11 days out. . . . the journey begins Sept. 9th

“We are condemned to live out what we cannot imagine” — Sir Thomas More

WHY> Campaign
 
Recently I was watching Charlie Rose.  For those of you who aren’t dorks like me who stay up late at night to watch boring older white men on PBS, Charlie Rose is a guy who interviews famous and not so famous people on his show.  He recently featured a journalists named Thomas Friedman.  Thomas Friedman writes books and columns about our world and the changes we are experiencing and how it affects our lives for good or ill.  He said something fascinating last week while I was sitting on my living room floor at 12:30 a.m.  He said America is the dream factory of the world.  He said, “If we can imagine it, we can do it.”  We have the kind of technology and talent to do pretty much anything we put our minds and resources into.  Have you seen any Disney Pixar pictures lately? The kids movie Cars, Shrek? These are just a few small examples of how what we imagine is only the limit to what could be reality. 

How is your imagination? Or more specifically, what kind of possibilities are you dreaming about these days.  My daughter loves watching Cinderella and she goes around the house prancing and dancing to the mantra: Your dreams will come true if you believe….Part of me thinks…”ya right, Karis, your just being set up for huge disappointments in adulthood.”  But I think there is something beautiful in her child-like faith.  I think followers of Jesus have something to learn from Disney and Hollywood.  If America is the dream factory of the world then what are American Christians dreaming about?  The Church is God’s dream factory for his purposes and his reign coming to earth.  The Church is the place where God plants dreams and visions in our hearts of what matters most in God’s reality.  God’s Kingdom……restored lives…..mended relationships….poverty ended…..spiritual and economic renewal…..the sick cared for……your neighbor finding friendship with God!   What kind of possibilities are we dreaming and imagining that God can do through our lives in our community? 

What are we dreaming and imagining God can do through our little church in the lives of those who are tired and worn out from religion or those who are exhausted from a life-time accumulation of poor choices?  Do you ever imagine what your neighbors and friends would be like if they ever came to see the beauty and love of Jesus Christ our Lord?? Do you ever imagine what our community could look like if followers of Christ dared to imagine what God could do to transform lives.  Imagine, the poor find jobs, the rich leverage their wealth for the poor, the hurt find healing, the abused receive justice and mercy, the abusers find forgiveness, the hopeless find meaning in what matters most, the bored find a mission that gives their live energy. . . the list goes on and on….The limits on God are limitless…or maybe the limits on God are only as limited as our imaginations of what God can do. 

So why doesn’t God just do it?  Why all the fuss and hard work and sacrificing of my time and re-arranging of my schedule, and why do I have to hang out with people who are not like me, and why do I have to serve and give to the point of exhaustion for seemingly anything to happen in the church??

I think it is because God wants us to always be imagining together….through prayer….through conversation…..our imaginations won’t come alive without getting our hands really dirty in God’s work.  Otherwise we won’t see the needs, we won’t feel other people’s pain, we won’t need lots of grace from God to get us through.  

WHY>
So in 11 days we are beginning our WHY> campaign.  This 40 day journey is an opportunity for us to dream and imagine with each other and with God.  This is an opportunity for us to pray, work, plan, and grow.  So let’s throw our collective energies into the expectation that God will show up.  And when God shows up what is normal or status quo simply goes out the window….this is what Jesus meant when he prayed, “Your Kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” 

Be praying now about how God can use this 40 day journey in our lives and pray that we will believe Jesus is good enough to invite our unchurched friends to join us as we tackle big questions of faith in September and October.

See you soon.