echoes of redemption

This week in church planting… (a semi-regular update staring this week)

Spiritually
I’m learning to be myself. It’s easy to copy other people – then if people don’t like what you’re doing, you don’t have to take it personally. But I’m blessed with friends who will corner me and say, “Be Steven… it’s okay… it will even be great.”

And I need that.

So I continue on my journey of moving out of insecurity and into the security that comes from following Jesus and living in community.

Personally
We are still trying to sell our home in Keller. Tough market to say the least. We have been so blessed to have a fantastic group of realtors working with us, and we cannot be thankful enough for what they do for us.

Church planting is about relationships, and relationships take time. So we’re investing all we have and loving it. We have had an absolute blast at the jobs we’re working, and I have learned more about leadership development and healthy team structure in the past few months than any other time in my life. Secondly, we are so blessed to have a group of churches, pastors and other leaders pouring into us, preparing our hearts and minds for the future.

So there is not a moment wasted. And we continue to grow in our relationship with the God who meets the needs of his people.

Logistically

An old Jewish folk tale tells the story of a rabbi overhearing a conversation about the purpose of prayer among some of the leaders of the Law. Each one had their own take:

Reb Shmuel Lieb said: The purpose of prayer is to recognize our Oneness with God.

Reb Feivel the Light said: The purpose of prayer is to attune body and soul.

Reb Feivel the Dark said: The purpose of prayer is to open up the heart and let the heart sing its praises to God.

Reb Sholem said: It seems to me that you have overlooked the most basic purpose of prayer, which is to become a servant to God. And if you can’t be a servant first, you don’t’ have the right to be a teacher or a lover or anything else.

Then Reb Hayim Elya spoke up and said: The whole purpose of prayer is to bring down blessings. For without these blessings, prayer serves no purpose.

Then Reb Aharon joined the discussion and said: The purpose of prayer is to perform repentance, for without repentance, what is the point of prayer?

After they gave their theories they look to the only rabbi that had not spoken, because they knew that he was wise and knew the most about prayer – and the rest of the story is his answer.

They were awaiting his judgement about who was right. But he would not give himself to judging them. Instead, the rabbi united each of them together to show how each one’s perspective was needed to lift the prayers of their generation.

Which leads us to believe that they were all right. And that the purpose of prayer is layered, deep and not found in isolation.

What if my relationship with God, as life-defining as it is, only reveals a sliver of the character of God? And what if I need everyone around me to help me understand more of who he is and how I can relate to him? And what if the prayers of our generation are lifted to the heavens when all of us bring our perspectives together and share in the unity of following God?

Ancient Jewish tales talk a lot about the smell of the Garden of Eden. It seems like a strange detail to get caught on, but they describe it as this incredible, beautiful aroma that fills the air with the breath of perfection.

If you’ve ever been to a non-industrialized country, you’ve smelled the smells of humanity. Every day in America we enjoy a cacophony of scents, from our body soap to cologne, perfume, hair product and air fresheners. Things smelling like things actually smells is frowned upon. There are too many easy, and cheap, ways to remedy those kinds of smells.

In the ancient Near East, things were not so. Fabricated scents were for royalty – or at least the ultra-rich. Each day was filled with common smells, normal scents. But every once in a while you would come across the smell of something sweet. A fruit, or some flowers, and it was beautiful. Almost indescribable.

So Eden, this perfect garden, was filled with everything that smelled pleasing in the world. Fruit, flowers, trees, grass – and everyone imagined how amazing a place like this must smell.

Also common in Jewish folklore was the comparison of Eden to Heaven.

So, pleasing aromas were lacking in the cultures that came up with these tales, and Eden was the place those aromas filled the air. And Eden is a model of Heaven. What if Heaven is an endless supply of all the beauty we’re missing on Earth?

Most of us seem to be doing fine on smells (most). But there seems to be a general lack of peace, hope, grace, forgiveness and love in our culture. What if the air of Heaven is full of the breath of peace, hope, grace, forgiveness and love?

And most importantly, what if it’s the Church’s job to fill the Earth with the aroma of Heaven?