the encounter

“Community is the place where the person you least want to live with always lives.” – Henri Nouwen

There are times when community gets tough. When jumping out of the (fellow)ship seems way easier than sticking it out. But when we abandon ship because it holds people we don’t like, we also abandon community.

“Community has little to do with mutual compatibility. Similarities in educational background, psychological make-up, or social status can bring us together, but they can never be the basis for community. Community is grounded in God, who calls us together and not to the attractiveness of people to each other. There are many groups that have been formed to protect their own interests, to defend their own status, or to promote their own causes, but none of these is a Christian community. Instead of breaking through the walls of fear and creating new space for God, they close themselves to real or imaginary intruders. The mystery of community is precisely that it embraces all people, whatever their individual differences may be and allows them to live together as brothers and sisters of Christ and sons and daughters of his heavenly Father.” – Nouwen

It’s easy to build community when everyone looks like you, talks like you and believes the same things as you — but is that really the type of community we’ve been called to be a part of?

How have you struggled with these barriers? How have you overcome them?

“Love means loving the unlovable – or it is no virtue at all.” – GK Chesterton

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This coming Saturday (Jan. 8 @ 9 a.m.) I plan to meet with a number of folks interested in building community within our tribe.

The group will be made up primarily of our community group facilitators and hosts.

We’ll be working through our regroup material as some what of a refresher course and I hope to show this video from the TransFORM Network as well…

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what would change about your life if “church” was removed?  if all of a sudden there was no more Sunday morning experience, building, or program what would happen to you?  most would be up in arms and see it as the end of faith in our country! 

the concept of most American Christians is that church is a building, service, or program and that it has to exist in that form.  Scripture never mentions church like that.

instead it presents church as the collective interaction of Christ followers.  it not something done.  it is someone we are.  it is not a place to go.  it is how we are connected.  it is not a location.  it is a relationship we share.

buildings, programs, and services are something we have added.

imagine for a moment the freedom, calling, and possibilities of understanding and living as church!  imagine grace as something we passed on in everyday relationships instead of just something we sang about on Sundays.  imagine life flowing from every follower of Christ wherever they were.  imagine believers creating spaces of grace in their homes, places of work, coffee shops, parks, and neighborhoods. 

this is church as Jesus intended.  this is what He died for.  not for buildings.  not for services.  not for programs.  not for membership.  not for committees. 

• for personal freedom in Christ.
• for real life relationships.
• for faith that is relational not institutional.
• for creating spaces of grace for others.

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I studied architecture when I was in college.  One of the first assignments I had was to design “space” – not create a design, but create space.  We were given one inch square black pieces of paper and told to begin.  Creating space is more challenging than create a design. 

Space is the area created by the edges of solid pieces. 

While there are many different arrangement possibilities, the one above is one of the most powerful.  The sides of the three squares create a space within that is similar to the shape that they have.  Space can be created with two squares, but clearly defined space really requires three squares. 

Interesting. 

The lessons of that design class have stayed with me over the years.  I have come to see that they have powerful truth for followers of Christ. 

The Bible says that every child of God is a living stone and part of something that God is building today.  (1 Peter 2:4-5)  This is not a reference to church buildings, church programs, denominations, or political movements.  It is not about making a place for God to live, for today He lives inside those who have been born of Him.  So what is being built?

Space.

Space for others to see and experience Him.  Space that is created by living blocks.  Space that is created by the relationship of one block to another.  Space that invites others in.  Space that looks like Him.

Remember that it takes at least two blocks and really three to create space?  Look at what Jesus said…

For where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in their midst.      (Matthew 18:20)

We are to be creators of space. 

Not just physical buildings we call churches, services we call church, or programs we call church.  Space can be created in our homes, in coffee shops, at work, or anywhere that two or three are together.  

We are to create space where others sense Christ because of our relationships.  Space where grace, hope, sacrifice, wisdom, authenticity, freedom is experienced.  Space that entrance.  Space that has security.  Space that is alive.

Spaces like that change people.

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I am my beloved’s and his desire is for me.

(song of solomon 7:10)

Imagine if this was your story… an alcoholic, Catholic, ex-Catholic, and then Catholic again, former priest, divorcee and a sinner saved by grace.

What would you write about?

I’d hope no matter how many stories you told and no matter how many books you wrote, you’d always go back to reminding folks about God’s Amazing Grace. It’s “the larger and more important story. Only God, in His fury, knows the whole of it.”

Brennan Manning writes in his latest offering:

In my forty-four years of ministry, the furious love of God has been the dominant theme of my life. I’ve varied with titles such as Ragamuffin Gospel, Abba’s Child and The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus, but they are all facets of the same gem: that the shattering truth of the transcendent God seeking intimacy with us is not well served by gauzy sentimentality, schmaltz, or a naked appeal to emotion, but rather in the boiling bouillabaisse of shock bordering on disbelief, wonder akin to incredulity, and the affectionate awe tinged by doubt.

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