The holy discontent of an uncomfortable stomach bug

The beauty of entering into a beautiful home that has been freshly painted, while we've been basking in God's creation and studying God's Word this past week was only heightened as we all got to lay down and sleep peacefully in our comfortable, familiar beds. Ahhh...the simple things of a beautiful life. Thank you, LORD. I am grateful.

Andy and I prayed together before bed, as is our custom, that today would be a day of Spirit-filled worship with our corps people and that we would get to witness new people come to a salvation experience (which has been happening most Sundays and it is AWESOME). We prayed that the Spirit would come and sit heavily and make us all uncomfortable. I fell asleep so excited to worship with our corps people today and woke up that way, too.

And then Benjamin didn't wake up at his normal time. I thought he was just tired from the busyness of this past week and so I let him rest and did the rest of the morning routine. Andy left extra early today as being away from the office all week had him just wanting to get there. Elijah was dressed, fed and happily playing while waiting to leave for church.

When at the last possible minute Benjamin was still was not awake I went in to wake him and get him dressed. As I picked him up from his slumber (by the way, I am usually VERY strict about not waking sleeping babies!--but I really wanted to be at the corps in time to prayer walk our neighborhood!), he made a quiet moan and then vomited all over my uniform and himself. That rich bile color and smell... not what I was planning for this morning!

Naturally I became quite concerned as now the "Bible Conference bug" has made its way into our house through our most vulnerable member. Being quite candid, I'm disappointed that I will not be at the corps because I know God is going to do something good with our people and I want to be with them. Today is also the day of our monthly soldier's meeting which means I'll miss that and all of the covered dishes that go along with it. I really love our new corps people and value the time we have to live in community with them. I don't want to miss out! They bless me!

So here I sit. Thankful for personal time to worship and to listen. I'm reminded of Colonel Janet Munn's words this week at Bible Conference as she spoke about Luke 13 and the "disrupting faith" of the bent over woman whom Jesus healed on the Sabbath. Jesus challenged the oppressive status quo and made everyone uncomfortable. In my personal experience of the mighty moving of the Spirit, it can be uncomfortable. Rather than exist in the tension of the discomfort we oftentimes squelch the Spirit and move on with our formulaic worship wondering why we have the same results or no results. I think we do this in our personal time with God, too. Naturally we don't like feeling uncomfortable. We like routine and predictability but perhaps God has other things in store so that we totally depend on Him.

Colonel Munn asked of us, "what gets us bent out of shape and disrupts our faith?" While this question can go two ways, I suggest that the discomfort of a stomach bug has disrupted my faith this morning in a positive way. I will rejoice in it and use this time wisely as it is a special, unexpected gift outside of my Sunday morning norm. Thank you, LORD. Thank you for the holy discontent brought to my heart this morning from a stomach bug.

Sycamore

This house.

This is the house where our oldest son learned to walk, talk and feed himself. I remember one night we came home after a long car ride (from vacation, I believe) and he just ran up and down the same stretch of hallway for about an hour as he had recently discovered running. He also fell down the stairs in a superhero costume for the first time in this house.

He was potty trained in this house. Had his first nightmare in this house. Prayed for many people and welcomed many guests in this house--friends, family, people who were homeless.

This is house is where dear friends realized dreams come true and were able to adopt their baby and bring him to our home from the hospital for a few weeks.

This house is where we attempted a cook out with about 40 of Andy's closest officer friends (sessionmates).

This house is where many have been prayed for, cried with, feasted around the table and more.

This house is where a dear friend facetimed with me while I was having contractions with our youngest baby to watch my mommy take her last breath.

This house is where we brought our baby home to from the hospital--where he learned to crawl and speak his first words and express his personality.

This house is where an 18 year old girl was fostered, cared for and loved for a year. This house was there when she graduated high school and left for college.

This house was our home. It was good to us and we have tried to be good to it.

This house held our sorrows and our joys. The rockers on the porch participated in Elijah seeing sunrises, listening to rain storms, and listening to the birds sing.

This house was a refuge in times of deep trial.

This back yard was here countless hours of play was spent imagining, dreaming and having fun. This backyard even hosted a "castle," a "fishing boat," and a "water amusement park." This back yard hosted lots of cookouts with good company and my first ever garden attempt where we picked our vegetables together as a family and ate them.

This house was refuge for our teenagers--a safe place with legit wifi.

This house hosted strategic planning sessions for advancing the Army mission forward, prayer meetings, CEP meetings, discipleship classes and even DIY Home League nights.

This was a good home. I will miss it. I pray the family moving in loves it as much as we did and makes many happy memories here.

Thank you, 1323 Sycamore.

The "almost, not yet" time

"Do you know that there's a halfway world between each ending and each new beginning? It's called the hurting time, Jean Perdu. It's a bog; it's where your dreams and worries and forgotten plans gather. Your steps are heavier during that time. Don't underestimate the transition, Jeanno, between farewell and new departure. Give yourself the time you need. Some thresholds are too wide to be taken in one stride." -The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George.

Leaving Murfreesboro, TN. A hard appointment that we have loved well. Heading to Roanoke, VA. A hard appointment that we will love well. Thank you to so many in this sweet community who have warred with us.
~~~~~

My Covenant
Called by God
to proclaim the Gospel of our LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ as an officer in The Salvation Army.

I bind myself to this solemn covenant

to love and serve Him supremely all of my days,

to live to win souls and make their salvation the first purpose of my life,

to care for the poor, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, love the unlovable, and befriend those who have no friends,

to maintain the doctrines and principles of The Salvation Army, and, by God's grace to prove myself a worthy officer.

Done in the strength of my LORD and Saviour, and in the presence of the Territorial Commander, training college officers and fellow cadets.

church vs. mission station

I had a well-renowned professor in my second seminary say to me about a year and a half ago that the Army we operate is a "mission station" and not a "church." This was in context in trying to explain what we do and the demographics of our unrefined, yet extremely lovable, congregation of 35 folks (on a good day). I explained in a class presentation some of the functions of the "church" side of the Army and how we operate, in a lot of ways, like a typical church. But then I got to explaining some of the pastoral duties that engulf our time that are not like a typical church. Things like: driving congregation members to doctor's appointments, making sure they are fed (often by cooking for them myself), visiting them in jail, going to court, making sure they are checking their sugar and taking their medication, helping to read legal documents about child support and custody, accompanying them to job interviews, meeting with guidance counselors, doing financial aid paperwork for them to get into college successfully, driving them to rehab, putting together a budget for them,helping them locate non-Army shelter (or letting them stay with us--shhhh.....don't tell on me!), meeting with mortgage lenders, etc, etc, etc. He told me that this goes beyond the call of duty of a pastor in a typical church. Instead, what we have going, is a mission station and are to be commended for it.

Thanks, I think?

Before that day I just thought what we were trying to do was live life with people and to disciple. You know, how I think Jesus modeled for us. To me, or so I thought, what the real Church should be. My mind got confused with the terminology but my heart was solid and peaceful. Mission station or church, we were doing God's work. And still are. At least I pray to that end every day.

So I started referring to non-Army people that we operate a sort of mission station. In our local context it feels like the church aspect of what we do is almost an afterthought as we have had trials and obstacles to sort through that most of our church people will never need to know about. As we pack up to move to another location I am hopeful that the officers following us will take the time to invest in what we have not been truly able to...in building the mission station? In building the church? See, now I'm confused...

But I think I was wrong in some ways by referring what we do as a mission station. There has been MUCH debate as to whether or not the Army is "the Church." Generals disagree as to whether or not the Army is a church. Many refer to it as a "movement of God" and other terms that are all great, but still have left me confused!

Who are we? Who Are These Salvationists was helpful to read ten years ago or so.

The International Theological Council responds... but in the praxis of ministry, who are we?

http://s3.amazonaws.com/cache.salvationarmy.org/a33bb181-9797-44a2-bf8b-529efb591649_The%20Church%20-%20TSA%20response.pdf

Cost of Discipleship: Revenge

The followers of Jesus live for His sake. They renounce every personal right.

"The only way to overcome evil is to let it run its course so that it does not find the resistance it is looking for. Resistance merely creates further evil and adds fuel to the flames. But when evil meets no opposition and encounters no obstacle but only patient endurance, its sting is drawn, and at last it meets an opponent which is more than its match. Of course this can only happen when the last ounce of resistance is abandoned, and the renunciation of revenge is complete. Then evil cannot find its mark, and it can breed no further evil, and is left barren."

By willing endurance we cause suffering to pass over our heads.

Suffering willingly endured is stronger than evil, stronger than the death of the evil person.

"There is no deed on earth so outrageous to justify a different attitude. The worse the evil, the readier must the Christian be to suffer; he must leave the evil person for Jesus to deal with, for that is no concern of his."

This is truth. I've experienced it. Thank you, LORD!

Cost of Discipleship: Truthfulness

The truth of every word a disciple utters must be above suspicion.

"The commandment of absolute truthfulness is really only another name for the fullness of discipleship."

It is only because we follow Jesus that we can be genuinely truthful, for then He reveals to us our sin upon the cross.

Truth towards Jesus also means truth towards man. Untruthfulness destroys fellowship, but truth cuts false fellowship to pieces and establishes genuine brotherhood.

Cost of Discipleship: Woman

To follow Jesus means self-renunciation and absolute adherence to Him, and therefore a will dominated by lust can never be allowed to do what it likes.

Lust is unpure because it is unbelief, and therefore it is to be shunned.

The gains of lust are trivial compared with the loss it brings--you forfeit your body eternally for momentary pleasure.

Marriage is consecrated to the service of love, which is possible only in a life of discipleship. Christianity sanctifies marriage. The law helps to uphold the purity of marriage.


Protect your marriage. It is a beautiful thing.

Cost of Discipleship: Brother

To be a disciple means to be completely innocent of anger.

"Anger is always an attack on the brother's life, for it refuses to let him live and aims at his destruction. Jesus will not accept the common distinction between righteous indignation and unjustifiable anger. The disciple must be entirely innocent of anger, because anger is an offense against both God and his neighbor."

The way of a disciple is self-denial. Every time we utter a word out of respect for our neighbor we place our life above his. The angry word is a blow--struck to destroy. Open insults are worse because we are disgracing our brother in the eyes of the world. This causes our hearts to burn with hatred. We are passing judgment on him and this is murder. There will be judgment for it.

He who says he loves God and hates his brother is a liar.

We need to be reconciled with our brother.

The way of self-denial is the way of the cross.

Ode to how we "poverty"

What is poverty?

We define it in terms of "stuff." People don't have "stuff" or access to "stuff." Even the Church defines it as "stuff" so we give "stuff" to the poor.

We think poverty is materialistic, so by giving people whatever material thing they need we can help fight poverty.

Besides being wrong and short-sighted it does not work. Many think they are truly fighting poverty, but they are maintaining it at best.

But, this is, after all, how we "poverty."

And, after all, scripture tells us that clearly "the poor will always be among us" which leaves us duty bound to do something. I mean, anything really. Just something. Even Jesus hung out with the poor people so I guess we should, too.

This is how we "poverty."

OR--if we are REALLY serious about poverty we may even take a mission exposure trip. You know, one of those trips that have good intentions, but are really just poverty tourism in another part of the world, or even worse, in our own community as a church group signs up to serve dinner in The Salvation Army homeless shelter once because, after all, that is doing something.  We poverty tourism in our own community.

This is how we "poverty."

OR--if we are REALLY, REALLY serious and good Christians we will financially support someone or something else that is povertying in some way. Then, we can say, we have paid our poverty indulgences to God and can live in a clear conscience. Oh, Luther and the Church and the sale of indulgences! Nothing is new under the sun. We can even pre-pay our povertying.

Now, not all who do this are trying to short-change their Christian duty and I want to acknowledge that. There are many, if not most perhaps, who even financially support or serve in organizations because they truly want to get involved and to serve out of devotion to their Lord. This is great. They simply do not understand poverty.

Why?

Poverty is a mind-set. You can't just give "stuff" to change a way of thinking. If you give someone fifty food boxes with a smile and a "Jesus loves you" it may not mean much to them. It's not that those giving the boxes aren't sincere or that those receiving the boxes aren't grateful.

It's more than. It's feeling inferior to whoever is giving "stuff" because they hold the power and every time you "need" them you are reminded that you do not hold even the own power to care for yourself or your children.

It's feeling ashamed (although, some people adapt to this well and take on the mantle of entitlement).

It's feeling stuck and depressed in a cycle that you have no idea of how to climb out of or how you ended up there in the first place.

It's the lack of contact. Yes, you have received fifty food boxes from the same people but you know them and they know you just the same as the first time you came for a food box. Nothing has changed. It's like a dirty transaction. You don't know their story and they don't know yours--at least not much of it.

It's feeling humiliated.

It's not being treated with dignity.

It's social isolation.

It's voicelessness.

It's continual fear--the struggle.

It's hopelessness.

It is everything that is not Jesus. That is poverty.


To combat the mindset of poverty takes time. Lots of time. It is intentional relationship building. It is not doing for someone what they can do for themselves. It is realizing that giving someone a handout may do more harm than good. It's multifaceted and doesn't have easy answers.

It is easy to think, or perhaps even tell, someone that they should budget their money better. But it is an entirely different think to sit down with someone and teach them how to budget their money and then walk with them and hold them accountable to do it.

Relationships are key throughout the Bible. Our systems are bad because relationships are bad.

One writer says, "poverty is the absence of shalom in all its meanings."

People have a poverty of being. This includes the haves and the have nots, the Church and those outside the Church. We are mutually broken on both sides of the fence (why there even is an "us" and "them" is an entirely different topic--one that warrants its own merit some day).

We don't need to have "god complexes" (we are superior while they are inferior) to save people. We need to recognize that we are all journeying through life together. In fact, we do not need to save them. We need to focus on saving ourselves and, as an outflow of that communion with God, allow Him to lead us to relationships with others and let Him do the saving. We just get to be part of it.

This is why the poverty situation for some people does not change. She will still be coming for the food box. She's still broken. So are you. Until someone realizes it and does something about it, she will receive her smile and "Jesus loves you."

Cost of Disipleship: The Righteousness of Christ

Which is our final authority, Christ or the law? To which are we bound?

Discipleship means adherence to Jesus Christ alone. Jesus Christ fulfills the law. Is one a disciple if they strictly adhere to the law?

No.

"Adherence to the law is something different from following Christ...it means that a legalistic adherence to His person is equally removed from the following of Him. It is, however, Jesus Himself who points to the law those to whom He has granted His whole promise and His whole fellowship. Because it is their LORD who does this, they are bound to acknowledge the law. The question inevitably arises, which is our final authority, Christ or the law? To which are we bound? Christ has said that no law was to be allowed to come between Him and His disciples. Now He tells us that to abandon the law would be to separate ourselves from Him. What exactly does He mean?"

Difference between old law and new law. New law because Christ binds his followers to it.

The law is required to enter the kingdom of heaven, for it is the indispensable condition of discipleship.

The law is not itself God, nor is God the law.


Only in personal communion with Him is the law fulfilled.

Jesus, the champion of the true law, must suffer at the hands of the champions of the false law.

The law matters. It matters to Jesus. It matters to me as a follower of Jesus. I must abide by the law.

"It is possible to teach the law without fulfilling it" (pg. 107)

Only the doer of the law can remain in communion with Jesus.

"Again, it is not enough to teach the law of Christ, it must be done" (pg.109)

Cost of Discipleship: The Visible Community

The disciples of Jesus are to be the salt of the earth.

Jesus calls from the salt of the earth.

Salt is the most "indispensable necessity of life."

Jesus calls his disciples to be the salt of the earth (not Himself) because He entrusts His work to them.

The disciple community must be faithful to the mission the call of Christ has given it. (Think of this in the context of our beloved Army... what happens when we are not faithful to the mission that the call of Christ has given us...?)

In the imperishability of salt we have we have a guarantee of the permanence of the divine community.

"Ye are the salt." Jesus does not say: "You must be the salt." It is not for the disciples to decide whether they will be the sale of the earth, for they are so whether they like it or not, they have been made salt by the call they have received.

The call of Christ makes those who response to it the salt of the earth.

Salt can lose its saltiness. 

"The call of Jesus Christ means either that we are the salt of the earth, or else we are annihilated; either we follow the call or we are crushed between it. There is no question of a second chance."

The call makes disciples the light of the world.

This light is not an instrument that has been put into the disciples hands, such as their preaching. It is the disciples themselves.

The call can be denied. Extinguished. This happens due to fear, idols, false allegiances, deliberate conformity to the world, complacency, comfort on all levels, entitlement, pride...

Christ calls. We respond. We bear Him image.

The call keeps us.

Communion with Him matters.

Defining "Christian"

Given the traumatic political landscape and current sick and sad situation in our nation (racism in many facets, black injustice, gun violence, unwanted homelessness, food deserts, lack of access to services, etc, etc, etc), and of those who claim to be "Christians," I think it is time for those of us, who also call ourselves "Christians," to define what that actually means.

I am young, but I am supposing that at one point if one needed help in defining what "Christian" meant and did not even know they could go to the Bible (if they had access to one), that one could go to the "Christian Church." Here, the "Christians" within would be able to demonstrate what it meant to be a "Christian" and not just tell  them what it meant to be a "Christian." These "Christian" churches wouldn't lord their wealth and privilege over those who looked and smelled differently than they, or, heaven forbid, those who were born from another country or spoke a different language. All would be welcome into the "Christian" church to explore, have dialogue, and to truly be loved. They would not be shut out and told "no" out of fear, and because of what the consensus of the "Christian" church feels is right is more important than what truly is right.

Or, in the event that there was no "Christian Church" that one could walk into (maybe their signage was bad? Maybe the non-Christian was not welcome? Maybe the non-Christian was a single mom working three jobs and caring for her children that should couldn't make it there on Sunday morning or Wednesday evening? Maybe the non-Christian didn't speak the "Christian" language of "The-Holy-Christian-Church," etc, etc, etc) then the "Christian" neighbor could help them with this. This "Christian" neighbor would be more than just nice, but would be loving and truly concerned for the well-being of this neighbor. This "Christian" would actually not just know the Bible from studying it (given that said "Christian" actually read and studied their Bible...), they would practice the words contained within and demonstrate it in their conduct of character in all facets of life. Perhaps this "Christian" neighbor would invite one into their home to share a meal, or to build relationship, rather than wait for their "Christian Church" (let's just call it "Six Flags over Jesus") to mail out a pretty, expensive flyer telling (inviting?) people that this one "Christian-themed" event is something that they do not want to miss (rather than, you know, the Jesus that "Christians" say they believe in).

Etc, etc.

The media and my social media feeds show me that "Christians" are good at defining what "Christian" is not, so passionately so that "Christians" employ things that are over and against what "Christianity" teaches. This includes "Christian-ized" hate speech, "Christian" anger, "Christian" this and "Christian" that ("Christian" businesses, a "Christian" chamber of commerce, etc, etc).


I think it is high time that the "Christians" define what "Christian" actually is, rather than what it is not. We all know what "Christian" is not right now. But, then, what is it? What is left once the fingers are done being pointed and the shouting has simmered and the political elections are over and people are denied access to the mental health services they so desperately need? Then, what? Anger?...wait, too late...we are already there. Violence?....nope, already there, too.... Death and destruction (the infamous "End Days" rhetoric)...what's left?

Bigger, fancier "Christian churches"? (Quote: "We pay the sheriff's office to direct traffic for us;" meanwhile, ignoring the fact that many DO NOT even have a car, or gas money, or a bus to TAKE THEM to "Christian Church"...but "Christian Church" may pick them up in a bus or van to bring them to the Church. Good luck getting a ride to get your light bill paid on Monday... from the "Christian Church" or the "Christians" who attend).

 A "Christian" culture (ha...that one made me throw up a little) is left in the wake of "Christians"?

Nope, I've got it....smaller "Christian" churches with bi-vocational pastors struggling to make ends meet for their family as they pastor two churches and work a full-time job without even health benefits? Yup, that's what's left.

Even better yet--what's left is people who have no interest, care or concern for anything identified remotely as "Christian" because they've been cold and hungry, physically and spiritually, one too many times.

Ahh....now I'm on to something. The "Christians" have won. They have gotten what they want. Privilege, "God's favor," economic security...the untouchables have been pushed out because, after all, that's truly what "Christian" means--defending and protecting me and mine for the sake of saving "Christian" to return our "NATION TO ITS ORIGINAL GLORY." I, mean, at least we still pray and then recite the pledge of allegiance, right? (ha!--and, hold on--what happened to the model that Jesus guy did or showed or whatever he did with those beautiful blue eyes he MUST have had because it is in all of iconic paintings of "Christian").

Unfortunately, this probably means "we" (whoever "we" are) can no longer call ourselves "Christians" as the term has been too lax to include to wide a variety of nonsense that truly is not the essence of "Christian." Just because things appear to be "Christian" does not mean it/they are. This includes people (political candidates included), institutions, or a brand of clothing or shoes (I know, I went there...paying more for it and wearing it because it is "Christian" is a good marketing scheme. Jesus didn't wear it and it only separates the privilege that some "Christians" have over others. Shop at a Salvation Army Family Store instead and tithe the rest of the money (albeit I'm biased to the Salvation Army)).

Maybe "Followers of the Way" or "Jesus Folk" or a cute, trendy, post-modern, hipster, millennial term that someone more hip than I could conjure up? Because, after all, that's truly what "Christian" is...hip and trendy...modern...

I am a ragamuffin follower of Jesus Christ. Screwed up with many imperfections and rough patches. But I love my LORD. I'm not empty, but being filled. I'm not standing still, but moving forward and making progress. I'm not the same that I used to be, nor do I want to be. But I DO NOT want to be labeled a "Christian."

This isn't an us versus them sort of thing. This hurts my heart. For my many friends who are not "Christians," I, personally, am so very sorry. I do not contain the words to express how mortified I am within my being on so many levels for what "Christians" and the "Christian Church" has done and will probably continue to do. I have purposely not included "Christian" scripture in this post because, after all, even that, too, has been misinterpreted as "Christian."

The Cost of Discipleship: The Beatitudes

Jesus is on the mountain. The disciples are there separate from the people they formerly, and so comfortably, belonged to. Once they were called out by Jesus and responded, they had a new identity apart from the crowd.

They were ordinary crowd dwellers until the call.

The disciples staring at the people in the face; the people staring at the disciples in the face. Awkward in some ways, yet definitely different than their pre-Jesus experience.

The disciples were still a part of the people, but Jesus sees them differently, even though they may not see themselves as distinctly different yet. "But disciples and people are one, for they are all members of the Church which is called of God."

"They have only Hi, and with Him they have nothing, literally nothing in the world, but everything with and through God."

His rejection is theirs. They now belong together.

These "called out" ones are blessed because the call and promise;

they are poor because they have no security, no possessions to call their own, not even a foot of earth to call their home, no earthly society to claim their absolute allegiance. No spiritual power, experience or knowledge to afford them consolation or security;

For His sake they have lost all.

(* Note: The Anti-Christ also calls the poor blessed, but for quite a different reason, not for the sake of the cross, which embraces all poverty and transforms it into a source of blessing...he raises a smoke screen of political and social ideology. He may call it Christian, but that only makes him still a more dangerous enemy)

they are mourning because they are refusing to be in tune with the world or to accommodate oneself to its standards; mourning for the world, for its guilt, its fate and its fortune;

(The gulf is widened more between the disciples and the people with each beatitude)

they are meek because renounce every right of their own to live for the sake of Jesus Christ. They show by every word and gesture that they do not belong to this earth;

they hunger and thirst after righteousness as they renounce their own righteousness because Jesus did, too;

they are merciful because they renounced their own dignity as they take upon themselves the distress and humiliation and sin of others willingly;

they are pure in heart because they have surrendered their hearts completely to Jesus so that He may reign in them (pure hearts see God);

they are peacemakers because they have been called to peace as children of God. They must not only have peace, but must also make peace. Peace was made upon the cross.

they are persecuted because of the sake of Christ.

The Cost of Discipleship: Discipleship and the Individual

Through the call of Christ men become individuals. Every man is called separately, and must follow alone.

For some reason we are afraid of solitude. We often equate solitude with loneliness even though they are quite different from one another.

A barrier is set up between a person and their natural life once they become a believer. Life looks differently and our response to life, and even to what reality actually is, must reflect that reality.

Christ came between man and the natural life in His incarnation. The call of Christ brings individuals face to face with the Mediator.

"The call of Jesus teaches us that our relation to the world has been built on an illusion"

"For the Christian the only God-given realities are those he receives from Christ.

Following Christ means a change in situation. Now everything must pass through Christ. While the outward appearance may look the same, the inward is completely different.

We enter into discipleship alone but are not lonely. We have the fellowship of the Church.

The Cost of Discipleship: Discipleship and the cross

Jesus suffered and was rejected in fulfillment of the scriptures. Discipleship, as submission to the law of Christ, means that we who call ourselves disciples must also suffer.

Discipleship means adherence to the person of Jesus, and therefore submission to the law of Christ. In other words, it means the cross. This cross, according to Christopher Wright in Mission of God, is the key to history. This cross (in Revelation) is redemptive, universal, victorious. It is powerful. Perfect. Complete.

An individual comes to a turning/decision point (crisis of belief) where they must decide if they are going to truly be disciples ("suffer") or play a game with God mocked in whatever cloaks we use in the Church to keep things comfortable and surface.

To know Christ means to know only him. The idea of self-denial is to know Christ as we cease to know our fleshly selves.

We are to bear the cross for His sake.

For me, some of the imagery attached with this is uncomfortable. Sounds like religious fanaticism on some levels, but that is exactly what it is.

All in. Everything. Totally surrendered and available.

The cross is the call to abandon attachments. We surrender in unity with Christ's death.

This is just crazy talk to those who do not believe. For those who do, their total allegiance is to the cause of Christ.

"Suffering means being cut off from God. Therefore those who live in communion with Him cannot really suffer"

Suffering has to be endured in order that it may pass away.

Lots to ponder and sort out.

The Call to Discipleship: Spontaneous Obedience

(From The Cost of Discipleship by Bonhoeffer, chapter 2 notes)

The call goes forth and is followed by a response of obedience. The response is an act of obedience and not a confession of faith.

It is Jesus who calls. Notice that Jesus/the Bible never praises a disciple for obeying the call. The call goes forth and one is obedient to that call.

Discipleship is obedience. Without obedience, there is no discipleship.

A disciple must be willing to leave all for the sake of the call.

"Discipleship means Jesus Christ, and Him alone. It cannot consist of anything more than that."

Only God calls people to follow.

There are different types of disciples when reduced to human understanding:

1. Those who want to follow without being called (this person does not know what they are doing).

2. Those who want to follow, but the law (obligation) get in the way (Jesus says "just follow"...no excuses)

3. Those who want  to follow on their own terms.  He wants to follow, but has his own conditions and terms.
"This disciple places himself at the Master's disposal, but at the same times retains the right to dictate his own terms. But then discipleship is no longer discipleship, but a programme of our own to be arranged to suit ourselves, and to be judged in accordance with the standards of a rational ethic."

Wow....this one could say a lot about Salvation Army officership and the conditions that are placed upon the Army in order for people to "fulfill" their call to full-time ministry in the Army context.

To follow:
The past is the past. The call to follow Jesus produces a "now" situation.

To follow brings one into fellowship with Jesus and binds him to Christ alone.

To follow makes faith possible. Lots of people hear the call, but do not obey. The call vanishes without obedience/following.

Discipleship is not an offer one makes to Christ.

Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes.
When you are disobedient you are trying to keep part of your life under your own control. You cannot hear Christ when you are willfully disobedient.

First, faith, then obedience. For faith is only real when there is obedience. Faith only becomes faith in the act of obedience.

Lots of people think they believe but lack obedience. They are not disciples.

"Unbelief thrives on cheap grace, for it is determined to persist in disobedience" (pg.60).

The devil hides under the cloak of cheap grace.

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The commitment issue. Jesus is not interested in excuses or in problems, but in the person. Difficulties show disobedience. Doubt and reflection take the place of spontaneous obedience.

The call to discipleship requires spontaneous obedience.

The Cost of Discipleship: Costly Grace

I am reading through some classics in an effort to focus on my inward spiritual journey in addition to my regular Bible study (Isaiah right now) and reading (Every Day with Jesus Daily Bible--our entire congregation is reading this).

Many years ago I read Bonhoeffer's 'The Cost of Discipleship' but I believe it deserves a re-visit.

“Discipleship is joy.”

I’ve never really thought about discipleship in this way before but if you stop to think about it, it is absolutely true. Discipleship should be a joy for us as we journey and grow closer to the LORD. I am hoping to remember this description of discipleship and use it.

Bonhoeffer starts off the book talking about how the Church has become to manmade and makes it difficult and confusing for people to truly follow Jesus. People end up replacing one burden with another.

For the Church to be successful, our quest needs to be Jesus Himself and what He is saying to us. Our preaching and teaching needs to be focused on the Scripture and not on superfluous church-ease.

Cheap Grace

p.37 “ cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace.”

Cheap grace amounts to a denial to the living word of God

Cheap grace is the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner

Cheap grace is grace without discipleship

First and last words Jesus spoke to Peter were “follow Me.” Inbetween were a life of discipleship.

Christian double standard= maximum and minimum standard of obedience

Cheap grace is thinking we can live as before and use grace as the card to allow it. This has led to the mass secularization of Christianity around the world. Real grace is real costly.

Cheap grace is the bitterest foe of all discipleship

The grace and the call to follow are inseparable.

Grace as a principle versus grace as a living word. Difference between cheap and costly grace.

“discipleship means life that springs from grace, and that grace simply means discipleship”

Wow. There’s a lot to take in. Basically to live as a true Christian one must be willing to accept the grace that He has for us by giving up everything. It is for very few and is very costly, but by doing so one can find true life. The mass secularization of Christianity has cheapened this idea of grace so much that it is essentially raped as a way for people justify what they are doing (sins) rather than truly justify themselves (the sinner). The focus is kept on the action rather than the heart. True grace, real grace, is a matter of the heart.

"When it rains, it pours"

Today I have heard the phrase "when it rains, it pours" several times in reference to our thrift store warehouse being burglarized. The vandals took an estimated $10,000 worth of ready-for-the-store merchandise, mainly all of our furniture. They looted through a fifteen foot high mountain of bags of clothing taking most of it, too, with them. They pilfered through boxes upon boxes of housewares and took most of that, too. They left an awful mess that can only be described as, one employee put it, "a tornado went through here." The appliances, both large and small are gone. They even took the scrap metal and the refrigerator that had employee lunches in it.

I called our headquarters to fill them in on what was going on and the response was "when it rains, it pours for you."

My mother-in-law in a text: "when it rains, it pours."

An employee in conversation this afternoon: "when it rains, it pours."

A dear officer friend who called and left me a voicemail: "when it rains, it pours."

When the bad storm back at the end of June blew the roof off of our thrift store the oft repeated phrase was, "when it rains, it pours."

Oddly enough I was thinking about this phrase during my morning devotion time. Our church community is reading through the Bible in a year and we all have the same daily Bibles. One of today's passages was about Noah and THE flood. I was struck by a verse that says (Gen 7:17) basically that the rain kept coming and lifted the ark above the Earth. I sat on that verse for a moment and tried to visualize it. That's when the phrase came to mind.

And it got me wondering. How high did the ark get lifted up? I believe it was above the highest mountains as there was so much water, but how HIGH? My four year old Elijah is absolutely fascinated with outer space so it got me wondering...did the ark reach space? How high above the earth did God put the boat?

Sometimes we go through things that we cannot control. I continually refer to a young adult that "adult life happens." It happens to the best of us. For some, the water just reaching land is high enough. For others, the tops of mountains and yet, for others, outerspace perhaps. For some, when it rains, it truly pours.

Church was AMAZING yesterday. You know, the good kind of church where you get Holy Spirit goose bumps and tears flow and the body is worshiping together and you don't want it to end and it is just wonderful. We had one of those days after a very trying (and immature on my part) first part of the morning. God moved. We invited Him and He came. It. Was. Glorious!!!

And then, the rain begins again. And it poured a little bit today.

Stuff can be replaced. The soul work that happened in the chapel yesterday cannot.

So I'll take a mess to clean up in an inconveniently located warehouse any day. And as I do, I will sing this song (Embrace by Jake Hamilton):

I want to feel Your embrace
I want to feel Your arms around
I want to feel Your heart beating
Next to mine, next to mine

And it's telling me

It's all gonna be okay
It's all gonna be okay
It's all gonna be okay
It's all gonna be okay

I want to see You Your face
Want to see who I can be
Want to see what You can see
In the mirror of Your eyes

And You're telling me

It's all gonna be okay
It's all gonna be okay
It's all gonna be okay
It's all gonna be okay

And I know, if Your eye is on the sparrow
Than Your heart is on me

And I don't have to wait
To go to heaven when I die
I wanna go right now
We're gonna go right now

'Cause this is the sound of heaven
Invading earth, this is the sound