Worshipping Mission Community

Haggai chapter one makes serious reading for those who don't want to embark on that church building project. Just check out verse 4. Then there's the link to poor harvest: verse 6. Of course this irks me somewhat, since I think on the whole we need to sit much lighter with our buildings than we are typically inclined to do.

Is it possible that this passage might speak into some of our situations of seemingly low harvest yield in our outreach initiatives, i.e. with very few people coming to faith?

If it does, then I'm sure the answer is not necessarily to build yet more church buildings and just expect people to come. No, there is surely a deeper principle at work here.

The temple was a spiritual focus and centre of worship for the Israelites. Whilst worship did continue in the ruined premises left by the Babylonians, it would appear that the returning exiles were more concerned with getting their own houses in order than their depth of worship together. The physical buildings and quality of their restoration (or lack thereof) was an outward sign of deeper spiritual realities.

So as a community of faithful, hoping to serve God's Kingdom purposes out in the world, we must not neglect our gathering together for worship - coming afresh before God to exalt Him, re-assert our dependence on Him, and receive anew from the riches of His grace. We need to put the necessary work in to make this a fitting and genuine experience. Not to the exclusion of our outward mission (so many congregations seem to make that mistake ...), but integral to it.

Haggai goes on to talk of 'shaking the nations' in his second chapter. This link with acceptable and worthy worship of the community of faithful continues through the book therefore, with the full potential of far reaching consequences.

The Way

A favoured verse for evangelists:

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. The only way to the Father is through me.

It's a knock-out verse isn't it? For anyone who does not agree that Jesus is the only way, then we can quote Jn 14:6 and we are done. Surely a slam dunk. It enables us to be assertive, it gives us Christians power ...

Except that 'the way' of Jesus was one of self-limiting, giving up of power, laying down his life. So, it seems to me, that 'the way, the truth, the life' that Jesus speaks of asserts completely differently to our normal expectations.

There is still an assertion to be made, but the power dynamic is quite odd compared to our normal worldly way of thinking. We can assert that no-one comes to the Father except by Jesus, but in so doing we must de-assert our standard assumptions of worldly power. Otherwise, we are not continuing in The Way, and thus not coming to the Father by Jesus ourselves.

Ultimately against the powers II

A while back I blogged about the powers. My thinking received some affirmation this week in a conference I attended looking at the relationship between geography, society and what is going on spiritually in an area. Among questions considered was the relationship (if any) between how an area is laid out and how people's lives play out, all the while trying to think in spiritual terms rather than pure human cause/effect.

A great aspect of the conference was that it was held in an interesting multi-cultural urban area, with all kinds of 'stuff' going on around it, rather than some detached nice conference venue somewhere. This made our discussions feel all the more acute.

Planning decisions, how people are housed, provision of amenities all factor into the equation. Yet we must not look in pure human terms, but seek God for insight into the 'behind the scenes' goings on. There is a curious interaction between human interactions and our decisions and the spiritual realm in all aspects of life.

It is not all gloom and doom, nor need we think there is a demon lurking within every building. We have Good News to share, and hope in God who redeems. Structural problems need not remain bad forever - confronted by the power of God even the most difficult of situations can experience grace and renewal.

We are not left without alternatives - Christ is risen!

Worth Resolving

What is Paul's life worth to him? Does he care about it. From Acts 20:24 it would seem not alot. Here is the New Century translation:

I don't care about my own life. The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work that the Lord Jesus gave me - to tell people the Good News about God's grace.

It seems to me that Paul has resolved the same as his Lord, to do the will of the Father (see John 4:34). From that he derives his worth, nothing else.

Note that does not prescribe exactly how it should be played out. Paul could presumably have even a secular job, or any one of a range of possible earthly titles or labels, but within that still go about the Father's business of telling the Good News. Such jobs or positions would not give him his worth - that would come from his ability to pursue God's purposes.

So it should be for us. Does the organisation or 'system' you are in right now expect or presume certain things for you? What is the expectation of your friends? Does that seem to predicate you reaching or obtaining a certain status?

If so, consider thinking again. Your worth is not ultimately to be found there, but in God's purposes that may lie within it, or in some cases, may not.