f2:19 aftermath

Well, a little while longer than expected to blog what has been going on. Everything from a children's service to one last night that had a strange feel to it. One of those mysteries of worship where the the spirit was more sublime than charismatic. I certainly did not sense that it was business as usual, kinda like the early Sunday morning service with everyone in suits and the usual catching up conversation. The message was built upon the oracle of King David, one of the old folks chosen by God to be the king of Israel, the nation whom God called chosen and the nation who would define themselves by saying Yes to this God. David was the model of the faithful life, sometimes flawed by stupid decisions and choices, sometimes marked by God's providence and sometimes lived faithfully. It seems that David's life is a mirror of actual human life, king or not.

On a different note...just got done with an interview in coffee shop which has become the cause of my current reflection. I was asked by the interviewer "Do you see your faith as being separate from everyday life?" Well, if it was...what's the point? I realize that my life of faith is defined by a life that is not my own. My faith cannot be segregated from the routines of life. Universally, from the lips of God comes a call to live faithfully, and most times it goes against our natural tendencies or regular desires. But my faith in a God who transcends my own personal and selfish interest asks something of me that I would not ask of myself. Why? Just because I am called and I sense that my ways are flawed and that God has better ones.

For now, I can say to everyone be "quiet and listen" or "shut up and listen!"

f2:19 aftermath

And so, yes, it has been a couple of weeks since the last blog entry but everyone person will be delighted to know that I was pacing myself. Didn't want to burn out too quickly.

Seriously, though...the last worship service we had was what we call a child friendly worship service. That is a service that is easily understand by children and includes familiar music and concrete illustrations that illuminate the good news of the gospel. The music was phenomenal and our worship leader, interactive and vibrant as always, engaged the children in a way that helped them to encounter the living Christ in the worship space. Here's the story behind the actual worship:

A pumpkin named Pumpty Lumpkin, cousin of Humpty Dumpty- the famous egg, had a wind push him off of his perch and onto the ground. His contact with the ground, like most things, causes this poor pumpkin to explode after getting a new lease on life. He felt good about himself and wham! something happened. Distressed, Pumpty laments aloud "If all the king's horses and all the king's men could not put Pumpty back together again, then I am doomed!"

The point is that too many times we put our faith in the world and things that we believe will fix, liberate, or save us or make us whole again. At the point that we explode and realize that we are broken, maybe that's the time when we should relinquish our reliance on what the world has to offer and instead wait for the arrival of Jesus.

Pumpty waits in his sadness. He is picked up by the hands of a stranger and is eventually returned to his perch whole and unblemished with a candle shining within- the light of Christ.

The children that night got it: that presence of Jesus Christ may come right when you so desperately need to be made whole. To have faith that Jesus will come is to put our hope in the living Christ, the hope that transcends the circumstances of our lives.