riversmeeting
a church in carrick-on-shannonArchive for July, 2007
People are more important than projects
Here’s the shining faces of the team at Karvina just before heading up to Krakow for the return flight img_6628.jpg
Hi guys! So nice to be home in dear old Ireland. Hot showers! Hairdryers! Potato bread! Just arrived back last night/ early morning with a rather jaded mission team from the Beskydys (Czech Republic). We have to check Lucy at Casualty tomorrow, when she wakes up…. she has a suspected fracture (to the left foot) and Vanessa will apparently have headaches for the next three months following her serious concussion. Is this what Jesus meant when he said that the enemy comes to steal, kill and to destroy? Sometimes, I must admit, it seems a little paranoid and childish to talk like that. Other times -like when you’re on a mission trip and doing your serious best to counter the enemy plans- it seems very real. I’ve been re-reading the gospel of Mark and the sheer multplicity of Jesus’ encounters with the devil and with the demon-possessed sounds more like something out of Harry Potter, than the way my (conventional) church background would have me believe.
Anyway, we had an amazing time with a bunch of forty teenagers high up the mountains, introducing them to bluegrass and introducing ourselves to the delights of Czech cooking. No electricity but plenty of buzz. And the title phrase of this post came to me as a kind of insight into the way church (I mean the body of Christ) operates…. not through schemes, plans, theologies, institutions…. not through any kind of projects at all. I was a bit sad about that, being good at projects.
But only ever through people. After all, people ARE the project, if you want to put it like that, according to the end of Matthew 28. And in the course of this adventure that we call life, people are on the frontline.
So, guys, pray for Vanessa and Lucy and also for all the young people who have come to Christ over the last few weeks. I sense that I must never focus on plans but only the Lord. Maybe like that difference between church as FAMILY and church as BUSINESS?
Unbelittleability
Unbelittleability is one of those amazing words that do not appear on a googlesearch (until now?) and yet encompass something of basic….crucial importance.
It’s all about the way you think of yourself. When this quality develops you stop thinking about your inadequacies and you learn to define yourself by what God thinks of you.
It’s the process going in in Psalm 139, when the writer recognises that he is “fearfully and wonderfully made”. You see it in Acts 4:24-31 where the believers redefine themselves, not in terms of the opposition ranged against them (“Consider their threats”) but in terms of the Sovereign Lord who is the Creator, Revealer and Predestinator (“You made…you spoke…you decided”). You hear it when Joel Osteen invites the people to hold up their Bibles and to declare “This is my Bible. I am what it says I am…”.
So what does it say about you? The quotation that I’m going to use tomorrow in church comes from Leviticus 26:13. The version I have here renders it thus: “I have broken the bars of your yoke… I have enabled you to walk with head held high.” Head held high! Jesus has set you free from sin. He has broken that slavery. You’re a free man. Walk tall.
Remember those questions that Paul flashes out in Romans 8:31-39? If God be for us…who can be against us? If God gave his son, will he not give us everything we need? If God has chosen us, who can accuse us? If Christ declares us free, who can condemn us? It’s as if he’s defying anyone to answer.
And it makes you unbelittleable. Who can put you down when God has raised you up? You are going to heaven, man. You’re going to judge angels. “I have enabled you to walk with head held high.” So be who you really are.
Internet Shopping 2: SPRITUAL THERAPY
Cutie picture apropos of nothing….but here’s another liberal helping of superlative bloggery
Congratulations to Cranach Blog for receiving the Riversmeeting God’s Golfball Award for thinking outside the box.
And a few hon mentions:
Living dangerously/ going higher
Habukkuk 3: 19: “The sovereign Lord is my strength! He will make me as surefooted as a deer and bring me safely over the mountains“ (OK, it’s a goat).
Internet shopping: THERAPY
Sophisticated pleasure from pistolpete: ENJOY…
Music Therapy
Christian Acoustic Praise Cafe : Christian Folk: Substance over Style.
FaithRock Radio : Upbeat pop/rock Christian tunes to inspire troubled souls.
Oh Boy Radio: Just a taste of John Prine and friends. Yum. Yum.
Talk Therapy
Prodigal Daughter: On a journey back to the loving arms of her Father.
Haystacks: From a mystery, wrapped in a riddle, an enigma, and a Twinkie.
Literary Therapy
Miss Austen Remembers : The Place for Charm & Wit & all things Brit
bookbabie: Writing, art, books, and other good stuff all in a gluten-free zone.
Family Therapy
Subarctic Mama: Funny, insightful, freezing cold.
Just Enjoy Him: Ramblings of a Mid-Life Mom - Motherhood, adoption & more.
The Fuzzball Chronicles: The Life and Times of Curly Mommy
Them and Us: Another Day of Half-Eaten Apples
Spiritual Therapy
One for the road… A journey of faith within and beyond the Church.
god4today: words from today and days gone by following God’s Word.
Martha, Martha: stumbling after Christ and totally neurotic.
Bit of Smoke: Faith in the Word. The Word in action.
More Than Stone: Trying to live out the resurrection…
Psycho Therapy
Dr. X’s Free Associations: Makes you insane, then restores your sanity.
Bipolar Chicks Blogging: Finding the method behind the madness.
Self-Reflective Therapy
Avoiding Crisis: 210 Days of Self-Exploration, one woman’s journey to thirty.
Experiencing the Journey: A mom trying to follow God in this crazy world.
Cognitive Therapy
Matt’s Musings: what’s inside my head? Answer: A lot! (some quite good)
Thought Revolution: Searching for common sense amidst the tempest of life.
The Epicurean Dealmaker: Philosophical reflections on cultural phenomena.
Educational Therapy
Life: The Ongoing Education : Observations of an insightful student-teacher.
Art Therapy
s.m. ART: Art is good. Art is wise. Words and images to nourish the soul.
Why do we pray?
We just got back from the Ballina 24/7 prayer room. Amazing experience: the whole church building was covered with beautiful flower displays (in a seperate event). There was a huge flow of people that came for the flower festival, but many passed through a quiet corner into the prayer room itself. It was simply stunning. Lucy Butler had created a strange and beautiful environment for worship. Read the rest of this entry »
Why do we laugh?
Thursday, July 06, 2006
This religious revival is a laughing matter
I am standing behind the main stage at a huge rock music festival in Illinois called Cornerstone.
For the past 24 hours, I’ve been hammered by thunderous sounds of modern Christian rock, in large part an ocean of thrash bands complete with tattoos and piercings, but very much with Jesus in mind.
I’ve been on the religion beat a lot lately, and have become aware of a great struggle among Christians to determine what their faith will be, can be, should be in America today.
In Florida recently, I met Rodney Howard-Browne, a South African minister who believes faith is, literally, a laughing matter.
When he speaks, hundreds of people in his congregation are seized by what they call holy laughter. They chuckle, guffaw, howl, and scream with mirth as, they say, the Holy Spirit fiills them. Sometimes the laughing fits last for minutes, sometimes for hours.
I have no idea how to judge the sincerity of their belief, or even if I should, but whether faced with laughing crowds or mosh pits, I hear Christians all over asking if their timeless faith is changing and wondering if that is good or bad.
What do you think?
Why do we sing?
Right there in the centre of the Old Testament stands the book of Psalms. It stands as a monument to a great truth: that at the centre of the people of Israel was its praise. Not –as you might think- its law or covenants, nor even its checkered history, but its huge sense of obligation and love due to a living God, expressed in the words of its songs.
And I believe that at the centre of any living church is its PRAISE. That’s why we sing. We sing in gratitude, in wonder, in sheer affection and in vital response to the God who formed us and who keeps us.
It’s interesting to note that it is WE who sing. I don’t sing just as an individual who loves God, but as part of a massive family, an international collective who join together (in earth and in heaven) to bring praise. That “we” is very significant. We belong together.
Ps 136 brings this alive. It’s a summons to praise. It reminds us first of who God is (“He is good!”) and what he does (“He alone does great wonders”) and how he does it (“by his wisdom”). Then the singer plunges into the connection between Creator and Created. He does not stand afar off, but is intrinsically involved with the story of his people Israel. He is the heartbeat of everything that is alive!
That’s why we sing. We remember what God has done, but we also remember that we are part of his doings! God is alive, and still moving in history –in our history. He who “brought Israel through the midst” ((v13) still brings his people through the midst of their troubles.
So “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good…HIS LOVE NEVER QUITS.”
This post is from our friends in http://oasisroscrea.wordpress.com
And even in the midst of sorrow and trouble, we remember the Lord who holds us safe, whose love never gives out on us.
So join us Tuesday night at TANG SPRING, DRUMSHANBO. The music will not be “Christian” as such but it is a gospel outreach nonetheless and if you guys are there, then it will praise and glorify the living God. If you have friends who wouldn’t be seen dead inside a church… they’re the ones we want to see!
