This thought has been in my mind for a while and just recently I have stumbled on a website called Thrive Ministries it is a missional based ministry, concerning creating an authentic community, and living out Missio Dei or the Mission of God; which is the idea that God is actively working to restore his creation to wholeness. This has put a hop in my step thinking about creating a community where we as God's children can come together in total honesty and trust to heal the wounds that cover us, were we can learn to love each other's true self the self that God created. My whole life I have been thinking along this path, that I want something deeper where I can shed the false self I have created and have a true community that I can trust and be trusted in. Where I can be healed and help others heal. A place where love permeates and we can help each other learn to love our spouses and children more, and spread the healing and redemption of the whole world. This is what I feel that Jesus was talking about, bringing God's Kingdom here. Something here and now not just a prayer that we pray so that someday we will live for eternity with God, we all need that relationship with God healed.
From Thrive I heard a quote from author Parker Palmer that expresses this quite well "Afraid that our inner light will be extinguished or our inner darkness exposed, we hide our true identities from each other, in the process we become separated from our own souls. We end up living divided lives so far removed from the truth we hold within that we cannot know the integrity that comes from being who we are." he also said "How can affirm anothers identity when I deny my own, how can trust anothers identity when I defy my own." A thank you from me goes out to Thrive Ministries for futhering my walk with God...
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7 months ago
4 comments:
I love you!
Hi Cheyne,
This is a difficult post for me to respond to. I considered saying nothing, and after talking about it with another Christian I still am unsure what to say. I will say this, it is the desire of all humans to have this connection and depth of relationship with others. I think it is God given for the wealth and good of all. But I have never seen it lived out in a church fellowship. Certainly some are closer than others, and I have had friendships with one or two that developed, but never seen it on a large scale. I have often wondered about that and have come to few conclusions. But a few things I have seen in me - I would rather spend time with a very close friend, than just about anything. I would willingly leave family behind to enjoy the carefree enjoyment of close friendships. This of course is less than enchanting for my wife and family. A friend makes far less demands on us than our domestic life; friends can be escapes from the pressure of homelife. They require little of us, and if they begin too, we can divorce them with little complication. So I am left to wonder a bigger question - why is it so difficult to build in our home, with those we would die for, this kind of rewarding connection, that we seek with outsiders? I truly don't know the answer to that but it seems like it may be of great importance.
I'll leave off there and see what it brings to your mind.
God bless,
Fred
Hey Fred, thank you for your thoughtful post. For me in my life I have had one very close friend for the past 12 years, which is Candice, she truly knows me like no other, my sins and my shortcomings. For that I am truly lucky and truly thankful to God. But my mind goes back to Acts and the communities that the early church created, ch 2 v44 "All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people." I always wanted to truly be a part of a community, even before I became a christian, and so when Jesus started to pull me in, I came to this passage and my heart skipped a beat. And I realized that it was God tugging me in this direction the whole time.
I am starting a men's group in my church this summer which will meet one every other week for two hours or so, with the aim of coming together to be truly honest with one another and hopefully heal some of the wounds we all walk around with. And to me that will help me more than anything for me to be more present and loving to my wife and kids, hearing others and their journey, will, I hope, spark that flame in each of us to be the kind of husbands and fathers that we wish we were.
And I hope that these relationships will move past the point of friendship and to the feeling of family. I know that I am always willing to have more brothers in my family.
Well as always I truly value the things that you say and they truly speak to my heart. Thank you for your friendship.
Grace and Peace to you and your family,
Cheyne
Hi Cheyne,
I have this feeling about you; that you may be just the guy that can facilitate the warm and open forum to get guys to open up and experience some true fellowship, the kind that leaves an afterglow in the heart and mind.
My oldest son Eric has experienced this to some degree at different times. Not always with a continuing outcome, but in the eternal perspective, who knows what good was done? Maybe far more than we will ever know.
If I were there I'd come and give it a shot.
God bless the effort,
Fred
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