Holiday At The Sea

In Search of the Spiritual - Newsweek Society - MSNBC.com

As Americans continue to grapple with the pull of their soul towards something that fills their life with forgiveness and eternity, Christendom must grapple with how she defines herself. If we are to reach a searching generation we must be Christ incarnate in our community in tangible ways that manifest themselves beyond the piety of Sunday morning.

Thought provoking quotes:
"Whatever is going on here, it's not an explosion of people going to church. The great public manifestations of religiosity in America today—the megachurches seating 8,000 worshipers at one service, the emergence of evangelical preachers as political power brokers—haven't been reflected in increased attendance at services."
-Where will our generation find God? Church (as a building/service goes) does not seem to be the draw, but can Christ be if we become the physical manifestation of the church on mission in our cities?
-Is the best use of relational/spiritual capital when we build huge buildings behind a "face" that speaks well or inspires? Do recorded sermons shepherd the flock in the way of Christ? Is it God lifting up these powerful "men of God" or is it a false religiosity within the unbelieving world that will always compels men to climb high so that the splatter at the bottom will be more grotesque when he falls?

"The fastest-growing category on surveys that ask people to give their religious affiliation . . . is "none." But "spirituality," the impulse to seek communion with the Divine, is thriving."
-People do not want a religious agenda driving their search. They want a spiritual connection with God. The question then is who is the Divine and how can I connect with Him?

"If you feel God within you, then the important question is settled; the rest is details."
-Is God just a feeling or a cerebral sensation that empowers us to over come sin? Or is God the Mighty Son of the Ancient of Days that both created and redeemed mankind by the power of His awesome sovereignty?

As lost souls search for truth, are you searching for lost souls? Does your life wreak with intentionality? Do you wake up with a burning in your chest that compels you toward Christ? Is the end of your laboring - whether you are a 9 to 5'er, a student, or a pastor - to die to yourself so that Christ may be magnified through you? If a searcher met you . . . what would they find?

The vision is Jesus - obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus.
The vision is an army of young people. You see bones? I see an army.
And they are FREE from materialism.
They laugh at 9-5 little prisons.
They could eat caviar on Monday and crust on Tuesday.
They wouldn't even notice.
They know the meaning of the Matrix, the way the West was won.
They are mobile like the wind, they belong to the nations. They need no passport. People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence.
They are free yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying.

What is the vision?

The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes. It makes children laugh and adults angry. It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars. It scorns the good and strains for the best. It is dangerously pure.
Light flickers from every secret motive, every private conversation.
It loves people away from their suicide leaps, their Satan games.
This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause.
A million times a day its soldiers
choose to loose
that they might one day win
the great ' Well done' faithful sons and daughters.
Such heroes are as radical on Monday mornings as Sunday night.
They don't need fame from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards and hear the crowds
chanting again and again "COME ON!"
And this is the sound of the underground
The whisper of history in the making
Foundations shaking
Revolutionaries dreaming once again
Mystery is scheming in whispers
Conspiracy is breathing . . .
This is the sound of the underground
And the army is discipl(in)ed.
Young people who beat their bodies into submission.
Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrade at arms.
The tattoo on their back boasts "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain".
Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their upward eyes.
Winners.
Martyrs.
Who can stop them?
Can hormones hold them back?
Can failure succeed?
Can fear scare them or death kill them?
And the generation PRAYS
like a dying man
with groans beyond talking,
with warrior cries, sulphuric tears and
with great barrow loads of laughter!
Waiting. Watching: 24-7-365.
Whatever it takes they will give.
Breaking the rules.
Shaking the mediocrity from its cosy little hide.
Laying down their rights and their precious little wrongs,
laughing at labels, fasting essentials.
The advertisers cannot mold them.
Hollywood cannot hold them.
Peer - pressure is powerless to shake their resolve at late night parties before the cockerel cries.
They are incredibly cool, dangerously attractive inside.
On the outside? They hardly care.
They wear clothes like a costume to communicate and celebrate but never to hide.
Would they surrender their image or popularity?
They would lay down their very lives - swap seats with the man on death row
- guilty as hell.
A throne for an electric chair.
With blood and sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days, they pray as if it all depends on God and live as if it all depends on them.
Their DNA chooses JESUS. (He breathes out, they breathe in)
Their subconscious sings. They had a blood transfusion with Jesus.
Their words make the demons scream in shopping centers.
DON'T you hear them coming?
Herald the weirdos!
Summon the losers and the freaks.
Here come the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes.
They walk tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension.
Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden.
And this vision will be. It will come to pass; it will come easily; it will come soon.
How do I know? Because this is the longing of creation itself, the groaning
of the Spirit, the very dream of God.
My tomorrow is his today.
My distant hope is his 3D.
And my feeble whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding, bone - shaking 'AMEN!' from countless angels, from hero's of the faith, from Christ himself. And He is the original dreamer, the ultimate winner.
Guaranteed.

Moses and the people were in the desert, but what was he going to do with them? They had to be fed, and feeding 2 or 3 million people requires a lot of food.

According to the Quartermaster General in the Army, it is reported that Moses would have to have had 1500 tons of food each day. Do you know that to bring that much food each day, two freight trains, each at least a mile long, would be required!

Besides you must remember, they were out in the desert, so they would have to have firewood to use in cooking the food. This would take 4000 tons of wood and a few more freight trains, each a mile long, just for one day. And just think, they were forty years in transit.

And Oh yes! They would have to have water. If they only had enough to drink and wash a few dishes, it would take 11,000,000 gallons each day and a freight train with tank cars, 1800 miles long, just to bring water!

And then another thing! They had to get across the Red Sea at night. Now, if they went on a narrow path, double file, the line would be 800 miles long and would require 35 days and nights to get through. So there had to be a space in the Red Sea, 3 miles wide so that they could walk 5000 abreast to get over in one night.

But then, there is another problem . . . each time they camped at the end of the day, a campground two-thirds the size of the state of Rhode Island was required, or a total of 750 square miles long ... think of it! This much space for camping.

Do you think Moses figured all this out before he left Egypt? I think not! You see, Moses believed in God. God took care of these things for him. Now do you think God has any problem taking care of all your needs? I asked the Lord to bless you As I prayed for you today. To guide you and protect you as you go along your way. His love is always with you, His promises are true, And when we give Him all our cares, You know He will see us through.

So when the road you're traveling on seems difficult at best, just remember I'm praying and God will do the rest.

Emerging Churches strive to be positive about the future.
There is a passion within emerging churches to become globally focused. Many hold the perspective that we live in the greatest period of time in history and the church can, and should, live into that. I like to call it “open-eyed optimism”. Optimism that understands the reality of the world, which is not always pretty, but sees the hope of God living and active in the world as a whole. This positivism is reconstructive, moving beyond critiquing Christianity and toward constructive change.

Churches within the emerging community are committed to God in the way of Jesus.
As Christ-centered people, many of us understand the Gospel in terms of Jesus’ radical, profound, and expansive message of the kingdom of God. The emerging church is helping to articulate the call for Christianity to go beyond mere belief in commands and into a life that’s in rhythm with God.

The Kingdom of God is a central conversation in emerging communities.
Mark Scandrette of ReImagine, a significant voice in the emerging church, says this, “The kingdom of God is a generative people who believe that a more beautiful and sustainable way of life is possible.” Within many of us there is a desire for the Good News of Jesus to really be good news for the people of the world and not just the promise of a world to come. Many find good news in the call of Jesus to join the kingdom of God. And let me tell you “Kingdom of God” language is really big in the emerging church.

The emerging church values communal life – living like family.
Emerging churches often speak of themselves as if they were a family where the love and commitment to one another is deep, meaningful and essential. Almost completely gone from the emerging church conversation is the idea that the church is a supplier of religious goods and services provided to a wanting consumer. Instead, people are invited to join in and become one of us.

Emerging churches seek to live as missional communities.
Being missional does not mean having a mission statement that clearly communicates the goals of the church. Instead, it’s the desire to be on the agenda of God. More than seeing their role as setting forth a bold vision (mission statement) and asking God to bless it, we seek to join God in the work of the kingdom wherever it is found. Brian McLaren puts it this way, “We practice our faith missionally – that is, we do not isolate ourselves from this world, but rather, we follow Christ into the world.”

Friendship and hospitality are transformational pieces in the emerging church.
Emerging churches believe that friendships change people. They stress that Jesus welcomed the original disciples into a warm friendship with himself and one another. Through the centuries the church has been an extension of this friendship through space, time, and transition. Emerging churches put much emphasis on hospitality. But this is not just your grandma’s after-service dinner in the church basement kind of hospitality. It takes the kindness of those dinners and adds a new level of vulnerability – a call to an intimate redemptive relationship.

Communities in the emerging movement value theology.
Emerging churches are often vigilant in their assertion that what they are about is not merely changing the methods of their faith; they are seeking to be full theological communities. Many will stress that they are not called to do “cover versions” of other generation’s faith with their own spin. But they are called to be living theological communities who articulate and generate understandings of God, life and faith.

So that is my list; it’s not intended to be static - nor the end of the conversation. I guess you could say it’s just emerging.

"St. Bernard used to say to those who applied for admission to the monastery, "If you desire to enter here, leave at the threshold the body you have brought with you from the world; here there is room only for your soul." Let us constantly ask ourselves St. Bernard's daily question,

"To what end didst thou come hither?"

To John & Sean (I believe the only eyes who see this common act of randomness)-

Let me ask this question: How do you walk with a Holy God? If He is truly a consuming fire, how do you stay in step with Him, enjoying his company without being consumed by His glory?

As we have jaunted through the powerful and cryptic book of Isaiah I have been waiting with excitement to come across the profoundly prophetic Chapter 53. It is one of the great lynchpins of the Christian faith – A preview of God’s historical work of redemption. As my eyes scroll across this ancient foreshadowing of Christ my mind is gripped with the immense weight of the truth that God was always the end. The purpose of the example of Christ was not to just perform awesome miracles or to reveal sin or to be the salvation of mankind – the purpose in which Christ was satisfied was to be consumed with God being His breath, His movement, His words, His life, His end, His all.

So the question, in view of the example of Christ, is not how do you keep from being consumed by God but rather, how can you be so humble and broken before God that you are consumed? How can Jesus Christ be your first thought in the morning, your greatest joy in life, and your soul consuming passion throughout eternity?

Let’s let someone we can trust give us some advice . . .


"The redeemed have all their objective good in God. God himself is the great good which they are brought to the possession and enjoyment of by redemption. He is the highest good, and the sum of all that good which Christ purchased. God is the inheritance of the saints; he is the portion of their souls. God is their wealth and treasure, their food, their life, their dwelling place, their ornament and diadem, and their everlasting honor and glory. They have none in heaven but God; he is the great good which the redeemed are received to at death, and which they are to rise to at the end of the world. The Lord God, he is the light of the heavenly Jerusalem; and is the ‘river of the water of life’ that runs, and the tree of life that grows, ‘in the midst of the paradise of God’. The glorious excellencies and beauty of God will be what will forever entertain the minds of the saints, and the love of God will be their everlasting feast. The redeemed will indeed enjoy other things; they will enjoy the angels, and will enjoy one another: but that which they shall enjoy in the angels, or each other, or in anything else whatsoever, that will yield then delight and happiness, will be what will be seen of God in them."
(The Sermons of Jonathan Edwards: A Reader [New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999], pp. 74-75)