the Vine

On the journey into faith, through belonging and into belief, just what are we becoming along the way? The question is not if you are being formed. The question is whether or not you are paying attention to what's forming you. Paul speaks to his church in Philippians 1:1-11, telling them he prays that their love would grow in the knowledge of God and in moral discernment, so that they might be free to pursue that which is truly better, so that they would be free from sin that entangles them, and so that their life in Christ would bear much fruit in the world. 

"Only God could say what this new spirit

—Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ

Imagine we’re all there at a table right in front of the pathway. And we’re all having a great time eating and serving and helping and talking. In fact, we’re having such a great time that more and more people are walking by and are stopping for a while because, well, who doesn’t want to have a great time? Everything is going well there at the entrance but then we remember, there’s a pathway. The pathway was given as a gift to us and it leads to even fuller and longer lasting pleasures than what we are experiencing now. Even as we walk the pathway, we’re told that there is an abundant life of joy and peace and strength and purpose and power. But we won’t experience any of that as long as we just hang out here by the entrance. We won’t get to the eternal life and home that’s been prepared for us by staring at the path. If we want it, we’ll have to walk it.

This is where the step of belief comes in. The step of belief is the step onto the pathway.

Jesus was compelled by a greater joy, greater than having friends, than building his movement, greater than full pews and vibrant programs. This greater joy was the joy of what was lost being found again, of the lost one coming home. He saw the world as lost. Jesus knew he had come to seek and save the lost and so, everywhere he went, in every way he could, he extended the invitation to everyone, “come home.”

How was Jesus moved by Joy?

• invested disproportionate energy in seeking outsiders

• served humbly, skillfully, giving of himself

• invited others to imagine his joy and to share in it

So what does it mean for us to be a place of belonging in Jesus’ name?

• a disproportionate amount of energy will have to be invested in others, especially outsiders

• a greater level of humility and service will have to be shared by all

• a greater imagination of heaven’s joy will have to be grasped

A singular passion has always been the center of the authentic life of faith, but it is always at war with a thousand lesser things. When this passion is restored to us, everything else falls into its rightful place. We begin to discover life and love and belonging and adventure as it was all meant to be from the day of creation. From the day of your creation, you were made to know and love God. Augustine said “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” Every human person on the face of the earth was made to know and love God. Not in a far-off, phony-religious way. Not in a self-serving, self-centered spirituality kind of way. In a way where He Himself is our greatest passion.

It is the rediscovery of that passion that will reorient our lives, reignite the embers of faith in our heart, and puts us on the path of becoming who we were created to be.

Anxiety dominates life in the modern world. Jesus invites his followers to a better way; a way of trust and of giving yourself away.

Jesus’ admonition, his instruction to you and me, is to give and to pray and to fast and to daily practice this better righteousness of the Kingdom in every facet3, not for the praise from an audience of our peers but for the praise from an audience of One. He is the one who sees all that is done, both in public and in secret.

In Matthew 5:38-48, Jesus challenges his followers to break the cycle of anger and payback. He calls us to surprise the world with grace in, well, surprising ways.

When there's so much talking all around us, when everyone is speaking about what they claim is the most important thing, when promises are made and broken, when there's so much noise, how do we keep from adding to it? How do we let our words be meaningful and true? Jesus shows us that, in the Way of the Kingdom, to tell the truth means to (1) say it straight, (2) say it simply, (3) say what you mean, and (4) say no more.