How will you vote?

What kind of a voter are you? I don't mean are you a Democrat or a Republican. I mean are you anxious or are you at peace? Are you mad or are you motivated? What's going on in your heart when you think about the coming election?

Can we take a minute and stop talking about Trump and Sanders and Cruz and Clinton and Kasich, and talk instead about you?

More than WHO you vote for, I care HOW you vote.

Please, oh please don't vote in fear! Don't vote for someone you don't even like just because you are afraid that another person would be worse. Make sure that you actually trust and believe in the person whose name is on your ballot, even if that means that you have to write someone in. The fear-mongers will tell you that you are throwing your vote away if you do that. You are not. You are responsible for your vote, not for the outcome. Make sure that when you vote, you have peace and a clear conscience about your choice. Leave the outcome to God.

Please, oh please, don't vote angry! I know that many people are struggling and frustrated with the current state of government. If you are overcome with righteous anger, then you have most likely already gotten involved at the local level in causes that you really care about. This is a good use of such energy. But if you aren't angry enough to have put your own blood, sweat, or tears behind the issue, then you're pretty much just a whiner who wants other people to fix things. Trust me, none of the politicians are going to do that for you. Some might do it with you. Sit down with people who care about the things you care about and find someone or something that you can be FOR, not just against. For a great resource about how to get involved locally to make an impact for the Kingdom of God, check out The New Parish.

Please, oh please, don't vote stupid! The presidential race gets all of the attention, but there are a ton of local races and ballot measures that are much closer to home--these matter too! Get educated about the issues, know how those measures will effect your community and your neighbors and your schools. Talk to your friends, but also try to hear the thoughts and ideas of a few people who think differently than you do. Try to understand all of the angles so that your vote is informed.

Please, oh please, don't have anything to do with the nastiness! Let's raise the level of the conversation. Don't post anything on Facebook that is cruel or demeaning. Don't belittle or demonize people who vote differently than you do. Write to candidates and tell them that the negative ads are unhealthy and wrong. Refuse to watch news stations that are incendiary.  We all hate the tone of elections, and yet they keep getting worse. It's time to say, "NO MORE!" Stop validating their bad behavior by sensationalizing it. And definitely don't retweet it.

We have a few choices to make--not just the WHO of this election, but the HOW. Keep your heart and your soul pure in the process, free from malice and spite. Because how we, the voters, conduct ourselves in this process may do more for the health and unity of our country than any single candidate possibly could.

Tweet

A Friend of God

I've been spending some time trying to figure out what it means to be a friend of God. I have some idea of what it means to be a God's child, God's servant, God's beloved, and God's ambassador. But lately I've had the sense that God is inviting me to be His friend. And I'm not exactly comfortable with the idea.

To be God's friend would mean that I would have to grow up. Friendship carries a heavier responsibility, and I'm not sure that I can handle it. I much prefer the role of the "damsel in distress" when it comes to God. Friendship feels beyond me. Yet, something about the invitiation is compelling. It seems that God is asking me to discover a new way of interacting with Him, to explore an undiscovered aspect of our relationship. In essence, I think God is asking me to mature in the way that I engage with Him.

It's sort of like the transition I'm going through in parenting my young adult children. I'm still their mom. I'll always be their mom. But it would be rediculous if I still parented them the same way that I did ten years ago. We are making the bumpy move to an adult-adult relationship, and while it's a bit of an awkward dance for the time being, I know we need to keep moving in that direction, because there is nothing for us in the old parent-child relationship. We just can't (and shouldn't) live there forever. While it's silly and downright dangerous for parents to try to be friends with their eight year old children, it's just and silly for a parent to relate to an adult child as if the child were still eight. The relationship changes as the child matures.

Yes. And this is what I think God is saying. He wants to relate to me as an adult child--as a friend. It's time for me to grow up.

But how? What does friendship with God look like? I'm starting my journey to answer that question by studying the life of Abraham--because Abraham is the first person in the Bible that God refers to as His friend (see Isaiah 41:8). I'm particularly paying attention to the things about God and Abraham's relationship that are distinct from the ways a child or servant relationship looks. For example, Abraham obeyed God--but this is something a servant or child  would do, so it doesn't necessarily show how Abraham was God's friend. Abraham also believed God--his faith is legendary. But that, too, is something a child of God does. It is certainly a quality that is present in friendship, but it is not unique to friendship.

So one of the first places I see a friend to friend interaction between God and Abraham is in Genesis chapter 18. Having appeared to Abraham to announce the impending birth of Isaac, God says to Himself, "Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?" Reading the rest of the chapter, we quickly discover how God answers His own question--He decided to share His plans to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah with Abraham.

Sharing plans--that is something that friends do. Jesus makes this clear when he says to his disciples in John 15:15, "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not kow his master's business. Instead I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."  So Genesis chapter 18 had my attention! God is treating Abraham like a friend by making His business known to Abraham. How will Abraham handle it? What does Abraham do to engage in a friendship with God?

Abraham certianly doesn't say, as a servant might have said, "Good plan, boss! How can I help?" Nor does he whimper like a child, crying, "Oh No! That sounds mean!" Instead, Abraham neogitates with God.

Audacious? Maybe. But Abraham isn't flippant or haughty in his negotiation. He is diplomatic and wise, and God welcomes the dialogue. Imagine the scene.

Abraham came near and said, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?”

First, I love how the passage begins with "Abraham came near...." When a friend confronts a friend, he doesn't pull back and put up walls, he draws near. He enters in. He says with his body, "I'm with you" even as he says with his words "I don't like your plan." A friend of God comes close.

Second, Abraham appeals to God's character, he reminds God of His own justice. Friends know each other well enough to say, "Your actions don't seem to be congruent with who I know you to be." A friend will ask the hard questions, will risk being rejected for the sake of speaking truth.

Third, Abraham mediates. He intercedes for the the people of Sodom; he intercedes for his nephew, Lot. And this may be the essential element of friendship with God. I think that THIS is perhaps the main reason that God shares His plans with His friends--to invite them to intercede. We see this again with another one of God's friends, Moses. God shares His plan to destroy all of Israel with Moses, and Moses intercedes for Israel. God wants friends who will act as mediators, intercessors, peacemakers.

God welcomed Abraham's plea. God bent to Abraham's request--all the way to agreeing that if just 10 righteous people could be found in Sodom, God would spare the entire city. But God knew that there were no righteous people in Sodom. Not even Lot was worthy of being saved. It was out His compassion for Abraham that God saved Lot (Genesis 19:16). In the end, God's plan stayed the same. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. But God's justice and compassion were also revealed, and perhaps the decision to save Lot and his family were the results of Abraham's mediation.

This is not to say that I don't believe in the absolute sovereignty of God. It is to suggest that God chooses to enact His perfect will through the prayers of His friends. Perhaps my willingness to stand in the gap--to come near to God, appeal to His character, and mediate for His creation--is exactly what God is looking for in a friend.

Tweet

God is Building His Church in Vieux Lyon

Last Sunday, there were 24 adults and 2.5 children at our worship gathering. This is the church plant in Vieux Lyon...these people ARE the church. We started as a team of 5, and even though we haven't officially launched, people are coming.

Some people find our service time and location on our website and just show up. Some have been invited to come. One of our regular attenders has brought just about everyone she knows, and some of her friends have stuck around. 

We are careful not to invite people from established churches--we do not belive in church planting by division! Most of our current attenders are students and young professionals who have not yet found a "home" church in Lyon. They come from various denominational backgrounds, and most describe themselves as "young" Christians, that is to say, newer to the faith. Some had walked away from the church for a time, but were feeling a need to find their way back to God and His family. Some are seekers. We strive to meet each person where they are, and then invite them to take the next step towards Christ.

God is building His church in Vieux Lyon, and we are privileged to be a part of it.

Next steps? We clearly need a building as we have quickly outgrown the living room in the apartment where we are currently meeting. We have found a location that would meet our needs here in our neighborhood, but there are several hurdles in front of us--one of which in financial. Even just to rent a space in Vieux Lyon, there is a large sum that must be paid upfront. It is an expense that can be recouperated if we move, but we still have to be able to make the initial investment. Please pray that if this is that place that God has chosen for us, He will open wide the doors.

The location that we are considering would have enough space for a our daily prayer meetings, our weekly worships services, and a classroom for a Regional Church Planting Training Center, which we hope to launch in the Fall of 2017. It also has a large room that would serve as shared office space. We will be able to rent out several office cubicles to people in the comminuty who are in need of such a work space, and this will help pay for the monthly rent of the entire building. This is the type of model that is needed in France, where the average church size is 50-80 people. Small congregations cannot afford to pay rent, utilities, etc. By having an income source that will also offer a useful service to the community we will not only enlarge the breadth of our social network, we will also be able to afford a building that is centrally located.

God is on the move in Lyon! Pray with us for wisdom and grace as we seek to keep in step with the Spirit. May we do all things by His strength and for His glory!

Tweet

Silence is Golden

I am failing at my goal to blog twice a week. I'm struggling to blog twice a month. But given how many words are spilled onto the web every day, it's hard to imagine that my failure to contribute to the noise could posibly be missed. In fact--it might be appreciated. Yes, "Silence is golden, golden." It's a commodity that seems to have lost its value in our world. If I had any brains, I'd end this post right there.

Yeah, we all knew that wasn't going to happen!

I feel  the need to verbalize what I am learning about shutting up.

In the course of one day, I managed to rudely correct the same person twice. Both times the correction was not over something important or even relevant. The errors were teeny tiny. They were not critical to the information being shared. They need not have had any attention at all directed at them. They should have been overlooked. I should have shut my trap. Silence, while actively listening to the real heart of the speaker, would have been the most loving response.

Me? I interrupted with corrections. I stopped the flow a perfectly engaging story to quibble over non-essentials. Non-essentials that I didn't even really care about. Why? Why did I open my mouth?

I spoke before I thought. I blurted out something without even considering how my interjection would not only be rude, but might also have belittled the speaker. I did it without even recognizing what I had done.

And then I went running.

And while I was running, the two scenes (which happened within a 12 hour span) were replayed in my mind back to back. I saw myself as an outsider looking in--I saw petty, shrill, superior me. Yuck. Sin doesn't look so bad from the inside looking out. But when I see it from the outside looking in, it's repulsive. My heart sank. For the rest of my run, I let myself feel the sadness of God over how I had treated one of His own.

While I quickly repented of my bad behavior, and while I have had the opportunity to ask for forgiveness both from God and from the beautiful young woman I interrupted, I realize that the sin God has revealed to me goes deeper than I'd like to think. This isn't an isolated incident, it's a nasty habit.  A habit from which I want to be healed. In fact, I shudder to think how many of you are nodding your heads as you read, thinking, "Yeah, Jenn, that's been an issue for a while! Are you just now figuring it out?" Yeah. I'm suppose I'm a slow learner.

So once again, for yet another reason, I'm learning to hold my tongue. To ask, "Is it necessary?" before I speak. To consider if my words will build up or tear down before I hammer them out of my mouth. To see the beauty of silence. Yes, much love can be spoken in silence.

Tweet

Because You Say So

"Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch."

Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.

Luke 5: 4-6

Sometimes Jesus asks us to do things that defy our intelligence and our experience.

Simon was a fisherman. He knew how to fish, he knew where to fish, and he knew when to fish. He had done everything that he knew to do, but for some reason, on this particular day, it hadn't worked.
Oh well, it was time to mend the nets and call it quits. Surely there'd be fish tomorrow.

Jesus has a different plan. After having comandeered Simon's boat so that he might teach the crowds who were at the beach that morning, he encourages Simon to give it another go.

Now? In  broad daylight? Now? After getting skunked all night? Now? When I'm weary and ready to go home? Really, Jesus? Are you sure?

Simon expressed his doubts. And I imagine Jesus heard them, but he was unmoved. His gaze was certainly resolute, perhaps he raised his eyebrows, and waited. So Simon says, "But because you say so, I will let down the nets."

It didn't make sense. It seemed to be an exercise in futility. And even though Simon was sure it wouldn't work, he did what Jesus asked. Because Jesus said so.

It's easy to do what Jesus asks when it makes sense. It's easy to obey when we understand why. It's easy to follow a Jesus who leads us in predictable patterns. It's easy to trust a Savior who respects human logic. But I'm not sure this is the picture of Jesus that the Bible paints.

Jesus asks lame men to get up and walk.

Jesus tells Peter to get out of the boat.

Jesus allows a prostitue to wash his feet with her hair.

Jesus takes time away from a busy ministry schedule to interact with little children.

Jesus calls Judas his friend.

Jesus dines with sinners.

Jesus beckons Lazarus from the grave.

Jesus rarely does what is "normal" or "expected." And he invites his followers to walk as he walked.

To notice the broken people. To stoop to the lowly. To befreind the betrayers. To speak life to the dying. To cast out our nets where no fish have been found, because he says so.

So here's the question: "What is Jesus saying?"

What is he saying to you, today? What is he asking you to do? Does it seem absurd? Crazy? Irresponsible? Unnecessary? And will you do it, just because he says so?

Tweet