I could not have said it better! Take me out to the Ballgame,...

"What Heaven Must Be Like"by Kevin Wallis in Sojourners Magazine

"This is what heaven must be like," I said to my wife Joy on the cell phone. I was between home and first, about 15 rows up from the field at Fenway Park for the opening game of the 2007 World Series - and my nine-year-old son Luke was sitting right next to me. The "most beloved ballpark in America," as some call it, looked absolutely fabulous last night. The grass was the same dazzling emerald green color that I still vividly remember from the first time my Dad took me to Tiger Stadium in Detroit when I was just about Luke’s age. The base paths were in immaculate condition, the lights were almost sparkling, the atmosphere was electric, and the smell of great food was in the air. This is baseball.

We were there two hours early watching the Colorado Rockies take their batting practice. Luke, proudly wearing the brand new Red Sox jersey I had splurged to buy him that afternoon, just kept saying, "Wow," as Rockie hitters kept putting balls over the "Green Monster" wall in left field. "Dad! Did you see that one? Awesome!!!" We talked about the only other time Luke had ever been to Fenway, in his mother’s womb when I took my new English wife, Joy Carroll, to her first baseball game in America. Luke was soooo glad to be back, and we kept talking to Mom on the cell about how amazingly COOL everything was. She and four-year-old Jack were at home in Washington, glued to the television set and trying to spot us. A wonderful friend had given me and Luke two priceless tickets to the Series opener. It just doesn’t get any better than this.

I don’t think I’ve written about my "other life" much on this blog, as a Little League baseball coach every weekend for Luke and 13 other fourth graders whom I’ve had now for the last four baseball seasons, beginning with t-ball. My first instructions were things like, "Throw the ball overhand." They’re the veteran AA Astros now, and are undefeated again this season (but we all know that, as Christians, winning and losing doesn’t matter). I also would never brag about my son’s play - like ever tell anyone about the recent game where he went four for four, with a double and three homeruns (including a grand slam), or that he is an Little League All Star first basemen who backhanded a smash ground ball that would have gotten through on the right side of the infield and then outran the other kid to first base, winning the game. I would never talk about such things.

Those batting practice hits over the Wall were about the only ones the Colorado team got all night, as the Red Sox cruised to a 13-1 victory. The whole night looked like batting practice for the hometown boys like our favorite David ("Big Papi") Ortiz, Manny Ramirez (I love the fan’s sign from the last playoff series—"Don’t worry be Manny"), Kevin Youkilis (whose every at bat gets the fans yelling "Yoouuk, Yoouuk, Yoouuk,!"), captain Jason Varitek (who showed how a captain ought to play last night) and Dustin Pedroia (the sensational rookie who shows that little guys can play this game too). We were also amazed by starting pitcher Josh Beckett who got nine strikeouts last night (and who also inspires my son because Luke’s baseball role model is Babe Ruth, BOTH a power hitter AND a pitcher, just like he wants to be).

On Sunday, one of the other kids from our team gets to go to Denver (he’s an enthusiastic Rockies fan) for game four of the World Series. His grandfather is dying of cancer and this may be one of the last times that grandson and grandpa will do something special together. Very special indeed. Baseball is like that. "Take me out to the ball game, take me out with the crowd, buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack, I don’t care if I never get back ... !" Yep, just like heaven is going to be.

Looking for "Real Life" Article?

In a recent issue of Real Life Magazine, my wife, Cathy pointed out this interesting lead in tease for an article in the magazine. It might be evidence of many who have abandoned the church but are still searching. What do you think she really wants?

"My husband and I would like our daughters to have a strong sense of spirituality, but we prefer not to raise them with the traditional church background that we both had. How do we teach them to have a strong faith in God without a special congregation or place of worship that would guide them with formal religious customs?"

I did not read the article but the tease reveled some truths and misconceptions of why we plant churches...or not.

First, what did she not like about the traditions of her old church? If she noticed that (1) her old church only kept people happy, (2) her old church failed to help them address sin in their lives that Jesus can heal, and (3) if her old church reached out very little if any to the lost of their neighborhoods, then she is aware of what is missing in the dying churches of our culture. If this is the case, she wants good things from her local church.

However, if she was only looking for "a strong sense of spirituality" without addressing sin, then she might as well stay in her old church or out of church altogether. Being spiritual or religious is not what Jesus is about. Jesus is about addressing sin with honesty, openness, grace, and love; not avoiding it and acting "spiritual". I should know; I did that for years and made a mess of all my relationships.

Second, I would invite her back to church. I, too, left church for a while and sometimes I want to do it again. But I know that God wants us to assemble together in order to encourage one another, to pray together, to teach one another, and ultimately to send one another out into this lost and hurting world. Our church or any church should be preparing one another for the battle that comes along with being sent into a hostile world. We should not just hide out from the church and/or the world.

The true fellowship (koinonea) of Acts 2 is intimate, open, honest, forgiving relationships and is an irreplaceable part of what God uses to grow faith in each of us. Without the true church where intimate fellowship (koinonea) is practiced, faith is hindered. Without faith in Him, we are weakened as we are being sent out.

At Sojourn want to see the miracle of redeemed and changed lives. We don't want a more disciplined, but doomed attempt to follow the law. When miracles happen, nobody needs "formal religious customs" to make faith grow. Customs and traditions never did work anyway. Ask a Pharisee!

Finally, I would tell she and her husband that they should keep looking for that body of believers who want the same things that I hope she really wants for her children; intimate relationships and a faith that is growing. Changes in our hearts where we become adventurous disciples of Jesus are so much better than an external spirituality. Real change is messy but wonderfully mystical when it happens deep in the heart.

We gather together as missionaries to be the real church to this lost, unreal world. We want to see the miracle of healed relationships and freedom from sin. If you want your life changed, you might check us out. If you are seeking merely a "strong sense of spirituality", we are probably not for you.

November 10th work day

PUT NOVEMBER 10TH ON YOUR CALENDAR!

Most of you know that David H's injured foot has prevented him from being able to take care of the property we used this past month for the men's retreat.

We are planning on going out to that property for a work day on November 10th. Gather your tools, maybe get some good machines, and help us clear that land and maybe get some fishing or other playing done as well.

Contact Bill B to make plans or add any suggestions!

New Time of Gathering

Change: WE WILL BE MEETING ON SUNDAY EVENINGS 5PM WITH PIZZA AFTERWARDS
Most of you know that we are in a time of change.

I wrote a couple of posts ago about realities of change and what it can do to you. It causes you to evaluate your priorities and what is important.

We are changing a gathering time and we will be working on when to implement the name change.

The leaders anticipate more change. It is almost a requirement going forward. We WILL BE FACING CHANGE!

We do consider all change right now in anticipation of what is coming. It's kind of like the winding of a rubber band or waiting for the wind.

As we wait, we are preparing for what is next. Things are being put in place, we are trying to anticipate needs, and we are getting things ready. It is like winding a rubber band up and getting ready to let it loose. But the timing of when it is to be let loose is not ours - it is God's.

And as we wait, it's not unlike waiting for the wind. You cannot catch the wind if your sails are not up. And our God is the one who controls the wind; the direction and time and strength.

Psalm 135:6-7

The LORD does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.

He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth;he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

We wait on the Lord as we wait on the wind. It will come, and He will give direction, and He will provide for what He intends to do. We just have our sails up and get ready to go where He chooses!

We get ready!

We Wait!

We Listen!

We Trust!

We Change as He leads.

Being Sent Into People's Lives

Here is a sermon/teaching from the series "RHYTHM OF THE HEARTBEAT OF GOD; Gathering and Sending."

The topic is Being Sent Into People's Lives

Go to the link here.

A Little Rest for a Weary Soul

A relocating Ekklesia (church)

(As the leadership addresses issues regarding the building, I want to take time here to share and discuss issues regarding "space for 'church'")

One of the things that is so easy about life is to get stuck in a pattern.

Have you noticed? You get up at a certain time, go through the routine of getting to work.

It's kind of nice. You can put your mind on "cruise control."

It's like when I'm driving sometimes down the road and I'm thinking about something and all of a sudden I think, "How did I get here? Where am I going? Did I pass my turn?"

Routines can be helpfu. Sometimes that routine is incredibly helpful, because we know what to expect and what to plan for. We can more easily be at rest sometimes. Sometimes that rest turns to boredom, too, because we can go through it without much thought. We go through a routine and that routine becomes "the" way to do something.

I remember when I was first married I washed the dishes "wrong." As if the end result of a clean dish wasn't effective if the water and soap weren't put on and taken off in the correct way, or as if the scrubbing had to be done a certain direction with a certain sponge.

We get stuck pretty easily and get on cruise control. But we also critique other ways of doing things when it doesn't fit our own.

MOVING is one of those things that really really messes up those things you are stuck in.

Every time you move you have to re-evaluate how you do certain things because things are different. Simple things like putting the trash out can change. Maybe you live in an apartment and have a dumpster and you can take it out whenever. Or maybe you now have to set it out every Wednesday morning before 7am or you have to wait another week.

When you move, simple things like where the TV is placed. It changes how you behave sometimes.

I noticed that type of change in behavior when we moved to a place where we had a huge master bedroom. I mean...for us...it was huge. We put a TV way over in the other corner of the bedroom with a sitting area because it was like another room.

What that produced was a new morning routine on the days we didn't have to go to work. Our 4 year old would come in and tell us he was awake and he would turn on PBS cartoons in the room. Sometimes one of us would go get breakfast and bring it into the bedroom while the other stayed in bed and we just ate breakfast in bed, with the kids, with the morning cartoons on. Suddenly we were all "getting up together" in the same room. I don't know how it evolved into that routine, but that was the routine.

Moving even changes priorities on what furniture is important. A new space for this or that changes what is important. Even the color. And where do visitors come and sit?

Moving changes all your priorities. You learn what you missed about how you behaved as much as what you left behind.

You learn how you behave by moving and relocating and getting into a different physical setting but also a different relational setting.

OUR SPACE IMPACTS US...

So what if we moved our "church"space with us?

The space of a church impacts the body of Christ as well. The change of "stuff" and space changes relationship when a church moves or relocates. As I was pondering what a space does to a church, I am now pondering what relocating does to a church.

An ekklesia can get set in ways in a place, just like we do in our lives.

By moving an ekklesia alot of the priorities get evaluated and changed.

If we want to make sure we are building people and not spaces first, maybe the ekklesia should always be nomadic? If we are always nomadic, then we might become more aware of the value of the relationships. But maybe not. Maybe we would just hold on tighter to the stuff.

As I've said many times before, it seems that those who follow God (whether Old Testament or New Testament) are very nomadic.

Imagine an ekklesia that is nomadic. Never buys a building, but just moves as it is led and as the Spirit of God provides places to meet. Maybe leasing a space in an old strip mall, maybe an old abandoned church building, maybe share space with another church, maybe a warehouse... From neighborhood to neighborhood. From building to building. Maybe house to house.

That is kind of what Solomon's Porch has done through their history as a body of Christ.

Sometimes moving could be done out of necessity. Sometimes because maybe there is no space to rent anymore, there is not enough room, or maybe there is a need for less room. Maybe spend less money this year by moving to a new location and neighborhood.

One thing about moving to a new neighborhood is that in order to "love your neighbor" you really have to get to know new folks. You have to get to know and offer what they need. When you move you are impacted not just by the new space but also the new people and their lives you are "moving into." You are impacted and impact that neighborhood somehow. Hopefully we do...I mean I hope the presence of an ekklesia in a certain space impacts people. And I hope we are impacted by the needs of the people near that space.

It seems with an ekklesia that is nomadic that the relationships would really become more central. The relationships would be impacted, but if after every few years the church relocated (either because it had to or felt a need to) wouldn't it require you to leave behind things that are not necessary and take things that are necessary? Maybe even certain relationships?

Priorities are re-evaluated each move.

Leave behind what's not important. Take what is important.

Take the people. Relationships grow. You learn each other more. You impact the people around you.

Nomadic ekklesia...something to think about...

simple, small, oikos church

(As the leadership addresses issues regarding the building, I want to take time here to share and discuss issues regarding "space for 'church'")

For lack of time, I'm going to post some comments by Tallskinnykiwi that resonate with me...

It is about "house churches" but not really house churches...it's hard to explain...but his entire post is more reflective of how I have experienced and known church my whole life.

I recommend the whole post, but here are some quips:

Church for some of us happens in TINY increments, TINY spaces and sometimes with TINY amounts of people. It happens many times a week and many times a day when the various aggregations of God's people come together around coffee or taking care of business or helping someone and especially at mealtimes. It happens more often in my kitchen than in my study...

...for the most part, it is tiny and often not recognized as “church” by those who attend a traditional-style church that is defined by a two hour meeting on Sunday. Simple/organic church people have got a cold shoulder from “church” leaders for a decade. Singularity frowns on modularity. They are considered a threat to the system. They are called “house church” but that doesn't really fit what they [we] are doing. Its not house church and its not “small groups” and its not rebellion against church. Its attempting to BE the church as God intended it...

...if you want to be a well known conference speaker or a local pastor with CLOUT in your denomination which measures success in the cold-war terms of size, weight and longevity (Friedman), then a shift to the emerging-missional-organic church is a VERY BAD CAREER MOVE. It may be great for the Kingdom, but it will NOT pimp your image or make you money or get you on the speaker list at conferences - Most conferences only invite speakers who RE-INFORCE their existing model which in most Christian circles, is the centralized ecclesial model with a tithing system, a set of buildings that need butt-filling and an army of M.Div Seminary graduates who need a position as pastor in the kind of church that theological education has trained them for. Not saying that system is bad, but I am saying it is DIFFERENT and difference is a threat that the promoters of that system do not want to deal with...

...Co-existence is possible, however. And so is the possibility of the various models blessing each other...

You are loved...

This was a song I saw on another site in regards to an adoption process that was possibly going to fail because of some international legal changes. A mother waiting for her child.

It struck me to what degree our God loves us like a mother longing to be with her children.

The song is impacting when combined with the words below. Listen and read the words.

So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:
They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us. - Romans 8:31-39