Their goal was to follow the spirit of 1 Cor 1: 28, 29 – “For God chose things despised by the world, things considered as nothing, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers to be important…” They invited the entire neighborhood to participate, including several gardeners, many of whom were skeptical of the project’s success. Over the year, more and more volunteers contributed their efforts. There was a good sized harvest (for first time gardeners!) and all the grown produce was enjoyed by neighbors and during the house church gatherings. It was beautiful.

In November 2011, that house church gave birth to another house church, which brought in the neighbors who had worked on the garden – now they knew that there was a Christian church behind the garden, and they wanted to be a part of that kind of church – so this new house church is planning in 2012 to expand the veggie garden, and they are dreaming of opening up a new farmers market to invite regional farmers to sell their produce alongside this little urban garden’s yield.

All this, from an abandoned lot.

“God chose the things despised by the world, the things considered as nothing, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important – so no one can boast in the presence of God!”

Over the last year a simple church has been meeting in our home for prayer, communion, fellowship and scheming up the Kingdom of God in our city.  It was born out of a desire to be the church…the church we want to see in the world.  It was nothing earth-shattering, it but it was always real.  This last year I’ve seen people in our house church grow leaps and bounds – learning to trust in God, to hear his voice, to share their true selves with brothers and sisters.  And they’ve learned to seek out their purpose and mission.

Over the last few months, several in our group have felt the call to take a step of faith and plant a church in a new context, opening up more living room space to new faces, new hearts.

It was not something we imposed on folks, not something we pressured people in our group to do – it was talked about and dreamed about – but these two churches seem to have been born organically – from a continual stance of listening to the Holy Spirit on the next steps for our community.

One church had its first gathering on Monday night, the second was last night (Wednesday).  Both are beautiful, fragile, yet complete pictures of the Bride of Christ.  I am so thankful and proud to be a part of the church family emerging all the time here in Chicago.  These two new churches, like all the others in our church network, will be able to reach out to people far from God – which is what its really all about.  It reminds me of how families grow to include new people, to leave the nest and venture out into new territory!

It is beyond any one person – it is a people movement… it is a God movement!

Things fall apart…

This is quite possibly the best title of any book ever written.  Now, the rest of Chinua Achebe’s novel on social inequality and yams is just so-so in my opinion, but the title has always caught my attention – anytime a glass shatters falling from my cupboard, or it a flock of birds finds my freshly washed car, or I watch a faith community that began so healthy begin to pick each other apart.  Things fall apart.

Each time it is painful to watch and it somehow reminds me of the entire Universe.  Everything about this present creation is falling apart.  The Universe is spinning farther and farther apart, our own sun is a star that is using up a limited amount of fuel and will (if the Lord tarries) burn out.  Our own bodies are failing on us the moment we begin using them, free-radicals and other nemeses plotting against us.

So how does one fight the tide of such savage dispersion?  With every atom is warring against every other one for survival, how can we seek a future Kingdom of God that remains?

 So there is a Sabbath rest still waiting for the people of God. 10 For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. 11 So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.

- Heb 4:9-11

Rest does not come naturally in a world where there is a war going on.  To keep things from falling apart in your life, your health, your faith community, and more… it takes intentionality.

Nothing comes together outside of intentionality.

We were created by God originally as gardeners, and this vocation provides an interesting view into the idea of intentionality.  I’ve been tending a 15×15 garden space in our urban neighborhood.  Its engendered in me a fabulous sense that “things fall apart.”  Weeds grow, plants droop and need trellises, tools scrape and sculpt the crumbling earth, pests large and small want a piece of my intentionality because they have not invested as I have into growing food.

Some people build the sand castles, others knock them over.  The writer of Ecclesiastes knew this well (Eccl 3:3) “There is a time to break down, and a time to build up.”  As I’ve stated, the destructive forces of the Universe are always breaking you down, and your job as one of God’s gardeners is to always intentionally be building up.  

Put yourself in an environment that spurs you on toward a more spiritually-formed life.  If you want to pray, create a space for that prayer to happen, or it never will.  If you want to be a peacemaker, put yourself in situations where you have to practice peace.  This won’t often “just happen.”  And when it does, unless you’ve intentionally prepared, you’ll fail the test – simply because you were not intentional!

Its not hard, but the hardest part is getting started.

In God’s Kingdom, Things Come Together.