Archive for March, 2008

A slice of the absurd

March 13, 2008 at 7:32 pm · Filed under Current Events, Musings ·Tagged ,

With the dedication of the Communitas Building coming up I have been thinking back over the past 3 years and laughing.  When I think of what got us started in our transition back then, and where we are now all I can do is laugh at the absurdity and rightness of it all.   When we transitioned from the big building in Dunwoody with million dollar homes across the street to the industrial warehouse and immigrant groups we have been called to serve I marvel at the Lord. 

I never imagined that this whole journey could be summed up with the words spoken to the very first disciples, “Follow me.”  Nothing else describes what the Lord has done over this time than that simple, faith-filled, blissfully ignorant phrase.   

“Follow me.”  The Lord doesn’t have a recipe or a one-size-fits-all vision for all people, all cultures, all time.  Sure, the message of his love is timeless and moves across all cultures and people.  But not how he puts his Kingdom on display and gets his message of hope and reconciliation across.   

“Follow me.”  Not follow the latest and greatest fads.  Not get a guru or a consultant or method or technique.  I think that if people were to simple try and recreate what he has done through us (i.e. adopt a school, find an apartment complex, partner with ministries that distribute furniture, repair bicycles, teach about great Christian thinkers, and start conversations in coffee houses, etc) that it would fall apart.  I am glad that we have some experience to share with others whom the Lord is calling into similar ministry.  I’m just saying that copying another ministry uncritically isn’t just lazy, but dangerous if it is an attempt to short-circuit any aspect of following him alone.     

“Follow me.”  I am convinced in my little mind that the Lord calls us to himself and wants us to pray, believe, and respond to his leadings in what he wants to do with a community of faith.  It really isn’t up to us.  He is the Savior and Lord, and as such we love, obey, and respond to him whether it always makes sense to us or not.   

“Follow me.”  I shared in the last blog how the Lord has guided us through the contributions of other people in our community that are not necessarily in leadership roles.  They are normal, everyday people who he has spoken to in dreams, interests, and passions (and, yes, I do believe that people in church leadership are abnormal in both the funny and the sad meaning of that word).   

I look back at the actual expression of what the Lord is doing here and, I have to confess, I don’t get it.  I don’t know how he is going to change the world through talking, bikes, and furniture; but I believe that he is.  I don’t understand how getting smaller, less comfortable, less safe will translate into bringing him praise and glory, but I believe that it will.  The only word that seems to fit right now is absurd.  It’s all outrageously, hilariously, wonderfully absurd.  I love that about our Lord.  He always uses the foolish things, the small, the insignificant, the bizarre to do his will.   You need to know that when I use words like insignificant and bizarre that those aren’t bragging words for me.  Some people take great pride in being different.  When I use words like these it means counter-intuitive, risky-with-an-edge-of-foolishness (as opposed to a calculated risk), and confusing.  But, there it is.  “Follow me.”   

So we have tried to follow.  I’m sure we’ve missed some steps.  But even so I trust more in his ability to do his will and use us in that service than I trust our ability to follow well.  And I hope that we always will.  I pray that we will continue to believe in the body of Christ.  That this belief will be expressed in the time, attention, and energy needed to listen and to believe in people.  I pray that our plans will always focus on building disciples who know and practice listening so that we always have a healthy dose of the absurd to keep us from co-opting the idea of faith and re-defining it to mean him following us and our plans.

So as we dedicate this building and this vision this Saturday, I hope it will be with a clear commitment to following.  He is Lord.  He is good.  It is our privilege to put him on display however he chooses to be displayed – even if it means rusty bicycles and old furniture. 

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Letting Others Lead

March 4, 2008 at 8:43 pm · Filed under Adventures, Discipleship ·Tagged , , , , , ,

One of our basic ideals is that the purpose of the church is to make disciples, and the purpose of disciples is to hear and obey.  In other words, it is not the job of the leaders to come up with innovative ideas and then try to convince everyone to get on board.  Rather, leaders focus the primary efforts of the church to train up people to listen and respond to the Lord in developing ministries, and then support people through encouragement, problem solving, picking-them-up-and-dusting-them-off when things go wrong (and if you are doing it right they will go wrong at times).

  

One of my favorite examples is Katie.  Katie had a dream about backpacks.  Being a humble follower she did what we had been trained in church to do.  She brought the confusing dream to the elders.  We listened.  We prayed.  We were clueless.  So we put it “on the shelf.”  A few months later hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and suddenly the dream made sense.  Katie became a one-woman whirlwind putting together backpacks of school supplies to give to local elementary and middle schools that needed them.  It was this point of obedience that opened the way for our service to Cary Reynolds and Pearl Lane.  We didn’t know this starting out.  It is not an exaggeration to say that Katie’s obedience is one of the primary reason we are a vital, active community blessing this part of Atlanta.

This last couple of weeks another ministry was birthed.  Josh loves his bike.  He and his lovely wife are, to put it mildly, passionately committed riders.  Several months ago they realized that their passion could be a blessing to others and they started to organize rides.  They started up a project to put longer rides together for others who love to peddle and want some company.  

A couple of weeks ago Josh and I were talking and he realized that his love for repairing bikes could turn into a blessing for others as well.  It was actually not this clean. 

What actually happened from my perspective was that I was cleaning out my shed in preparation for putting out house on the market so we could move into the Cary Reynolds/Pearl Lane area.  My old bike was hanging on the wall. While the frame was shot there were some good rims, so I took them off and put them in the trunk to give to Josh in case he ever needed them.  When I gave them too him on Sunday he was mildly freaked out.  Excited is probably a better term. 

You see he had just had this idea of recycling bikes.  He was starting with himself and was looking for the most inexpensive way to make a quality ride.  But he needed some rims.  He prays.  The Lord answers.  He is excited.  I’m kinda of amazed myself. 

Josh then starts talking about turning this idea of recycled bikes into a ministry to provide transportation to our friends in Pearl Lane who could use them.  When we talked I asked if he needed any of our warehouse space in the Communitas building.  He said no.  He would start small.  1 or 2 bikes at a time which he could handle storing at the house.  But if it got bigger in the future it might be necessary. 

Maybe a week later I get a call while at a conference in Tampa.  It’s Josh.  An excited Josh telling me that someone just gave him 25 used bikes, but he wasn’t sure how to pick them up and did I have any ideas?  I thought about one of our other ministry partners, the furniture ministry called Movers & Shakers, and knew that they had the means of getting something like that done.  The next day I get a voice mail saying, “I’m riding down the highway with 25 bikes in the back of a truck!”  He was sharing the moment and I was stunned. 

It was so stinking beautiful.  It was such an affirmation about what the Lord has laid on our hearts about how he wants the vision he has given to us fulfilled. 

So now we are looking at how to better configure the warehouse space.  We’re talking about philosophical ideas like the difference between “community betterment” and “community development.”  Bike safety, quality of roads and lights, and a long, long list of other ideas linked to bike riding. 

While there is a lot to do, the most important thing right now is worship.  God is good.  God is using us in the most absurd and creative ways to bring glory to himself, and we are blessed.  It is so humbling to see our core practices come to life.  In this case generosity and risk taking (although if I think hard enough I’ll find a way to get hospitality and forgiveness in there too).  

So, what will your gifts to the world look like?  It’s among the most important questions of your life.  Whether it is bike riding and backpacks we all have an expression of grace that the Lord wants to offer the world through us.  It doesn’t have to be big or flashy.  It just has to be faithful to our following him.  It doesn’t have to last a life-time, but it can.  It just has to be faithful for right now.  It might change the world, or it might just change a few lives just when they need to be blessed the most.  The results or the outcomes are not our concern.  We just need to be faithful to follow now. 

I can’t wait to hear about your dreams, passions, and possibilities.  Please share them.  Even if they don’t come to pass it will be a blast to listen and learn together. 

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