exactly what Jesus does and doesn't care about but rather that this is my understanding of what he cares about. Jesus doesn't care about us going to heaven he cares about whether or not we are living heaven out here. We are already eternal beings either participating in the kingdom of God or not, nothing changes when we die except our physical body ceases to exist but the reality we chose to live in continues. I just would like to make the point that I feel like heaven is not a destination but rather a reality we either choose to live in or don't. Again I just don't think that he cares about when our physical body dies as if at that moment he determines the destination of our souls, our souls are already participating in the kingdom of God or they aren't before our physical body dies. Does that make sense??? It is just how I feel like I understand it to be but I am no expert just someone who tries to understand what Jesus was saying is important. If I am a heretic let me know and I will try to better understand it again, its a process for me....
That was great! That makes much more sense to me. The real death occurred when we gave up our lives to Him. The rest is just an eternal journey.
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