Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-09-27
- finding fresh hope: waking up each day is like a little resurrection…I wonder if Jesus' tomb had coffee? #
Updates from September, 2009 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Mark
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Mark
‘IF’ by Rudyard Kipling
IF
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man my son!
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Mark
Churches are like Onions
It has been several years since we first asked the question, “Who was Jesus’ church?” but the question seems once again at the forefront of our dialogue in our house church network here in Chicago. When God came to earth as Jesus, there is no doubt that he sought out to develop a spiritual family – adopted through the grace of God. But how did he understand that family? And how does that impact how we live as that family today?
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MONDO - Was Jesus’ church the crowds? The amazing impact he had on teaching to hundreds, maybe thousands of hearts at the Sermon on the Mount, or numerous other occasions when anyone within ear shot heard whispers of God’s Kingdom. They experienced his healings, heard his wisdom, and witnessed his death.
MACRO - Was Jesus’ church the 70 disciples he trained and commissioned in pairs to proclaim and display the subversive Kingdom of God to villages and people groups all over the Empire? Certainly he spent enough time with these disciples to share the vision of the Kingdom with them, and apparently they were ready to leave their wallets and responsibilities behind as they set out as the world’s first missionaries. They trusted Jesus, and he trusted them. Certainly they too were his church.
MESO - Were the 12 disciples the church of Jesus on earth? These foolhardy friends were present with Jesus daily. They not only experienced the MEGA and the MACRO, but they were given special attention – a director’s cut on Jesus’ confusing teachings, and the impartation of his Holy Spirit. They became the catalyst for the Church worldwide as we read about it in Acts. No doubt they saw themselves as Jesus’ church.
MICRO - But maybe Jesus’ church was “smaller still.” Regularly we read about the companions of Jesus; Peter, James and John. They found Jesus at his strongest (Mount of Transfiguration) and his weakest (Mount of Olives). Surely they understood him better than any other people on the planet. The Gospel of John accounts a very intimate portrait of Jesus Christ, very different from the other writers – could this be from John’s close friendship with his Lord?
MONO - At the end of the day, everyone mentioned above misunderstands Jesus Christ and his mission. Ultimately, Jesus’ church was his personal (not private) relationship with the Triune God.
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Obviously the question is a misnomer. All of these layers: MONDO, MACRO, MESO, MICRO, and MONO are layers in Jesus’ faith community. Think of these as “layers of an onion.”
Consider the movements of Jesus Christ throughout the ages; each one promotes as special only a certain layer of the onion, many times to the exclusion or in reaction to the abuses of the other layers. The Chinese house church movement, the Mega-Church movement in America, George Whitfield’s frontier revivals, the Anabaptists of 16th Century Europe, the “anamcharas” (soul friends) of 6th Century Ireland.
As we watch this particular organic network of faith emerge in Chicago, and truly all around the world – it will benefit each follower of Christ, each faith community, each network, to consider how a healthy onion is made up of healthy layers. The Underground Church Network aims to grow a healthy onion! But how?
This is the beginning of a blog series that will unpack the current reality and future plans of how one organic church network in Chicago is attempting to develop healthy layers of Christian community. We’ll look at each layer – MONO, MICRO, MESO, MACRO, and MONDO. Stay tuned!
Christi are discussing.
Christi 12:13 am on September 24, 2009 Permalink
great insights…interesting stuff to think about…glad you guys are in Chicago!!