Category Archives: Points Along The Journey – Living A Missional Life

Worshiping with wounds, scars and warts

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While I was reading through our daily through-the-Bible chapters recently, Susan and I came to the passage where Hezekiah led the people of Israel and Judah to the Passover celebration (2 Chronicles 30).

  • He invited everyone, no matter where they lived, how they lived, or how far away they were from the Father.
  • He changed the date, something that was completely out of the norm, because He knew the people of God needed to worship.
  • He invited the personnel who normally led the worship to return first because so many of the priests had not followed through with their own responsibilities to worship and walk in purity.
  • He invited the weak and those “not yet prepared” – no matter where they were with God, they were invited to come clean and celebrate.
  • Even the internationals and outsiders were invited to worship. And they did.
  • The people discarded and turned away from other gods, from false faith, and trusted in God’s mercy and His Word.

The account says that worship lasted twice as long as expected and the crowds were bigger, the given more generous, and the repentance as seen in turning away from what had the people in bondage was transformative.  Hezekiah saw the messy mix of people and prayed, saying, “May the Lord, who is good, pardon everyone 19 who sets their heart on seeking God—the Lord, the God of their ancestors—even if they are not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary.” 20 And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.

As I was reading these verses, I envisioned how God invites us to worship Him and repentance often follows. We come to the Father with the faith in His mercy to make us right, and we lay our guilt, flaws, scars, sins in His hands of grace, and with humility bring our:

  • Time
  • Wallets
  • Songs
  • Gifts
  • Brokenness
  • Relationships

To the worship. Yes, you and I, wounds, scars, warts and all, are invited to worship.

Sitting Down with the Enemy

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How often do you and I get a chance to do life with someone from another world? This week’s outreach project with the All Nations Cafe reminded me that many of us don’t often get opportunities to sit down, eye-to-eye, with people not like us. We served and had lunch with Columbians, Ecuadorians, Romanians and Belarusians. We heard their stories, shared ours and began the conversations about God when we the door opened. Each week they come, the conversation goes deeper.

I had another conversation some time ago with someone else connected with the All Nations Cafe – a young Muslim man from the Mediterranean region. He, like thousands other 20-somethings from all over the globe, came to the Beach to work in the service industry a few months, make money, meet people, and see America.

His nation and ours don’t see things the same. In fact, some would say we are enemies.

He stopped by to return the bike he’d gotten early in the summer and he joined our circle of conversation about Jesus. We heard his story, his dreams for his own life and his family back home, and how he missed his culture but would miss ours, too.

We, in turn, shared the Good News of the Kingdom – how God had loved us enough to invite us into a love relationship with His Son Jesus, how we had experienced His mercy and grace through our faith in what He accomplished on the cross, and that we believed God sent him to turn in his bike at the right moment for us to pray with him.

And we did. We prayed for his family, his travels, his nation, and most of all, for his salvation. As we soaked him in prayer, he soaked it up.

We invited this young man into the family that Jesus is building, one repentant life at a time.

The Gospels speak of “kairos” moments – when the Father brings us into his work in a nexus of His purpose, our willing service, and someone’s need. He gave us a “kairos” moment that day – not with the enemy, but with someone who is loved by the Father and invited to the table of grace in Jesus.

Thank you, Father, for my friend who I pray now sees you call to him to salvation and serving Jesus.

Thank you, also, Renovation Vineyard, for stepping out in faith this week at the cafe and around the Grand Strand, looking to the Father for that “Kairos” moment He invited you to step into.

Too Many Santas, Too Much Brussel Sprouts

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Stats say that the King’s Cross/St Pancras Tube Station is London’s busiest place, making it one of the busiest in the world. It’s also the location of Potter-world’s Platform 9 3/4 (King’s Cross and the point to travel by train to continental Europe (St. Pancras.)

It was also the location of the largest gathering of Santa Clauses I’ve ever seen. Thousands of them. All sizes, shapes, ages, gender, and quality-of-gear. They were easy to identify. We were the odd-people-out.

Think: red-and-white, jingle-bell rave.

While serving in missions in Europe, I invited my daughter Rachael to spend a week in London with her dad. She’s an art-nut and museums were the order of the week (along with two-a-day fish and chips.) As we walked out of the station, we landed in the middle of brussel-sprout-eating, beer drinking Santa Clauses. They were there on purpose, with a mission, and in it together.

As Christ-followers, we certainly don’t dress alike or eat the same food. But this visual reminds me that we identify together with other Jesus-lovers. When you or I meet a Christian, no matter the language, nationality, race, gender, etc., we are in it together. There is community.

We are on a mission to represent King Jesus – the only one who restores us to a full understanding of what it means humanly to be His creation, the only one who has accomplished what we need to be redeemed.

And our purpose is to invite the values of the Kingdom into our lives and into the lives of the people and the circumstances we connect with today. We long together to see people genuinely loved (not based on a good or bad dichotomy; but because people are worthy of our love and respect.) And we have hope to give through our words, actions, and prayer.

That ever-growing crowd of Santas who were on mission, with a purpose, and with an identity, showed up for a raved at King’s Cross Station. They threw a party.

Renovation Vineyard has our next rave planned. We are baptizing in the ocean on Sunday evening, June 27th. Cake and ice cream at Andy and Cindy Grigg’s place in Cherry Grove at 5pm; then a two-block walk or drive to the 55th Ave. Beach Access for baptisms. If you want to join the party, let me know!

And we already have our next party planned – it’s a worship-rave. It’s Sunday morning at 9:45.

Getting Past the Obstacles

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We all face them and most of us eventually get past them: obstacles can stop us if we let them, or if we overcome them, obstacles can make us stronger. Some people seem to face more obstacles than others. One woman, for instance, found herself facing a life-or-death decision. Life didn’t start out well for this young girl, either.

Her mom and dad dropped out of her memory when she was barely aware of her life, and she was forced to move to a strange land with different customs and values than her own. She was brought up in a minority class, the color of her skin was different than most around her, and even her faith was looked on with scorn by many around her.

She was an orphan in a strange land and now she faced a decision that could prove fatal to herself and those she loved. Her choice to live beyond the obstacles along with the encouragement of her uncle gave her the courage to do the right thing. And, because of Esther’s choices, the Jewish people in exile found safety, “for such a time as this” that she faced.

Maybe I’ll see you this Sunday. Let’s see what this young girl, who faced her past and chose boldly for the future, can teach us in our own “for such a time as this.”

A New Accord

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Each time you and I take part in the celebration of Communion, each bite of broken bread and each sip of wine (or Welch’s), celebrates the new accord, or the New Covenant Jesus secured for us that first Easter weekend. He died, was buried in that death, and rose from the short-term tomb to end the enemy’s rule of death and chains. It is a totally new and unique way to relate to the Creator – no more animals on the altar or lists to get God’s favor.

His body broken, His blood spilled, to give us the grace gift of redemption and restoration!

Sunday’s Communion Celebration was extraordinary. The Father’s Presence met us as we met in small groups around the cup and loaf. The moment was both communion and cleansing.

It’s a celebration and His presence is near in our obedience (no, I don’t believe the bread and wine become the body and blood) – and as a part of our worship, we draw near to Jesus as He comes near to His kids.

You have been reconciled to God, not just to quit sinning or to adhere to a legal standard. You have been reconciled to fulfill the grand adventure of your calling to make your life one that invites your world to be reconciled to Jesus, too.

Join in the worship of the Redeemed with us Sunday!