Questions ... week 2

This week we dug deep into the parable of the "good Samaritan" where Jesus asked "Which of these three was a neighbor to the man ... ?"  We didn't spend a great deal of time on the answer because it was and still is very apparent who the neighbor was.  What caught our attention was something else ... something that brought up our own question.  Would the story have been the same if Jesus had ended it where the Samaritan took the beaten man to the inn and cared for him?  In the next verse Jesus describes the Samaritan as having gone above and beyond and engaging another, the innkeeper to assist in his care.  The answer to our question again seemed to be simple ... would the story have been the same, would it have made any difference had Jesus ended it prior to this?  Of course it wouldn't.  Jesus was not known for wasting words.  In preachers language he knew how to land the sermon.  This means that verse 35 ... the going above and beyond verse, the including another in the care and well being of the beaten man verse ... this verse needs to mean something to us.  Just maybe its another instance of us not taking this journey alone.  The importance of community and the power of "the other" when it comes to displaying love and serving those on the margins could be on display here as well.  Maybe its just a matter of an overlap of last weeks question which demonstrated the completeness of Jesus healing.  Maybe we need to realize that its one thing to bring comfort in suffering, but let's not stop there when we could be involved completely in the whole healing process.

Questions Jesus asked ... and still does

A question can be a double edged sword.  On one side, the mere asking of a question implies that you don't know something.  It could be a sign of weakness.  Maybe I'm the only one who doesn't know the answer to this.  In a competitive culture this could put you at a disadvantage.  You could be the weakest link.  On the other hand, a question could be a sign of humility, of teachability, a moment of "I'd really like to better myself, can you help me?".  In a completely different sense, a well framed question coming from a teacher can draw tremendous insight.  Jesus used this form of teaching masterfully countless times.  So effective were they that they continue to resonate in our lives if we choose to be participants and not spectators in our study of scripture.  This past Sunday evening we began a new journey in the gospels wrestling with some of the questions that Jesus asked.  We entered into the story of a blind man named Bartimaeus .  Upon engaging him on the edge of the city, Jesus asked him a very simple and yet deeply profound question ... "What is it that you want me to do for you?"  Bartimaeus replied that he wanted his sight.  Well of course he did ... it seems fairly obvious, and yet you might miss this if you're not careful.  This was a blind man who spent his life alongside the road calling out for people to help him.  The help he was anticipating, most likely, would come in the form of food scraps or the ancient version of loose change which could be used to by food scraps.  I'm guessing that not once did he ever expect his sight from a passerby ... yet he did with Jesus.  Think about it for a moment ... his most pressing need was presented to the only one who could take care of it.  He wasn't about to waste this moment on something as momentary as food scraps or loose change.  Those he could get from anyone on any given day... but on this day Jesus asked him "What is it that you want me to do for you?"  The truth of the matter is this;  Jesus asks us the same exact question.  How many of us have wasted the offer on something that could be covered on any other day by any other source?  We waste it by answering the exact same deep and probing question with superficial things like "niceness", "success", "security".  Sometimes we even spiritualize our answers with promises that "if only I had ... then I could ... for the kingdom."  "When I reach a certain level of security, success, living conditions, location, free time ... then I can really get serious about following you."  Most of us, myself included, suffer from any one of a number of forms of blindness ... spiritual blindness.  So I ask myself as I call out to him, when he asks "What is it that you want me to do for you?" ... what's my answer going to be?

A home and a light

This past Sunday evening we enjoyed our first time together in what we have determined to be our new gathering space.  On Sunday evenings and select other opportunities Common Table will call the Cascade "Peoples Center" home.  Sunday we were welcomed by Josh, the manager of the People's Center, with open arms and lots of Theo chocolate.  He was moved by the evening worship time and he shared afterwards that we were just what they were needing there to bring light and life to the center and the neighborhood.  That statement has had me thinking these past few days.  I can't underestimate how important these easily overlooked words actually are to our time at the center.  These words, although meant as sincere eagerness to have us there, hold a profound and deeper challenge for us.  Our task is indeed to bring light and life to wherever we find ourselves.  This is true of us individually, but can be so much more powerful as a community seeking to more faithfully live and love like Jesus.  So here is the challenge ... How will we in fact be light and life here?  I need us, all of us, each one who passes through the doors on a Sunday evening, to be diligently asking that question.  This is not a consumer community because ours is not a consumer faith.  So lets not fall into the trap of "using" the People's Center.  May we instead ask how God may use us within and around the space we've been given, for as long as we've been given it.  Our time there may be short as we continue to seek a permanent home, lets make the most of it.  As you walk past the park, as you drive into the neighborhood, as you come up the gravel path ... don't merely focus on the gathering at hand.  Look beyond, ask for insight, listen to the whisper, and be ready to share with us and challenge us with what God is setting before us.  Life can certainly take place inside the building within the context of our gatherings, but light is going to be a bigger challenge.  We are dead center in the middle of the city.  What greater place to bring light to than that?