God’s Mission, what on earth God is doing!
Do you think of God as on a mission?
Do you see God as active in the world, or passive?
And if God is active, what is it that God is doing?
I believe that God is on a mission; I believe that God is active in the world for a specific purpose.
I believe that the God that created this world is now at work restoring this world, remaking it into the paradise that it was first created to be!
The bible is not first of all a rule book, or an encyclopaedia of information; the bible is first and foremost the record or story of God’s plan of recreation, or rescuing this world from the mess that we made it.
The bible begins with a perfect creation; and it ends with a perfect (or new) creation.
But in-between it is a twisted story of good and evil intertwined, and ultimately a story of how God overcomes the evil with good.
This is what God is up to in the world; this is what God is doing everywhere, all the time.
And this is what God is doing in Falby Court!

He revealed his character to Moses and his deeds to the people of Israel.
The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever.
He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.
The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust. [Psalm 103:7-14]
What is God like? What kind of character is God?
God is love.
God is not anger, God is not rage, God is not wrath; He demonstrates these qualities, but not because they are the root of His nature, but as expressions of wounded, violated love.
He does not treat us as our sins deserve… let that sink in!
If only we could believe this, instead of the lies that Satan misleads us into believing.
If only we would pay attention to the character of God, instead of the caricatures of God.
Yes, God is holy, God is just, God is mysterious and incomprehensible; but over all these qualities, He has revealed to us that He is first and foremost our loving, compassionate, forgiving Father.
Yes, He is in heaven, and His name is hallowed; Yes, His kingdom is coming and His will is to be done; but first and foremost, He is “Our Father”.

What is a community of grace?
A place where all people are welcomed and blessed, no matter who they are, what they are like, what they have done or not done, or how they stand in relationship to God.
Jesus models this with His disciples, a motley crew of followers from a variety of backgrounds – spiritual, social, moral, personality type.
To be part of a community of grace is wonderful, but to be a community of grace is difficult.
Grace is undeserved blessing, which sounds so nice when applied to us, but is so much harder when applied to people that annoy us, or offend us, or mistreat us, or take advantage of us.
Does being a community of grace mean that we are nice, respectful, patient with everyone?
What about speaking the truth in love, providing accountability, gentle rebuke?
When is it time to say something about someone’s unhealthy or harmful behaviours?
What does being a grace community look like in this specific instances:

• Someone who is loud, obnoxious, full of themselves, and talks your ear off?
• Someone who does not show up to fulfill a church role, without letting you know?
• Someone who makes foolish choices, and asks for help with the consequences?
• Someone who never helps with anything, but is always ready to complain when things go wrong?
• Someone who is always right, and very opinionated?
• Someone who always changes the conversation to be about themselves?
• Someone who lives a lifestyle that is morally disturbing to you?
• Someone who smells, has obvious personal hygiene issues?
• Someone who is always down, and brings you down when they talk to you?
• Can you think of other examples?

Have you experienced a community of grace?
How would your describe a community of grace?

Today I chatted with an atheist.
Sitting here at Starbucks, working on my blog devotionals, I noticed he was reading Karen Armstrong’s The Case For God.
I appreciated his honesty: He was an ardent atheist, but was concerned that he was becoming close-minded, so he was exploring perspectives on God’s existence.
Most of the books he read by Christians were shrill (his word) and negative, but this book was connecting for him, opening the possibility of God for him. Continue reading chatting with an atheist

Too often we think of church as a place where we go.
The connection between ‘church’ and a building is rooted in the very word itself, which comes from the Old English word “circe”, which is derived from the Greek word “kyriakon” meaning “the Lord’s (house)” from the Greek root word “kyrious” mean “Lord”.
Constrast that with the Greek word used in the bible: “ekklesia”. This word literally means “the called out ones”, referring to meeting or religious assembly.
In the “circe” sense, we do not have a “church”, i.e. a house for the Lord; but in the “ecclesia” sense we have many “churches”, i.e. religious gatherings. Continue reading churching where we are

Yesterday I watched video clips that depicted the cruel torture and death of Jesus on the cross, something that I have done many times around this time of year.
For my own spiritual journey, watching these graphic scenes has helped me to experience the depth and horror of what Jesus endured, as well as to identify with the billions+ of victims of horrific abuse throughout the centuries.
Yesterday again, I was disturbed… but in a different way. Continue reading disturbing video clips

Not sure who wrote this, or where its from, but it may be a prayer for you…

KNOTS PRAYER

Dear God,

Please untie the knots
that are in my mind,
my heart and my life.
Remove the have nots,
the can nots and the do nots
that I have in my mind.

Erase the will nots,
may nots, and
might nots that find
a home in my heart.

Release me from the could nots,
would nots and should nots
that obstruct my life.

And most of all, dear God,
I ask that you remove from my mind
my heart and my life all of the am nots
that I have allowed to hold me back,
especially the thought
that I am not good enough.

Amen.

If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law [Galatians 5:18]
Paul said that walking according to the Spirit is not license: an excessive or undisciplined freedom constituting an abuse of privilege. As a Christian you may see the phrase “You are not under the Law” in Galatians 5:18 and exclaim, “Wow, I’m free! Walking in the Spirit means I can do anything I want!” Not at all. In the previous verse Paul wrote, “You may not do the things that you please.” Being led by the Spirit doesn’t mean you are free to do anything you want to do. It means you are finally free to live a responsible, moral life–something you were incapable of doing when you were the prisoner of your flesh. [Neil Anderson]

“We do not start our Christian lives by working out our faith for ourselves; it is mediated to us by Christian tradition, in the form of sermons, books and established patterns of church life and fellowship. We read our Bibles in the light of what we have learned from these sources; we approach Scripture with minds already formed by the mass of accepted opinions and viewpoints with which we have come into contact, in both the Church and the world.…

It is easy to be unaware that it has happened; it is hard even to begin to realize how profoundly tradition in this sense has moulded us. But we are forbidden to become enslaved to human tradition, either secular or Christian, whether it be “catholic” tradition, or “critical” tradition, or “ecumenical” tradition.

We may never assume the complete rightness of our own established ways of thought and practice and excuse ourselves the duty of testing and reforming them by Scriptures.”

(J. I. Packer, “Fundamentalism” and the Word of God [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1958], pp. 69-70.)

The LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. [Psalm 147:11]
Not only does God love us, we were created to love God.
To love God with our whole being – with heart, soul, mind and strength.
To love God with joy, with pleasure, not just out of duty or obligation.
This is essential to our human nature, we were designed to love God this way.
We function best when we are loved by God, and love God.
We are dysfunctional when we miss out on God’s love, and do not love God.
I know what it is as a parent to love a child, and the wonder of being loved by my child.
How much more God, our Father, loves to be loved by those that He loves!
Can you hear the Lord asking you, like He asked Peter, ‘Do you love me?’