The Essenes and Steak

Our third meeting. Outback steakhouse to start then back home to talk about Chapter two. This week was interesting as we read the chapter aloud. An interesting chapter to read aloud as it covered some of the political ground Jesus was surrounded by: Zealots, Herodians, Essenes, and Pharisees. Reading aloud was hard and we agreed that we would go back and read the chapter on our own.

This week was when we started to get into the meat of what we are doing as a group. We are coming from different places, so it’s getting interesting.

Question of the night: “Why can’t we just go back to a church and be a good influence for something new and exciting instead of going out on our own?”

Good question. Not impossible, and nothing says we can’t do that, but the context of the question came out of a fear of the unknown. A fear that someone has to feed us, lead us, find the answers for us. Our group is teetering on the notion that it’s much easier to go and “do church”. I had to be careful in my answer. I don’t think church is bad. I don’t think that people in church are a bunch of lazy people. I also don’t think it is our duty to go and change something that is working for many people. It is insulting for us to go to a church and say we found this new way of doing things, it’s better than what they are doing, and demand change. It goes against the point of what we are doing. It’s not better for them –It’s better for us. It’s just a different way.

Our group is starting to get down to the nitty gritty and it doesn’t always feel comfortable. It would be comfortable if someone else took our responsibility, paved our path, looked for our answers. Jesus was confronted by the same viewpoints. The Herodians would go along with the norm, the Zealots would boldly claim their way, the Essenes would just go and be by themselves away from everyone, and the Pharisees would scold them all. Jesus came and did things that didn’t fit any category. “…Courageous wild hope that could heal and transform the world” as McLaren puts it.

I like the fact that Brian McLaren is a pastor and he supports the type of direction we have taken. I like the fact that there is hope that we are all looking for one kingdom, but maybe just doing it different ways. I like the fact that we are finding out about Jesus on our own, but that we are collectively a group to hold each other up so we don’t disappear into the wilderness like the Essenes. I like that I am learning how not to be a Pharisee.

Journey to pie

We had our second “get-together” last night. We started by going out for Mexican food. Surprisingly, we all ate healthily with the exception of the beer and chips (win some, loose some) = ). We came back to our house, settled the kids, and started talking about the book. Each couple had read the intro and first chapter of the "Secret Message of Jesus". We talked about some of the questions from the back of the book. We didn’t get too far and spent the majority of our time talking about two things:

1. Why even embark on a spiritual journey?
2. How has our image of Jesus changed in the past few years?

Why even embark on a spiritual journey?
We all agreed that even atheists have a spiritual journey and everyone has questions they want answered. We talked about that piece of our hearts that is always searching for something, longing for answers (even Christians). **At this point it may be important to point out that we weren’t talking about an evangelical journey, a journey to save people, or a journey to “be spiritual”, but rather a journey to really find out who Jesus was and who Jesus is. Sounds simple, but it’s huge.** We each talked about how the organized church, our families, our experiences, and our up-bringings have shaped our views of Jesus (good and bad) and how we each wanted to have freedom from all the extra stuff we’ve attached to Jesus.

*******************Side note ****************************
I want to mention a book I read this week that really was parallel with this new path. I know there a lists and loads of books (trust me, I have stacks), but I really feel this gave me a direction and added to this forward movement I am feeling. I finally feel justified in that we have a place seeking God outside of the boundaries we’ve know. My articulation may sound disjointed, but trust me the book is right on and it’s one you can make your own. I read the book in two nights, so it’s not a big time investment. John Barna’s "Revolution" (yep, Barna Research Group)
**********************************************************

How has our image of Jesus changed in the past few years?
I don’t have time to embark on everyone’s stories, but I can tell you mine. I think I have finally reconciled the Jesus of my heart and the Jesus of the *C*hurch (big C). They are the same. I think I had just meshed a bunch of Jesus of the *c*hurch (little c) in with everything else. God’s *C*hurch is people who love Him and love people. *c*hurch is all the extra stuff. I also think my view has changed in that I feel Jesus is not trying to pull me in a direction, persuade me to be more holy, or make me win hearts for him. He is with me, offering me his company, his presence next to me. Offering me the best and letting me know I can be the best too. This isn’t new stuff folks, but for some reason it has all taken on new meaning for me. Direction, holiness, and people knowing Him are not bad, but the are effects of me being with Him. It should be interesting as we progress through the book, as I am sure that my views will continue to change, not just about Jesus, but about myself too.

Books aren’t creating truths for us (the truths are already there), but providing a jumping board for us to really seek God and what He is doing.

We prayed and talked about the senior housing again. We also talked about some of the suggestions from the book.

We also talked about pie. Yum. I love pie!

Here We Go

Here we go.

- We got together had dinner (which included lots of good wine).

- Talked about what we felt about church and what we might want to do.

- Talked about Brian McLaren’s book “The Secret Message of Jesus” we went through the back of the book and his suggestions for meeting – don’t worry we aren’t getting caught up on the structure part.

-We decided to read the book together and begin to look at some ways to reach out in the community. We all liked the idea of going to the low income senior housing building and spending time with the people there --Playing games, talking, bringing dessert. Just us and them, no strings attached, but just to be with them.

-When we get together again we are going to each talk about some the questions from the back of the book. Each person can answer whatever questions they want.

-We will each focus on the suggestions and opportunities from the book (I’ll write more on this later.)

-We know what we don’t want to be and now we are discovering, together, what we do want to be.

We prayed for each other and talked about some of our struggles and how we as a family can help each other.

We had pudding and watched Nightline.

Here we go… =)

Next Step

Ok, after months of ranting, reading, swinging on the pendulum, and still feeling frustrated, we are getting our family together to talk about what we can do as a group of people who know Jesus and want to share His love in a tangible way without strings attached.

We are getting together this Friday night to have dinner and talk about some possible books we could read and discuss together. “The Secret Message of Jesus” seems to be at the top of the list this moment. L and I have discussed some ways we could reach out to our community. Since there are several of us in law enforcement the situation of bringing people becomes complicated. We discussed possibly looking into the local Loaves and Fishes and the battered women’s shelter.

I am excited to be getting together and pray. I am apprehensive that there will be a feeling that we need to organize and revert back into some habits. I am finding it is so hard to get together to just see what God is doing in each of us, there always seems to be a feeling that this purpose is not big enough. I am sad because I know the local church base does not embrace what we are doing.

I am intrigued to see how our little family handles each other’s views. I know we are not all coming from the same place, but I hope that we embrace this and know it brings depth.

I will post more after we meet and will try to follow-up as move forward.

What's Next

Have you ever bought a new outfit and really liked it, but it sits in the closet. You go in and look at it, but every occasion that comes up just doesn’t seem like the right one. You put the outfit on, then take it off. You reassure yourself you like the outfit and will wear it. Maybe it was just a little daring or different, but you know it can work. Why can’t you just wear the stupid thing!? Sometimes my direction with God and what God is doing is like this. It’s new, I am really excited, I know it’s going to work one way or another, but I can’t seem to step into it.

SO… What’s next?

Well, I think I need an occasion to wear my outfit. I know the analogy is probably lame, but it works for me (especially, since I have a few unworn outfits in my closet). L and I were talking today and I suggested that we, as a family, should get together to start praying about what God is doing and how we fit into the picture. In the next week or so we are going to have dinner and pray. We agreed that it’s not coming together to see how we can start a new program or “win-over” the “un-saved” people in our lives, but rather to pray about where we are headed as a family, how we can reach out to others (simply to love them), how we can make an impact in our neighborhood and community and to pray for others who share the same ideas.

It should be very interesting as we are all coming from different places with the organized church and some of us are further from it that others, but I think we can still work together. After all, we are family – what a better place to start.

My thoughts for the coming months is that we should just have dinner (not exclusive to certain people) and just invite who ever we want to just have dinner together. Then maybe we, as a smaller group, get together to pray for people in practical ways and for each other.

We’ll see.

Nothing on this road has been predictable. I have to say though, I am the most comfortably uncomfortable I have ever been. Go figure.

Rain

It’s hard to think about rain when it is so hot here, but for some reason this morning I was thinking about rain. How it washes, fills, grows, floods, and creates the most amazing smell of newness. I miss the rain today (probably with a little help from the 77s song “Rain On”).

God is like Rain --Sometimes gentle and drizzly, sometimes a down-pour, but always refreshing. I was thinking that the path I am on may be dry and cracked, but rain can give the path a much needed drink. It doesn’t mean that I am no longer going to be walking on a dry and cracked path, but just like a summer rain comes out of no where and soaks the ground, God, if I ask Him to, can come and saturate my path.

How can I, in turn, bring that type of saturation to others? I am not always sure, but I think just soaking it up myself is a good place to start.