There were a lot of empty seats at our youth gathering tonight.
My teacher mind sees faces of students that could have been there. They needed to hear about how God makes us courageous. They needed the reassurance that YES there is HOPE in hard times. They needed to know God loves them. Not just needed...they still need to know.
So, how do we match needs with seats?
How do we bring the hope of the Gospel to the heartache of the world?
CHURCH. The answer is CHURCH. People who love Jesus, taking the message of Jesus to the places where people are hurt. That is CHURCH. Jesus spreads His love, His hope, His healing to the world through His CHURCH.
I want to be the Church of the people of the empty seats. I want to be the Church of conversations in the grocery store. I want to be the Church of neighbors swapping produce from the yard. I want to be the Church of waiting at the ferry. I want to be the Church of junior high students finding hope. I want to be the Church of the back row, of the back room, of the left out and the left over. I want to be in too deep to be distracted by anything else.
And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?”--Nehemiah 6:4
That's my Church. The great work from which I cannot come down.
Church is cross country meets and spirit weeks and dance parties to children's worship songs. Church is turning a lawn into a garden and a park into a farm. Church is mutli-national, multi-lingual, multi-age and spans every SES. Church is toddlers and soccer players and science teachers and homemakers. Church is lots of teenagers. Church is lots of children.
I will always be part of the Church of empty seats. That is where the great work exists. That is how Jesus brings Heaven to Earth.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
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Ephesians 5
Therefore, be imitators of God as dearly loved children and live in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God. But among you there must not be either sexual immorality, impurity of any kind, or greed, as these are not fitting for the saints. Neither should there be vulgar speech, foolish talk, or coarse jesting – all of which are out of character – but rather thanksgiving. For you can be confident of this one thing: that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them, for you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light – for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth – and find out what pleases the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For the things they do in secret are shameful even to mention. But all things being exposed by the light are made evident. For everything made evident is light, and for this reason it says:
“Awake, O sleeper!
Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you!”
Therefore be very careful how you live – not as unwise but as wise, taking advantage of every opportunity, because the days are evil. For this reason do not be foolish, but be wise by understanding what the Lord’s will is. And do not get drunk with wine, which is debauchery, but be filled by the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for each other in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is the head of the church – he himself being the savior of the body. But as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word, so that he may present the church to himself as glorious – not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. In the same way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one has ever hated his own body but he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ also does the church, for we are members of his body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is great – but I am actually speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
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