Especially to all those who were able
to make last Tuesday's gathering,
As I was not able to be with you on this last Tuesday I was wondering about some of the subject matter you discussed. Perhaps you might care to elaborate a little, particularly if there was something of real interest to you.
Thanks,
Chris.
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Hmmmmmmmm -- what in the world did we talk about???? (haha). We talked about getting together on the 11th of October, which I"ll post about separately since I'm in charge of finding an East Mountains spot. I brought up issues over the concept of going out to "save the lost" and made the comment that I'm not sure we can be SURE those we assume are lost are actually "lost" and also made the comment about us not really having the ability or power to grant salvation and how these agressive evangelical witnessing activities sometimes might put that idea in the evangelists' heads. That's what I remember mostly coming out of my own mouth! :-) Troy
Wow, Troy, that's some pretty eye-popping commentary that I wish I was there to engage in! I so love the fact that this blog and the newly formed cohort are mediums for such discussions. When you mention being "lost" and what that might entail, it gets me to thinking about what it means to be "found." I think I already know what the typical evangelical response may be, but what are some other potential renderings of what it means to be found? Any takers?
Hi all,
Good to meet you the other night. I'll add a quick response to Chris's excellent question. I think being found has something to do with discovering something bigger than ourself to live for. I met Jesus as a child trying to follow my parents rules, then I met Jesus again as a teenager who felt like I wasn't good enough, then I met Jesus again as a young adult caught up in a way of life that was distructive, then I met Jesus again when I got married and had kids and responsibilities bigger than I thought I could handle. At each point in my life I was discovering something bigger and bigger to live for. Jesus is always calling me to give up my own sense of security and trust that I will find (or be 'found' by) something that is bigger than my current reality.
Kyle,
It's funny that you mentioned that. I recently had to pause and think about my most satisfying human friendships and my relationship with God. I know that in order to grow me into the woman I need to be in the world, bad things have happened that have made me suffer. A really tough realization for me is that God can't be held within human confines. Yes, he needs me to be stronger and so bad things happen but I think it's more like a weaver where the front of a tapestry is beautiful but the back is tangled and messy. I have to admit that being a follower (and allowing myself to be so close to people) sometimes scares me. I long for some assurance that everything will be comfortable and safe but my faith and my love for God keeps me moving forward blindly. And, Kyle, you're right - my relationship with God has changed through the years too. Being "found" sometimes means just giving up our allusion of control in our own lives and that is both freeing and scary.
I think I just missed meeting you. See you soon. Alli.
Kyle and Alli,
Good input! Definitely not of the typical evangelical strand, not to put that down or anything. One of the things that I think of in terms of being found by God is how he seems to be very interested in putting questions to us rather than we always attempting to get him to answer our questions. From this standpoint, I kind of view God as being more relational than I am willing to be some of the time. As I reflect a bit more about what the both of you said about discovering something bigger than ourselves to live for and just giving up our illusion of being in control (which, by the way, does seem both freeing and scary to me, too, Alli), the whole concept of relational trust just jumps right out at me. And Troy, I think also that when we think of what it may mean to be "lost," I have to wonder if it's a good idea to think of it apart from relational trust in God, because I suspect that if this was the basis for what it means to believe in God, we might spend more time truly inviting others into such a wonderful communion as opposed to utilizing fear as a means of scaring people to God (which never really worked for me anyway).
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