I had another one of those pump-you-up kind of conversations just a few days ago. You know the kind that you have in the midst of a “none of this is going right” kind of situation?

Chris and I have been worshipping together as part of a church for most of the semester now. It’s been difficult to get to know Chris, because we both live such frenetic lifestyles, and are invested deeply as students. He and I have had several chances over these past few months however to sit down and discuss our lives and what it means to be a vibrant family of Jesus.

Our little faith family of about 10 has been meeting now for just about one full year. In that year we have gone from just me, my wife, and one of my closest friends, to a broader and much more diverse family. Among us as we worshipped have been students, adults, little kids, the poor, the rich, the lost, the saved, alcoholics, foreigners…the mix has been great and we have loved it. And we have hated it. It is the business of seeing community as the real people you’re living with, rather than the ideal world we all tend to live in.

Bonhoffer’s great quote, “He who loves community, destroys community” could not have been made more real than in my own heart this year. I wanted so badly for our church to move beyond the superficiality that we as Americans all struggle with. Many of us wanted this, but Fear and Anxiety kept us from digging deeper.

So as Chris and I sat in his truck, discussing where our little family in Christ will go as we move into the New Year, it hit us. “It all comes down to opening our eyes.” Unless we have open eyes, we’ll never be able to see the hurt inside our brother or sister and name that for what it is. Unless we look with eyes wide open, there’s no way we can think about church outside the box of what we’ve grown up knowing. Unless our hearts truly desire the change from community-as-program to community-as-life-in-Christ, we will continually neglect and ultimately destroy each other.

Jesus seemed to be okay with people not getting it – though he didn’t let them get away with it! He was constantly drawing people out of their own selfish circles and into a world where they could learn to love others more deeply. A world where God was the center, and everything else flowed from that.

Lord, I want to see. I want to see you at the center. I want to see you at the center of our simple, little church.

No one can make someone desire something they don’t internally desire. (Believe me, Trina just doesn’t seem to get as excited about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as I do, no matter how much I try to convince her how cool they are!) For those who are ready to commit to being a family together, I am ready to go deeper. For those not interested, I bless them and send them. Not everyone has what it takes to face the brutal world of life together.

This means some big things for my life. It means a major reorienting of my lifestyle. I had planned on another very full semester this spring. It may be that I could learn more outside the classroom from my brothers and sisters. I had planned on continuing on in this life of isolation without much getting in my way; looks like that’s going the way of the dodo bird. I had thought I would get to Chicago before discovering community…maybe I’m supposed to find it right here in the desert of West Texas.

I love community – but I love my church family more.

From the Irresistible Revolution:

“Too often we do what makes sense to us and ask God to bless it.  In the Beatitudes, God tells us what God blesses - the poor, the peacemakers, the hungry, those who mourn, those who show mercy - so we should not ask God’s blessing on a declaration that we will have no mercy on evildoers.  We know all to well that we have a God who shows mercy on evildoers, for if he didn’t we’d all be in big trouble, and for that this evildoer is very glad.  Rather than do what makes sense to us and ask God’s blessing, we’d do better to surround ourselves with those whom God promises to bless, and then we need not ask God’s blessing.  It’s just what God does.”

He’s talking to America when he says, “we should not ask God’s blessing on a declaration that we will show no mercy to evildoers.”  How many times have you seen God’s name associated with the political agendas of this nation?  Or of this world?  “God bless America!”  “God bless this nation!”  Did you know that people in Iraq look at what those in our government leading the war in Iraq and call them “Christian extremists”?  I’m thankful thaht so far they haven’t written all of the Christian faith off over such insanity! Whatever happened to Christians following a Prince of Peace?

Maybe the answer to this nationalistic religion which breeds violence of the foreigner (whether Muslim or Christian) is learning to begin following the Way of Christ.  His teachings on God’s propensity to blessing the poor, the peacemakers, the hungry, etc. is closer than we think to a simple yet profound strategy for world peace.  When we stop following our own “God-blessed” propositions and begin getting to know those whom God has already blessed (see the above list), we begin to discover the mighty ways of God’s Kingdom.

See, American Christians can be so turned around that they read books like the Prayer of Jabez and conclude that God wants to bless them with tons of money and success.  I don’t think Wilknson (the author) necessarily saw how people were going to take his book.  It just tells me that we think that we know better than Jesus does what God should bless.  “It shoure ain’t the poor, cuz that’s what I am now, and I don’t feel blessed!”

Feeling poor?  Down and out?  You are not far from the Kingdom of God.  Feeling distant from God?  Head downtown, look down the alleys; you might find him there.  Head to Iraq as a peacemaker (not a peacekeeper, Clint Eastwood!).  Give away your lunch to someone who hasn’t seen one in days, comfort someone grieving…you’ll find that God and his blessing is not far from any one of us.
Next to the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island:

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

Does she sound American anymore?

Recently Katrina and I have been getting into the show “30 Days” (check it out here); the same guy who did Super Size Me (ate nothing but McDonalds for 30 days) is now out to see other people try another life (usually a diametrically opposed lifestyle) for several weeks to see what personal changes take place. (e.g. A upper-middle class from NYC couple move to Ohio to live on minimum wage).

I was especially impressed with the episode Muslims in America, which reports on a Christian from West Virginia moving to Dearborn, MI to live with a Muslim family and experience Islam up close and personal. He engaged in political/theological dialogue with the Muslims he lived with, he went to Jumuah (Friday prayer service), ate Halal foods, and basically lived “on the other side of the tracks” for a whole month. It got me thinking about my own preconceived notions of who Muslims are - and what they believe as part of their faith.
Even beyond that, it reminded me that each religion of this world, while they share many of the same tenets, practices, principles, and even forefathers, are all going in different directions.

Buddhists are after enlightenment through emptiness.

Hindus seek the absorption and unity with the ONE.

Animism goal is cosmic harmony, and human well-being.

Islam’s religious end is total surrender to Allah.

Christianity’s ultimate goal is communion with God.

What does this say about the world’s religions? To me, it says that they are not necessarily “right” or “wrong” but it shows me what their aims are. After 30 Days, the man who had lived with Muslims learned to embrace the people, the culture and even their prayers/worship because he saw their aim as different from the aim of Christianity.
Can one aim be “better” than another? Sure! Before the world began, God existed in community. He is innately a relational God - he IS communion. Seeking communion with him through the salvation that Jesus Christ offers is the ultimate goal a “religion” can have. There are not many ways of being saved - because only Christ offers salvation. Salvation from self. Salvation from sin. We are only like God when we are tied in with God, and become communal just as God is by participating with God in communion with others. There are however many different genuine goals world religions can have which do not compromise the ultimate goal of communion with the one God.

If Christians took seriously the fact that they are fundamentally relational, then our outreach and good works would not come from a form of guilt, but from a deep sense of who we are as relational beings. As God is communal, so I am communal. We become the sacraments to the world.

I am sure that I do not have the authoritative voice on the issue of the world’s religious diversity. I do know that Jesus is the only one that offers salvation - and that is what I am desperate for. All other religious ends seem fickle in light of eternal communion at the Lord’s Table. In the end, a Buddhist gets what he is looking for: the end of existence. Could it be that Christ will offer then the ultimate goal of salvation in the moments after a Buddhist’s death? That’s a question I’m definitely not qualified to answer. …maybe if I got my doctorate…

The Today Show (a current “sacred cow” at my house), has been exposing and interviewing leaders from various “mysterious faiths” (Mormons, Kabbalah, Scientologists, etc). This morning they took a peek into Opus Dei (”The Work of God”). Interesting stuff! Apparently deeply connected with the Catholic Church, they are sometimes labeled a cult because of their propensity to self-mutilation, their secretive tenets and worship practices.

I was honestly intrigued by this faith group. Their goal is to keep every person in their church active and engaged with the culture around them. Any faith that is based of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ is only being truly lived out when its adherents are living a full life of worship and witness. As the Today show described their group, there was background footage of a woman on a treadmill, praying the rosary, others washing dishes and chanting hymns. A holistic life before God - that is what I look forward to living.

Dualism in our culture is rampant. We go to church on Sunday wearing our best dress (look our best for God?), put on our best smile, and do our best to remember the “bible answers” when called on in class. We go to church to “meet God”, but we forget that he does not live in a building made by human hands. Church buildings can get in the way of seeing God everywhere we go. God says in 2 Samuel 7 that his home “is a tent, moving from one place to another”. In 2 Corinthians, Paul says that “WE are the temple of the living God,” and that God would walk among us. That he did, as the incarnated Jesus. People didn’t show up to Jesus’ house for an hour and a half on Sundays and Wednesdays. He lived among them, showing them how to live the With-God Life as they walked their camels, brushed their teeth, and shared stories of the faithful with their children.

I believe our biggest challenge we receive from the people in Opus Dei is the challenge to decompartmentalize our humanity. Let everything we do be an act of worship, including our times of corporate worship in song and prayer. What does that look like? Try praising God by seeing his face in the eyes of every person you meet today. Try thanking God for 5 things as you wash your hands before a meal. Allow your conversations to overflow with the details of your personal walk with God as you witness to everyone you have a conversation with.

You might be surprised how challenging; and yet how rewarding the experience could be. All of a sudden you are no longer spiritually drained every time you come to church - rather, you are filled to the brim, exploding with life, like an acorn in the ground. That is the life to the full that Jesus spoke about so long ago. How easy it is to deny ourselves this life by hiding behind the masks we wear.

Thank you Opus Dei for reminding us of something much of the Christian world has forgotten. Christ is LORD of our LIVES!