Small group is not just a group of people getting together to read scripture, pray or have awkward conversation, but a small group is the ability to enjoy the creation that God orchestrated in human time. The created beings that were first created by God and then inducted into the death of sin.
For a long time I so desperately wanted to be apart of a small group where every personality matched and flowed spiritually together. The reality is that God created human personality and breathes life into people differently. I will probably never be in a small group where our souls match simply because it would become a comfortable place where discipleship would be stagnant and Christ would become a lost icon. An icon that becomes the cross which hangs lonely and desolate in a musty sanctuary.
The question than becomes what we are going to do with the reality of sinful separateness. When we become intimate with God, when we come near to God He comes near to us. When we enter into the love of God and become hidden in Christ by the guidance of the Holy Spirit we learn to love the person that God created. We learn how to love the person that God willed us to individually be. A person that was created, before sin stabbed us with a poisonous knife. Before this poison that runs through out veins and seeps into our heart was introduced into our life.
When we become complete in the true life we learn how to live life. When we learn how to live life we become lovers of those who are around us. This creates not only the ability, but the command to love the people who might not know what this life is all about. This life also commands us to love the people who might have experienced the life but who might not know how to live this life truly out.
When we realize that God enjoys who we are, where we are, then we can truly enjoy the people who are in our small groups, in our families, in our schools, in our lives. We can enjoy them where they are and how God has created them to be.
If we refuse to do this, to accept the love that God has given us, to accept that God not only loves us but likes us, enjoys us. If we cannot realize this then we do not understand the sacrifice of the life that we enjoy now that was brought upon the cross. We ultimately say no to Jesus, his life, his death, and his Resurrection.
And that is when the cross becomes the lonely icon that hangs in the sanctuary that traps the moderate and mundane 'Christian' reality.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Preaching;a lost reality.
Preaching is an interesting animal. I am reading this book for class called The Heart of a Great Pastor. I'm in the first chapter and the author lists seven resources that every church/congregation needs. His fourth resource is Every Church Needs Biblical Preaching. The author goes on to describe that "one anointed person speaking a fresh word from God amid the people of God-is one of the Father's favorite ways of communicating His will to believers"
Now I am bias of course because I am a preaching major. But I am not bias enough to believe that statement. I do not believe that God has a favorite way of communicating his will to His believers, simply because the people who He created are wired differently. They hear Him differently. It's like having three children. Every child hears and communicates differently because they were all made different.
The author continues to describe this idea of preaching that solidifies the reality of the modern preacher. The preacher who preaches behind a pulpit on Sunday mornings and then becomes a mongrel at home, or who cheats on his wife. A preacher who is made to look like a star and not a human. Someone who is above the cut when in reality they are rotting internally.
You can edify the truth on the weekends all you want but true preaching starts when you step off the stage and into your community.
When you live your life day in and day out.
Preaching becomes not just what you say but how you say it. Not just what you think but how you think. Not just how you act towards scripture but how you interact with scripture through humanity.
A preacher is someone who uses words and stories to demonstrate the reality of God.
Preachers are not special. They are not the only ones gifted in the congregation. They are apart of the body and they are sinners as well.
Sinners that need to be affirmed by a community. Sinners that need to be forgiven and given grace.
Preachers have a gift that has been given by the Holy Spirit. Don't make that out to be a celebrity situation. Don't take a preacher and make him the star of the show because in all reality he is just and extra. She is an important extra, to God of course, but she is not the main character. She is not even a supporting character.
So the next time you get caught up on who said this or who believes that, like I do, realize that the only one who matters is Christ. If you get lost in the details you have missed the point.
Now I am bias of course because I am a preaching major. But I am not bias enough to believe that statement. I do not believe that God has a favorite way of communicating his will to His believers, simply because the people who He created are wired differently. They hear Him differently. It's like having three children. Every child hears and communicates differently because they were all made different.
The author continues to describe this idea of preaching that solidifies the reality of the modern preacher. The preacher who preaches behind a pulpit on Sunday mornings and then becomes a mongrel at home, or who cheats on his wife. A preacher who is made to look like a star and not a human. Someone who is above the cut when in reality they are rotting internally.
You can edify the truth on the weekends all you want but true preaching starts when you step off the stage and into your community.
When you live your life day in and day out.
Preaching becomes not just what you say but how you say it. Not just what you think but how you think. Not just how you act towards scripture but how you interact with scripture through humanity.
A preacher is someone who uses words and stories to demonstrate the reality of God.
Preachers are not special. They are not the only ones gifted in the congregation. They are apart of the body and they are sinners as well.
Sinners that need to be affirmed by a community. Sinners that need to be forgiven and given grace.
Preachers have a gift that has been given by the Holy Spirit. Don't make that out to be a celebrity situation. Don't take a preacher and make him the star of the show because in all reality he is just and extra. She is an important extra, to God of course, but she is not the main character. She is not even a supporting character.
So the next time you get caught up on who said this or who believes that, like I do, realize that the only one who matters is Christ. If you get lost in the details you have missed the point.
I apologize ahead of time for the crappy posting.
I live in a world of constant transitions right now, simply because I am a college student. I have transitioned back into the world of school after a great summer up north.
3 things I'm looking forward to:
1. Preaching in November.
2. Rooming with my closest friend at school.
3. Making funny Bible College jokes that no one can understand unless you are a Bible College Student.
3 Things I'm not looking forward to:
1. Convocation.
2. Small town life/church.
3. Making funny Bible College jokes that no one can understand unless you are a Bible College Student.
All is well in Lincoln IL. I have already frequented the 24 hour Walmart and the newly established Culver's and I am ready to begin the school year. I have my notebooks and my pens and I just went to get going.
Most years I have a specific feeling about. My freshman year I knew was going to be a fresh start. My sophomore year I knew would be extremely transitional and pretty hard. This year will be the year of mistakes. That is how I feel.
Well until next time...This portion of the Alison Higgins life has been brought to you by Starbucks Frappuccino Coffee Drink. Don't be awake without it.
3 things I'm looking forward to:
1. Preaching in November.
2. Rooming with my closest friend at school.
3. Making funny Bible College jokes that no one can understand unless you are a Bible College Student.
3 Things I'm not looking forward to:
1. Convocation.
2. Small town life/church.
3. Making funny Bible College jokes that no one can understand unless you are a Bible College Student.
All is well in Lincoln IL. I have already frequented the 24 hour Walmart and the newly established Culver's and I am ready to begin the school year. I have my notebooks and my pens and I just went to get going.
Most years I have a specific feeling about. My freshman year I knew was going to be a fresh start. My sophomore year I knew would be extremely transitional and pretty hard. This year will be the year of mistakes. That is how I feel.
Well until next time...This portion of the Alison Higgins life has been brought to you by Starbucks Frappuccino Coffee Drink. Don't be awake without it.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
How are you to know?
So I have always loved quotes. You know the things famous or brilliant people say that are written down just to be inspiring. I have always loved reading different quotes from different people.
What I do on a daily basis is I hop from facebook page to facebook page just to read the quotes section. I actually was doing it one day and I saw that someone I knew and loved actually quoted me, like in a serious way. I thought this to be funny because I know that I'm not truly quotable.
However, most of the time these famous and brilliant people are talking about doing things, like following your heart or starting a revolution. Don't waste time, live your life, don't do the things you don't want to do.
This is what came to my mind. If you don't go through hard times, if you don't become marginalized, if you don't work the terrible jobs, if you don't understand hardship, if you don't read the great minds of history, if you don't know what's truly going on in your world, how in the world are you supposed to do anything great? How are you supposed to be something great or start a revolution if all you do is sit around and laugh, and get drunk, and 'live' life?
The reality is that the people who we often quote, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Theresa, or John F. Kennedy all went through hardship. They all were in stressful situations with stressful people. They all dealt with death and destruction. They saw something though, something different. They saw hope, and this hope is something that we seem to miss.
We see our world in shambles and we pick up a shovel and plant a tree, or a twenty dollar bill and go to the gap store and by a red shirt. We are to busy living our lives to actually make any impact on the world. And we want to be revolutionaries?
Revolutionaries were smart, they were people who understood their world and saw something missing, hence the revolution. And by their world I mean their immediate world.
I was talking to a friend in the car yesterday and I told her I didn't want to change the world, I just wanted to live my life. She replied "But that's how you'll change the world, by living your life."
I realized that I can't change the world unless I start loving the people around me and helping them live their life. I must become aware of my world to know how to change it. I must be aware of my community to see what needs to be changed.
How else am I to become anything or impact anyone?
What I do on a daily basis is I hop from facebook page to facebook page just to read the quotes section. I actually was doing it one day and I saw that someone I knew and loved actually quoted me, like in a serious way. I thought this to be funny because I know that I'm not truly quotable.
However, most of the time these famous and brilliant people are talking about doing things, like following your heart or starting a revolution. Don't waste time, live your life, don't do the things you don't want to do.
This is what came to my mind. If you don't go through hard times, if you don't become marginalized, if you don't work the terrible jobs, if you don't understand hardship, if you don't read the great minds of history, if you don't know what's truly going on in your world, how in the world are you supposed to do anything great? How are you supposed to be something great or start a revolution if all you do is sit around and laugh, and get drunk, and 'live' life?
The reality is that the people who we often quote, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Theresa, or John F. Kennedy all went through hardship. They all were in stressful situations with stressful people. They all dealt with death and destruction. They saw something though, something different. They saw hope, and this hope is something that we seem to miss.
We see our world in shambles and we pick up a shovel and plant a tree, or a twenty dollar bill and go to the gap store and by a red shirt. We are to busy living our lives to actually make any impact on the world. And we want to be revolutionaries?
Revolutionaries were smart, they were people who understood their world and saw something missing, hence the revolution. And by their world I mean their immediate world.
I was talking to a friend in the car yesterday and I told her I didn't want to change the world, I just wanted to live my life. She replied "But that's how you'll change the world, by living your life."
I realized that I can't change the world unless I start loving the people around me and helping them live their life. I must become aware of my world to know how to change it. I must be aware of my community to see what needs to be changed.
How else am I to become anything or impact anyone?
Saturday, August 04, 2007
What happens when our true selves truly come out.
When the liar is unmasked.
When the fake is made true.
When the selfish loses.
When the religious leader has to admit that he is wrong.
The fear is that we will be discovered but what happens when we become so self aware of ourselves that we become honest ourselves.
I'm tired of writing these thoughts out.
So I am bowing out for a period of time. The curtain is closing for now but I'm sure the production will reopen and when it does it will be better and more polished.
Good night and Good luck.
When the liar is unmasked.
When the fake is made true.
When the selfish loses.
When the religious leader has to admit that he is wrong.
The fear is that we will be discovered but what happens when we become so self aware of ourselves that we become honest ourselves.
I'm tired of writing these thoughts out.
So I am bowing out for a period of time. The curtain is closing for now but I'm sure the production will reopen and when it does it will be better and more polished.
Good night and Good luck.
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