the encounter » purpose

We get to carry each other

Jonathan Blundell — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:07:30 +0000

I’m reading the new book “We Get to Carry Each Other – The Gospel According to U2″ (by Greg Garrett) right now and it talks a lot about community and how the band has always emphasized helping those around us and the privilege we have to actually GET to carry each other. Yet for some reason we seem to think its a burden to build community, to open up to others, to share and serve.

How different our outlook and lives could be if we saw serving and loving others is actually a privilege – a calling – a purpose in our lives…

Imagine if you could find your purpose in serving your neighbors? Imagine if you could find your purpose in loving your spouse unconditionally? Imagine if you could find your purpose in serving your kids?

Imagine if we built ekklesia all around us – being the hands and feet of Christ in our own sphere of influence?

Wow!

Chewing on these ideas, I was struck by some great questions that Ryan asks on his blog…

Am I okay with having surface-level relationships with everyone?
Outside of my family, who can I really trust?
Do I have people in my life that I can call at 3am when everything is falling apart?
Are there people around me who can strengthen me when I’m weak?
Am I using my God-given gifts, talents, or abilities to serve my friends?
Am I investing MORE or LESS into the relationship than the person I’m trying to build a relationship with?

Ryan also shares some suggested steps towards authentic community:

Choose wisely. You don’t need to be friends with everyone.
Get coffee, have someone over for dinner, go play golf, etc..
Be intentional. Ask a deeper question // reciprocate.
Work at it. Don’t assume a relationship is fine.
Be transparent and authentic yourself.

What about you? What do you imagine would change if we really saw the privilege in carrying one another? Is there anything missing from either list?

why?

Jonathan Blundell — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:14:06 +0000

I’ve been posing this question to a couple different people today — including our community group. Thought I’d throw this out to everyone to chew on and wrestle with.

Why do we meet together? Why has God put us together? What greater purpose can we achieve together that we couldn’t do on our own?

If you’re involved in a community group, feel free to answer relating to your group and/or answer it relating to encounter as a whole.

have we got it all wrong?

Brian — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:40:47 +0000

With our categorical and analytical approach to life and faith, is it possible that we have maybe misunderstood some things about the Bible and God? Modern thinking neatly arranges large events into measurable and defineable slots. Even in our understanding of salvation, we say that there is a point of new birth in a person’s life. At that moment they realize their need for their sin to be forgiven, their separation from God, their need for a Savior, and are born-again. We tell them to then embark on a pursuit of following Christ and hopefully discover His will for their lives. For some this happens in a moving church service, camp experience, or conference. The light comes on, the call becomes clear, and off they go to the mission field, pastor a church, or work in a Christian camp. For others, they wait not knowing if and when the call will ever come. We separate salvation from calling.

What if we’ve missed something? As I look through the men and women in the Scriptures who were called by God, I find that there is not this modern thinking of separation in salvation and calling. In fact what you find instead is the two events meshed into one grand God-experience. Their calling to come to God was intimately woven with their call to a God-purpose in their life.

Abraham - “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”

Moses - “Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

Jeremiah - “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Peter & Andrew - “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Their first encounter with God was a grand call to turn to Him and serve Him. Their relationship with God was inseparable from His purpose for their life. Can you imagine the power of having an undeniable calling to come to Christ and life purpose meshed together? Can you imagine the added motivation; sense of purpose and destiny; wonder and awe; dependence and trust; confidence and passion?

Can we maybe understand why there are so many today who live passionless spiritual lives? Their walk with Christ is a Sunday-only experience devoid of practical purpose in their marriage, family, relationships, work, and life. They walk in confusion and guilt over not knowing how to mesh the two. They easily get caught in traps of temptation and sin because there’s no greater reason not to.

What if this event we call salvation is a single event that encompasses so much more? What if it is a simultaneous event just as the Scriptures describe it:

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. Romans 8:29-30

What if we really were redeemed for a reason bigger than just to attend church, something wilder than just sunday spirituality, something grander than just our own life?

It appears we have missed it.