Sacramental Living

I don’t quite know why I do it to myself …

When I can’t sleep, or the pressure of the work at hand causes me to retreat, or I go researching something which long ago I lost sight of and can’t for the life of me remember … That’s when I find myself doing it.

What? I find myself reading the rants of various “Christian” perspectives from those with fundamentalist leanings or those with emergent-as-a-system leanings. I find myself picking apart weak theology, or shallow ecclesiology, or emotionally clouded apologetics.

And then to decompress and recover the minutes wasted as I vicariously follow the intra-Christian absurdities that plague the reputation of Jesus-followers, I flip on my iTunes and here’s what plays: “The Lark Ascending.”

And my entire being stirs for authentic life lived in Christ. Just now as the lark swirls higher into the clouds with my sense of reality girded under its wings, I look at my dim and empty living room, remembering what took place here 24 hours ago:

A small group of 10 friends … some we’d known a few months, some just a day … gathered for a time of food, fellowship, and simply sharing life. We laughed, got to know each other better, shared space and time in a sacred way. We lived the lark … we’re still living the lark.

And the Spirit encourages me that life lived is the thing … the most important thing … the very thing for which God became a baby writhing in a cow’s food digs … the very reason God yielded the sacred life to a public execution … the very reason Christ took up his life again and breathed on the assembled his Spirit of grace and truth.

SO TELL ME:
Are you living the life? Or are you avoiding it?

SO TELL ME SOMETHING ELSE:
If you are living the life … How? Why?

Brian Niece
www.brianniece.com
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Tags: fundamentalist, emergent, ecclesiology, Jesus-followers, Lark Ascending, authentic, friends, sacred way

So I’ve been travelling for going on two weeks. As I see the light at the end of this on-the-go tunnel, I realize I will have been home exactly one night in a 21-day span. It’s been time away from home, from the routine (whatever that is), but not time away from thinking, praying, and being invited into deeper relationship with God.

Ideas are brimming these days. Before my traveling began, God was already tipping the dominoes on several different chains of events that could have significant impact for the kingdom in the earth. Seeing what God is doing and searching to find my place in it leads me to several observations:

My frustration level is higher and God’s progress is diverted only when two things happen–

I disobey the Lord’s prompting by not carrying through with what God is inpsiring in my heart; either because of fear or because the inspiration usually doesn’t fit within the usual parameters of “doing church” (though it spurs us on to be the church); OR

I attempt to control the beginnings of what God is doing for what I perceive to be the logical results.

Guess what … God’s activity is most prevalent when I just jump into what God is already doing … when I call for those I serve to jump with me into God’s future … when I don’t waste time on “bad soil” that isn’t willing to let go of comfort zones and step into the Spirit-led future of Christ.

So, I’ve jumped! I’m in 100%.

Living this way as a Christ-follower in a Christian faith community is an organic way to be the Church. It’s messy, somewhat chaotic, unpredictable … but alive and so much better than what the Church has encountered for 40+ years.

Imagine a faith community that actually means something to its neighborhood, its neighbors, its city and county. Imagine people discovering how uniquely God has created them for just such a time as this. Imagine a God that does not even see a box and calls us to be more than outside a box, but to be blind to any parameters as well.

Sounds like what was happening when Jesus, Peter, and Paul were alive. Sounds ancient. Sounds like the future, too.

SO TELL ME:
Are you ready to jump? If so, what are you jumping into?

——

Brian Niece
www.brianniece.com

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Tags: praying, relationship, God, kingdom, inspiration, doing church, be the church, God’s activity, future, Christ, Christ-follower, faith, organic, Jesus, ancient

I’ve been having a great “chat” with my brother-in-law concerning the reality of ministry. He’s just graduated from seminary and has a head and a heart full of great learning. He’s eager to see what he can and can’t put into practice.

I feel it’s my responsibility to be as honest with such a dialogue as possible. The great ideas we read in books regarding the paradigm shift of the Church from a Christendom mentality to a practiced communal faith and life are just that — things we read in books.

Oh, they are happening somewhere. Someone has witnessed them. But not usually the ones who read the books.

I’m discovering that Christian life — being a follower of Jesus in relationship with other followers — is far more improvised than I read it described it books.

To truly be a follower of Jesus places us at odds with lots of folks. As a pastor who is a follower of Jesus, that sometimes means I’m even at odds with those who have been Christians longer than I’ve been alive.

It’s not easy. But it’s rewarding to know that we’re being obedient. It’s rejuvenating to see God actually working. It’s the stuff that someday could be the makings of a book.

But I’d rather live it than read it.

SO TELL ME:
Are you “in vocational ministry” and trying to “live it?”

SO TELL ME SOMETHING ELSE:
What’s it like for you?
——

Brian Niece
www.brianniece.com

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.

Tags: chat, ministry, seminary, dialogue, Church, Christendom, faith, Christian, follower, Jesus, relationship