So here are a few of my thoughts on what it will look like for me (and us) to live a baptized life.

What does the baptized life look like? It looks like your life -- when you are cooperating with the work of God in your life and in the world around you. To be baptized 'in the name of Jesus' (Acts 2:38) and 'in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit' (Matthew 28:19-20) is to be submerged into the reality of Jesus' messianic mission and "to live your life as Jesus would if he were you" (thanks again Dallas).

Okay, now that I put that down I feel like I need to explain what I think Jesus' messianic mission was and how we are submerged into the reality of it. Really, Dallas' little phrase says it plainly, but let me suggest a few specific things. First, I think it means that we will, as apprentices of Jesus, need to change the way we see ourselves as well as the world around us. We will need to see that we live according to a different story than the rest of the world. This will require a shift in our self-conception and communal-conception and world-conception. It will be much like Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 5.

Also, we will represent the character of Jesus. We will live differently--not in the superficially weird way too many church people think of 'different'--because of this alternate story. It will be a more fundamental difference (relationships of kindness, generosity, and forgiveness, rather than isolation, greed, and contempt).

Also, we will participate in the mission of Jesus where we are now and here. We will be about the same thing Jesus was about--namely, the proclamation of the present availability of the ruling and reigning of God (kingdom of God). And we will proclaim it with actions, images, AND words (yes, words are still good things). We will love what Jesus loved and do what he did. In fact, he said that we would do even greater things than he did (yeah, I choke on that one sometimes, too).

Stanley Hauerwas said, "Being Christian is a way of life; it's being part of God's story.... Being Christian doesn't mean following a set of rules of principles; Christianity depends on the character of people's lives. The Gospel has no meaning unless it can be lived out and embodied in people's lives. That's why the lives of the saints are so important. To be Christian means to praise and glorify God. The lives of Christians look different from other people's lives. When Christians try to look the same as everyone else, they find themselves in all sorts of quandries." (from "Christianity: It's Not a Religion: It's an Adventure," published in U.S. Catholic 56, no.6 (June 1991), pp.6-13.)

I hope my life today will look a little different from other people's lives.

I read these refreshing words from Dallas Willard recently..."When we gather in our meetings, however, we do not come to see how the speaker and other leaders do. We are not checking their performance. We come to encounter the Trinitarian presence and to hold them up within it. That is our expectation....We expect to find Christ in others and that is all we are looking for. We don't worship "worship" or a fine service or impeccable teaching or fine-looking people." (from "Renovation of the Heart," p.247)
Of course, Dallas is not giving us an excuse to be lazy or sloppy. Rahter, he is reminding us to major on majors (i.e., encountering God together).

My question to wrestle with today: "What will it look like for me (and us) to live a baptized life?"

Talked to a friend of mine today who is a real encouragement to me. In our conversation, we both came to see how easy it is to talk about community, but how difficult it is to live it out. It really gets messy. You risk getting burned--and often you do get burned. Hey, people are stupid and insensitive and wrong sometimes. Sometimes you just catch them after they've had some bad cabbage.

But God has given us these people 'for better or for worse,' and we had better start learning to give each other some slack as well as some love (which may mean sacrificing our time, money, possessions, not to mention our right to tell each other off). Let me say that I think this is happening within our group. I just think we will need to keep putting it before ourselves, because we need each other. To a degree, we need to work through tough times on our own (I have to deal with my inner life), but we also need to share our burdens with other people (trusted apprentices of Jesus).

We need to face the inherent problems with our individualistic mindsets, and submit ourselves to one another. Do you see how our story is in conflict with our culture there? Patience, love, vulnerability, forgiveness, joy, perseverance...these things are not easy or natural apart from a life immersed in the Spirit of Jesus. Let it be our goal, then, to do the risky, painful things that will enable us to make them the natural and easy way of life (easy and natural because of God's continued action in our lives).

Life Between the Meetings...

Someone recently encouraged me by telling me that my teaching brings God into the ordinary. I hope so, because that’s where most of us live. We are called to be a group of people living under the ruling and reigning of God, and we are only faithful to that calling when God is visibly present in ‘the ordinary’ parts of our lives together.

Recently, following a viewing of Star Wars Episode II, I sat in Applebee’s with two of my friends. We ordered quesadillas at 10:30pm--not always a wise thing to do--and talked about the movie for a while. After we had exhausted that subject, we talked about what it means to be the church.

As I sat there listening and sharing in the conversation, I realized that the church had come to Applebee’s. There we were, the three of us in this ordinary conversation with Christ in the center. As I think about that experience, and many others like it, I remember something I heard recently. Jonathan Lee, a church planter in Odenton, Maryland said, “Church is not about the meetings. It’s about life between the meetings.”

The church is not about a person (“I go to some locally famous pastor’s church”), place (“I go to the Crystal Cathedral”), or event (“I went to the service this morning”).1 The church is about people ‘sharing life together’ with Christ in the center. It is about the radical transformation that happens by God’s action in our lives during the everyday, ordinary events and non-events of life together.

Let’s be thinking about our lives between the meetings and how we can increasingly invite Christ to take his place in the center of our relationships.
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(1) Thanks for this idea go to Todd Hunter.

Summer has landed...Now everyone will start complaining about the heat. Well, I've been tempted, but no matter how hot it gets, I am going to try to refrain from complaining. We had enough winter for two years, and I think the warm weather is just fine...man, it's getting hot...

We had our bonfire gathering on Sunday. I had a great time, but I think I ate too much (an easy thing to do at our gatherings). Ruth sent out some information on a couple that need help planting flowers. Here's the information she sent:

"Thereis a couple where the wife is disabled and the husband is working extra

hours to help cover their expenses. She would very much like her flowers

planted, she had tried it on occasion and has paid for it in her health

for several days afterward. I will be contacting her on Wednesday to see

when she would like them planted. I would appreciate it if you could let

me know if there are any times available yet this week. If we have

several helping hands it won't take long."


Other news...Jeremy will be leading our communion meal this week...I've placed a couple of other links here on the blog (look on the right side of the page)...please be praying for my friend Kevin, that he will find a job (he used to do the computer networking for Spartan but was 'downsized')...call someone this week and ask them how you can help them, or just take them out for ice cream and conversation...

Random comments...I picked up a book called, "The Hauerwas Reader." It is a compilation of writings from this provocative theologian. He makes me laugh and cry and rethink my life. ...I had a very exciting conversation with Eric VB on Sunday. Thanks, Eric, for 'getting it'. And sorry if I talked too much. ...I want to point you to a guy I talked to at Search Party 2002, named Mark David Gray/ He's an extremely thoughtful artist who is also into quantum physics. I found his pieces fascinating. You can see some of his stuff here. ...and lastly (for now)... Next Monday,I will be meeting with some women pastor-types to discuss some pretty challenging passages (Genesis 34, Judges 4, and Judges 11)...I want to get the female perspective on these before I teach about the texts. Pray that our discussion will be helpful. Peace of Christ to you.

That last post (below) was a bit of deconstruction--not always helpful when it remains deconstructed. So here's a first step toward reconstructing how we might approach our use of money...

What if our giving flowed out of our compassion for the needs of others instead of obligation? Sure, it is often necessary to do things out of obligation or a sense of duty. But we will only do things from obligation for so long. Eventually we will resent the obligation--unless of course it is transformed into something done out of love.

Where might this lead in our conversation about giving money? It may lead us to think of giving beyond the 'institution' and giving where God shows us there is need. This, I think, is a more Biblical approach to distribution of the possessions God has entrusted to us. What business do we have spending millions on a facility while there are people in our faith communities who are truly in need? Frankly, I think it is embarassing.

I wonder about the ethicality of "stewardship campaigns." I always feel like the church is really just trying to increase giving to continue feeding the institution. "We need a new sanctuary!" Maybe, maybe not. I know a church with modest facilities and they have over 2,000 people participate in their gatherings every weekend. If you're too big for where you are, why not form a second community? Well, big buildings are not evil--I was in awe when I saw the Notre Dame up close! I just want to approach giving apart from any hint of manipulation--whether it's guilting people into giving more or promising them that God will bless them if they give more. Something about that just smells bad to me.

What to read something that will mess with your paradigm? Did you know that (as far as I can tell from my study) money was never given as an offering in the Bible? Boy that's really going to screw up some people's building campaigns... And the tithe was NEVER associated with money. It really screws up your whole approach to increasing the profit margin (church budget) to take away the whole idea of tithing ten percent of your paycheck..."What do you mean it's not in the Bible?"
Well, maybe our approach to money in the church has been wrong-headed. Think about all the money we invest into buildings and programs and other things (not evil in themselves). I just wonder if we might be more effective if we invested our resources in people rather than institutions? I look at what Jesus' earliest apprentices gave their money and possessions for, and I see that they just gave where people were in need so that nobody would be in need. That sounds pretty simple. But of course, you have to watch out for people who take advantage of that... Well, maybe, but I kind of remember reading that Jesus said something about giving without expecting to be repaid. And I remember Paul writing something about wealthy people needing to be rich in good deeds.

Just something for us to think about before we get into budgets, buildings, and (oh, what's another 'b'-word?)... whatever.

A couple of bits from a little 'stream of consciousness' thinking I was doing yesterday while drinking some hot tea at Panera Bread...
To embody a life of offering, we will have to reject the will to power that is a hallmark of our culture today. As for me, I will need to live in the reality of the relinquishment of my will...my perceived need of comfort...my 'self-directed' life.
Living as apprentices to Jesus means living increasingly under God's will...living a God-directed life.

I got an email from a guy named David in Colorado today. He wrote, "I would love to blog on your site. I have been watching your site and have listed it in KingdomTrends.org Directory. You really are a mover and shaker out there."
One blog entry reads, "Check out Water's Edge Community.
They have a cool weblog I have linked to. These guys seem to be figuring things out up their. They were @ Search Party 2002. Why didn't I go again? Keep it simple stupid. (KISS)"

Thanks David for your encouraging words.

I recently finished Dallas Willard's new book, "Renovation of the Heart". It is an excellent examination of the nature of spiritual transformation. Recently, several of us were able to hear Dallas teach some of what is in the book. His writing makes so much sense to me, and I am thankful for what God is doing in the life of the Church through Dallas. Another of God's gifts to the church is Todd Hunter. Randy and I were having a meal with a new friend at Search Party 2002 and our friend said that Todd was one of God's greatest gifts to the church today. Todd would probably thank him for the kind words, but I'm not sure if he would agree. Well, Todd, even if you don't agree, I will say that you have been one of God's greatest gifts in my life over the past few months.
Thank God for Todd and Dallas today.

This Sunday night, we will be gathering together around a bonfire @ Micandy Gardens on 48th Ave, just north of Baldwin Street. We have been looking for more ways that we can "play" together, so we're going to spend some time singing (Kyle Haack will be with us) and eating (which we do well) and playing badminton (the jury's still out on that one).

There is a new image on our gallery page. It is a d.i. of a painting I did for Easter 2002. It has so far been incorporated into several worship experiences.

What is our unit of measure for 'success'?
I think we need to be honest with ourselves about this question. Have we been conditioned by our culture to measure the effectiveness of what we are doing by the number of people who attend our gathering? Should not the measure of our 'success' rather be in how we are living in the Trinitarian reality? Shouldn't we be looking at how we, as a community and individuals, are becoming 'the cooperative friends of Jesus?'

To those who have been invited, and those who would like to be invited...

Join the weblog party and join in the discussion with Water's Edge.

contact joel @ jmcclure@watersedge.tv to request your invitation to the 'blog.'

peace,
joel

Our Beliefs

I have had the feeling that our beliefs might not be best demonstrated in ten bullet points. Yes, of course, we must stand somewhere, and yes, we will stand in the historic position of the Church on issues related to salvation. However, to say that still requires further distinction. And this is where we draw lines so that we may make involved declarations of what we do not believe more than living what we do believe.

We endeavor to place higher emphasis on embodying the teaching of Jesus, to the best of our understanding (which we believe is increasing under the guidance of the Holy Spirit).

We endeavor, as apprentices of Jesus Christ, to place our lives increasingly under the ruling and reigning of God, so that God might use us to further His ruling and reigning in the rest of humanity.

We endeavor, as students of Jesus, to grow in our understanding of God’s great story as we are swept up into the plan He has been accomplishing since the Creation.

We understand the universe to be created by the God who reveals Himself most specifically in the Scriptures.

We hold firmly to the historic position of Jesus’ apprentices that God is one, and yet mysteriously God exists in three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.

We understand that the current condition of human beings has altered from its designed course and purpose, which was to live in a loving relationship with our Creator and with one another.

The alternate course that all human beings now choose leads us away from living freely under the ruling and reigning of our Creator God. This alternate way of life leads human beings to consistently choose to put themselves in the place of God, which, naturally, leads them away from God. We call this “living in the wrong story,” and it ultimately leads people to a ruined life—a life apart from God.

We understand that God has not abandoned his creation to this course of self-destruction, but has been working all along for its redemption—He has been working to save us from our self-destructive “alternate story.”

We understand that his plan reached its fulfillment in the Teaching and Miracles, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah. We believe that Jesus the Messiah is the unique Son of God, and shared fully in our humanity in every way, except that he always lived completely in God’s story—he was without sin.

We believe that Jesus the Messiah exists in the form of God—he is in his very nature God.

We believe that Jesus the Messiah is the singular hope and path for human beings to be rescued from their alternate story (and their ruined condition and destiny), and rescued into God’s Story (back into their intended condition and destiny).

We understand that salvation is more than “getting into heaven.” We believe that salvation means that we are saved into a life of abundant, creative goodness that is available here and now, and will continue into eternity—this is the eternal life. This abundantly good life is realized as we live increasingly under the ruling and reigning of God.

We understand that this life of abundant, creative goodness begins in a person when the Holy Spirit of God takes up residence in the life of a human being. Jesus spoke of this being a spiritual “rebirth” in which we are made alive to God. The Holy Spirit empowers people to live increasingly in God’s story as they cooperate with God’s action in their lives.

We understand that the collective group of Jesus’ apprentices (the Church) is called to be a touch point between heaven and earth. The Church is to be a community where the healing of the Cross and the Resurrection can save those living in alternate stories, and grow those who have been rescued back into God’s story into the fullness of human beings in Christ.(1) That is why we say we are a missional community helping people become passionate followers (or apprentices) of Jesus Christ.

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(1) See Dallas Willard's, "Renovation of the Heart," p.11.