the encounter

Two generations now have grown up with a tv perspective on life.  We’ve all been infected with the notion that all problems should be solved within 30 minutes.  That same thought process carries over into the church.  Stay with me on this one.  There is a sense in that no matter where we’ve been and no matter what we’ve done, running down the aisle of the church will bring automatic release and removal of all problems.

Much like tv life, that is not realistic or true.

Our youth group, momentum, watched the movie, Imposter last night.  In the movie Kevin Max from DC Talk plays a Christian rock singer whose life spins out of control because of his addiction to himself.  The movie takes a very untypical approach in his return to his family, friends, and Christ.

There is no climactic, come-down-the-aisle scene.  There is no great reunion between him and his wife.  There is no weeping moment of reconciliation with his friends.  Instead there is a process of brokenness, a path of rebuilding trust, and a deeper change in a broken man’s life.  In the words of the dialog from the movie…

“God is more concerned that our hero go through a process than zapping him with spiritual morphine.”

How refreshing to see a real life approach to a man’s walk with God.  How genuine to see family and friends be slow to restore trust.  How honest to see a man wrestle with himself and humility.

For 70s and 80s music fans you’ll also enjoy seeing Kerry Livgren from Kansas.  For 90s and 2000s Christian music fans, you’ll enjoy seeing Jeff Deyo from Sonic Flood!

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Recently at encounter, Aaron Lehmann sang the song, “A New Kind of Birthday”.   He introduced it with the idea that before a baby is born, there is no way he or she could have any understanding of what their new life will be like.  They can’t grasp the depth of colors, tastes, sights, sounds, and joys until they are birthed into this new world.

In the same way, there are sights, sounds, tastes, and joys in Heaven that can never be fully grasped here on earth.    They will only be understood the day we are birthed into it.  That day will be a new kind of birthday.

Aaron wrote the song several years ago at the passing of his father.   It was an expression of hope and comfort for Aaron and the family.   Here’s the song, “A New Kind of Birthday”.

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What can be said about a bar of soap and our faith and relation to the world around us?

One small bar of soap can spark many reflections—spiritual, sociologic, entropologic and ecologic—according to Claudio Oliver, who has spent 20 years working with the urban poor, and on community development, dental and medical projects, team equipping, and teaching in Curitiba, Brazil.

(You may remember Claudio Oliver from another video we watched last year during our Sunday morning gathering.)

From Ooze.TV and the TransFORM Network…

“All this got started because we were talking about holiness.”

Claudio shares the problem of used oil being poured down drains, where it goes on to pollute the community’s water. The center of community at his church has been collecting used oil from homes and small businesses in the neighborhood and using it to make soap, which is then wrapped in recycled newspaper and sold. Claudio uses this soap instead of commercially-made soap for all his washing needs—dishes, clothes, body—an example of how something that would have caused damage to nature is remade into something useful. He also gives a tour of his recycling barrels that store glass, plastic, paper, and other materials that come from people’s garbage. Two families come weekly to collect the garbage and from it are bettering their lives. One family has moved from being homeless, to the slums, to a poor neighborhood—all starting with the garbage collected at Claudio’s center of community.

But back to holiness: to be holy is to be used for a specific purpose. Oil, when it starts out, is used for a specific purpose—to cook food. But once it is used, it is damaged and it doesn’t matter what you do with it—put it in the sink, put it somewhere else—it’s going to cause problems in the nature around it. But if you clean the oil, mix it with caustic soda, and pass it through fire, it is transformed and can be used without damage. This, says Claudio, is a reflection of the Jesus-process in our lives. There is an outside intervention that cleans, and not only cleans but changes our nature, transforms us. You can’t change the soap back into oil, and similarly we are permanently transformed from something that causes problems to people and the world around us into something that can be used without damage. And so, cooking oil and soap are the modern-day metaphors for redemption in Claudio’s world . . . and possibly ours. To find out more about Claudio’s community, visit his website www.docaminho.com.br.

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What is God leading you to? Do you have the perseverance to begin and stick with it? Are you willing to lay it on the line for your idea, for your passion?

God often gives us ideas and passions because he wants us to act — so get up and do it!

Eugene Cho (One Days Wage) and Dan Merchant (Lord, Save us from your followers) share their story and experiences at The Idea Camp in Portland this past weekend…

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Too often people enter “church” thinking they have to be something spiritual, different, plastic than how they are in real life.  Jesus offers so much more than a religious experience in the segment of one day a week at a given location.  Does this look familiar to you?

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