The Ideal Ministry By Rebecca Cannon

 As we've recently decided to settle in St. Paul and table over-seas living, this is a good affirmation and reminder of why it's OK.

http://www.mafblog.com/missionary-2/the-ideal-ministry

Bloom Where You're Planted

Recently,

well O.K., since about last Thanksgiving, Tyler and I have begun to discuss a topic that was huge for us before we got married.


No, not sex or how many kids we want to have, or our career dreams (although I guess we did talk about those things too).


Missions.


I mean, it's not to be that UN-expected. Really, come on. 

We met on a missions trip.


It happened like this;

Before we got married we were set on living simply, as both,an expression of our faith, and also as a pursuit for deepening our faith. To us, this means living counter culturally. What does counter-culturally living look like? Good question. I think it means something a little different for everyone. To us, it means not putting our value in our salary, in our appearance, in our accomplishments or in our security. It means fighting hard against the culture at large that spews out lies of bigger, better, more means happier and loved. It means getting our value from God, and having our security in Him. It means having open hands when it comes to things, knowing that all things come from God and if we got it once, God will surely provide for us again, and again, and again. (Matthew 6:26). It means loving every human alive regardless of their past, their present, their nationality, their color, their language, their age, their sexual orientation, their religion...basically it means if alive ==>love it more than anything not alive. Love it more than yourself. That extends beyond people. It means loving Gods creation (nature) and guarding it as if it is a living treasure to be nurtured and cared for (it is).

In short, it means intentionally following hard after Jesus.


OK practicalities, in a nutshell this means:

1. No. 1 following and striving to live like Jesus (1 John 2:6 (thank you Derek Porter for sharing this verse today) 
2. Using our gifts talents and education to further the Kingdom (especially to serve those who are less privileged, marginalized and/or forgotten) 
3. Live in a way that least negatively impacts others and creation 
4. Live in community with others who share this view and mission
5. Share this with our children, so faith in God and Christ is alive and experienced, not something talked about on Sundays. 

Let me tell you though, as hard as it is to describe and put in to words, it's even harder to DO it.



For Tyler and I, we thought it would be easier to do this if we just escaped the modern world of the US of A and all we despise about it. We thought hey, lets go love the orphans in Africa, the widows in South America, the abandoned in Asia, the cold and hungry in Europe. As for Australia and Antarctica, well...who's got problems in Australia and who lives in Antarctica? I'm kidding, everywhere there is people there is surely a mess. And those in Australia and Antarctica are surely suffering just as those in other places.

But the point is, it seemed really way easier to leave the comfort of our culture and our home, to 'serve those in need' elsewhere, than to sit calmly where God planted us, fight against the machine from the inside out, and extend a hand here.

But, over the past 6 months as we have pursued going abroad, we have felt a push to do just that.

It seemed like the more we pushed to 'go abroad', the more we realized that God has opportunity here for us to do exactly what we would be pursuing abroad. After a while actually, it felt like we would give up real opportunities to actually do all of the above, just for the sake of geography.

It came down to this question:

Why give up a dream and opportunity, to pursue it elsewhere, when you already have it?

We couldn't answer that one.

So, for now,

we're staying.


It was a long journey, but we realized that no matter where we are, there we are. 

So, if we want to live a certain way or do certain work, we need to just do it. As a wise woman and dear friend said to me in Guatemala once,

Bloom where you're planted.

So there you have it, Tyler and I are stetting out to live missionally -I prefer intentionally- right here where we're planted - in St. Paul, MN.

And if that changes in the future and we feel called to go abroad - bring it on.

For now, we're rootin' on down. 

Lord, you planted us here. Please help us bloom.

Parents can't save their children.

Wow. Just, wow.

So glad I saw this early. I'll need to watch it every day for the rest of my life for it to really sink in. Seriously, I'll be lucky if I still remember at 6pm that I watched this at 3pm.

http://www.paultripp.com/video#!/swx/pp/media_archives/170524/episode/36932

Thank you Paul Tripp.

To Christians Who Stand By Israel

To Christians who stand by Israel;

It is with great sadness that I write this. As I send this, 1.7 million people who are completely cornered with nowhere to run are being brutally attacked, bombed and killed. Journalists, women and children are the primary victims. While the US and Israeli government is trying to say that no civilians are dying and no journalists are being hurt, reputable journalists are sending in footage of women, children, journalists and civilians who are being killed and injured with weapons of terror. Bombs, and chemicals that literally burn the skin off of the people so they are completely unidentifiable. The journalist buildings are being attacked first so that the truth can not be revealed. Truly, the next 24 hours is going to be an important next 24 hours - most likely much longer than that. This is only just beginning. This is happening at this very moment. I urge you to consider if you would truly stand by a country who would act so terribly on a people who have no defense and no where to run. How can you stand by such acts of injustice without question?

I know this is hard to believe, but please watch the following footage, if its too hard to watch please just listen to the whole thing. The first link is the entire story, its pretty long. If you'd like to just skip to the second link, it's shorter. You can start there if you wish.

I want you to know that no matter where you choose to stand, I love you. But I cannot believe that Jesus who died on the cross would condone any act of terror on any peoples. He died to save you and me just as much as he died to save the people in Gaza and Palestine. The Israeli people are abusing the power and name granted to them by God, and I cannot believe that God would wish that his people would kill his children for any reason. I do not believe that Jesus would wish his followers to support the terrible acts the Israeli government is doing 'in His name', when he himself died for their salvation. Just because something is done by people chosen by God, and just because people do something in the name of God, does not mean Gods will is being done. As people, we are corrupt. We are fallen. We do things in our own will and use Gods name as a means to justify it. When we do this, god mourns. While I don't urge you to support the acts the Israeli and US governments are committing, I do urge you to love the Israeli people, and out of that love try to show them the greatness of their mistakes. But I struggle to understand how anyone could stand by them blindly and allow them to do things Christ so SO ardently taught against. He died to save us from things like this. I truly believe that if Christ were here on this very day as he was before he was brutally killed on the cross, that he would be standing with the Palestinians, showing the true face of God, while also teaching the Israelite (who I liken to the pharisees) the wrongness of their ways.

http://www.democracynow.org/

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/11/16/nowhere_to_run_israel_fires_over

-Sophia
Christ Lover.

Nov. 19th, 2012

Agape Love

Perhaps you've heard of Agape love. Perfect love.

Love for loves sake, self-sacrificing unconditional perfect love.

"The tradition of agape, or unconditional love, is not exclusive to any one religion. Actually, it is a major underlying principle found in religions worldwide. The concept of altruistic love is one that challenges the spiritual person to "love your enemies," or to "love without thought of return." It is a love that flows out to others in the form of compassion, kindness, tenderness, and charitable giving." Sir John Templeton http://templetonpress.org/content/agape-love

Agape love comes from God. It is Gods nature (God is perfect Love and Agape love is the only true perfect love). As humans, we cannot be Agape love. We cannot generate Agape love ourselves because we are not Agape love. We are not God. We are human. We can generate only human love, and as humans we are conditional. We are constricted by time, a body, and this planet. Thus, we are constricted to many needs and are not capable of overcoming those on our own. Its not in our nature.

But God is unconditional. His nature is to be everywhere and in everything, and from him in him and through him all things have come to be. He is by definition, perfect Love, and so Agape love (perfect love) is by definition, God.

And God extends it to us.

And so, it is, through Gods grace, that we are able to participate in Agape love  - not only by receiving Agape love from God whenever we choose to, but also by allowing Agape love to flow through us.

Emptying your heart and your thoughts of anything that could inhibit Agape love from being poured into you and flowing out of you, brings you closer to God.

The ancients were right when they taught to overcome thoughts in order to reach eternal bliss. It is only when you are empty that Agape love can fill you. And so, yes, it does bring you closer to God to be empty of thoughts that conflict with Agape love, and to open your heart to be filled with God.

I hope I try to do it every day.

The bride and The Christ

So,

My husband and I are taking a class at our church, Woodland Hills, called Discover the Kingdom (DK). We are only 2 weeks in and I can tell we are going to really be learning a lot in it. It's inspiring me to come back here to write a bit.

The past week was on Christ and the metaphors he used surrounding Jewish marriage during his 3 year ministry. I've heard the bride church metaphor before, but this really shed some amazing light for me.

Context is everything. It turns out, in a first century context, marriage was much different than modern day. Then it went something like - an engagement, a betrothal and then a marriage.

So whats a betrothal? A betrothal came immediately after an engagement. It was a period about one year long, when the husband-to-be would go back to his land and build the house for him and his new bride. The bride, would be home gathering cloth to make her wedding dress and learning necessary skills to being a housewife, as well as saying goodbyes to her family if she was moving to a new land.

Then, one day, the husbands father would decide it was time and would go to his son and tell his son that today is his wedding day, and they would leave. The bride would have no warning except for the arrival of her husband to be.

Oh yes, and once engaged, you had to legally divorce someone to be UN-betrothed. Although you had not yet been officially married, and the marriage had not yet been consummated, to break of a betrothal, you had to legally divorce your fiance.

Now, Christ used bride language throughout his whole ministry. Indeed, right before he was crucified he told his disciples that he was going away to prepare a place for them in his fathers house. He also talked about his ministry years as the celebration of engagement, stating that you do not fast when the bridegroom is with you, suggesting that he is the bridegroom, and there is something to be celebrated before he goes away to prepare a place.

So, what does this mean?

To me, it means that my life is meant to be a dedicated faithful service to my savior, my God, who is working to prepare a place for me and all others who love Him. I see myself now as needing to work to prepare my heart and my life to honor my bridegroom, and to prepare to dwell with him for eternity in His fathers house.

Just like getting married is an adjustment, it will be an adjustment to dwell with Christ in this new house when he returns for us. That is why we need to work diligently now to live in such a way that honors him - so that when we do join him, we can be filled with joy to be with him, not filled with resentment of the change.

How do we do this? How can we work to be the most beautiful bride Christ could imagine when he returns?

Follow his commandments and clothe ourselves in our beautiful dress -

Like the brides of Israel we need to work with our community to make a gown that honors and stuns our bridegroom when he returns. Paul says in revelations that our cloth to make our dress out of is our relationships.

This is the heart of Jesus.

That we can work together to build a fabric of relationships that is fitting for the bride of the universe.

Love thy neighbor.

Forget what you've heard about Christ.

Who is Christ?

He is more than "death" and "sin" and "be saved" and "rose again". 
Christ is more than flesh and body. He is more than you've heard.
Christ does not live in a church, his body and eyes and arms, are yours and mine.
Christ does not live in the words, but is the meaning and power of language.
Christ cannot be simply defined, but is meant to be infinitely experienced.
Forget what you've think you've learned, forget what you've heard about Christ.

Have you ever sat and wondered at the beauty of a sunset?
Taken pause at the happenstance of a series of events?
Have you ever been lost in the beauty of a simple leaf or tree?
Been in awe of mystery and mastery? Of the greatness of the universe?
The creativity of creation?

Have you ever looked to the stars and felt small?
Or seen a spiders web, beautifully made and sprinkled with dew, and wondered how magical?
Have you ever felt connected to the fabric of being?
Or part of something greater than yourself?
Have you ever felt the power of the energy that holds the whole world, the whole universe, together?
The fragility of life?
Felt the balance that it all hangs on?

Have you an awareness of the power that brought existence into being?
That spoke a word forth, and created?

Christ is that.
The word spoken, that created.
The power out of which became existence.
The balance
The fragility, the life.
The energy that holds it together
The 'something' greater. That to which you, and I, belong.
The fabric of being to which we are all connected to, and from which we all came.
The wonder and magic of dew and webs and spiders.
The greatness within, the smallness through out.
The creativity
The mystery and the mastery
The beauty and complexity
The happenstance
The wonder
The beauty
The sunset.

Christ is the power, the energy, the force behind everything, that holds it all and created it all and is alive within it.

That power which, being so great, was made small into the body of a man.

Who came to love, and show the world what it really means to live.

Who died a bodily death, but rose above and still lives.

For if Christ truly died, all would cease to exist.

And because He lives, we can also live.

Forget what you've heard about Christ, and let Him show you the true meaning of His name, the word, the love, the light, the living, the life, Christ.

Biblical evidence: 

New International Version (NIV)

John 1

The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome^[a] it.

....

⁹ The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

So if Christ was the Word, what did the Word do?

 

Genesis 1

The Beginning

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

⁶ And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” ⁷ So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. ⁸ God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

⁹ And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

¹¹ Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. ¹² The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

¹⁴ And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, ¹⁵ and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶ God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷ God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

²⁰ And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” ²¹ So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” ²³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

²⁴ And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. ²⁵ God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,^[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

²⁷ So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

²⁹ Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰ And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

³¹ God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.