Bon Voyage Andrea!

Dearest Andrea,

We all wish you safe travels as you embark on your international adventures. May your learning experiences be vast, interesting and exciting. Your exposure to history and other cultures will enrich your life and expand your worldview. May you have a keen sensitivity to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in wisdom and knowledge as you journey through these special weeks of your life. We send you off with our love and prayers for safe travels and many blessings!

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Precious Lord Jesus Christ,

We come into Your presence with joy as we think of our dear sister, Andrea. We praise You for how You’ve worked in her heart and life and for the special blessing she is to our Living Room Community. We lay her gently at Your feet as she prepares to embark on a great journey. Lord, You know the anticipation and excitement of seeing and experiencing new countries, new cultures and new learning experiences. Please surround her, protect her, grow and stretch her as she paces through the adventures You have waiting for her. Please give her special protection by Your grace and mercy. Help her to sense Your continual presence; may she draw her strength from You. Teach her Your wisdom and Your ways as she moves through the days ahead. Please return her safely to her family, friends and Community refreshed and revitalized for the future.

All for Your honor and glory, Lord.
Amen. Alleluia.

A reminder of who we are...

"In the New Testament the word 'saint' is applied to Christians generally. Being a Christian at all was extraordinary. Christians stood out sharply from their environment, regarded as something strange if not hostile. To the Christian the gospel really was a revelation; something unlooked for, something hitherto unknown. The life of Jesus had made us aware of how God is minded towards us, and the experience was life-changing, 'all things had become new'." (sacredspace.ie)

Thank you Living Room for being a community of people who is unknown and known. We are unknown to most of the world and yet known to one another. As we contextualize the Gospel, may we all be filled with Hope and Peace, a life changing meaning which goes beyond all reason.

Prayer for Today: 20 June 2007

Precious Lord Jesus Christ,

You come to us in the midst of the mess and confusion of our lives. How desperately we need You to strengthen, guide and heal us. Please help us to trust you a little more today, to let go of one more thing we've been holding onto for security. You are all that matters; You are our First Love. Essence of mercy, compassion and grace please shower us with Your Holy Spirit today that we may be changed in experiencing You in a fresh, new way.

All for your honor and glory,

Amen. Alleluia.

Part 5: Our Faith Community

They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.
Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person's need was met.
They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved.
~ Acts 2:42-47 [The Message]

I’m encouraged in the many ways that I see the members of our Living Room family naturally following the patterns of the Early Church. Real people showing real love and faith by:

• Gathering for prayer and concerns as we share our burdens during “Inward / Outward”
  Our commitments to community and the needs of those within the Living Room family
• Our vision and actions to help those in need that touch our lives, both locally and throughout the world
• Sharing the fellowship of a common meal together, gathering around tables and in groups to feed our bodies as well as our souls
• Those precious times of worship when we pray together, sing together and share the Lord’s Supper together
• We value each other and those around us in all aspects of our beings in a holistic way that allows for acceptance, respect and dignity. What a blessing!

We are showing ourselves to be counter-cultural by exhibiting the love, grace and forgiveness that Christ offers us to each other and those we come in contact with. We are taking off the masks and revealing who we really are — warts, stains and all, with the purpose of this openness being to show that life is not about us, but about Christ and His glory. Our ability to obey Christ’s directives and follow His example as true disciples comes from the impact and power of the Holy Spirit in our lives on a continual basis.

Are there ways that we could do more? Of course! This is not about us being prideful with a “look at me — I’ve arrived” attitude. It’s about encouraging each other to strengthen our faith and do good works with the assurance that God is at work through us.

May what our Master Jesus Christ gives freely be deeply and personally yours, my friends. Oh, yes!
~ Galatians 6:18 [The Message]

Part 4: A New Community

One of the immediate changes that took place in the lives of the newly-converted Christians was the establishment of a new kind of community...

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"For this reason, what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount was actually fulfilled in the early church, as were indeed all his words. Fellowship in His Word meant life-creating and life-shaping power. It meant the fellowship of being truly bound together in prayer and in the breaking of bread, of becoming a genuine community, embracing the whole of life. Christ came to gather His people, and thus when the Spirit descended, "All who had come to this faith remained together and had everything in common, and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need (Acts 2:44-45)....
What did the first believers experience? They experienced the kingdom of God — the revolution of all things and the revaluation of all values. They experienced the complete changing of all conidtions and all possibilities, the switching of all relationships in business, state, society, and everywhere. A completely different scale of values took effect, quite different from all other values that had existed so far. God became the highest value; he reigned and revealed himself. Christ replaced the other sovereignties; He swept away the power of lying, of impurity, and of murder, and instead of them the peace of God took hold. This was the expectation and experience of the original church-community....
In Jesus' resurrected presence, the invisible kingdom of God has become visible reality. The word had taken shape, love has become real. Jesus showed what love meant. His word and life proved that love knows no bounds. Love halts at no barrier. It can never be silenced, no matter what circumstances make it seem impossible to practice it. Nothing is impossible for the faith that springs from the fire of love...."
~Taken from "Spirit of Fire" from Innerland: A Guide into the Heart of the Gospel by Eberhard Arnold, Farmington, PA: Plough, 1999. Reprinted in Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter. 2003, Plough Publishing House, Farmington, PA. pp 397-399.
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Please realistically consider the following questions:

• Are you so radically sold out on Christ that you would be willing to give up everything for His glory?
• Are you willing to take the counter-cultural risks in community that the early Church did?
• What are your concerns about this concept of community?

In the next posting, we will consider this community concept in light of our Living Room Conversations family.

Part 3: A Change of Heart

Acts 2: 37-39 [The Message]
Cut to the quick, those who were there listening asked Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers! Brothers! So now what do we do?"
Peter said, "Change your life. Turn to God and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so your sins are forgiven. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is targeted to you and your children, but also to all who are far away—whomever, in fact, our Master God invites."
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"Their first response surged from deep within their hearts: "What shall we do?" As a result, there came about a complete transformation of people's inner being,a reshaping of their lives, which was the very change of heart and conduct that John the Baptist had proclaimed. He had seen it as the first requirement for the great revolution to come, the turning upside down of everything. Personal rebirth could not be separated from this total transformation in Christ."
~Taken from "Spirit of Fire" by Eberhard Arnold, Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter. 2003, The Plough Publishing House, Farmington, PA., p. 397.
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Although we are still sinners after God reveals His truth to us, the touch of the Holy Spirit should bring about a change in our hearts and minds. The change impacts our motives, our desires and where we focus our energies. It's not just about "me" anymore. Christ becomes bigger and more important to us than our own gratification.

• Do you sense this touch of the Spirit in your life?
• How have you seen this change work itself out?
• If you haven't seen a change, what do you think is happening?
• What do you want to happen?
• Have you seen the touch of the Spirit in our Living Room Community?
• If so, how?

Another Steven Curtis Chapman song from his Speechless CD came to mind as I was writing this:

The Change
{II Corinthians 5:17, 3:18}

Well I got myself a T-shirt that says what I believe
I got letters on my bracelet to serve as my ID
I got the necklace and the keychain
And almost everything a good Christian needs, yeah
I got the little Bible magnets on my refrigerator door
And a welcome mat to bless you before you walk across my floor
I got a Jesus bumper sticker
And the outline of a fish stuck on my car
And even though this stuff’s all well and good, yeah
I cannot help but ask myself

What about the change
What about the difference
What about the grace
What about forgiveness
What about a life that’s showing
I’m undergoing the change, yeah
I’m undergoing the change

Well I’ve got this way of thinking that comes so naturally
Where I believe the whole world is revolving around me
And I got the way of living that I have to die to every single day
‘Cause if God’s Spirit lives inside of me, yeah
I’m gonna live life differently

I’m gonna have the change
I’m gonna have the difference
I’m gonna have the grace
I’m gonna have forgiveness
I’m gonna live a life that’s showing
I’m undergoing the change.

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And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

~2 Corinthians 5:15-20 [New International Version]

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Please share your thoughts and comments...

Part 2: The Passion of the Holy Spirit

In reading Eberhard Arnold's essay entitled, "Spirit of Fire" in Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter, I was inspired to meditate on the concepts of the Holy Spirit enkindling God's Children with life-changing passion.

First, the Holy Spirit's power came upon the apostles with a fiery passion that produced an astounding response.

Second, the hearts of many of the listeners were also changed in response to the Holy Spirit's baptism of flames.

Third, the counter-cultural response included a new type of community living as a result of their experience with God.

In the days ahead we will discuss the second and third effects of the Spirit's movement. Today I'd like to address the first point:

• What occurred that was so earth-shattering that God chose this mighty display of the Holy Spirit's power as a response?
  Jesus Christ was what was so earth-shattering. He was the Messiah, the Deliverer from Death, who died as a sacrifice for our sins and was resurrected to break the power over death and Satan.


• Why the passion?
  A new kingdom had been established. Now life had renewed hope! God was alive and active!


• What does the Holy Spirit reveal to us now?
  The Spirit reveals our sin and inability to save ourselves when we look in a spiritual mirror, but the Spirit also extends to us the supreme grace of God in sending the One closed to His heart to be the sacrifice in our place...Love...Compassion...Mercy...Forgiveness...


• Are you overwhelmed by this awesome grace? Are you flooded with gratitude?
  I am reminded of the lyrics to Steven Curtis Chapman's song "Speechless":
  SPEECHLESS
  {Ephesians 2:4-7; I John 3:1; Psalm 66:1-5; Habakkuk 2:20}
  
  Words fall like drops of rain
  My lips are like clouds
  I say so many things
  Trying to figure You out
  But as mercy opens my eyes
  My words are stolen away
  With this breathtaking view of Your grace.
  
  And I am speechless, I’m astonished and amazed
  I am silenced by Your wondrous grace
  You have saved me
  You have raised me from the grave
  And I am speechless in Your presence now
  I’m astounded as I consider how
  You have shown us
  A love that leaves us speechless.
  
  So what kind of love could this be
  That would trade heaven’s throne for a cross
  And to think You still celebrate
  Over finding just one who was lost
  And to know You rejoice over us
  The God of this whole universe
  It’s a story that’s too great for words.
  
  Oh, how great is the love
  The Father has lavished upon us
  That we should be called
  The sons and the daughters of God
  
  We are speechless, so amazed
  [We stand in awe of Your grace]
  [We stand in awe of Your mercy]
  You have saved us
  [We stand in awe of Your love]
  From the grave
  [We are speechless]
  
  We are speechless in Your present now
  [We stand in awe of Your cross]
  We’re astounded as we consider how
  [We stand in awe of Your power]
  You have shown us
  A love that leaves us speechless
  [We are speechless]
  I am speechless.


• The Holy Spirit reveals God's truth in our hearts and minds. Different people respond in different ways, but respond we will.


• How has the Holy Spirit touched you in revealing this truth of Christ's love and grace?


• How do you experienced His grace in your life now?


• How have you responded to these revelations from the Holy Spirit?


• Are you embracing the passion of renewed hope and engagement with the Living God?


• Do these concepts seem unrealistic to you?

Please share your thoughts and comments as we continue to consider the Acts 2 passage together.

Part 1: Pentecost and the New Beginning

Acts 2 [The Message]
A Sound Like a Strong Wind

1-4 When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them.
5-11 There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were thunderstruck. They couldn't for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, "Aren't these all Galileans? How come we're hearing them talk in our various mother tongues? Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; Visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene; Immigrants from Rome, both Jews and proselytes; Even Cretans and Arabs!"They're speaking our languages, describing God's mighty works!"
12 Their heads were spinning; they couldn't make head or tail of any of it. They talked back and forth, confused: "What's going on here?"
13 Others joked, "They're drunk on cheap wine."
Peter Speaks Up 14-21That's when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency: "Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight. These people aren't drunk as some of you suspect. They haven't had time to get drunk—it's only nine o'clock in the morning. This is what the prophet Joel announced would happen:

"In the Last Days," God says,
"I will pour out my Spirit
on every kind of people:
Your sons will prophesy,
also your daughters;
Your young men will see visions,
your old men dream dreams.

When the time comes,
I'll pour out my Spirit
On those who serve me, men and women both,
and they'll prophesy.

I'll set wonders in the sky above
and signs on the earth below,
Blood and fire and billowing smoke,
the sun turning black and the moon blood-red,
Before the Day of the Lord arrives,
the Day tremendous and marvelous;
And whoever calls out for help
to me, God, will be saved."

22-28 "Fellow Israelites, listen carefully to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man thoroughly accredited by God to you—the miracles and wonders and signs that God did through him are common knowledge—this Jesus, following the deliberate and well-thought-out plan of God, was betrayed by men who took the law into their own hands, and was handed over to you. And you pinned him to a cross and killed him. But God untied the death ropes and raised him up. Death was no match for him. David said it all:

I saw God before me for all time.
Nothing can shake me; he's right by my side.
I'm glad from the inside out, ecstatic;
I've pitched my tent in the land of hope.

I know you'll never dump me in Hades;
I'll never even smell the stench of death.
You've got my feet on the life-path,
with your face shining sun-joy all around.

29-36 "Dear friends, let me be completely frank with you. Our ancestor David is dead and buried—his tomb is in plain sight today. But being also a prophet and knowing that God had solemnly sworn that a descendant of his would rule his kingdom, seeing far ahead, he talked of the resurrection of the Messiah—'no trip to Hades, no stench of death.' This Jesus, God raised up. And every one of us here is a witness to it. Then, raised to the heights at the right hand of God and receiving the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he poured out the Spirit he had just received. That is what you see and hear. For David himself did not ascend to heaven, but he did say,

God said to my Master, "Sit at my right hand

Until I make your enemies a stool for resting your feet."

"All Israel, then, know this: There's no longer room for doubt—God made him Master and Messiah, this Jesus whom you killed on a cross."

37 Cut to the quick, those who were there listening asked Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers! Brothers! So now what do we do?"
38-39 Peter said, "Change your life. Turn to God and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so your sins are forgiven. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is targeted to you and your children, but also to all who are far away—whomever, in fact, our Master God invites."
40 He went on in this vein for a long time, urging them over and over, "Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!"

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41-42 That day about three thousand took him at his word, were baptized and were signed up. They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.
43-45 Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person's need was met.
46-47 They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved.

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The impact of the truth that Jesus is the Messiah who died to pay the debt for our sins and break the power of death left the listeners astounded. "So now what do we do?," they exclaimed. Peter's response was clear and direct: "Change your life," he began and then elaborated on exactly how to do that.

The result was the establishment of the very first Christian Church Community. Their lives radically changed; they became truly counter-cultural.

In the days ahead, I want to look with you at our Living Room Conversations Community (including our blog guests) in light of the Early Church. Please consider meditating on this passage in preparation for our conversation.

Pacing Myself

One of the principal concepts that has been reinforced to me during my current medical leave is that I need to pace myself. In the world of the 21st Century, the speed at which urgent and important demands comes at us seems to increase as the weeks and months go by. Perhaps you, like me, find this pace to be way too fast to be able to think through the consequences of our frantic actions and activities.

I'm the type of person who has very high expectations for myself and what I can accomplish in a day, week, or season. I pile too much on my plate and, along with all that work and life adds to that plate, I feel overwhelmed much of the time. I confess that this may be very much of a control issue. As I have had some time to rest and breathe recently, I've been considering how Christ never rushed during His life on earth. He worked and related consistently, ensuring that He was able to withdraw for that critical time of reflection and communion with the Father, trusting that He would accomplish the Father's Will in this world. This is the pattern I want to follow for my life. In the past week or so, preparing to go back to my full time job, my activity level has increased exponentially. I could feel the stress level beginning to build almost immediately. Thankfully, I stopped and considered the pattern of what was happening and took immediate action to reduce the amount of tasks for these days and pace myself in such a way that I could enjoy what I was doing and have time to think and reflect, as well. My prayer is that as I go back to work in another ten days, I will continue to follow Christ's example of this life-giving principle of pacing myself so that I may holistically be the person He wants me to be for His glory.

Does anyone else share this sense of rushing so fast you don't have time to think?

Please share your thoughts...

Prayer for Today: 7 June 2007

Precious All-Powerful Lord,

The days have been so beautiful this week, warm and full of sunshine and breezes. Yet from sharing and speaking with some of your children this week, I have heard experiences of pain, confusion, anguish and discouragement. Holy Lord, we cry out to you for help! We desperately need you to come close to us and strengthen us. We want to honor You, trust You and obey You, but in the midst of the realities of our lives this feels as if we are climbing a mountain each day.

May your unending love and acceptance be real to us in the midst of our pain. May your mercy and compassion be evident to us in small and large ways this very day. Please renew our strength through the power of Your Holy Spirit.

Blessed Lord, come quickly to aid us that we may glorify You this day. Amen.

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28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40: 28-32 [New International Version]

Illustration of God's Light

In our pastor's discussion during Sunday morning class yesterday, he gave an illustration that I thought was very insightful. He equated God's light to a prism. As God sheds His pure, holy light down on us, His children here on earth, the light passes through the prism of our lives and refracts in such a way that it emanates the full spectrum of light to those around us—different aspects of light from different people shining on those in the community of faith and throughout the world community.

I thought that this illustration was quite beautiful and encouraging that each of us as individuals don't have to feel forced to be everything, perfectly or completely to share God's love and light with the community around us.

What do you think?