Most of science is stumbled upon, discoveries that have changed our understanding and our very existence have been accidents, serendipity, discovered on the journey when looking for something else.
This is what happens in church, people discover something new....
When we encounter God that part of our being that is called spirit gets a jump start, it gets a shot of red bull, it has its muffler taken off! Suddenly your mind can’t figure out the feeling and your body can’t explain the emotion and is thus left with an odd sense that all your being thought it knew for fact has now felt something that it has never felt before and that does not fit inside a known box!
So what do you do with this? Like any good scientist who has discovered something new by accident he tracks back to see if he can define the parameters and boundaries with in which this reaction occurred. He does this to see if he can control those parameters and then to recreate them in the HOPE that he will be able to recreate the same response, to create the same results. In other words you seek to know if it was a one off or was is this something you can do again, and again, and again. Thus with church and this feeling that your mind can’t figure out and your body can’t explain that you have accidently stumbled upon you look to find the way to capture that experience again to see if it was chance, a one off or was it ‘real’. A good scientist looks to replicate the experiment to define the parameters and to set a control!
The experiment called ‘church’ can be repeated, it can be defined and it can most defiantly be repeated! You can pick yourself up every Sunday and walk into church; you can meet people who exude this feeling, who use words that make your spirit jump such as Jesus and eternity. You can sing the words on the screen, you CAN raise your hand when asked and you can laugh when things are funny, you can listen and take notes as others do around you as you hear words from the Bible and you can open your mind and heart to something beyond the control of your knowledge and to-date experience.
so now you have repeated your experiment and event pushed the boundaries of it, developing it, adding a few more elements and find that the results are the same...a feeling of peace in your mind that you can’t explain, a buzz in your heart that is untraceable, a sense of acceptance amongst relative strangers who somehow feel closer that brothers!
Experiment complete you walk out of the door, but then you stop, turn, and look back into church and all of a sudden tears fill your eyes, it’s like your bathed in light that exposes all that you hate about yourself from your physical appearance to you dark hidden thoughts anger and inadequacies but theSe are not tears of fear, or rejection or of a broken heart they are tears of joy. even though you feel completely exposed you feel completely whole! You know that you know that it matters not what you have done or will do ever again but that you are loved with no stringS attached.
It is this sudden rush, this exhilarating high that causes you to run back into church again, and again, and again. You have found that the scientific method applied to church has proven more reliable than any other experiment in the known universe.
Tuesday 31 August 2010
Friday 27 August 2010
Remain risky
Jesus mixed things up, he came against the status quo, he redefined the rules and environment he was in. He is our ultimate example of freshness!
Jesus was never NICE, he was good! Jesus was not a safe person to be around you never knew when people might rise from the dead or pigs might jump of cliffs or water would turn to wine! You never knew when he would accept the crowds or walk away you where always glued to the TV set of Jesus radical life style, the mystery of God on earth in human form walking talking and redefining the way to do life.
He kept moving from place to place releasing fresh words and actions, fresh ways of doing life for all to see. He was a risky person to walk with. And unsurprisingly his followers became like this. I think of the women at the well who risked all to run back to her home that she was rejected from and shout Jesus fame at the cost of death.
I think of the prostitute who crashed an upper class dinner to break a year’s worth of wages all over Jesus feet and to cry and weep and wipe the dust with her hair with little regard to the high class society of religious leaders stood on staring, judging her, condemning her, wanting to reject and remove her! These women risked a lot to shout Jesus fame.
I think of the new church who ran out into the streets shouting his name, of Paul who could not be contained in preaching Jesus, and Peter who traveled all over the know world to plant churches! These followers of Jesus kept it fresh by not being afraid to master the art of risky living for a greater return in heaven than on earth. Using this as the measure how fresh are you?
But their lives were filled with the freshness of the adventure of abandoning all to a cause.
Someone once said you’re not really living until you find something worth dying for!
Jesus was never NICE, he was good! Jesus was not a safe person to be around you never knew when people might rise from the dead or pigs might jump of cliffs or water would turn to wine! You never knew when he would accept the crowds or walk away you where always glued to the TV set of Jesus radical life style, the mystery of God on earth in human form walking talking and redefining the way to do life.
He kept moving from place to place releasing fresh words and actions, fresh ways of doing life for all to see. He was a risky person to walk with. And unsurprisingly his followers became like this. I think of the women at the well who risked all to run back to her home that she was rejected from and shout Jesus fame at the cost of death.
I think of the prostitute who crashed an upper class dinner to break a year’s worth of wages all over Jesus feet and to cry and weep and wipe the dust with her hair with little regard to the high class society of religious leaders stood on staring, judging her, condemning her, wanting to reject and remove her! These women risked a lot to shout Jesus fame.
I think of the new church who ran out into the streets shouting his name, of Paul who could not be contained in preaching Jesus, and Peter who traveled all over the know world to plant churches! These followers of Jesus kept it fresh by not being afraid to master the art of risky living for a greater return in heaven than on earth. Using this as the measure how fresh are you?
But their lives were filled with the freshness of the adventure of abandoning all to a cause.
Someone once said you’re not really living until you find something worth dying for!
Keep moving.
In the desert when the Israelites came up across a barrier such as a big sea, Or later when they ran out of water Gods command was to keep moving! When something that was bigger than themselves threatened to contain their growth and stop them from advancing God stepped in through the power of his spirit within mosses to strike the water or the rock that parted or broke to release fresh ways in the desert and fresh water from dry rock.
Hope city church Liverpool is in miracle territory as we move to the Black-e GOD HAS MADE A WAY! He is the author of this BIG MOVE he is not wanted us to stay contained in a local area or as a church of 150 his desire is to break the dry ground to lift the lid and to release a freshness over us and thus has opened the way to the Black-e and to the heart of the city.
Hope city church Liverpool is in miracle territory as we move to the Black-e GOD HAS MADE A WAY! He is the author of this BIG MOVE he is not wanted us to stay contained in a local area or as a church of 150 his desire is to break the dry ground to lift the lid and to release a freshness over us and thus has opened the way to the Black-e and to the heart of the city.
Thursday 26 August 2010
Stay FRESH
Dear blog readers.
Thanks to those in my real world (i.e not virtual) that have encouraged me with reading this Blogg and saying how much you liked it!
As a church we are moving to the Blacke-next Sunday! This is a moment in history that should be treasured and honoured. I am so excited about how it will release freshness over our church, us as individuals and our city! We are called to be a blessing to invite and exhibit Jesus to our worlds.
From day to day sometimes we get weary and tired and have those days when we just don’t want to get out of bed or worse still we get out of bed on the wrong side! Ahhhhhhh! We all know what a bad hair day is like and some of us know what a bad hair month or bad hair year looks like! Sometimes we come to church out of duty not JOY, and this is ok for a season but not as a life style.
Our life style should be fresh, releasing the freshness of blessing in the form of Galatians 5 LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE etc. So I’ve been thinking and praying about how I can stay fresh in this new season when it’s so easy to become stuck in the task of doing rather than the joy of being! So below are a few thoughts on how we can release freshness over our worlds on a consistent basis that bring joy to us and to the heart of our God, the only God.
Thanks to those in my real world (i.e not virtual) that have encouraged me with reading this Blogg and saying how much you liked it!
As a church we are moving to the Blacke-next Sunday! This is a moment in history that should be treasured and honoured. I am so excited about how it will release freshness over our church, us as individuals and our city! We are called to be a blessing to invite and exhibit Jesus to our worlds.
From day to day sometimes we get weary and tired and have those days when we just don’t want to get out of bed or worse still we get out of bed on the wrong side! Ahhhhhhh! We all know what a bad hair day is like and some of us know what a bad hair month or bad hair year looks like! Sometimes we come to church out of duty not JOY, and this is ok for a season but not as a life style.
Our life style should be fresh, releasing the freshness of blessing in the form of Galatians 5 LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE etc. So I’ve been thinking and praying about how I can stay fresh in this new season when it’s so easy to become stuck in the task of doing rather than the joy of being! So below are a few thoughts on how we can release freshness over our worlds on a consistent basis that bring joy to us and to the heart of our God, the only God.
Monday 23 August 2010
THE BIG MOVE
Amazing weekend in church, the worship team took it to a new level, with Yun seriously stepping up to lead worship through a truly inspired piano instrumental!
Quality!
Worship is a journey, as you first step into a relationship with God it’s a whole new world that at first you have no clue how to interact with, much like a new born baby who doesn’t know how to walk, talk or behave in its new environment. But as it is surrounded by new experiences and slowly introduced to new types of food and words the baby slowly begins to learn how to interact with all the newness.
When your spirit is awoken it takes a while to learn how to speak to God, to hear his voice and see all around in a new light. To experience God fully even as we are fully known.
In the same way an individual learns how to relate to God, so to, I believe a body of believers in one place at one time do a similar journey together learning to speak to God, shout out to him, sing to him and experience him in unified corporate setting.
This last year Liverpool congregation has moved into new realms of worship, singing out, shouting, whispering and experimenting with how to relate to God together. This has been a huge privilege to be a part of and I thank each one of you for stepping out with me.
Church is nothing to do with the ME and the mighty I but everything to do with you and the mighty US.
My prayer is as we move to the Black-e a whole new level of God experience is realised as we do the BIG MOVE together. Let’s make a BIG MOVE in our spirits and our worship for his glory.
Friday 20 August 2010
what is eden on the inside
Eden on the inside is the concept that Jesus allows God to build Eden on the inside of each one of us.
Eden in the Bible was a place where Man and God walked together, a fully physical, fully spiritual place.
When we doubted God and decided to do the one thing he asked us not to the privilage of that unity was lost.
selfishness drove a wedge between us and God and God could no longer remain in a place that was not completely pure. Thus the spiritual nature of God left the physical nature of the earth creating a void.
When Jesus defeated death...he opened a new way for God spirit to once again be one with the physical through the heart of individuals. Thus God who is fully spiritual created a way to unite with the fully physical once again.
Saying YES to Jesus allows God to come and be with you all the time and begin the process of creating Eden on the inside.
Eden in the Bible was a place where Man and God walked together, a fully physical, fully spiritual place.
When we doubted God and decided to do the one thing he asked us not to the privilage of that unity was lost.
selfishness drove a wedge between us and God and God could no longer remain in a place that was not completely pure. Thus the spiritual nature of God left the physical nature of the earth creating a void.
When Jesus defeated death...he opened a new way for God spirit to once again be one with the physical through the heart of individuals. Thus God who is fully spiritual created a way to unite with the fully physical once again.
Saying YES to Jesus allows God to come and be with you all the time and begin the process of creating Eden on the inside.
Eden on the inside
I would like to start by saying thank you to Mark Kenny www.beingmrkenny.co.uk for inspiring me to Blog.
Being an external processor having a place to let my thoughts out is somewhat helpful this will be a place to splatter the thoughts of my inquisitive mind.
I will be blogging my thinking thread as often as internet and coffee allow
I value any comments or input, if what I write is interesting or sparks something on the inside let me know and we can do the journey together...
Being an external processor having a place to let my thoughts out is somewhat helpful this will be a place to splatter the thoughts of my inquisitive mind.
I will be blogging my thinking thread as often as internet and coffee allow
I value any comments or input, if what I write is interesting or sparks something on the inside let me know and we can do the journey together...
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