February 16--The Disease

Once upon a time....

There was a movement happening. There was a guy on the scene who was radically emphasizing what it means to worship the Living God. He said all sorts of really crazy stuff; He did all sorts of really crazy things. He loved people in such a way that it changed the course of thier lives.

And then he had a bunch of friends who didn't really get any of it. They didn't have time for the children, for the elderly, for the homeless, for the dying. As a matter of fact, it frustrated them when Jesus would stop and love on one or many of these. When the little children would run to him, his buddies wouldn't get out of the way so that they could have access to Him, they would block these little ones saying things like, "He's too busy!" "It's not for you!" They would walk by the homeless on the street, not giving them a second glance. Then they would turn around and see that this man stopped to greet each one of them. The suprise of Him knowing their names and them knowing His name never wore off.

Could it be that these friends were addicted to something? Is it possible that they had become consumers? Do you think that they ever thought, "What is happening with this man is for me and not for other people."?

This man died. He said that He was going to. He told his buddies, "There is going to be a day when I will no longer be here with you." They probably didn't think that was possible. "What do you mean you're going to die? What are we going to do then?"

When it happened, the friends who relied completely upon this man, scattered in fear. Their worst nightmare had come to pass: They were leaderless, they were in a dark place, they were afraid, they were hopeless, they had nowhere to go.

Then He came back, just as He said He would. And when He did, it was business as usual for his friends (or so they thought!).

Read Acts 1:1-6

What do you hear the friends asking?

Lord, are you going to make everything right? Are you going to do some more really crazy, really big stuff? Are we going to be able to follow you around and watch just like we did before? Are we going to get to attach ourselves to you again?

What do you hear Jesus saying to the friends in verse 7?

Things are going to change friends! It's not going to be like it was.

Read Acts 1:8.

What is Jesus saying here?
What is Jesus doing here?

Then the movement really took off! It went from a small group to a revolutionary movement that began to change the face of the known world. Church (sunago--the gathering) was known as a a group of people that lived lives of worship together in ways that made a tangible difference in their communities. They followed the Way Jesus so closely that the unloveable started getting loved everywhere. (See Acts 19)

And then we got really good at "doing church." The better church got, the more we turned into consumers instead of participants in what God wants to do to change the world. And it started to kill something.

How is this true in your life?
What do you think of when you think of church? 209?
(What are some common definitions of what a church is?)
What have we made church about? Us or God? How?
Where does consumerism enter into your faith journey? What can you do about it?
If you were to define "church" using the Text, how would you do it? Where would you go to find a definition of it?

Recommendation: Read the book of Acts over the next couple of weeks. In it, you will find the story of the church being formed and why. As you read, prayerfully consider the follow questions:

God, why did you create the church?
God, how do you want to use me as a part of Your church here?
God, how do you want to shape the 209 community to closer resemble the church?

February 09--A different kind of prayer

I'm not sure how to pray. I hear pastors pray--they do it so well. It seems like they know what to say. I will admit, though, that when they pray in church, they get really long and boring. I feel kind of bad thinking this way but it's true. Judging by what I hear in church, I guess prayers are supposed to be long and theological. I guess we're supposed to use really big words to describe God and to let him know what's going on down here. I guess that when we agree with something that someone prays, we're supposed to make some sort of noise to let others know that we agree or that what was just prayed was really significant.

When it comes to prayer--I'm really confused by something else. Why do we spend prayer time telling God what is happening down here. For example, "God, you know that I have a test coming up." or "God, Johnny is really really sick." Is it possible that God is scratching His head wondering what's happening down here and wishing that we would pray and let him know?

Is there a specific equation to prayer that is a good prayer and other ones aren't? Is there a certain time and place and posture in which to pray? Is it praying if I am simply walking downtown and talking with God? Can I just talk with God?

In the text, prayer seems to be something pretty important.

Can you find the times in the text where Jesus prays?
(Matthew 19:13; Matthew 26:36; Mark 1:35; Mark 14:32; Luke 3:21; Luke 5:16; Luke 5:33; Luke 6:12; Luke 9:18; Luke 9:28; Luke 11:1; Luke 18:1; Luke 22:39; John 17:1; John 17:6; John 17:20; John 18:1)

What do you think His prayers were like?

When you pray--what are your prayers like?

What role does posture play in prayer?

Read Matthew 6:5-15.
What are the points that Jesus is making about prayer in this text?

Could you ever pray a prayer like this?

"God, I don't love you and I don't love people. I can't. I'm not capable of it. But you are. So, I would like to trade my inablity to love with your ability to love. Amen."