Parts of a Whole

Acts 2:42-47 (ESV)
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

When I think of church, this is the passage that comes to my mind first. I know there are many others and I plan to bring those up as well, but I wanted to start here. I could write so much about this passage and the ways I fail to do what it says, and hopefully I will, but what I want to focus on right now is what it doesn’t say.

It doesn’t say, “And they jumped around from church to church until they found the right combination of music they like, preaching that makes them feel good, people that treat them the best and make them feel important, good snacks, free meals, little to no accountability and challenge, energetic and entertaining children’s ministry, and comfortable seats.” Sometimes I think this is what we think church should be.

Did you notice that the word “comfortable” is never mentioned? Neither is popular, easy, feel-good, or status. Maybe it’s the translation. I don’t know Greek, so I can’t say for sure. It seems to me, though, that our comfort and status aren’t high on God’s priority list when it comes to building the church. Is this because He wants us to be miserable and unhappy? Please don’t make me answer that ridiculous question.

I think it’s because God knows that our comfort, our feelings, and our status are all fleeting. They are based on things that don’t last. God isn’t interested in building a temporary establishment. He is interested in building an eternal Kingdom. He is interested in His glory. People bouncing from place to place and ministry to ministry trying to satisfy shallow needs and make themselves look and feel good does not bring God glory or grow His eternal Kingdom. Servants dedicated to their loving Heavenly Father and to loving and serving His Body does.

You know what this passage does say? “…all who believed were together and had all things in common,” and “…the Lord added to their number…” This makes me believe that the Lord had Luke place the emphasis on the group, the Body, rather than the individual, which makes sense because we, the Church, are the Body. We are parts that serve together to make up a whole.

God is a personal God. He made us each uniquely and He loves us with a unique love. He also created us to be built together into something beautiful, strong, functional, and amazing. He created us to be parts of a whole – parts of a Body with Christ as the head. We are created for community. (It would be really hard for even someone who doesn’t believe in God to argue that human nature doesn’t naturally/automatically move toward community.) This is why I think Luke emphasized the group rather than any one individual in this description of the early church. Maybe if we spent more time viewing ourselves as (an important) part of a beautiful Body, we wouldn’t have enough time to worry about our “needs” and whether or not the church is “meeting” them.

Scriptures to look at from my rambling: Acts 2:42-47, Romans 12:1-8, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4:1-16, Colossians 1:17-18, 1 Peter 2: 4-5

Here We Go...

Ok, so here’s the deal…I’ve been wanting to blog about some ideas/thoughts I’ve had about church/the Body/service/leadership/etc. for a little while now. I’m sure my transition back to America has had something to do with this, but really it goes back farther than that.

God taught me a lot about church – what it is, why it is, what it isn’t, what we make of it, and what it could be – while I was overseas. A lot of my time was spent teaching/guiding young believers in the area of church. Now, I’m really not qualified to do this, and if I had been doing it on my own or using my own ideas, I would have just messed it up. What we did, instead, was look at what Jesus said about church, how the early church started, and what the early church was about. Jesus and the disciples gave us a solid example of what the church should be, and while “culture has changed” and “things are different now,” God is unchanging and perfect. So is His Word. So we can still look back to the first Christian church and learn from them.

What’s going to follow (hopefully in several blogs) is my views/opinions/suggestions/challenges. My initial goal is just to get this out and on paper (or the internet equivalent), and by posting it for people to read, I have a stronger push to actually do it. I’d also like to hear other opinions/suggestions/criticism of my thoughts. A lot of what I write is mainly a challenge to myself to do what I think the Bible says we should do, because even if I think huge changes need to occur, if I’m not willing to change, why should I expect anyone else to.

This is not meant to be a criticism of church or specific people in the church. This is not meant to be me airing my frustrations. If it begins to sound like that, please call me on it.

Finally, I never claim to understand the Word completely or understand how to apply is perfectly. Some things I say may be wrong. Don’t read it as me saying, “This is what I think and I’m right.” All I want to do is look at Scripture and talk about what I think its application looks like today. I’ll do my best to type the Scripture I reference or at least give you the reference so you can read on your own and let me know what you think. The entries probably won’t be in much of an order – because this is a blog not a book, but they will hopefully have a flow within each entry.

I’d love to get lots of opinions on this so feel free to pass it along to others. You can comment on my blog or link to yours and write up your own deal. This could be kinda cool if we get discussion going. If nothing else, at least I’ll get my thoughts out and maybe my head will feel less crowded.

Keep Pressing On

Do you ever feel like everyone started the race ahead of you and now all you can do is try to catch up and make your defeat look not so bad? That's kind of how I've been feeling lately - well part of it, at least. I feel like I'm playing catch up - only I don't know who or what I'm trying to catch up with. It's a weird feeling.

And I think the feeling of being behind is causing me to move my focus from where it should be. It's like I'm trying to focus on the runners in front of me instead of on the finish line...which wouldn't be so bad if we were all running the same race, but that's not always the case. Sometimes the people I start following are running to a different finish line, so when I start following them, I get thrown completely off course. And sometimes, even if our finish line is the same, we are supposed to be on two different tracks and I get all confused about which track I'm on when I start focussing on them instead of the finish line to my track.

It's like I just came to the bottom of a downhill stretch of the race and now I'm headed back uphill...Except now I'm not just going uphill - now I'm in a dense forrest and it's cloudy and windy, so I can barely see the ground for my next step. So what do I do? I panic. I stop keeping my finish in mind and stop concentrating on one step after another, and I turn my eyes - even for just a second - to the runners around me. I want to see who's ahead of me and where everyone else is going instead of staying on my path. And then, not only do I get off track, but I also start tripping and falling because I'm not even aware of where my next step should go.

If I just take a breath and deliberately turn my focus back to where it should be, I know what my path is and where it leads, and I know what I need to do...

"...run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith." - Hebrews 12.1-2

"...press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3.14

He Doesn't Waiver, Even When We Do

Desert Song by Hillsong

This is my prayer in the desert
And all that's within me feels dry
This is my prayer in the hunger in me
My God is a God who provides

And this is my prayer in the fire
In weakness or trial or pain
There is a faith proved
Of more worth than gold
So refine me Lord through the flames

And I will bring praise
I will bring praise
No weapon forged against me shall remain

I will rejoice
I will declare
God is my victory and He is here

And this is my prayer in the battle
And triumph is still on it's way
I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ
So firm on His promise I'll stand

All of my life
In every season
You are still God
I have a reason to sing
I have a reason to worship

This is my prayer in the harvest
When favor and providence flow
I know I'm filled to be empited again
The seed I've recieved I will sow


"Believe God is always the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him."
-Oswald Chambers

Happy Monday!

I'm Not the Realtor of the Family, but...

I think I could do a better job of advertising than this...

Clearly they only want hawk-eyed people renting their house.

Birthday Blog

So tomorrow marks 1/4 century in the life of Cristin.  Kinda crazy.  25 sounds very adult.  Not having a job doesn't - but we won't go into that now.  I was thinking about past birthday celebrations, because I was going to try to list as many as I could, but it turns out I can't remember a lot of them (Carlyn, no comments about my 18th.  I remember).  

One of my favorites was in elementary school, maybe 2nd grade, with my grandmother, Erma.  You see, every year, Erma would plan an outing for each of the grandchildren on their birthday (Williamsburg, Jamestown, The Mariner's Museum, etc).  It was cool as a kid, but I appreciate it much more now.  This one particular birthday, she took me to the Ft. Monroe Officer's Club for lunch.  I don't remember much about lunch, but Erma said that they had nothing on the menu I would eat, so the chef made me a hamburger and fries and they brought ketchup out in a silver goblet.  All I remember is this delicious chocolate raspberry cake they brought out for me.  Amazing.  I know I have a picture this event somewhere, but I can't find it. 

I've had 2 surprise parties that I can remember.  One was when I was like 8 or 9, I guess.  My mom and dad planned a surprise party for me after my swim lessons.  They didn't know who to invite, I guess, so they just invited my whole class and a few more people.  As a result the only thing I remember about that birthday was that I came straight from the pool to my house for the party and there were a lot of kids I didn't like there.

The second surprise party was when I was 22.  Byron and Erica took me out to dinner and then when I got back to the apartment, there was a party.  DiAnna followed me around with the video camera, which I didn't like.  Side note:  Byron isn't a very good sneaky surpriser. :)

Coincidentally that year, my actual birthday fell on the SuperBowl, so about 30 people sang Happy Birthday to me at the party.  If you know me, you know how much I enjoyed all that attention. :)

I spent 2 birthdays overseas - one in China (23) and one in Thailand (24).  They were both really fun and memorable.  On my 23rd, I had a 2 cakes, plus an awesome french toast breakfast.  We listened to the SuperBowl that morning (12 hrs ahead) and went to a really good restaurant for dinner.  Then we had coffee at this revolving restaurant where we could see the whole city.  Pretty sweet.

In Thailand, my awesome sistah, Mariah, provided a crown, sash, and scepter for me to wear to all of our meetings.  Then we got to go to Starbucks that night to celebrate.  They lit a stirrer in a muffin for my cake and candle.  Nice.

We'll see what this year brings.  :)