Godgrown

Updates from June, 2011 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

• 

  Mark 8:01 am on June 5, 2011 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Sean Durbin ( 2 )   

  “This is Us!” 

  Short story by Sean Durbin, a brother in the Underground Church Network here in Chicago:

  For those of us city dwellers we know what it is like to travel with others on public transportation. It can be stressful especially if the group reaches more than a few. In an effort to keep the group together a natural leader arises, and out of a deep concern to keep the group together and safe, you’ll hear “This is us!” A proclamation that lets all in the common group know that this subway car is ours for the taking, and will eventually lead us to our common destination. Interestingly enough this phrase came up again and again on a recent trip to New York City.  Since we were living in Brooklyn we commuted to Manhattan daily by subway.  I found this phrase useful again and again, “This is us!” You’d hear when our train came, after we’ve been waiting possibly seeing 2-3 trains pass us before ours arrived.

  One morning that week a friend of mine named Matan from Israel was rushing me to prepare myself for the day. As I brushed my teeth and my friend Dan fixed his hair, we heard Matan yell from the room, “This is us!”. Dan and I look at each other and turn our heads. Again we hear Matan proclaiming, “This is us!” I almost didn’t have the heart to ask Matan, “Matan, what did you say?” Matan got a sheepish look on his face. He explained, “Everytime our group is ready to move, to get on a subway, someone proclaims, ‘This is us!’ Does it not mean, ‘Let’s go’? Since his English far exceeded my Russian, or Hebrew I gave him as much grace as I could find. But after thinking about it, it must of made great sense to him to think that. Matan wanted to move us to mission together together. He was done with our passive hygienic care. So for that we made in grammatically correct the rest of the week to proclaim, “This is us!” When others in the group needed to be told, “Let us Go!”

  Thanks for writing Sean.

  As I (Mark) reflect on Sean’s story – and I remember times when I too have blurted out “This is us!” on the train approaching our stop, it strikes me what an interesting “reveal” that statement is for us as missional followers of Jesus.

  Think about what that statement is doing.  When someone on a crowded train approaching a stop leans toward his pack of friends and says, “This is us,” he is telling them that we are about to embark on a journey together.  This journey is part of what defines “us” from “them” (the rest in the train car).  It prepares and rallies the group to go. It says ‘This is who we are, we are go-ers.’

  Our identity as missional followers of Jesus is discovered “on the way” – we learn who we are by who we are traveling with, that our identity is wrapped up in our mission – and our community is those with whom we exit the train and begin our walk.  Sociologists call this communitas – and it will completely change any insular, stagnant back-biting community into a vibrant, creative, and dynamic family on the move.  When Jesus said, “(As you are going) into all the world, make disciples…” – he was saying in essence…

  …”This is us!”

  

  A Drummer and His Band « Godgrown is discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  Reply Cancel reply

  Required fields are marked *

  Name *

  Email *

  Website

  

• 

  Mark 3:06 pm on January 12, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  As Easy as the Arrow’s Job in Archery 

  In the work that really matters, in the work of restoring people to wholeness, in developing communities of reconciliation, in pointing people back to their Creator, the work can get pretty dismal.  It can seem as if your life is useless – that nothing meaningful is happening.  I can resonate with such a life – somewhere deep down you know that all this running about is worth something, but you have no idea how much of it is worth a pile of hay, and how much of it is gold.

  This doubt is common to the workers of God in the world.  There is a deep resonance that something you’re doing matters, but in the moment as a servant of God, you can feel pretty useless.

  Isaiah is again writing under the pseudonym of the nation of Israel.  While Isaiah hopes we will see into the heart of a listless, disillusioned nation in exile; take a moment and consider Isaiah’s lot in life – as a forgotten, dismissed prophet of the LORD…and then consider you own life as a worker in God’s mission:

  1 Listen to me, all you in distant lands!

  Pay attention, you who are far away!

  The Lord called me before my birth;

  from within the womb he called me by name.

  The speaker (the Servant of God) knows that he has been called.  He’s not on this mission alone, he has been sent – and he wants the world to know about it.  When he is at his lowest moment, when his heart has been captured by the Enemy and taken off into exile, he is still confident that he has been called to be a servant of God, and a light to all nations.  This is a call that happened even before his birth – so this is not a call he himself has earned with good behavior, and its something that can never be taken away from him because of external circumstances.  The LORD himself has pre-ordained the servant’s mission – and it will be carried out!

  2 He made my words of judgment as sharp as a sword.

  He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand.

  I am like a sharp arrow in his quiver.

  3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel,

  and you will bring me glory.”

  These images are so powerful and convicting to me! My words often feel so blunt and fall on deaf ears; and I can only imagine Isaiah’s prophetic muteness must have driven him to despair.  But Isaiah, speaking through his character, “the servant,” reassures himself, and the rest of us, that our words are sharp – because God is the one who made them that way.  We are hidden in the hollow of God’s hand.  Where could we be more safe that in the very palm of God?

  And while we are safe in his hand, we are also nearby when God needs to put us to use – we are like an arrow waiting patiently in the hands of God.  Ahh, to be an arrow – to know exactly what you are for, and to simply wait for the appropriate time, and then – “fffflot!” – you are sprung to life, in a flash of light, your archer pulls you out of his quiver and delicately places you in his bow – and fires you off on a mission.  You simply let yourself be used by God – and he does the rest.

  We will bring him glory.  Amazing.

  And yet, it often doesn’t feel like we’re flying through the air – on a mission with God.  It feels as if we’ve somehow fallen out of the quiver and we’re just laying limp on the ground:

  4 I replied, “But my work seems so useless!

  I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose.

  Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand;

  I will trust God for my reward.”

  Yet, if this is God’s war – if he is waging it against the forces of Evil and darkness, then maybe he knows what he’s doing.  Maybe there will be a time when I can look back and see the purpose behind my work.  If I can leave it all in God’s hand, and trust God for my reward/satisfaction… then maybe I won’t go running around quite as much looking for approval for others, or significant mission on my own.  I’ll be content to be the arrow of God – sent soaring through the air, chasing after my cause- my reason for living.

  God had given a purpose to Isaiah, just as he gave one to me, and to you.  Isaiah got to see a part of why God made him the way he did, but we today, 2700 years later, can see Isaiah from another perspective – and wow, how God used that man!  If only you could see why God made you the way he did.  You would find trusting him for your rewards in life to be as easy and effortless as an arrow flying through the air.

  
   
• 

  Mark 8:27 am on January 4, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Becoming Brighter in Your Eyes 

  There are two kinds of blindness in the Bible -

  The first is a physical blindness – those who are truly unable to navigate life on their own.  They were counted among the poor, the helpless, and the prisoners.  The second kind of blindness is a spiritual blindness.  It has to do with a refusal to accept reality – to look squarely at the evidence and convince yourself of something totally different.  A blind mind, for Isaiah and other writers of the Bible, is far worse than a blind eye.

  Unfortunately, often the former is asked to aid the latter.

  “If one blind person guides another, both will fall into a ditch.” – Jesus, (Matt 15:14)

  In Isaiah 42, Yahweh God is describing his amazing work in creating a nation of priests – the Israelites – to do the work of proclaiming to the world the greatest secret of all, that God is near.  He rescues Israel from bondage and clues them in on who he is, asking them to be his royal envoy and messenger.  But they aren’t listening. They are blind and deaf to their message, to their purpose.

  Their role as priest to the nations never  happens, and eventually, God has to scrap the project and try again.  It grows out of the intentionally blind trying to lead the unintentionally blind – like a seeing person closing his eyes while guiding a blind person across a busy street.

  But imagine if the roles were suddenly reversed – if those born blind now could see; would they help those who were struck with blindness?  Would the formerly-blind choose to close their eyes, favoring the darkness over the amazing new world of light and color?

  Sometimes it is easy to take sight for granted; and it is the same with spiritual insight.  For today – recover the amazement of your first days of sight – looking in wonder at the world around you – point out to others where you see God at work.  Make it known – be the messenger God was hoping for in the Israelites.

  When you show others the light, it becomes brighter in your own eyes too.