Week three: question 2

I have some opportunities for growth in the area of viewing the people around me.  This week’s readings have prompted me to do some self-reflection.  Unfortunately, I have failed to see the image of God in those around me.  So, as I look at the first part of this question, I am disappointed in myself.  I see a real need to readjust how I see others.  When I start to ponder the fact that all people are “made in the image and likeness of God,” it really changes what I see.  Instead of being judgmental, my heart is instantly softened.  I am humbled by the idea that EVERYONE I look at is made in the image of God.  It frustrates me that I so easily forget this.  I am challenged to work on my perspective and to readjust my perception a bit. 

When we come together as a community to worship and I look through the lens of all people being “made in the image and likeness of God,” it gives me the picture of a puzzle.  Each one of us brings a different attribute of God to the room.  When we gather, it is like the pieces coming together to form the “big picture.”  In some ways, when we gather together we get a better idea of who God is.  Perhaps this is why the Holy Spirit seems to move in these settings more easily.  I know that I have experienced the presence of God most profoundly in corporate worship settings.  It is hard for me to really put this idea into words right now, but I can see why corporate worship is so important.  We all come together bearing the image of God, different pieces of His creation and something more happens.

When we worship God with our daily lives we are fulfilling our purpose.  God literally created us to worship Him.  When we worship we “become more truly human,” as N.T. Wright says.  We discover more about who we are as individuals because it brings us closer to God our creator.

Week three question three:

To “narrate the Story of God with our lives,” means to live life the way God intended.  We literally tell the story of God through our actions of everyday life.  People who do not currently call themselves believers are watching us for the story.  They watch us to see what it means to be a Christian.  We tell them by our everyday life.  So, we must live a life that is worthy and God honoring.  We should be telling a story of love since really that is the point.  God loved each of us where ever we were at.  God loved me before I loved Him, He accepted me before I accepted Him, and He pursued me before I pursued Him.  He didn’t wait for me to “get it together” before I was invited to relationship with Him.

My daily life should reflect this love and acceptance.  Just like Jesus said in Matthew 7, I should not judge others; instead, I should love them.  This means doing what God has commanded.  Loving my neighbor, helping the orphans and the widows, inviting others to be a part of my community even if they don’t fit the mold I think they should.  In my life, I can do these things by financially supporting organizations that aid orphans and widows, I could foster or adopt orphans, and I can simply invite my friends and coworkers to church.  Really this can look a million different ways.  Essentially, it means that I need to love people.   It means treating people who are currently not Christians with love and respect.   Realizing that it is not my job to judge homosexuals, women who get abortions or drug abusers; it is my job to love them and show them through my actions the story of God.

I guess maybe I have not been able to digest all that I have read.  I do not really know how the reading has changed the way I think about the reasons Jesus came or his resurrection.  I have been challenged by the idea of our “eternal destiny” being here on a renewed earth. 

In the reading I was surprised by Dan Wilt’s idea that that we will spend our eternity on a renewed earth.  He writes, “Eternity, for you and I, lies right here on terra firma – earth – only a renewed earth, and a renewed heaven.”  I am not quite sure how I feel about this.  It is a subject that maybe I have more embedded theology than deliberate theology.  I am so used to the idea of going to heaven and spending eternity in heaven but I have never done much research on the topic.  This has prompted me to do some further study on our eternity. 

Perhaps I will have more to say about these topics after a bit more processing of the readings…..

thoughts on question 3 to come.....

Week 2 question 2

I am stunned by creation.  One of my favorite things is to be outside the city where you can actually see stars.  To look and try to find the constellations, watch for shooting starts, and simply be amazed at the handiwork of God.  Creator is the aspect of his character that most draws me.  When I worship it is the thought that God who created the vastness of the oceans, enormity of mountains, and the mystery of the galaxies knows me and cares to have a relationship with me.   The thought humbles me and brings me to a place where I am in awe of God.  It is here that I am able to truly begin to understand what he did for me on the cross.  From this place I think I am able to really worship God in a way that honors him. 

The most sacred true worship service to me is to be seated on the beach.   Hearing the sound of the waves crash onto the beach, watching the sunset on the horizon, and smelling the salt in the air.  This scenario brings me to one of those sacred places that we have talked about.  The sacred place where I am small and God is big, there is less of me and more of Him.    I can see that I am only a dot in a vast world; yet, He knows my name and hears my prayers.

Creation fascinates most of us.  I am overwhelmed at the thought of the Creator, the one who constructed the moon and the sun and orchestrates the tides.  I could go on and on.  To try to grasp the concept that God created a unique finger print in all of us, a heart that beats, eyes that see is impossible.  But I love to try. 

Honestly I think we need a “retelling” of all the aspects of God.  I think we as a generation have such a twisted notion of God and religion and Christianity.  Maybe instead of a retelling we need to actually learn about God.  We need to get rid of embedded theology and actually do some work.  Some research on our own might reveal a God who is much different than we think.  I think we have become lazy as a generation.  Lazy in that we rely on what is said by this person or that instead of actually picking up the Bible and reading it.  I think we might be amazed if we got off of facebook, stopped tweeting, and actually spent a little quality time with God.  We are so preoccupied with the life around us that we are missing the God who loves us.  So many people in our generation are looking for something to fulfill that old void.  But it requires a little work, a little effort, and most of all time.

Week One 

Here we go.