Summer travels

Each and every time, without fail, that I travel the highways in this part of the country, I think about those who traveled these parts long before asphalt and motorized vehicles.  Specifically I wonder about those who moved across these vast spaces of rock, scrub brush, and canyons with every piece of themselves and their lives stored in a wagon. I wonder what drove them forward when each peak conquered revealed another treacherous and seemingly unending path.   Even in the comfort of an temperature controlled chariot moving at speed on smooth roads and over safe bridges, I can get impatient as the destiny seems always out of reach and always over one more pass.  Each and every time I wonder what it was that enabled them to get up each and every day and put one more days worth of life and trial and labor behind them.  Over these next several weeks that Common Table gathers in community we will be immersed in the 11th chapter of Hebrews, visiting and revisiting those "ancients" who were commended for the faith that kept them moving but ultimately didn't get them to "the promise".  My prayer is that is will encourage us to look intently at our own journeys and consider how we might develop a faith that continues to move us forward. 

devotion and the bride

Wrestling with our text in Acts 2 where the earliest form of the church emerges, I keep running into the word "devoted".  As a practitioner of the pastoral arts for more than two decades ... Yes that makes me old ... I have long been in pursuit of what I would term the "keys of engagement" which would unlock the door of meaningful participation in the life of the local church.  I have lived through terms like "relevant" and "seeker", "missional", "attractional", "emergent" and many others that have been spoken into the dilemma of steady declines in church participation and attendance.  The recent report from the Pew Research Group clearly demonstrates that none of these discussions really offers silver bullet solutions.  The "rise of the nones" rings as clearly or perhaps more so in the great city of Seattle.  Could it be that this word "devoted" need be reinserted into the discussion?  Could it be something so radical as to put some biblical perspective back into our quest to find the missing link that would ... Although not solve it ... at least explain what has really occurred?
Could we put it in these terms ... that the Church in our culture struggles with the concept of being devoted to the biblical community often referred to as "the bride" of Christ.
The Acts 2 usage of the term "devoted" is used 5 other places in New Testament teaching, all referring to the idea of sacrificial, persevering and continual steadfastness.  As one who has lead many couples through their marriage ceremonies, all speaking in various terms that would be descriptive of this concept, I know only too well of the disconnect between belief and practice.
In contemporary language, rather than the "till death do us part" verbiage that we profess, perhaps it could more accurately read the "till something less difficult and more appealing comes along" that tends to be practiced.
It's widely recognized that continual exposure to failed marriage relationships (lack of devotion) tends to contribute to an increased reluctance to pursue marriage as reasonable option.  Could it be that the same is going on with faith identification, particularly as it pertains to participation in a church community?  My personal observation is that we are modeling, in practice, a "till something less difficult and more appealing" comes along.  The concept of devotion is less appealing than sin, repentance, and what you do with your money.  
Sunday we asked, "how can you tell what someone is devoted to?".  It wasn't a deep question at all.  Within seconds people offered the markers of finances, time, resources.  What would it look like in the context of our own lives to overlay that outline?  Would people recognize in us, not by words but by practice, a devotion to the "bride" or would they see "until something less difficult and more appealing" comes along?

We are not as strong as we think we are

We begin this week with a journey through the mission and madness of the community commonly known as the church.  I've spent the last 23 years loving and learning from what is biblically known as "the hope of the world".  I will admit that, on too many occasions, I am straining to discover any wisdom in Gods plan to use the church for something as monumental as this task.  More conversations than I care to admit have centered around my attempts to explain the "why" of being part of a church.  I have difficulty defending some of the absurdity and disconnect from what I feel must have been the original wisdom of the plan.  The question of "why" church has become even more personal in recent years as we have been laboring to establish this unique expression known as Common Table.  After more than 20 years in traditional ministry, no one knows the flaws and failures more intimately than I do ... And let's just say it out loud, unlike others, I don't have the convenient choice of just staying home on a whim.  I'm expected to be there.  Some would say that I'm paid to be there.  I can see the logic in that ... However, in my case, to stop there and assume that you know why a pastor type would be in church week after week, would fall short of the real truth.  It's very simple really.  The truth is that, when all of the obvious is stripped away, I need to be here.  The reality is, in the words of Rich Mullins, "we are not as strong as we think we are". We meaning the collective "we"... The "we"who want to wear the individual label of follower of Jesus, but not be tied down to the corporate gathering of a community.  It is the "we" who'd rather be the "I" ...as in the individual.
It's the spiritual equivalent of a 3 year old declaring that "I can do it myself".  Biblically and practically speaking, my experience is that we are indeed not as strong as we think we are.  Allow me to point out a few of these areas.  The first sign of trouble in someone's spiritual life is that they begin to disappear from community.  They isolate themselves.  Satan is described as one who prowls around, waiting to devour victims in the same way that other predators will go after those who are outside the safety of community.  The book of Hebrews encourages us to not give up gathering together because in community is where encouragement and life is found.  The book of Acts reveals the incredible power that manifests itself in community.  It is all about "we", for safety, for encouragement, for impact, for hope.
There is wisdom in Gods plan, ancient wisdom, from which we have much to learn.  I'm intending to lead us down that path over the next few weeks to discover how God intended us to be and the role that we have, collectively, in representing "the hope of the world".

Interesting

The last few months in the life of Common Table have been interesting.  I would have never written the script this way in any of my preconceived notions of what a new church might look like.  The people are not the same as I had imagined they would be.  The location is not what I thought it would be.  The look and feel is even different.  For a planner, like me, in all honesty, this has taken some adjustment.  I like it though.  I like it so much more than I thought that I would and the changes are so much more welcome than I would have imagined that I'd be comfortable with.  I like it so much that a new frustration has surfaced for me.  The reasons that I like it so much more than I would have imagined are reasons that I believe that so many other people would like it also.  People who have lost faith in the traditional church, people who don't want to spectate, people who like adventure, uncertainty and mission would all very much appreciate this place.  People who can't gather on a Sunday morning, people who want to learn actively instead of passively, and people who want to come as they are while discovering who Jesus calls them to be would all love this place.  The frustration is that I'm not so clear on how to let them know that such a place exists.  As I write this I am also in the midst of trying to develop a mail centered communication.  I want people to know, up front and honestly, what we value, what we are about, what they might encounter when they walk into our warehouse space in the heart of Seattle.  This is probably not the place for those who are church shopping.  It's not the place for those who want a programmed faith experience.  We are pretty organic and experiential.  Sometimes we are like the proverbial box of chocolates where you're not always sure "what you're gonna get".  We are hands on and as often as possible, face to face, being the church together.  We are a gathering of people who have some and those who don't have at all.  We don't sit in rows.  We learn with each other and from each other.  We pray together, we sometimes eat together, we often serve together.  The door to our warehouse ministry center is open and you are most welcome to join us on the adventure ... and if you are a little apprehensive, bring a friend.

Only Jesus

At the beginning of this journey all that I really knew was that it seemed to me that it would take us until the Fall of 2014 before we would be able to actually, publically, be meeting regularly as a gathering and worshipping group in a dedicated space to call home.  I had no idea what that meant or what it would look like.  The only strategy that I felt confident in was to, in the model of Jesus recorded in John chapter 1, "move into the neighborhood" (see The Message version). So move we did and began, along with a dozen others, to meet and pray and meet and eat and meet and serve in this Seattle neighborhood known as South Lake Union. 
Its been a long and winding road.  Friends have come and friends have gone.  Leads have appeared and disappeared.  Promising space to gather seemed always to be just out of reach.  For those who have just begun to follow or those who have lost track over the months, good news came to us just as Summer was ending.  A home materialized through a relationship born from a years worth of "in the neighborhood" and we have a place to gather in a space that belongs to a wonderful non-profit known as Redeeming Soles.  I don't know about you, but it seems like a bit of Jesus playfulness on words that a church, ultimately concerned about redeemed people (souls), would be welcomed by an organization dedicated to serving people through redeemed shoes (soles). 
So here we stand now, at the dawning of another November, and only 3 Sundays until we hold our first truly public gathering.  There is so much left to do in the 21 days left, and to be sure we may not be the 100% ready that our human nature causes us to think that we need to be ... but ready or not, we will be there.  Between now and then we will be heads up and following the only one who could have led us to this point and the only one who matters in all of this.

Risk management and the adventure of following

There is an interesting passage in the book of John that, in my opinion, is a pretty good insight into a challenging application for those who claim a desire to be committed followers of Jesus.  Towards the end of chapter 6 we get to witness a watershed moment in his earthly ministry.  We often focus so much on the abandonment of the twelve at his arrest that we overlook this greater abandonment occurring much earlier on, separating them from the "convenience" crowd.  The passage begins with Jesus and the miraculous outdoor fish dinner for 5000.  Not surprising is the reaction of the crowd who, upon thinking that they've found a source of a perpetual labor-less catering service, is more than willing to follow him ... as long as the needs are met.  In a moment of spiritually "diving deep", which by the way is what most who claim the name of Christian will tell you is a priority in their faith journey, Jesus offers teaching and a level of commitment which quickly divides the proverbial sheep from the goats.  He is quick to point out, in his annoying Jesus way, that what they think that they desire is fleeting and time bound.  What he is offering is not only eternal, but attainable.  However, it is going to take something far too costly than most will be willing to invest.  It is uncomfortable, to the point of being offensive.  If you read closely you can see that the deep allegorical teaching is hard to grasp for those seeking a comfortable and consumer oriented faith.  What they want is getting in the way of what they need.  The twelve, on the other hand, reveal their allegiance and commitment to the rest of the journey by the simple recognition that within this difficult, elusive and somewhat offensive teaching are contained the "words of life".  The crowd decides that the "risk" needs to be managed and is ultimately deemed too high to pursue.
It is not so much different for us today.  The number of those who would desire to be considered followers of Jesus exists in the same tension as those so long ago.  All claim to want to "dive deep" yet are still divided along the lines of the crowd and the committed.  It is hard now, as it was then, to identify by appearance alone.  It becomes readily apparent though when comfort is eliminated and the element of risk is introduced.
Planting a church can indeed be an exercise in risk taking for the one called to plant it.  However, I would like to recognize those of you who take a much greater risk than anyone who has planted a church, myself included.  I would like to recognize those of you who join a church being planted in its earliest form.  There is little comfort.  There is little convenience.  There is little certainty.  There is plenty of risk.  There is certainly Jesus.  Thank you for weighing it and finding it all worth it.  You and the kingdom will be forever changed.

Arriving and high anxiety

So many emotions, conversations real and imagined, relational in's and out's, and second guessing has transpired over these past several months.  All of them, for good or bad, have combined to place us at this moment in time.  We  find ourselves at the end of Summer, leaning expectantly into the promise of Fall.  The question pressing on me right this moment, at a cafe in Madrona, is whether or not we are in a better place than we were earlier in this journey.  As the year began, it was apparent that we were entering in to the 9 month birthing process that would lead us to the Fall emergence that had been pressed on our hearts from the beginning.  Usually, in the birth process, it takes 9 months for a life to strengthen and prepare itself for life outside of the womb.  Ironically, as the time draws near, there is a tendency to feel more protective of and less secure about the life contained within.  There is also a tendency to just want the process over and the life to arrive.  I used to not appreciate the "birth" terminology in the context of beginning a new church.  This experience has changed me...in ways I am sure that I have still not realized and may not be aware of.  I have to admit that I have found these birth parallels in the process of "birthing" a church to be painfully true.
So I worry.  I worry about the fragility of something that could be gone like a vapor.  I worry about the people who are part of this ... For the sacrifices that they make, for the expectations that may or not be met, for being willing to follow a vision without necessarily having the first hand encounter with it. (Think Noah's wife).  I worry about people who have wandered off, and I worry about whether we can encourage more to join us.  Will we be strong enough without them... The numbers I mean, at least the numbers that I feel we must have for a "healthy" delivery.  I look out about 6 weeks and I worry that we are not strong enough for the rest of the journey...but then I remember, so do all who have parented before me.  There is nothing left to do now but trust in the one who has led us here to this point.  There is nothing left to do now but pray for and through these last few weeks.