People of Passion

My friend Tara just wrote a post that I would like to quote, because it's exactly where my heart is as well.

i realized something. there are very few people in this world who are TRULY
passionate about something...whatever that something is.i realized that i don't
want to be married unless i find someone who is genuinely passionate and moved
to action by the things in life that are good and beautiful and worthy and of
eternal significance. these are the people who make your heart come alive and
make life closer to what God intended.these people are rare...but worth waiting
for...and worth becoming.

It is my constant prayer that God would surround me with truly passionate people [not just marriage-wise, but friends-wise], because these are indeed the people who make life so much richer and fuller and more life-giving. I pray also that God would hone and grow and move my passions into life-changing action...

Storytelling

Last night, I went to a storytelling evening. It was beautiful and moving and teaching. We sat on the floor, in a warm candle-lit room, and listened as people read and counted stories.
One Korean lady, told us about her mother. She had been forced in an arranged marriage, to marry a man she did not love. In the middle of her story, she went silent. The emotions were too strong for her to bear. But it wasn't one of those uncomfortable silences. Instead, she was touched, encouraged to go one, and intently listened to. The tears came easy for me. And I felt like I "knew" her after that...
A poet shared two of his spoken word pieces, crying out against easy Christianity and lopsided evangelism.
My heart drank all this in. My soul was refreshed.
Storytelling should be part of our church gatherings. It is much more memorable than any sort of three point presentation or analysis.

The Good News

Thanks to everyone who wrote up an answer to my previous post. I've been taking a class on the Emerging Church, and one of the things we talked about was how we define the Gospel, or the Good News. In Protestant circles, we have emphasised the importance of Christ's death on the cross, often at the expense of Christ's inauguration of the Kingdom of God.
So to answer my own question:
The way I understand it, the Good News is that through Jesus Christ, God launched His Kingdom here on earth - and we are invited to join Him in the redemption of the world. By loving God above all else, and loving our neighbours as ourselves (which basically means dying to ourselves and dying to living in a false reality where we are at the center of the world), we can join God in changing the world. Can the news get any better than that?
Comments?

More Than This.

Talking to a friend a couple days ago on the phone and I found myself repeating "there's just got to be something more than singing worship songs and hearing a good sermon".
For some time, now, I have been feeling spiritually dry. Not the kind of dryness where I doubt God or wonder where He's at. Rather, I feel like the only step forward for me, is going to be through serving and spiritual practices. For some reason, singing a song - no matter how good and theologically sound it is - is not moving me into God's presence anymore.
I think it's time for me to move out and beyond my present experiences. I want deeper and truer fellowship with my God.
I need to find a group of people who serve the poor.
I need to find a group of people who meditate, pray, live in rythms of prayer, contemplate, act.
I may have found it.
:)

An Experiment

I want to try something.
If you read this, please click "comments" and answer this question:

As you understand it, what is the "Good News"? (as in Christians spreading "the good news"?)

Please please please please can you do this????? It'll only take five minutes... I'll give you a chocolate chip for your effort :) Don't be afraid, there is no WRONG answer.

Love your neighbour

I have started watching BBC World News every evening at 7. It is the only news I can get here, that actually covers events happening outside the United States.
Tonight, I learned about the Democratic Republic of Congo - up until a half hour ago, I was like the rest of the world: ignorant of the "human catastrophe" going on there. People are being forced to move into displacement camps because both the military and the mai-mai rebels are burning their villages. Almost no aid gets to these camps, so most people starve to death. You can read more about this here: DR Congo

I am going to make a statement here. I think that as Christians, we have a responsability to find out what is happening in the world. And we need to be doing something about it. Why?
In Mark 12:29, Jesus answers a question about what the greatest commandment his. He says: "The first in importance is, 'Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.' And here is the second: 'Love your neighbor as well as you love yourself.' There is no other commandment that ranks with these."

Do you remember the story of the good samaritan? It comes as an answer to the question "who is my neighbour?"In this age of world news and internet and skype and chat rooms, our neighbour is pretty much everyone in the world. And part of following Jesus means loving them as much as we love ourselves...

So what are we going to do?