Fit For Life :: Intake :: 9.20.09 September 21, 2009

It was the last night of this series!!  We’re in the middle of a monsoon, so there was a small crowd, but God was good and held the rain back for a couple hours right before, during & after the service, so we could do what He and I had planned for the night!

Intake is a medical term referring to all that we consume in a given period of time.  The night was about getting a handle on our intake – looking to see how much of it is good for us, and how much of it is just junk.  We all take in a certain amount of stuff that is just not good for us, that get’s in the way of what God is trying to do in our lives.  And it’s obvious that we’re taking that stuff in as we look at the way we’re living.  It comes down to that old phrase: garbage in, garbage out.

So we started the night with a couple songs: “All We Need”  by Charlie Hall – great lyrics for this idea.
And then we used a Shaun Groves song called “Welcome Home” – here are the lyrics:

Take, me, make me all You want me to be
That’s all I’m asking, all I’m asking

Welcome to this heart of mine
I’ve buried under prideful vines
Grown to hide the mess I’ve made inside of me
Come decorate, Lord
Open up the creaking door
And walk upon the dusty floor
Scrape away the guilty stains
Until no sin or shame remain
Spread Your love upon the walls
And occupy the empty halls
Until the man I am has faded
No more doors are barricaded

Chorus:
Come inside this heart of mine
It’s not my own – Make it home
Come and take this heart and make it
All Your own – Welcome home

Take a seat, pull up a chair
Forgive me for the disrepair
And the souvenirs from floor to ceiling
Gathered on my search for meaning
Every closet’s filled with clutter
Messes yet to be discovered
I’m overwhelmed, I understand
I can’t make this place all that You can

I took the space that You placed in me
Redecorated in shades of greed
And I made sure every door stayed locked
Every window blocked, and still You knocked

So from there we used this cleaning out our house metaphor to get a handle on our garbage.

John spoke some about what God wants to do in us and how much he wants us to say no to the garbage.
He used Proverbs 4:23-27
23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.  24 Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. 25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. 26 Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. 27 Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.

We then invited the people to respond to God’s invitation to clean house.  We had set up with tables and chairs in our space, and at each table were sheets of paper and markers.  The task was to write down each piece of “garbage” that we need to stop taking in, that needs to get cleaned out of our house.  Write it down, wad up the paper, and then write the next one down, until we each had a little pile of garbage.  Just outside the worship space emergency exit doors we had two fires going.  As people finished writing down their garbage they brought their pile of trash out to the fires, and offered them up to God.  We heard the song “At The Foot of The Cross” by Kathyrn Scott during this exercise.  Here are some of those lyrics:

Now I can trade these ashes in for beauty
And wear forgiveness like a crown
Coming to kiss the feet of mercy
I lay every burden down
At the foot of the cross

Very cool as we saw the ashes of our garbage burning, to remember that God will make all things beautiful!

When we all finished, I reminded us of Jesus words about cleaning house:
Matthew 12:43-45 (The Message) “When a defiling evil spirit is expelled from someone, it drifts along through the desert looking for an oasis, some unsuspecting soul it can bedevil. When it doesn’t find anyone, it says, ‘I’ll go back to my old haunt.’ On return it finds the person spotlessly clean, but vacant. It then runs out and rounds up seven other spirits more evil than itself and they all move in. That person ends up far worse off than if he’d never gotten cleaned up in the first place.”

We made commitments to say “no” to the garbage – and we sang “From the Inside Out” & ”Mighty to Save” by Hillsong United.  Perfect prayer lyrics for the night’s topic.  Asking God to cleanse us from the inside out and being thankful that he can move those mountains in our lives.  It was a good night – we only had a little trouble with the fire smoke coming into the worship space, but hey, for a while we’ll enjoy being reminded of what God did that night!

Next week: Youth Sunday!
So I won’t have a post as they’ll be in charge, and I’ll be gratefully out of town on vacation!

Here is our current prayer request list. (Anyone can ask for prayer, just let me know! You can talk to me or drop one of our prayer request cards in the worship space Drop Boxes.)

:: Jackie Anderson is still traveling a very rough road.  Pray for hope and healing and a willingness to hang on tight.

:: Pray for Coleman Burroughs - he will be going home soon.

:: Pray for Darlene Stone =  hip replacement surgery went well -  Lots of recovery ahead.

:: Pray for Christa and her sons

:: Pray for Lacy Thompson – she’s serving as a missionary in Ecuador until Thanksgiving.

:: Andrea, Amanda B and Randall F are all looking for new jobs – pray God will open up the right opportunities.

:: Toni R has gotten a GREAT job offer!   Pray all falls into place as God intends.

:: Pray for Sam Dills (and his family) as he fights cancer.

:: Pray for John P’s grandmother – she’s going through a rough period right now.

:: Pray for the people negatively affected by all this crazy weather.

Fit For Life :: Relational Health :: 9.13.09 September 14, 2009

Great and messy night at The Water’s Edge last night! 

Our topic for getting fit in: Relational health.  When everyone got into the room, the floor was open with chairs only around the edges of the room.  We started with our normal announcements, watched the intro video for the week (Andrew’s attempts at training for Mr Universe continue to go well!) and then we started creating our small groups.  Once everyone was in a group of 8 or so, each received an oblong table cloth.  They laid it on the ground and the whole group stood on it.  I told them that the cloth was actually a magic carpet – that they were flying mid air – and that now they needed to flip over the carpet without losing anyone!  No stepping off the carpet!  So the groups started talking, thinking, hugging and laughing!

Most of them accomplished the goal, and we started unpacking the experience.
We started off by making some observations: there were 2 different relationships happening.  1) the relationship between you and your group, and 2) your relationship to the carpet.  I asked if the two relationships were connected and they said, yes!  That the group was dependent upon each other – and how well they functioned together was directly related to how well they did on the carpet.

I suggested the same is true in our relationships with each other and with God.  We started talking metaphorically:  the goal of flipping the carpet – is like our love & relationship with Christ.  And the interaction with your team is much like the interaction that happens with fellow man, both Christian and not. Those two relationships are connected in the same way the carpet and your group are.

Matt 22:36-40 (TNIV) says this about these relationships…
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

“and the second is like it” – is an interesting phrase.
Some translations say “the second is equally important”

One of the commentaries I read said, “It is like it, for it is founded upon it, and flows from it; and a right love to our fellow man, whom we have seen, is both an instance and an evidence of our love to God, whom we have not seen”

You can’t have the one without the other – they are connected.  The Cross itself visually reminds us of this relationship connection.

I asked the groups if they have succeeded in flipping the carpet over if they had all acted independently and without cooperation?  They could not have of course. 

They talked in their groups about how they have found their earthly (horizontal) relationships affecting your (vertical) relationship with God.   And we’d all admit (at least I know Eric and I feel this way) that it often would be easier to be a hermit – but we’re not called to that.  We’re called to each other – the family of God – and in EVERY relationship we’re in there is potential for the reflection of our heavenly relationship with God.

As I read that Greatest Command three other words strike me – heart, soul & mind.  And as I thought about how “the 2nd is like it” I got to thinking about those 3 words and our horizontal relationships. So we looked at them individually.

We asked what loving God with all your HEART looks like?
In our horizontal relationships – it seems to me the heart might reflect FORGIVENESS in our relationships – How can being forgiving OR NOT affect the health of those relationships? Does it affect your relationship with God, too?

We asked what loving God with all your SOUL looks like?
In our horizontal relationships – it seems to me the soul might reflect OPENESS in our relationships – how can being open OR NOT affect the health of those relationships? Does it affect your relationship with God, too?

We asked what loving God with all your MIND looks like?
In our horizontal relationships – it seems to me the soul might reflect RESPECT in our relationships – how can being respectful OR NOT affect the health of those relationships? Does it affect your relationship with God, too?

I know sometimes it might seem like exercises like these are pointless and a waste of time. I’ve often though the same of the horizontal relationships in my life – but I think in reality, there is so much to be learned by experiences like these, through conversations like these, in the process of connecting to fellow believers, I connect to God.  Relational Health here on earth is so important because it is directly connected to our heavenly relationship with God.

We sang the song “Unashamed” by Starfield as a prayer of relationship with God and then Jonn shared with us some of what Paul wrote to the Ephesians about Relational Health.  He used Eph 4:29-32 (The Message)
Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.  Don’t grieve God. Don’t break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted.  Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.

Most of us have a lot of work to do to get our horizontal, earthly relationships into healthier shape so that our vertical, spiritual relationship with God will be healthier, too.

We sang “You Are So Beautiful” by Third Day and “Happy Day” by Tim Hughes.
The children from The Fishin’ Hole came in and showed us the project they had been working on over the last bunch of weeks: a bible quilt full of the stories they had been studying.    We cheered and took a picture and we all went home.

Here is our current prayer request list. (Anyone can ask for prayer, just let me know! You can talk to me or drop one of our prayer request cards in the worship space Drop Boxes.)

:: Jackie Anderson is still traveling a very rough road.  Pray for hope and healing and a willingness to hang on tight.

:: Pray for Coleman Burroughs - in the hospital now.

:: Pray for Darlene Stone = had hip replacement surgery this morning – went well!  Lots of recovery ahead.

:: Pray for Christa and her sons

:: Pray for Lacy Thompson – she’s serving as a missionary in Ecuador until Thanksgiving.

:: Toni R, Amanda B and Randall F are all looking for new jobs – pray God will open up the right opportunities.

:: Pray for Sam Dills (and his family) as he fights cancer.

:: Pray for John P’s grandmother – she’s going through a rough period right now.

Labor Day Park Party…a success! September 8, 2009

We took our church to the park this last Sunday night – right down the street from the church.  We grilled out hotdogs and fed anyone who was hungry that happened to be in the park that night.  Due to looming bad weather, we didn’t set the whole band up this time, but we did have some music going on acoustics and there were fun things for the kids to do – face painting took top billing again!  We ended up with a great crowd, even though it was storming that morning.  And we were glad to have a chance to be God’s family in the midst of our community.  Many thanks to the folks who worked hard to pull it together.  Next week we’ll get back to our “Fit for Life” series!