We had a great meetup last night. 5 people were there--all of on similar, if not the same, wavelengths. For me it was definitely a nourishing conversation. The group decided that we would tackle Brian McLaren's A New Kind of Christian for the next couple of meetings.

My Bible reading this morning included Matthew 9:10-13 (from The Message):

 Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew’s house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them. When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus’ followers. “What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riff-raff?”

Jesus, overhearing, shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: ‘I’m after mercy, not religion.’ I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.”

All of the sudden it became real to me. Or more real. I think I get it, I tell people I get it, I get frustrated at our church folks that I assume don't get it. But do I really get it? When I dream about what our church could be, I envision this spiritual utopia, where we worship and work together. Where all of us insiders gather to enjoy mutual coddling. The problem is that ain't it, according to Jesus. The "spiritual" don't need help. The healthy don't need a doctor. The insiders don't need to be coddled.

Am I doing everything I can to engage the outsider, the unchurched, the "unspiritual." And it matters to a much lesser extent I believe, but when I do reach out to the outsider, is my intention to focus on them for them the way Jesus did, or am I looking to grow "my" church and impress the spiritual insiders?

What would my ministry look like, what would the church's ministry look like if we really were directed toward the outsider, the one that Jesus loved?

I spent a few hours yesterday going door to door in the neighborhood surrounding the church. It's always a fantastic experience. It is so easy to spend so much time inside the church and with church people that I forget the people who reside just a few hundred feet from us--young people, old people, african americans, hispanics, islanders, white folks, gay, straight. Since I was offering an invitation to breakfast, many were receptive. I couldn't help but thinking--what if a church could love its community to Jesus?

This weekend we had the annual meeting of the state setting of our denomination, the United Church of Christ. We vote on the annual budget and pass resolutions and other generally innocuous stuff.

However, our conference minister, Kent Siladi's address was fantastic. It drew us out of and above the level of discourse that is usually heard in denominational (not just ours, but any!) gatherings. He spoke about the core values of our conference, which are solid. And he spoke of our calling as churches, to be transformational communites:


I believe that the Florida Conference exists not to encourage maintenance and survival but rather to be a witness to transformation and common ministry and outreach. To be a Christian means to have a life transforming encounter with the Gospel. Transformation allows us to connect our faith to our daily lives and to work for God’s vision of justice and peace. The early Christian church was filled with the stories of God’s transforming power. People became disciples not because of what they read in the Bible, but because of what they experienced in Christian community. I believe Kirk Hadaway has it right when he observes that a church is called to be an “incarnational community”. Hadaway says, “The Church as incarnational community seeks to embody Christ’s mission by proclaiming the realm of God is here – and by
living in it. To do this we must grow disciples, and in order to grow we must be open to change, to transformation.” (C. Kirk Hadaway, Behold I Do a New Thing, Pilgrim Press, 2001)

I was preparing for confirmation class tonight when I came across this passage from Philippians:

Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Philippians 4:4-7

Fantastic stuff, good for the soul, challenging for life. It makes it sound so simple. I want to be the one who makes it clear to all that I meet that I am on their side!

For the next two weeks, I am going to spend some time in the neighborhood knocking on doors and inviting people to breakfast and church on Mother's Day. I always get excited about doing that a week or so before I actually do it. Then when the time comes, I love to find ways to avoid it!

According to Myers-Briggs, I'm an extrovert, but I must be a shy extrovert!

I don't know if it was there, or maybe there because I was consciously or subconsciously looking for it. Or if God just chose to reveal God's self to me through my scripture reading reading this morning--I guess that's the most likely. All of the scriptures pointed to action, what we do...our (gasp) works.

Relationship with God is a free gift from God. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9) However, that salvation, that relationship, is not there unless evidenced by what we do. That is the clear understanding of scripture.

And it is a principle of life. No one cares what I believe, very, very few care what I write or say. Everyone cares what I do. Am I exuding grace, forgiveness, and love? Am I lightening someone's load? Am I facilitating their path toward God? That's what matters.