Open Church

I got the opportunity this summer to serve in a ministry that was one of the most amazing things I've ever been apart of. SLI was amazing but I am talking about my Sunday in "A Step Closer" the Recovery Ministry's Sunday worship service. I know that us SLIer's got to share our life stories which was truly a powerful thing, but ASC, really got a hold of me.

ASC is how I envision Sundays to be, in my dreams we are all able to respond to the music, respond to the teaching, asking questions, singing right along and if we feel led to dance. Standing up in front of these folks was just so powerful and awe inspiring. They're Christians they love on their brothers and sisters in Christ they come before the lord and dance undignified in front of him.

It was so powerful when people started standing up and had more personal prayer requests than the normal. I'm not saying that asking for healing from sickness isn't important, but these folks were talking about the unmentionable diseases that have rotted our society. Alcoholism, Dependence on Drugs, sexual addiction, the unmentionables that are just like leprosy in JC's day. When someone becomes dependent on drugs, alcohol, or sexual sin we as a christian community kind of shield ourselves from them. But that should be openly accepted and worked on as one body of believers. If we didn't shame everyone and their sins, would it be so hard to admit them, and to grow from and away from them.

My friends and I towards the end of the summer had a new saying, someone would start the conversation on a deeper level than it had been going then would get shied away from continuing down that path. So if it was a small group or one on one someone would call them out by saying "open church." I got called out many times, as did others. It helped remind us that our lives are not our own, that we need friends and prayer for our lives, and if we are struggling 1 reed is not as strong as 3 or 7 or 10. I believe in the power of being open honest and real with each other, it can not be forced, it must be developed. The friendships at the end of the summer, were just that products of the summer. These were folks who I was beginning to trust, and folks that I would do anything for. On my last night with these folks only one song came into my mind "Gift" now many of you don't know this song, in fact I think I have one of the three or so recordings of this piece, but in it there is a line the goes "I would give my last, my very last breath, to you, to you" It's not a love song of your normal portions it is the love of best friends, the love that's been built over years and years, and the product of forgiving each other in each individual failure and the product of being someone that each individual can rely on for no matter what time of the day or night.

So go forth and practice this, practice loving each other through everything, and personalize open church within your group of friends that you will be able to truly hear everything. And remember not to judge those who lay their lives out there, and don't be afraid when someone calls you out on open church.

May the God of Gods be with you, the lord of lords watch over you, and the king of kings bless you and yours all the days of your life.

Forgiveness

Which sin is greater than the other

• Lying or Murdering
• Stealing or Sexual Sin
• Cheating or Cursing
• Hating or Tearing Down others

Did you come up with a list of 4 that are greater than 4 others, if you did than you are wrong. No sin is greater than another. I am a liar and a cheater, I've cursed and I've hated. I have fallen into sexual sin, I've stolen and I've torn down others. Which of these is the greatest sin. None is greater than another. In God's eyes we are all sinners and we all need healing. I have suffered sexual abuse, for a year and a half I was abused by a man trusted in my school, church and family. And I've come to realize that even though this sin was committed and it's easy for me to say his sin is worse than mine. I've come to realize that no sin is greater. Each sin that we commit is another strike of the hammer on the nail of the cross of Jesus Christ. Every time I earnestly pray for forgiveness I am reminded by the picture of the cross that it's all been paid for, and I've been forgiven.

In the bible it says "You are not your own; you were bought at a price." {Parts of 1 Corinthians 19-20} The price was death on a cross, we are not our own because the price has been paid, what did death on a cross buy, it bought us and not only that but it guaranteed us forgiveness from God. If we are forgiven why is it so hard for us to forgive others.

I can honestly say it is so hard for me to forgive the person on the road, that just cut me off, so hard for me to forgive the employee that doesn't practice honest standards and who doesn't act with integrity, so hard for me to forgive harsh words or hard times, so hard for me to forgive the abuse suffered so long ago. But isn't forgiveness what each person deserves in these situations, we've already established that no sin is greater than another, and they've all been paid for, and that God is willing to forgive us all, and that we should also be willing to forgive others. How many times have I been forgiven by others, forgiven by God. How many times is the love of God brought down upon me by someone who knows I'm hurting because of something I did, and wish I hadn't, or just by God's sufficient grace.

Forgiveness is something that we should all have in our lives, it is something that is one of the greatest gifts from God, and from our fellow beings here on Earth. When i think about forgiveness I think of Jonah and his call to go to Nineveh, yet he runs away to Tarshish. God creates a storm and the sailors toss Jonah overboard after he begs them to do it. God still has a mission for Jonah so he calls on a fish to swallow Jonah and send him back towards Nineveh. Jonah ends up in Nineveh and they turn from their evil ways by the grace of God they change, and God forgives them. Jonah doesn't understand God's grace and forgiveness, even though he was the benefactor of it shortly before God forgives Nineveh. I refer to different things in my life as Nineveh because a lot of times I want to run away from them and I don't want to deal with those areas.

Forgiveness can be one of those areas, I hated issues this summer that I didn't want to forgive, but something changed in me a few nights, when I first dealt with the abuse, I cursed the mans name over and over and over, I questioned God as to why he would allow me to suffer these ills. I questioned why it should happen to anyone. And then a week later I was faced with a new question, whether you had to forget to forgive. I now realize and know that forgetting is not a complete part of the occasion of forgiving. To forgive is to wish well the life of the person who wronged against you. That is a very hard thing to do, to wish well someone who has wronged you. I will never forget the year and a half of sexual abuse I suffered, it is an integral part of my life story, and so much of who I am relates back to that year and a half. But I wish well that man's life, I hope that though he is in prison now he is being blessed by God in an infinite number of ways. I hope in a few years he is blessed measure beyond measure, and that God has a place for him in his kingdom. I know that sooner than we ask for it we are forgiven. Our sins are forgiven already, we are not our own we are bought with a price. We are forgiven and we should forgive others, and if you don't believe me believe the words of Jesus the Christ who paid the price for all of our sins.

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. {Matthew 18:21-22}

Spend time in prayer tonight ask for your own forgiveness, forgive others for the wrongs committed against you in this life, pray that you would all find the blessing of God in your lives. Jesus is the way the truth and the life. He tells us to forgive over and over and over again. To forgive and never stop forgiving, and to pray that the lord blesses and keeps everyone close to his heart. Forgive the harmless things, and forgive the huge things. Tonight I'll pray for you I'll offer up your lives to the lord that you would be blessed by him so much that you think it's crazy ridiculous but that you also continue to find life in him daily, that through the blessings you never forget God.

May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace. {Numbers 6:24-26}

The greatest of these...

So the title of this blog, not this entry but the entire blog is "Iussu Amo", or in English "At the Command of Love" Why? I believe that as a christian we should live patiently, kindly, protectfully, trusting, hopeful, perseveringly.


"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophesy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but do not have love, I gain nothing.


Love is PATIENT, Love is KIND. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is SLOW TO ANGER, and keeps NO RECORD of WRONGS. Love does not delight in evil but REJOICES with the TRUTH. It ALWAYS PROTECTS, ALWAYS TRUSTS, ALWAYS HOPES, ALWAYS PERSEVERES.


Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there re tongues, we know they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I m fully known.


And these three remain, faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is LOVE


So we know that we should love our neighbor as ourself, and love our enemies. But that can be really really hard sometimes, and what is one way to help remember that we should. Living as a Christian in Chico, Ca, can be really difficult at times with the parties night in and night out, and the less than quality behavior of of neighbors. It invites second guessing their choices and it also invites judging them as humans, so what is at least one way to not do that. An effective thing I have learned to apply in my life, is to repeat over and over either outloud, under my breath, or in my head, what love is.

"Love is patient, Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is slow to anger, and keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

I've done this on multiple occasions at work when someone isn't performing as well as I'd like them to. It also helps me when I get frustrated with my closest friends, as to neighbors, they're partiers most of the time, which I'm becoming more and more okay with, but it helps at 3 am just to go over what love is. You may get frustrated, but it'll help to remember that God is love, and if we don't have love we have nothing.

So rejoice in faith, in hope, in kindness, in patience, in love. Leave anger, self-seeking, rudeness, and lists of wrongs behind you.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love {1st Corinthians 13:13}