I have been fascinated with the imagery of water in the Bible as of late. All throughout Scripture we hear about water and the creatures of the deep (like Leviathans, etc) and we wonder what the big deal was. The Israelites all seem to be petrified of water! It seems to have been the place of fear, chaos, and the utterly disastrous abyss. Not a place you want to find yourself. And yet, God is always present.

Even before God spoke light into his creation, chaos was there. The whole universe was a disaster; complete chaos…and yet God’s Spirit was hovering over the face of the waters, watching it closely and displaying control over everything.

As God creates, he pushes back the waters of chaos to form land, which is where people are put to live. Eventually, people sin to the point of no return, and God has no choice but to unleash his chaos beast: a Worldwide Flood that undoes his entire creation. Chaos is given chance to reign again. And yet it is God controlling the flood and exhibiting a God-like control over the unstable mess.

After bringing his people back on solid ground, we see Jonah being tossed into the sea and God using a sea monster to save him, Job describing creatures of the deep, and comparing their pathetic strength to God’s controlling arm, and in Revelation, we get a peek into heaven - where the Lord God sits on his throne, sitting before a sea of glass. The erupting, chaotic waters are now completely stilled when in his presence. He is the God of creation and even the uncreation of chaos.

My friend Miller and I were talking about this the other day, and he wisely commented, “Sorta gives new meaning to Jesus’ walking on the water, don’t it?”

Peace chaos, be still.

Peace unrest, be still.

Peace family strife, be still.

Peace warfare, be still.

Peace death, be still. I am in control, and behold, I make all things new.

I subscribe to a online newsletter called Joel News and they had some interesting things to say about the growing trend of people meeting to worship in their homes etc, rather than in traditional building structures.  Below is a selection from the newsletter and some (even more accurate) research giving some of the numbers of this movement in our culture:

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There is a rapid growth of participation in house churches across the
United States. Whereas most people continue to think of ‘going to church’
as attending a service at one of the many church buildings located
throughout their community, a new study from pollster The Barna Group shows
that millions of adults are trying out new forms of spiritual community and
worship, with many abandoning the traditional forms altogether.

The new study, based on interviews with more than 5,000 randomly selected
adults from across the nation, found that 9 percent of adults attend a
house church during a typical week. That is remarkable growth in the past
decade, shooting up from just 1 percent to near double-digit involvement.
In total, one out of five adults attends a house church at least once a
month. Projecting these figures to the national population gives an
estimate of more than 70 million adults who have at least experimented with
house church participation. In a typical week roughly 20 million adults
attend a house church gathering. Over the course of a typical month, that
number doubles to about 43 million adults.

While many religious professionals say they are unaware of such activity,
it might be because the house church is in its ‘ramp up’ phase in the U.S.,
says Barna. One consequence is that millions of Americans are
intermittently engaged in a house church, alternating back and forth
between house church and conventional church. For clarity, the survey
distinguished between involvement in a house church and participation in a
small group that is associated with a conventional church.

The study also discovered that church attendance patterns are being
reshaped. The people most likely to attend a house church but not a
conventional church were men, home-school families, residents of the West,
and non-whites. Barna estimates that this trend will continue over the next
two decades, substantially reducing the share of adults who call a
conventional church their primary spiritual community.

“The house church now appears to have reached ‘critical mass’ in the United
States,” commented Barna. “Analysts typically find that once a new tool or
institution reaches 15% market penetration, and has evidenced a consistent
or growing level of affirmation for at least six years, that entity shifts
from fad to trend status. At that point, it becomes a permanent fixture in
our society. We anticipate house church attendance during any given week to
double in the coming decade, and a growing proportion of house church
attenders to adopt the house church as their primary faith community.”

Full report: www.barna.org

————-

Thoughts?

Last night’s 4th of July events were spectacular, but for reasons you might not expect at first.  The fireworks themselves were something to laugh at.  Before our venture out to watch them, however, we had a group of people show up at Green Valley Abbey to eat and hang out.  We’re trying our best to incorporate others into the Abbey’s proximity as we begin to live more deeply into community as members of the Abbey community.  Last night was a good example, where there were lots of people who are from one of the house churches in town, and several others who until last night, had absolutely no connection with us at all.

One new/old friend is Nobuki, a young japanese guy who I first met in Numazu, Japan when I went there on a short term missions trip a few years ago.  Funny enough, he got hooked on ACU and Jesus and is now here to get a missions degree.  What a surprise!  Last night while the sparklers…I mean, fireworks were sputtering in the Abilene sky, he and I spoke to each other about our hopes and dreams for our lives in the coming years.  Not only does he want to become a missionary for his homeland, but he wants to travel the world too.  He wants to live in a Muslim country; he wants to live on the streets with the poor in India; and most of all he wants to return to Japan to tell his friends about the Gospel.

I was struck by the need for natives to share the Gospel with each other, rather than a transplant missionary from another culture trying to worm his or her way into a society.  Katrina and I are both from the Midwest, and we have heard God calling us to live/preach the subversive Gospel of Jesus Christ in Chicago, a city that has deep brokenness.  This is what I call “backyard missions”.  It is the mission work I believe is most effective, because we already know the language, the customs, and the deep needs of our native culture.  Nobuki brings the Gospel to the Japanese, I bring the Gospel to my own in the Midwest.  It’s what we were made to do.

Today is one of those days when all I want to do is get to the place I’m praying about.  I want to be back in my homeland - I want to get to Chicago!  Not to plant churches directly, but mainly to practice God’s presence, and model a lifestyle that I see Jesus modeling for us.  I want to, in my own culture and language, encourage others to become passionate consumers of their Lord GOD - everything else is secondary.

We’ve made it! After 3 weeks of being stuck in sicknesses, deathly ill felines, and other issues that were bugging us, we are finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel!

Yesterday during home group I was amazed as I realized that this was the first time everyone who has made any kind of commitment to our spiritual family was present together around the table. What a blessing! Its been great finding ways to let the LORD lead our time together, rather than sticking all the responsibility on one guy. Tomorrow night our church and another house church is meeting together to celebrate the 4th of July, and we’re doing the cookout thing, then heading out to see some spectacular fireworks. Mmmm. The more and more we hang out with each other as a group, the more we feel and become more like a true spiritual family. I’m loving it!

With about 8-10 people in the group, the size is just about perfect for getting to know each other, and praising God with everyone contributing. Any more than what we have and there is a chance for a couple of people to sit in the background, letting other people take center stage. If our church continues to grow, we may have to begin thinking about multiplying!

It was great meeting Trey’s fiancee last night. Jessica is a great girl, and I hope she felt loved by everyone in the group. During a conversation Trey mentioned to me that I would be in their wedding, coming up this August!? I almost flipped out! Trey and I have gotten to be so close over these past many months, (through our LTG, and just hanging out) that now seeing him getting married…I almost feel like my brother is getting married or something. I guess that’s what happens when you enter into true Christian community. What a blessing.

I’m anxious to get out of the way and let the Lord lead our house church. It is easy for the guy with the most knowledge to take the reigns and make it his own little project. I’m working hard to refuse the roll of “leader” each and every week. (Some weeks I do better than others.) I suppose its all in the effort of seeing God speak to every heart, not just one. I was reading from 2 Esdras on Saturday, and noticed something about leadership. Ezra was spending time alone with God, listening, and receiving visions from the Lord. Meanwhile, the people were anxious for a word from Ezra about what God had told him. Ezra gets upset and yells at all the people saying something like, “Get off your lazy butts and start listening to God yourselves!” That is a model of leadership for me! I don’t want people to follow me around, anxious to hear the next thing God has said to me. I’d rather people learn to listen to God for themselves, and get better at doing it over time. Then everyone has direct access, rather than one guy/gal hording all the resources!
So those are a few things that are going through my mind right now.