Watch It, Church!

"You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." (Luke 12:40)

She blurted the words out through pain, "I'm just ready for Jesus to come back, Miriam. The world's going more and more downhill, and I don't want to be here. I'm just praying He comes soon and takes us all out of here!"
I took a deep breath. "I know it's difficult to see and hear of the pain in the world right now, but I'm not ready for Jesus to come back; I have friends who don't yet know Jesus. I pray He delays judgment."
She sighed. "Well, I don't have any friends like that so I'm ready."

~ ~ ~

I sat with another friend in an empty coffee shop. Her words pierced me to my inner core. "Miriam, this is a unreachable generation; there's no point in trying to reach them. We're casting pearls before swine. Scripture says to wait for His coming. So that's what I'm doing. Just waiting. And hoping He comes tomorrow. I've been reading about heaven, and I've just decided that I want to go there instead."
My heart wanted to break.

~ ~ ~

He spoke words I'd grown all too accustomed to hearing the past few months. "Miriam, the signs of the times point toward His coming, and I'm ready for His return. I'm sick of this mess, of people going after all their sinful ways, of those opposed to Christianity seeking to destroy the church. Why doesn't Jesus just return already? We'd be better off."
My whole frame threatened to shake with the grief that swelled up within me. I wanted to scream, "What happened to the church?"

~ ~ ~

Why doesn't Jesus come back already, anyway? He ended Revelation with "Surely I come quickly", didn't He? This generation has rejected Him already, right?

I've realized as I pondered on these conversations for the past few weeks, that this has actually become a much-more widespread attitude within the Church than I've ever realized before. Are you just hanging out in this world, coasting to the finish line and hoping it's as soon as possible?

I'd like to turn your attention to 2 Peter 3:9:12, 14-18.  I believe Peter gave us very valuable insight into this question the Church seems to be asking left and right.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God...Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Jesus also gave us another insight, commanding that we don't just wait, but that we "watch therefore, for we do not know neither the day nor the hour." (Matthew 25:13) Watching requires engagement.

Engagement in what?
 
Simple as these may feel, there are three main reasons for why Jesus has left us awaiting His coming. Basic truths of our faith? Yes. But basic truths the Church as a whole seems to often have forgotten or thrown aside. And none of them allow for passive siting and wishing. Are you willing to engage in the action?

Jesus leaves us here today to watch because:

1.His desire is that EVERYONE would come to know His salvation. Jesus is less concerned with the Church's present comfort and more concerned with the future destination of the rest of the world who are on a path toward eternal separation. What are we actively choosing to do each day to take the focus off ourselves and on to others? We are commanded to "walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of time." (Col. 4:5) When is the last time you shared your faith? Do you have active relationships with non-believers? If you answered no, stop reading right now, GO to a local place where people gather in your community and MAKE ONE. Start today. Not tomorrow. We're not promised tomorrow. There is no excuse for any believer to not have non-believing friends. I cannot emphasize this enough. 

2. He desires that we grow in Him, understanding more of His grace and the knowledge of Him. Jesus is less concerned with you "enduring" this world until you finally make it to His presence and more concerned with revealing His presence in this very day.  Jesus asked the Father to send the Spirit, and we "know Him for He dwells with us and will be in us." (John 14:17) How have you paused to notice His presence and grow in your knowledge of how incredible our God is today?

3. He desires that we encourage others to realize His presence. Jesus is less concerned with you filling your schedule to the brim with good Christian activities, and more concerned with you intentionally investing specifically in a few people. He requires mercy before sacrifice, people before projects. After being "strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus," we are to entrust all that we learn of Jesus to others who will be able to in turn "teach others also." (2 Timothy 2:1-2)

As I am sitting here writing this, I am listening to a random playlist of instrumental music. Just as I begin to wonder how I am to conclude this, an all-too-familiar (my favorite) and loved Christmas song, "Joy to the World", starts playing in my ears. I cannot help but smile, friends. We sing these words at Christmas with gusto, but perhaps we need to sing them today, right in the middle of August. Will you allow yourself to take them to heart? 

 Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

Will you place yourself out in the world and proclaim His love, truth, and grace despite the curse? The Curse's greatest desire is for you to sit still passively waiting, BUT "thanks be to God Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Therefore, my friends, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain." (I Cor. 15:57-58)

We weren't meant to simply wait, but to wait AND watch. Watch it, Church!

Glorieta 2014

Group shot at Glorieta: Campuses represented include Portand State University, Clackamas Community College, Eastern Washington University, Multnomah Bible College, and University of Oregon, as well as students from Northwest Contexture Church.

Some of you have been asking about Glorieta. I wanted to share briefly about this experience with our college students. Glorieta is a Christian camp in the mountains of New Mexico; every August, ~2000 college students and their leaders from all over the country gather for Collegiate Week. Ken and Dondi (my pastor and his wife) and other long-term collegiate ministers in the Northwest have been making the drive to Glorieta from Portland for over twenty years. As they spoke all year of this long-standing tradition, I was excited to experience it with my own college students. Two of my leadership students, Cody and Jason, were able to attend this year. I am grateful for this incredible week with them and the others from Northwest campuses.

Each day at Glorieta is set up with large group worship times, small groups, recreation times, and breakout sessions. Breakout sessions ended up being my favorite time of all. For these, directors and students were typically given different options. This ended up being a huge blessing for me, as each of the director's sessions addressed various topics that will assist me in weeks to come. I gained much helpful information and training from sessions on topics of importance in this era of campus ministry such as planning and leading effective small groups, dealing with issues of sexual identity (including homosexuality and pornography) with gracious Biblical conversations, investing into and choosing a student leadership team, building much-needed relationships with university staff, etc. Learning from campus ministers who have been in this ministry for 20-30 years was incredibly valuable!

Our students also enjoyed their breakout sessions, which were practical in nature and addressed such topics as "How Can There Only Be One God?", "A Biblical View of Homosexuality", "What Does Commitment Look Like in the Life of a Believer?", "How Should a Christian Respond to 50 Shades of Gray?", "Christ-centered Dating", and other issues and topics our college students face on a daily basis as they live and interact with a community who doesn't know our Jesus. I was thrilled to see them discuss the concepts they learned and further research together what scripture has to say about these matters so they would be "ready to give an answer."

Worship each morning and evening also presented much food for thought. The speakers all encouraged us to be bold in sharing our faith and ready to GO each day as the Lord revealed how and where. I was encouraged in further conversations with our students to pinpoint specific people in their lives in need of the gospel, as well as share with them people God has put on my heart. Pray for us as we seek to be obedient in sharing with these specific friends in the days and weeks to come.

Recreation provided spiritual lessons, also. One of the girls in our group was terrified of the 4-story slide into the lake and said she would not do it. After much convincing that she could indeed be brave and that this would be a first step into getting out of her comfort zone, she conquered this fear. To see her confidence boosted and her apply how God was with her in that moment of discomfort to changes she needed to make at home ("God will be with me then as He was with me on the slide.") was worth the time and energy invested, as well as having to conquer my own fear of the fish in the lake (I HATE FISH) so I could do it with her! haha... :) I love how God uses the little things to show us huge spiritual truths!

Glorieta was an encouraging experience for us all, and I am looking forward to taking more students along next summer! Thank you to all who prayed for us as we traveled, counseled students as they heard from the Lord, and heard from God in specific ways ourselves!

Burn The Ships

I'm sitting in the Albuquerque, New Mexico airport waiting to be picked up by a van full of college students and fellow campus ministers whom I love dearly. We're headed to Collegiate Week at Glorieta Christian Camp, where several thousand college students and their leaders will worship together this week. I'm stoked! I might be excited a little because of camp (I LOVE camp!), but mainly I'm excited because:

It's the Beginning of Year Two.  

Today as I flew across the U.S., I reflected on this last year and this summer. I thought about what I would name these months if I had to give them a title. Without a doubt, I would give them the over-arching title: The Call To Be Courageous.

Last year was hard, y'all. Although I now desperately love the City of Roses, let's face it; there were many times I wanted to give up and go back to GA.

There was the fact that I moved 3000 miles away from my family. 

I left that day for Oregon with $80 to my name needing to feed, house, and transport myself for two weeks before I would get my first check from supporters. 

One of my spiritual moms and good friends died of cancer five weeks into the journey. 

I built all new friendships in every arena from the ground up (and in the process, stumbled quite a bit).

Culture shock was in full swing and with it many new philosophies to seek to discern Truth about.

I first had three roommates who didn't love Jesus--or me. 

Joshua and I had no idea how we were going to connect with students, much less start any consistent ministry. 

And the list could go on.

While I've been home in GA this summer, people have said over and over: "I don't know how you moved there all by yourself; I couldn't do that."  Do you know what my response is to that? 

Actually, you could.

You have the potential to be very, very brave. 

Do you know how I know that? Because our heavenly Father gave us the command to "Be strong and courageous, and do not be afraid." (Josh 1:9) And He doesn't give commands He doesn't give us a choice and the ability through the Sprit to obey. 

Therefore, I can have confidence that you could have the bravery to move to Portland. Or to Russia. Or to Timbuktu. Or to walk over to your neighbor's house and ask them over for dinner so they can experience Jesus through your family. Or to speak kind words of Peace to that cashier who just threw your eggs down the conveyor belt because she's struggling with the meaning of life today. 

You can be courageous. Or you can live life paralyzed with insecurity and fear while calling that life your "comfort zone." 

Okay, so maybe I'm stepping on toes. I can live with that. As the pastor of my sending church in GA says, "If you don't want your toes stepped on, don't do things that sticks them out in the aisle!" 

Be Courageous. 

It won't be easy. Year Two will have it's own set of struggles for our NCM and me personally in Portland and elsewhere. But let me share one thing I've learned that makes it better. 

It was the year 1519 and Hernán Cortés and his 600 men set sail for the New World. Their goal: conquer Mexico. They had high hopes and dreams--until it came time to fight. Then the men were afraid. They asked to turn back. To go back to where they came from. Cortés came up with a military strategy that has been questioned by historians for centuries. He spoke three words: "Burn the ships." With nowhere to retreat, the answer was clear for the whole group--fight and win or die trying. 

Last year I fought a lot of ships. The ships are the excuses we give God. Among many excuses, I told Him "Lord, I'm not like these people; You don't really want a Georgia girl here." 

Oh but He did. And He does. For some crazy unknowable reason, He does. And so I look forward to this new year, with all it's changes, it's joys, and it's struggles with great expectation. He Who has begin a good work will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. 

What kind of excuses are you giving Him today? Perhaps you're saying whatever you know He wants you to do costs too much. Do you know Him as Jehovah Jireh, our Provider? Maybe you don't feel you know enough. Do you realize He is our Rabbi, our Teacher?  Perhaps you're saying that if you reach out to your neighbors, it might be awkward or your children may encounter attitudes you don't want.  Do you trust that if He tells you to open your home, He will provide grace and opportunity for your whole family to grow together through discussion of real-world circumstances? 

Burn those ships. 

(This blogpost is just as much for me as it is for each of you. Come October I'm sure I'll need to review this little lesson. Maybe sooner! Feel free to ask along the way whether I'm following my own advice.)

Cortés' men had a little more to worry about; their leader was fallible and victory was uncertain. Our Guide is Eternally Perfect and our victory has already been won!

Be courageous. Fix your eyes upon Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith. He is an ever present Help and fearless Leader.