Updates from January, 2012 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Mark 10:40 am on January 2, 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Book of Common Prayer   

    A Breakfast of Words 

    I LOVE breakfast – it is absolutely an essential part to my day.  Eating a simple breakfast of fried eggs each morning gives me lean proteins and nutrients I’ll need to stay feeling full and energized all morning.  Oh, and don’t forget the piping hot, dark coffee.  Yes, a morning with coffee and eggs is a morning that proceeds a beautiful day.  Breakfast… I guess that’s why they call it that - you are “breaking” your “fast” — it is the longest distance between meals each day – from 6pm to 6am – its a full 12 hours of fasting!  Don’t you want something GREAT to break the fast and begin the day afresh?

    What goes into your mouth is important, but Jesus says that what comes out of your mouth is even more important.  In fact, the words you speak, not your diet, are what make you healthy.  Just look:

    “What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’” — (Mt. 15:11)

    What is the FIRST thing OUT of your mouth each morning?  Can you even remember?

    Think about it for just a minute.  Each and every night you close your mouth, and you live in silence for many hours.  In all the rush and noise of this world, you make it a daily habit to spend close to a 1/3 of each day in utter darkness and silence.  Kinda beautiful, eh?

    But what breaks that “fasting” from words?  How do you greet the new day?  Is it with blessing or cursing?

    Why not start this new year with a resolution to have a “Breakfast of Words” – give yourself a simple phrase or sentence to greet each new day.

    I had noticed that my days were starting off on the wrong foot – and I came to believe it was the mindset in which I was approaching my days – if the first things that roll through my mind or off my tongue are, “Shoot – I’ve forgot to call that guy yesterday,” or “I feel groggy and awful,” imagine how the rest of my days went!  I had enough - I was sick and tired of feeling sick and tired.

    Since then, I’ve been doing a little “holy experiment” trying it out, and I’ve lived to tell the tale.  And I’ve got to say – its GREAT!

    Each morning, I’ll say this as my eggs are cooking:

    “Glory to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit – as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever, AMEN.”

    I don’t know about you but if you say that, even if you begin without “feeling like it” – by the end, you just might have a slight smile on your face.  You remember that no matter how you might feel, or what might be going on in your life, a regular diet of these words (or something like them) will change your day.  And if you can change your day, you can change your week, month, year…even your life.

    Its the simple things like this that make the biggest difference.  New Years Resolutions don’t have to be BIG – they just have to be consistent.  

    Take a daily “Breakfast of Words” – start your day’s dialogue in a place of joy, centering, and purpose.  And see what happens!

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  • Mark 7:16 am on April 18, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Adventures in Missing the Point 

    We humans are pretty funny creatures.

    We hold in us the very essence of the Divine, the purpose of all creation.  We are the very focus of God’s love and his mission.  We were important enough to him to put everything else in the cosmos on hold so he could live and dwell among us as our friend.

    He dined with us; he died for us.

    And still – we have this funny habit of majoring in the minors.  What more does the Church bicker about than Communion / the Eucharist / the Lord’s Supper… see!  We can’t even agree on what to call it!  :)

    I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised.  When something of that magnitude – dining with our Creator, is handed to us mortals, we have a tendency to shoot off in unimportant rabbit trails, just like the disciples did on that final evening with Jesus in the upper room.  As Jesus is sharing the elements of bread and wine, washing feet and calling them “friends,” they are busy bickering about who will desert Jesus – and we have been bickering ever since.  Right in the presence of Jesus, we have all these ‘adventures in missing the point.’

    Its almost as if we have some mechanism in our minds that numbs us from approaching what is real – and we choose instead the tertiary, the tangential and the temporary.

    It is like Mary hiding in the kitchen preparing the food to the neglect of her guest – Jesus, Immanuel…God with us.  God may be ‘with us’…but are we with him? Or are we just in the other room, finishing up the dessert?

    When it comes to Communion/Lord’s Supper, whatever you want to call it – (don’t call it anything!), let that be the one time when formalities don’t have to matter.  Who cares whether there should be leavened or unleavened bread, one or two cups of wine (grape juice?)

    Maybe its time to re-institute the holy sacrament of playfulness, of friendliness, of devotion to the one thing that matters.  Is it worth giving up your connection to Jesus to decide whether or not to pass a plate of bread around the room, or to come to the front to receive it?

    I’m done majoring in the minors.  I’m done focusing on the steps of the dance, and instead simply enjoying my Dance-Partner.  I’m interested in looking squarely into Jesus’ eyes and letting him remain the center of my life – where he wants to be anyway.  I’m ready to have some fun in my friendship with him – to let his love be the driving force of my theology, my liturgy, my life.  Its so much more fun!

    How about you?

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  • Mark 1:14 pm on February 9, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Momentum Is a Result of Healthy Rhythms 

    All this week we’ve been looking at the MACRO Layer of Christian community – “the congregation,” “the network,” “the region”…

    This is the layer in which it all comes together – where real impact and change become visible!  Whereas a dozen folks that make up a house church (MESO) might bring hope and life to a few neighbors, a dozen or so house churches might just see a revolution of love spill out across the streets of their city!

    Think of the MACRO Layer as the momentum or the chain reaction that comes AS A RESULT of the health of the smaller layers.  When you have healthy rhythms, you’ll get momentum!  Think of a car — the rhythm of the pistons…those tiny tubes of metal…going up and down over and over…it eventually creates a power that propels a giant machine down the road!  The same is true for a church – the smaller rhythms of spiritual health…that is what moves a MACRO forward!

    You’ll never have a healthy MACRO unless everyone involved are a part of healthy one-on-one MICRO relationships, unless each person has a flourishing personal (MONO) relationship with their God.

    So often, Christian leaders pour all of their energy into making the MACRO Layer great -

    …the average church worship service in America takes almost 120 hours a week to pull off!

    (That’s 3 full time staff positions plus dozens of volunteers pouring incredible amounts of money and energy into a 2 hour gathering…EVERY week!)  Exhausting!  We think that if we can just preach the right sermon, or sing the right song…we’ll have an army ready to change the world.

    But this is about as effective as trying to push toothpaste back into the tube.

    It has to flow from the inside, out.

    Imagine if a church, a spiritually nurturing system, poured disproportionate energy into the layers.  The smaller the Layer of Christian community, the more energy leaders invested into it. Start with the MONO Layer – put all your energy into giving folks access to quality tools, resources, and more that develop their prayer life – their life of service and mission… imagine what would happen if you gave more energy to the MICRO Layer (one-on-one friendships, marriages, etc), imagine putting more focus on your small groups than on your Sunday gatherings!

    My bet is that if you did this, your MACRO gatherings would explode with health…

    This works at a personal level too…

    If you are a Christian, or if you are still trying to figure out what you think about Jesus, consider starting at the MONO Layer – put all your energy into discovering the loving God who created you. Then link up with one other person you can trust — and both of you together connect with a tribe of 6-12 other people who are on journey with you.  Then open your eyes to the ever expanding network of Christ-centered relationships you’ll see all across town.  Rely on them, contribute to them.  Let them become your extended family of faith.  That is the MACRO Layer!

    ————————-

    Sign up for MACRO!

    If you are a part of a small group, house church, or congregation; if you are ready to grow spiritually –  Godgrown is releasing MACRO March 1st – sign up and invite others in your community to learn alongside you!

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