Quick life update: Trina and I just got back from the National House Church Conference, and it was encouraging as always. We’ve made lots of good friends from all over the country through this venue, and it was good meeting up with many of them again. And there were so many others who were just beginning to envision God’s family life in new ways, which was also exciting for us to watch. Among these newbies were the new MRNA (Missionary Residency for North America) students! It’s been two years since Katrina and I were in the program’s internship year, but its still great to hang out with these guys and to welcome them into the program. I might write more about the conference and on our new buddies later on.

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If life is a dance, then who is our partner? Watch this moving video till the end:

How does this hit you? What does it say about life’s struggle, human nature, spiritually destructive forces, and the dance of God?

For me, I see in this dance the original intimacy we were ALL created in, a move toward corrupted insanity and ultimate isolation, and then the powerfully violent fight for life’s redemption with our partner.

Last night was an amazing time of intergenerational “discernment of the Body”.

One of our great friends here in town, Karen, had invited us to meet with her church family because Father had moved her to pray for the people in the state of Texas. Trina and I are always looking for excuses to hang out with Karen and her husband Kent (my prof and mentor), so we asked our church to come along with us.

The conversation was incredible. Meeting with several older couples was very enriching to our group. After some time of solid prayer and singing (how long has it been since our church has done any a cappella singing?) Kent mentioned that it might be a good time to hear what we have been hearing from the Spirit in our own lives…then he corrected himself and said we really need to share what we’d heard from him, since it edifies the whole Body…then pausing, he said, “so you’d jolly-well BETTER NOT hold back!” with a smile on his face. That really got the conversation rolling.

While we came to focus on the state of Texas, we found ourselves moving toward issues of climate change and how industrialized nations are “raping the earth” in their quest for economic prosperity and political supremacy. The utilization of fossil fuels has allowed nations like the United States to live on the “high hog”, careening through a lifestyle that capitalizes on resources that have been building on this planet for millions of years, and tearing through the majority of them in just the last 100. One man said that as he was flying home from Europe two weeks ago, he looked down on Greenland, once a huge sheet of solid ice, now has massive blue lakes all over its surface. This fresh water is boring down through fissures in the ice and becoming a lubricant for the ice on top to slide into the warm ocean. He went on to say that for the first time in recorded history, Antarctica’s peninsula failed to connect to the larger ice formation last year, meaning we have reached a threshold that is now impossible to recross.

The times they are a changin’.

As we talked about our earth, and the greedy lifestyle of so many industrialized nations, I just kept getting a picture of the Prodigal Son. For years he has lived “high hog”, blowing his inheritance on reckless living, and now he (we) are just beginning to wake up, staring down at the bottom of an empty trough, wondering how we got here.

“In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it,” the LORD said to a riotous Israel. I believe we as a nation are hearing these words afresh.

I guess you could say I feel sort of jipped. I mean, what do I say to generations who went before us, who put personal wealth before their call to nurture the earth? My theology of creation has shifted.  No longer will I simply “have dominion” over the earth.  Being a follower of Christ for me now is inextricably linked with a nurturing relationship to the Earth.  With everything that I have in me, I want to pray for and protect “sister earth”.

A prayer of St. Francis of Assisi:

The Canticle of the Creatures

Most High, all-powerful, all-good Lord,

All praise is Yours, all glory, honor and blessings.

To you alone, Most High, do they belong;

no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce Your Name.

We praise You, Lord, for all Your creatures,

especially for Brother Sun,

who is the day through whom You give us light.

And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor,

of You Most High, he bears your likeness.

We praise You, Lord, for Sister Moon and the stars,

in the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.

We praise You, Lord, for Brothers Wind and Air,

fair and stormy, all weather’s moods,

by which You cherish all that You have made.

We praise You, Lord, for Sister Water,

so useful, humble, precious and pure.

We praise You, Lord, for Brother Fire,

through whom You light the night.

He is beautiful, playful, robust, and strong.

We praise You, Lord, for Sister Earth,

who sustains us

with her fruits, colored flowers, and herbs.

We praise You, Lord, for those who pardon,

for love of You bear sickness and trial.

Blessed are those who endure in peace,

by You Most High, they will be crowned.

We praise You, Lord, for Sister Death,

from whom no-one living can escape.

Woe to those who die in their sins!

Blessed are those that She finds doing Your Will.

No second death can do them harm.

We praise and bless You, Lord, and give You thanks,

and serve You in all humility.

Today is a day of remembrance. It is easy to try to push past the hard memories to focus on the superficiality of the day’s urgent to-do’s, but there is something much deeper to reflect on in the human psyche today. What happened 5 years ago this morning was a nation-wide shift in focus and paradigm. Now violence and acts of war no longer happened “out there” but the local reality of terror was made tangible for every American.

Our lives become busy so quickly. We hardly pause for a second to consider the circumstances of our fellow countrymen who died because they chose to go to work that day, and others who died saving them. So quickly we return to “business as usual”, when just a few short years ago we were utterly abhorred at the terrorist’s horrific offense.

I was a freshman at ACU at the time. I was sitting in Speech Class, and I had just given a persuasive speech about the necessities of making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich WITHOUT getting PB in the jelly or jelly in the PB (that’s an important tip to remember if you ever want to have friends invite you over for a snack ever again). Our teacher had left the room during one of the speeches, and was gone for several minutes after the student had taken his seat. With a terrified, halting voice, our teacher reported that a commercial airplane had just hit one of the twin towers in New York City, and that many people had died. He admitted that he knew nothing more, and then dismissed our class.

Of course, we all left in a hurry, looking at each other with curious expressions on our faces. I got back to my dorm, and turned on the TV just in time to watch an airplane crash into the second tower. I thought there must have been some sort of mistake – I saw the plane go into the tower, but the other tower was burning and crashing to the ground!?! What was going on here? Then it dawned on me, as it did for every American that morning: this is no accident.

Many months and years have passed since that morning. But I will never forget the attitude of the nation, and even the world, as the day’s events unfolded. Fear, anger, and rumors spiraled like a whirlwind in my own heart, as well as in the hearts of our campus, and our nation. It was a crisis for an entire people, who for a time began to turn their hearts again toward God. What might have happened if there had been wide scale repentance on America’s part? Would it have made a difference in our world and war in Iraq today? Does God still work that way?

Where were YOU when you heard the news 5 years ago? Where was God?

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.

Every morning I’ve been making it a habit to read through some of the Old Testament as well as one chapter of the Gospels.  Yesterday morning I read through Matthew 1 (I’m starting on round two!).

Matthew 1:23 - “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.”

I really sat and pondered just what that means for humanity to have God in and among us.  As I continued to think/pray, I asked the question, “What can I do to make the with-God event more real in my life?  How can I more fully live into the incarnation today?”

I began thinking about the word incarnation, about how the main word is carne or “flesh”; how nuts is it that while we Christians see the “flesh” as such a bad thing it was the cosmic Christ who jumped into a flesh suit!  So much of my life’s aim as a Christian has been trying to deny being part of this creation, being half spirit, half flesh.  This dualistic nature is not what Jesus really wanted in his followers.  Even in his first act of mercy, his coming down to be “with-us” he assumed the flesh: in these imperfect, rotting bodies he made his home.  Who are we to try to transcend this earthly body as if it is purely evil?

I thought about God’s creation, and how good he thought it all was.  We Christians believe that the whole of creation was tainted when we brought sin into the world.  Where is that in the Bible?!?  As I prayed more, I began to see myself as part of a pure, holy, and “very good” creation of God - and that I as a human am a deeply interwoven and essential part of that creation.  We are the eyes of creation, we are the voice of creation.  Jesus said, “If you do not praise your Father in Heaven, then the rocks will cry out!”  Ain’t no rock taking my place!

Finally, I began to see a picture in my mind.  I saw what looked like a huge rock concert, with all of creation, both past, present, and future standing before God as his audience.  God and his angels were blasting forth pure light, which sounded like music that everyone was cheering to.  Some were jumping up and down with their hands in the air screaming at the top of their lungs.

That’s when I understood.  You and I are at that concert right now.  Life is really just a blip on our radar.  Really, this life is just our concert-hop into the cool air, hands held high and screaming praise to our God.  We get this one chance to yell and scream and give him all the credit for the awesome music he is playing up on stage before we return to the earth - before we join again the rest of creation standing before our Great God.

Soon we’ll be watching others take their mighty leap of life before God.  Living the with-God life means jumping as high and as best as we know how at God’s great Concert of Creation, and encouraging others to do the same.

Isn’t this concert great?!?