The Jesus of Suburbia - Mike Erre Exerpt

I have been reading this book for the better part of a year and half. Though I love it's words it is not a book that you can settle into after a long day, instead you must engage your brain to read it. I have been in and out of a reading phase for a while, so I was excited to get through about 75 pages on a recent camping trip with friends. The funny thing about this book is that God strikes me with the urge to read just when the next chapter I am to read in the book applies to my life most. So on the day that our preacher, Steve Cobb, was to announce a huge change in the was our church is to structure our Sunday school/Bible Fellowship Groups. Any change brings discomfort. Though I am very excited about the change to small group that meet in homes and am ready grow smaller and closer. So here is the excerpt that God had for me on that day.

"The Church and the Mall

Consumerism is the god of this age. I spend my days choosing between countless goods and services, all designed to cater to my preferences and whims. I wake up in the morning and have my choice among an absurd number of breakfast cereals (or other foods, for that matter). I can catch up on the news either by reading my choice of newspapers, by checking any number of Web sites, or by watching one (or more) of 200 TV channels. I stand in front of my closet looking at over thirty different shirts (although I usually just wear my top four), thirteen pairs of shoes, pants, shorts-most of which I don't need, let alone ever wear. I drive to work listening to one of 100 radio stations. I go out to lunch at my pick of hundreds of local restaurants, each offering an extensive menu of selections. Going to the mall or grocery store presents me with a bewildering array of choices. I spend all day, every day, deciding what I want and what will be most pleasing to me. When I choose poorly, I have "buyer's remorse"; when I choose well, I feel momentary satisfaction until I have to look into my overstuffed refrigerator and decide what to have for dinner. My life is based on my right to choose.

So it no surprise that this mentality creeps into the church. Many of us come to God with our wants, desires, and preferences in primary view. And churches, if they are not careful, begin to cater to perceived demands of their patrons. A mall mentality affects the church. We feel the need to offer a dizzying selection of services and ministries designed to "meet the needs" of the whole family, realizing. of course. that if we don't. there are many churches in the area who are willing to meet those needs. Our job, even unconsciously, becomes outdoing the "competition" down the street.

Erwin McManus, in his book Unstoppable Force, makes a distinction regarding the church, which has stuck with me. McManus distinguishes between the church as a movement and the church as an institution. A movement is concerned with it's mission-it exists for a reason and will stretch itself to grow and accommodate to fulfill that mission. An institution, on the other hand, exists for itself-it seeks to maintain the status quo and usually has a great deal of resistance to change. A movement adapts and grows; an institution preserves and guards. A movement is organic and grass roots; an institution is structured and hierarchical. This distinction exists on a continuum-every church, to some degree, is both movement and institution.

God intended his church to be a movement, guided and powered by the Holy Spirit to fulfill the mission of Christ on the Earth, which is to make disciples of all the nations and to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth (Matt 28-18-20; Acts 1:8) Both structure and organization are necessary within such a movement. We see this in the early church and the instructions of Paul. The apostles had to delegate some work to others so they could focus primarily on teaching and prayer (Acts 6:1-7). Paul put believers in positions of authority and charged them with oversight and leadership of local churches. (e.g.; Titus 1:5)

Not everything about an institution is bad, but I suspect most of it is simply unhelpful in accomplishing the mission the church has been given. When the church turns inward and begins catering to the preferences of those who are there, it leaves the dynamic edge of Spirit-led obedience to places of greater and greater discomfort. When a church spends most of its times on cherished traditions and ceases to ask God in prayerful dependence what else he may be doing (even if it doesn't look like what we are doing now) so that we may join him there, we lose the joy and wonder of seeing God do the unexpected and unplanned-for.

Many of us realize the consumer mindset is the exact opposite of the outlook we are to have when it comes to the purpose of the church. I've heard many times. "The church is the only organization that exists for it's non-members." Most agree with the sentiment; we just don't know how to do that or why. The church has been (and still should be) a revolutionary community attempting to subvert and redeem the culture around it. Perhaps the clearest picture of how the church should function within a culture that is hostile to is comes from the book of Revelation. "

Emphasis mine.

Sorry this got so long but it is such a powerful passage. I want to join Christ in his plan for our church, for our city, for our state.....

Finally !

I finally put use to all those color swatches I took from Lowe's. I had in mind, months ago when we painted, to put these swatches over the bed in a wooden frame. I had seen some awesome frames with metal clothes pins at Pier One. These were designed to hold pictures in a 3x3 matrix. I thought they would be perfect to hold the swatches but they were $18 a piece and I wanted 3. I wasn't willing to part with my money so I commissioned my father to build something similar, I think he forgot in all of the hubbub at work and I forgot too. Then, today I organized my closet and got rid of some old wire-build-it-yourself shelves. I thought I could use them for something and then it hit me. What you see is the result of free swatches, shelving I already had, scotch tape and push pins. This cost me 1.36 for the push pins today. And I like it! It brings in the yellow from the curtains and the greens from the pillows.

Love at first "site" ;o)

Fall is here and I love fall clothes!

Here are some sites I've been ogling lately.

I love almost anything from Shop Ruche

http://www.shopruche.com/shop-lookbook-c-24.html


How cute is this coat?












I have also discovered Pink Studio shoes. It's love.










Another site I just found is Nations Outfitters - they donate 5% to Habitat for Humanity. Plus they have some really cute clothing.

http://www.nationsoutfitters.com/index.php

Of course I always check out anthropologie.com, delias.com and urbanoutfitters.com


Off to search some more!

Prayers

I was flipping through my journal I kept through Centrifuge several years ago. It was a difficult time. I was a newly-wed. Newly away from my new husband which I had been only living with on the weekends due to school. I was still struggling to hear from God on the subject of "career" as I was in nursing school. I was stuck on a song called "Hosea's Wife" by my favorite, Brooke Fraser. The words that kept going through my head were

"We are Hosea's wife, we are squandering this life.
Using people like ladders and words like knives

[Chorus]
If we've eyes to see
If we've ears to hear
To find it in our hearts and mouths the word that saves is near
Shed that shallow skin
Come and live again
Leave all you were before
To believe is to begin"

I was praying asking "What do I live for?" Begging God that I not squander this life. 

Through all of this I recorded words I felt were from God, my prayer to Him and then
 another response. It was so amazing to go back and read this.

The first was
"Get real. Stop living life with a God-shaped backdrop. Let me show you how to live life more
abundant.  Let me show you what that means. "

Me "God, I want to reach people for you.  I want to be an instrument I just don't know where."

"My people are everywhere-go to my world.  Touch those you have always avoided.  Be open-be vulnerable. 
Don't you know I will take care of you? Don't you know I love you-I sent my son for you Allison. 
Do you not trust me with your life? I won't hurt you.  You may be hurt, you may love and lose.
But lean on me.  Trust me.  Surrender to me.  I will show you in time. I will get you through this
last semester.  Rest in me.  Know my peace.  Feel my love and with that love, love my people. 
You know where I have placed your heart and that scares you.  But, again, I say trust in me.
I will not lead you astray.  It may not be a straight path - But it's my path."

How is it so easy to forget the words he tells us when times change. 

In the Quiet

All too often we fill our days with chatter. mindless. shallow. hollow. filler. Just to fill up the air. Just to feel like we've connected with someone else on this vast earth full of people. Full of chattering, babbling people. I realized at work these last few days how often I am inundated with noise. Working at hospital is an assault to all of your senses and emotions. Phones ringing, call bells/bed alarms/bed exits, the tube system beeps, nurses talking, techs talking, doctors talking, patients yelling down the hall, vital sign machines alarming and then there are the cardiac monitors. All this noise overwhelms someone like me that gets overstimulated so easily. Working with some of the nurses I was on the schedule with this week made me realize how much they fill the air with their words. People that talk just to do it. There's nothing particularly useful in their speech. Just griping, complaining trying to get some validation.

Today I was quiet. I use this loosely because I find it so hard to be still and quiet. I almost always have background noise. Sometimes I'm afraid what will happen when I turn it off. But for me, today, I was quiet. I spoke very few words, maybe a couple of "Cooper, wanna go outside?"'s. But really that was it. I needed to get grounded again before more work and with the husband out of town it was a perfect day for some alone time. So I drove to Morehead to "shop." I bought nothing, went to two stores and drove home. I found it curious that I even bothered to go. But on the way home I realized that I had said nothing today. I hadn't been on the phone or run into anyone I knew. It was 3:30pm and I had not spoken to anyone. I started thinking about if I had used my voice today. I had, I had sung in the car, worship songs. There is something special about not filling the air with my mindless chatter and only speaking praise to my God. It felt right, so I kept it up. I haven't taken phone calls. I have just been quiet. I when I did sing praises it meant so much more.

God, let me learn to listen before I speak. Let me be ok with the silence, what's the worst that could happen? I hear from you? Let me be more eager to speak praise than condescension. Let me learn to just be with You.

Easy craft

This was a dollar store frame with a little bit of paint, sharpie, paper and hot glue. Very easy and a cute addition to our front door, which is magnetic by the way.

New Bible study

"Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ" John Piper.

The idea is that the group does this independently, together. We meet up once a week to discuss it.

Lesson 1 was fairly easy. It introduced the topic, the goal and posed a few, short, thought provoking questions.

I like to start first with definitions of the words:
See:
1 a : to perceive by the eye b : to perceive or detect as if by sight
2 a : to have experience of b : to come to know c : to be the setting or time of
3 a : to form a mental picture of : visualize b : to perceive the meaning or importance of : understand c : to be aware of : recognize

Savor
1 : to give flavor to : season
2 a : to have experience of :taste b : to taste or smell with pleasure : relish c : to delight in : enjoy

One of the questions asks if you can see Christ without savoring Him. I think there are two ways to look at this. First, as a Christian I think if you truly see Christ then you would recognize Him and therefore "savor" Him. I do think, however, that you can see Christ such as in His creation and not know Christ and experience Him without savoring Him.

Have you ever been asked by your parents "Are hearing me or are you listening to me?" I think it can be like that with Christ. To see Him without seeing Him.

A second part of the study asks the participant to list attributes of Jesus that they love.
The more I thought about it the more I realized I love the 'human' parts of Jesus the best.
I love how accessible He is. How He walked beside people and spoke with them rather than to them. Our politicians don't even do that and they are no one really in comparison.
I love that he healed a man with some spit and some mud.
I love His passion.
I love His anger.
Anyway, Lesson 2 looks much harder. We'll see how that goes.