Worship – We relate to God through prayer, reading His word, praise, contemplation, silence, and much more. For me, this all comes under the heading of Worship. Richard Foster says in Celebration of Discipline, p. 158-9:
“…we have not worshiped the Lord until Spirit touches spirit.”
I cannot imagine anything I want more in my life than to have my spirit touched by THE Spirit (God). I hope my worship begins to reflect that touch. Thank you God for wanting to relate to me!
Know that He wants to touch you too. There is nothing that can separate you from the love of God (Romans 8:37-39) except you. Let’s worship God today!
God be with you on your journey,
Kevin
I am a husband, father, son, brother, friend, and pastor trying to be an authentic follower of Jesus Christ.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Relating To God
Many things have spurred me on to think about how we relate to God this past week. We had a great baccalaureate Sunday night (May 10,2009) where many students from different denominations were able to participate and three teachers spoke. I was just amazed at how God wove it together and how I saw so many different aspects of how we relate to God. I spent a while talking to Travis Monday morning about how so many folks see relating to God as either relationship based or truth (rules) based. We both opted for a “both and” rather than an “either or” idea. Without relationship, we have nothing, but truth is part of the relationship. Then, as always, I read Robert Francis’ Signals on Monday too. Robert was able to travel to George Fox Seminary in Newburg, Oregon to talk about An American Theology of the Land. Again I am challenged by how to relate to God as Robert said, “Many good words were shared concerning the crisis situation in which we have placed ourselves and the desperate need to turn and walk in a good way with both Land and Creator.”
So what is the “good way” for us to relate to God (Creator)? Often times our denominationally specific methods just produce pride and selfishness that makes us too institution focused and not enough God focused. Richard Rohr says, “The Bible moves us from sacred place (why the temple had to go) or sacred action (why the Law had to be relativized) or mental belief systems (why Jesus has no prerequisites in this regard) to time itself as sacred time.”
So, maybe we don’t focus as much on our relating to God in the future (the glorious eternity of heaven) or the past (my sin is so great) and focus more on relating to God right now, right here, right how I am. That means we have to accept His great love and forgiveness and move on into the meat of our relationship. To wallow in our sin or just live for heaven keeps us from being with Him NOW. That is what we were created for. More on this later. Let me know what you think.
God be with you on your journey!
Kevin
So what is the “good way” for us to relate to God (Creator)? Often times our denominationally specific methods just produce pride and selfishness that makes us too institution focused and not enough God focused. Richard Rohr says, “The Bible moves us from sacred place (why the temple had to go) or sacred action (why the Law had to be relativized) or mental belief systems (why Jesus has no prerequisites in this regard) to time itself as sacred time.”
So, maybe we don’t focus as much on our relating to God in the future (the glorious eternity of heaven) or the past (my sin is so great) and focus more on relating to God right now, right here, right how I am. That means we have to accept His great love and forgiveness and move on into the meat of our relationship. To wallow in our sin or just live for heaven keeps us from being with Him NOW. That is what we were created for. More on this later. Let me know what you think.
God be with you on your journey!
Kevin
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Relationships
When I started wrestling with my call into ministry over 20 years ago, I had many ideas about what ministry in church was going to look like. Most of them were way wrong. One of the biggest differences was what relationships would look like inside the Christian world. You see, even through my days in seminary, I continued to see the outline for church world relationships to be Acts 2:41-47:
41Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (NIV via www.biblegateway.com)
There is some great stuff here. As Rick Warren puts it, the five purposes of the church are right here: Worship, fellowship, ministry, discipleship and evangelism. For me, I kept focusing on phrases like, "breaking bread" and "believers were together" and "had everything in common" and "gave to everyone" and "meet together" and "glad and sincere hearts". This seemed awesome!!!
Now that I have been in ministry for almost 20 years, I still see this as God's goal for His followers, but I have realized something else. This version of the church only lasted a few verses or chapters at best in Acts. By Chapter 5 there are problems with lying (Ananias and Sapphira) and more problems come as more and more people become followers of Jesus Christ. Eventually, most of what the apostles (especially Paul) are dealing with in their writings are problems with relationships within the body of believers.
So, I would like to take a few weeks and discuss the nature of relationships. What do you think? I will be interested to know. How should Jesus' followers relate to one another? How should we relate to those that would say they don't follow Jesus? How do we relate to family? How do we relate to authority? How do we relate to government? How do we relate to scripture? HOW DO WE RELATE TO GOD?
God be with You on your journey!
Kevin
41Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (NIV via www.biblegateway.com)
There is some great stuff here. As Rick Warren puts it, the five purposes of the church are right here: Worship, fellowship, ministry, discipleship and evangelism. For me, I kept focusing on phrases like, "breaking bread" and "believers were together" and "had everything in common" and "gave to everyone" and "meet together" and "glad and sincere hearts". This seemed awesome!!!
Now that I have been in ministry for almost 20 years, I still see this as God's goal for His followers, but I have realized something else. This version of the church only lasted a few verses or chapters at best in Acts. By Chapter 5 there are problems with lying (Ananias and Sapphira) and more problems come as more and more people become followers of Jesus Christ. Eventually, most of what the apostles (especially Paul) are dealing with in their writings are problems with relationships within the body of believers.
So, I would like to take a few weeks and discuss the nature of relationships. What do you think? I will be interested to know. How should Jesus' followers relate to one another? How should we relate to those that would say they don't follow Jesus? How do we relate to family? How do we relate to authority? How do we relate to government? How do we relate to scripture? HOW DO WE RELATE TO GOD?
God be with You on your journey!
Kevin
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