Just read this today. Has a similar theme to my last post, “Authentic Fellowship”, it’s just said with a little more grace.

Enjoy.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what authentic fellowship is, and what it means to the “church”. Let me start by saying that I’m a little turned off by the Western version of church right now. It doesn’t seem to be working. Sure, there are pockets and examples, but by and large it’s not working. More churches are in decline and/or closing every year in the west than in any time in history. Why?

Honestly, I think it’s because we’ve forgotten what church really is. For many of us it’s a place to plug in to…but what are we plugging in to. We’ve got so many ministries: Men’s, Women’s, Youth, Childrens, Missions, etc. These are all feeble attempts at creating community. A bunch of guys get together, go to a ball game, go home, and are left unchanged. And what’s worse, they did absolutely nothing to impact the kingdom.

And before you get offended, please remember I’m stereotyping to a certain degree…but not much, because remember, the church in the west is dying.

So, what will it take. I think something drastic. I think it will take a return to what the church is supposed to be, Biblically speaking. In Acts we see a group of people meeting in homes on a regular basis, living life. Eating, talking, sharing…being real with one another. You can’t be real with 200, 500, or 10,000 people in a room. And don’t tell me cell groups, and Sunday morning Bible studies are the same thing as what we find in Acts. They’re not.

I long to see a small group (15-20) of individuals committed to God, each other, and their community. They have to be committed to living life holistically, and with a passion to the Kingdom of God being established on earth. It will take people being real, being honest, and truly working out their salvation. You and I both know that “works” or “deeds” don’t save us. Only by the grace of God are we saved. But our salvation should be seen by others through our good works (Matthew 5:16). They need to start “doing” and stop just “being”. Their faith can’t just be a theological faith, it has to be an active faith. This is authentic fellowship. And this is what the church sorely misses.

Okay, I’ve just come across this today, but I wanted to get something down about before I forget. Once I dig a little deeper I’ll post more. Of course, you can always check this out for yourself.

It seems there’s this guy, Chris Anderson, who is the brainchild of TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design). Chris thinks he’s been able to capture a little slice of heaven here on earth. I’m giving you a link to him explaining TED. Be sure to watch the short video clip after he’s done.

Let me know what you think.

Cheers.

Two and a half weeks ago (Friday, September 29th to be exact) I finished reading the New Testament. I started in June. Not a record setting pace, but I took my time so that I could catch a glimpse of the “big picture”. While I’m sure it would be beneficial to point out some of the themes that are present throughout the NT…things like Jesus as the fulfillment of OT prophecy, or grace, or God’s plan of redemption through His Son; there’s one theme I find throughout the whole of the NT that I can’t get out of my head. Jesus himself speaks of it, Paul writes volumes on it, James and Peter mention it, and John alludes to it in Revelation.

What is it? Suffering…To suffer. The life of the NT follower of Christ was/is synonymous with suffering. The life of Christ himself was synonymous with suffering. If we follow Christ we will suffer. It’s not a matter of “if”, but a matter of “when”. Paul would have it no other way, because when he suffered he knew he was in the will of God for his life. In fact, Paul considered everything apart from knowing Christ rubbish. To know Christ is to know suffering. That means that Paul would rather suffer for Christ’s sake than for anything else. James reminds us to consider it pure joy when we suffer. Why? Because he knew the benefit, the outcome. Suffering puts us squarely at the feet of Jesus. It puts our focus where it should be.

If we know that suffering is part and parcel of following Christ, we have found for ourselves a litmus test of sorts. In other words, if I’m not currently suffering for my faith, or if I’ve not recently found myself suffering for my faith then I need to re-evaluate my walk with Christ. Because the NT makes it clear that if I’m in the will of God for my life I will suffer.

Don’t know why, but just something I thought worth mentioning.

Cheers.

Yesterday at Glenwood we sang a song with the words Kyrie Eleison in it. The words translated mean Lord Have Mercy. On the way home Julie commented that the words were familiar to her, that she remembered them in a song from the 80′s. I told her she was crazy.

Well, today I did a little digging and sure enough…she was right. The words are from Mr. Mister’s song titled Kyrie. It’s from 1985. If you’re a child of the 80′s you’ll definetely remember this song. And now, it takes on a whole new meaning. I liked it so much I had to purchase it on iTunes. So, courtesy of YouTube here is the song (and video).

Cheers.

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