MISTAKES.
I have some pretty strong opinions on things & [for better or worse] I'm normally not afraid to voice them. I recently recorded one of these strong opinions on this very BLOG. While it expressed my personal conviction on a particular issue our church was facing, I now understand that as a Pastor, it should not have been shared in the public forum of the internet. I apologize for that. I also apologize if those words hurt anyone. It was intended as merely an emotional release for me. I had a lapse in judgment. I made a mistake. Please forgive me.
MISUNDERSTANDINGS.
Through some insightful conversations with some Godly church members, I have also become aware of some misunderstandings. Unwittingly, my messages and demeanor have apparently been conveying something that I had not intended them to. Some very sincere Christians have shared that they sometimes get the sense that I look down on believers who are affluent, choose to dress their best on Sunday mornings or who prefer traditional music in worship. That idea could not be further from my heart!
My message is that Jesus Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost. I believe we can honor God by wearing our best clothes or by choosing to wear our everyday clothes to church. We can connect with God through contemporary or modern or traditional or blended music. We can be financially blessed or in deepest poverty. The point is that none of these things decides where our relationship with God truly stands. Instead,“…whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Joel 2:32
None who are willing – rich, poor, middle-class, blue-collar, white-collar, no collar, turtleneck, v-neck, t-shirt, no shirt, shirt-and-tie… should be hindered from entering the Kingdom. While we all enter through one door – Jesus Christ – we don’t all take the same route leading up to that door. And once we pass through his blood into saving faith, it’s OK that we celebrate, worship, think & serve God in gloriously diverse kinds of ways.
If it hasn’t come through clearly – that’s what I’ve been trying to say all along. We should respect the diversity of how each of us relates to our loving God. There is no one right way to worship as long as we truly worship in spirit and in truth. Is it possible that our greatest unity can be found in acknowledging our rich diversity?
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
The Heart
Why is it so easy to look at the outside of a person and never be able to see the 'real' person within?
Why is it so easy to listen to a person's words but hear something totally different than what they actually said?
Why is it so easy to pass judgment on others without getting to know where they're coming from?
Why is it so easy to make accusations about someone you don't really know as a person? as a fellow believer?
What if I chose to get to know others by who they are on the inside?
What if I asked others to clarify what they mean instead of drawing my own conclusions about what I think they meant?
What if I got to know what makes a person tick - instead of trying to put them into a neat little box, all labeled and sealed shut?
What if I invited my fellow believers over for coffee, or asked them out to lunch, or invited them on a walk around the park and got to know their hearts?
Why is it so easy to listen to a person's words but hear something totally different than what they actually said?
Why is it so easy to pass judgment on others without getting to know where they're coming from?
Why is it so easy to make accusations about someone you don't really know as a person? as a fellow believer?
What if I chose to get to know others by who they are on the inside?
What if I asked others to clarify what they mean instead of drawing my own conclusions about what I think they meant?
What if I got to know what makes a person tick - instead of trying to put them into a neat little box, all labeled and sealed shut?
What if I invited my fellow believers over for coffee, or asked them out to lunch, or invited them on a walk around the park and got to know their hearts?
Monday, October 8, 2007
United or Untied?
There are many beautiful and challenging metaphors for the ‘kingdom of God’ that stretch our imagination as to what it is really all about। A treasure. A pearl. A mustard seed. Yeast in dough. Some new metaphors that I have heard have included the kingdom as a canvas, a computer network and even an interactive, flowing dance. So I searched my heart and set about imagining my own metaphor for the kingdom…
The kingdom of God is like a woven tapestry. A thick yarn runs from the heart of God to the heart of each believer. And then smaller threads of a slightly different shade continue to connect each believer with one another. So the kingdom is woven together & these connections create the warp & the weft of the kingdom. The strings that make up this tapestry are invisible - but strong. And one-who-is-not-yet-woven-in may, perchance, run into one of its connecting threads. And, even without seeing it, may hold it loosely in the hand and walk along its length until coming to its source – either the Master Weaver himself, or another follower who has the thread woven into his heart.
At any moment, the Woven Ones can tug on the yarn leading to God or one another in order to interact. And at any moment, those wishing to join the tapestry need only to walk to the Master Weaver, unroll a bit of thread from the spool of her own heart and offer it to the Weaver’s skillful hands. In less than a moment, He will intertwine the two threads in such a way that they can never be untied again. If you could see this new connection at all, you would not be able to tell where one heart ends and the other begins.
Now, even though these hidden, invisible threads stretch and cross, weave in & out and bind believers & God together in inseparable bonds, others may pass right through them without even knowing they are there. And the Woven Ones may, at times, forget that there are threads that link them together. But the loosely woven tapestry is still there nonetheless.
The Weaver is a patient one. He knows that one day all the needed threads will be added, woven and knit in just the right pattern. And when that time has come, when all the individual strings of yarn are in place, He will slowly draw all the Woven Ones to Himself. The space between the threads will shrink & disappear. The expanded, loose Woven Ones that have been separated by time & distance will be cinched together into a close-knit tapestry of beauty & grace. And that tapestry will reflect the glory, diversity, unity, beauty, intimacy & design of life as the Master Weaver intended it to be. And together, wrapped around the Master at the center, their perfect interconnectedness will remain throughout eternity.
This metaphor is certainly not perfect। But the metaphors of the kingdom can never catch it’s truest beauty. It is about something bigger – better – other – than the kingdoms of this world. Where would you fall within this metaphor? Are you united to others in the tapestry or are you alone, unwoven, untied?
Q: What metaphor of the kingdom rings truest in your own heart?
Q: Would you dream it, write it down, share it, live it?
The kingdom of God is like a woven tapestry. A thick yarn runs from the heart of God to the heart of each believer. And then smaller threads of a slightly different shade continue to connect each believer with one another. So the kingdom is woven together & these connections create the warp & the weft of the kingdom. The strings that make up this tapestry are invisible - but strong. And one-who-is-not-yet-woven-in may, perchance, run into one of its connecting threads. And, even without seeing it, may hold it loosely in the hand and walk along its length until coming to its source – either the Master Weaver himself, or another follower who has the thread woven into his heart.
At any moment, the Woven Ones can tug on the yarn leading to God or one another in order to interact. And at any moment, those wishing to join the tapestry need only to walk to the Master Weaver, unroll a bit of thread from the spool of her own heart and offer it to the Weaver’s skillful hands. In less than a moment, He will intertwine the two threads in such a way that they can never be untied again. If you could see this new connection at all, you would not be able to tell where one heart ends and the other begins.
Now, even though these hidden, invisible threads stretch and cross, weave in & out and bind believers & God together in inseparable bonds, others may pass right through them without even knowing they are there. And the Woven Ones may, at times, forget that there are threads that link them together. But the loosely woven tapestry is still there nonetheless.
The Weaver is a patient one. He knows that one day all the needed threads will be added, woven and knit in just the right pattern. And when that time has come, when all the individual strings of yarn are in place, He will slowly draw all the Woven Ones to Himself. The space between the threads will shrink & disappear. The expanded, loose Woven Ones that have been separated by time & distance will be cinched together into a close-knit tapestry of beauty & grace. And that tapestry will reflect the glory, diversity, unity, beauty, intimacy & design of life as the Master Weaver intended it to be. And together, wrapped around the Master at the center, their perfect interconnectedness will remain throughout eternity.
This metaphor is certainly not perfect। But the metaphors of the kingdom can never catch it’s truest beauty. It is about something bigger – better – other – than the kingdoms of this world. Where would you fall within this metaphor? Are you united to others in the tapestry or are you alone, unwoven, untied?
Q: What metaphor of the kingdom rings truest in your own heart?
Q: Would you dream it, write it down, share it, live it?
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