A Vision for Church

Been preparing to teach the singles class at Okolona tonight and have, yet again, been struck by an alternate vision for "doing church."

I hope this doesn't come across as too rough, but sometimes it seems to me that church in our culture is little more than the 'gatekeeper to God.' What I mean by this is that church has become the entity that defines the rules, or hoops that must be jumped through in order to be saved. I am not just talking about the CoC's, but this problem crosses denominational lines.

So, we need to move from the "Church as a gatekeeper to God," to "Church as the Embracing Love of God." I came to this through reading Matthew 21-23, and the different parables/stories that Jesus tells after his authority has been questioned (Matt. 21:23-27). You have the Parable of the Two Sons, The Parable of the Tenants and then The Parable of the Wedding Banquet. The vision of the Wedding Banquet is likened to the Kingdom of Heaven, but I think it can be a vision for the Church. Don't misunderstand me, I don't equate the Kingdom of God with the church, but if we are to be a church that is living under the Kingdom Rule then I think it fits.

This vision included invitations....NOT TO CHURCH!! But invitations to God's Feast. Invitations to become everything God has dreamed us to become. Invitations to know the one who created us. And the list of invitations goes on and on.

Matt. 22:9-10 "Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find. So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests."

That is the type of church I want to be, and long to be a part of.....not more gatekeeping......

Jackson Walker, some other stuff

Emily and I finally decided on the name of our baby boy coming in September. Jackson Walker Hanauer, Jackson W. Hanauer, J.W. Hanauer, J.W.H.

Kinda has a ring to it if you ask me. Kinda Presidential....yeah!? Well maybe not, but we like it.

In other news, my life is flying by faster than I can keep up with. Work is busy, Kylie is almost two and Emily and I have been married almost 5 years. Really finding it quite challenging to live for each moment. Finding God in each moment proves to be even more challenging.

What do you think about this quote:

"The most important thing about us, is what we think of, when we think of God."

If our view of God, The Creator, is messed up then does it matter what we think about other things relating to Him? Nope. And let me tell you, our view of God is seriously messed up at times.

Another Favorite

I don't have a lot of favorites. Don't have a favorite color. Don't have a favorite meal. Don't have a favorite restaurant.

I did however establish a favorite dessert tonight! Emily, Kylie and I went to the Cheesecake Factory, and we had the Godiva Cheesecake. In the words of "Backpack", "Yum-Yum-Yum, Delicioso!"

Kylie spent her first night in her "big girl" bed last night. She did great, although she did wake up at about 2:15am, but Emily was able to get her right back to sleep. She didn't however have a great nap experience in her bed. Actually she didn't take a nap at all today. I just finished putting her to bed tonight, and everything seemed fine, so I don't think this is going to be a HUGE deal for her.

Kylie has also learned the "Lord's Prayer." She almost brought tears to my eyes tonight as she recited it. I have really grown to love that prayer because it contains everything we need to talk to God about. It is such a special prayer and I am excited that my daughter knows it at such a young age.

Just about 2 months until the arrival of our son. Still haven't quite nailed down the name, but Max and Levi seem to be the front runners. I think either one would be a nice name for him! Can't wait for him to get here!!

Testament

Picked up a new fictional biography about the life of Jesus entitled Testament. It is written from 4 different people's viewpoint (Judas Iscariot, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus and Simon).

I am currently reading Judas perspective on the holy man, and thought the following words were interesting:

"Like the Pharisees he subscribed, or so it seemed, to the idea of resurrection, believing no god would have set us to suffer on this earth, where the wicked prospered and the just were punished, without the chance of a final reckoning. Yet he would not say it was the body that rose into the heavens at death, when clearly it went to the worms, nor would he say the soul, as the Greeks did, but rather that we must not think in such ways as life and death, or body and soul, as if one was distinct from the other; for in that way we would only come to value one at the other's expense, and live as gluttons and libertines, not thinking of death, or live as ascetics, and miss our lives. For my part, I thought it coyness at first that he did not put the thing more clearly, or sign that he himself had not worked it through. But over time I came to see a wisdom in his approach, and the folly of putting into words notions that by their very nature, like God himself, must exceed our undertanding."

Our view of God/Heaven often times finds this world very separate from the "sweet by and by." I have no doubt it will be different, but there is real danger in our current teaching. I thought it was an interesting thought/observation of the teaching of Jesus. I am coming to believe that our lives on this earth will be very much connected to our "continuing" life after we die. In this life we are being transformed into the image of Christ, and when we die we will be fully transformed.

I also enjoyed the last line of the quote, and believe this is why Jesus chose to speak in Parables, especially when teaching about the Kingdom. We simply don't have the words to express certain truths about the mysteries of God and our lives....

My Father-In-Law is CRAZY!

Thought the title might cause some to read a little more closely. Actually I don't think he is crazy at all, but someone whose love for Christ I admire and respect very much. I wanted to post a comment he made on a one of my posts (Baptism and our kids) as I didn't think many would go back to read it....

"Adam, I love your insights into these topics. What has crossed my mind lately is just how important is our individual response to Jesus? Don't take me wrong, I don't mean that I can live off my mother's and father's faith, but just how important is it that I make each decision independently. I haven't looked into the scriptures deeply, but a few families come to mind. Cornelius, Philippian jailer, and Lydia. All of their families came to faith in Jesus at the same time the head of the house did. Somehow I doubt that they all had simultaneous emotional and intellectual responses to the message being preached to them. Actually, when I think about it I think our focus on independent response may be more of an American cultural thing rather than scriptural. What I think is most important is that it relates more to submission than it does acceptance. Jesus wants us to submit more than He wants us to concur. I wanted our children to make their own choices. But when I think about my 'walk' I realize that it has in NO Way been a point in time event, exactly the opposite."

Thanks for the thoughtful comments!

Heaven on Earth

Tuesday Emily went to her weekly ladies bible study. The leader of that bible study asked what they think about when they think of Heaven. What are some things you think of when you think of our eternal home with the Father? I have been pondering that question this week.....

Do you believe you can experience Heaven on earth? I do. Jesus prays your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Do we experience the inbreaking of the kingdom? If we do/have, then maybe we have tasted Heaven in some way. If we watch TV or read the news it won't take us long to find Hell on earth, but I want so badly to believe that God is working out his purposes in this world in small and big ways.

Getting to watch my daughter grow up is Heaven on earth to me. Sometimes I will just sit on the floor and watch her. I can get lost in just observing her read a book, play with her toys or sing her songs. It brings me inexpressable joy! And then I look at my pregant wife and I think of all the girls that I could have married and how blessed I am to have Emily, and the love we have already been able to share together.

Heaven has broke, and is breaking into the Hell we have created on earth. I can't wait until it is the "law of the land" for all eternity.

The greatest game

I think the reasons I like baseball so much might be the same reasons people dislike baseball so much. It is a slow game, but little things are happening all over the place. If you are watching for them they can make the difference in the game. If you are lucky you might watch a game with a lot of action, but of the 162 games played every year about 1/2 will be 'boring.'

So, as the Reds go....so goes my life. Filled with ups and downs, with 8 game winning streaks and 4 game losing streaks. Games where they seem to hit everything thrown at them, and then the very next night make a rookie look like Nolan Ryan(sp). But in the end, after a long grueling season, it is usually the teams that do the "little things" right that end up in the playoffs.

There is no need to focus on "hitting homeruns" in life. They may or may not come, but what will make the difference in the end are how you did in the "little things." How do you respond to your spouse when you are not in the best of moods? What do you talk about with your family? How do you treat your co-workers? What are you doing when no one is watching?

So sometimes running out a ground ball will turn out to be just as important as hitting one out of the ball park.

Holy Father, teach us to be faithful in the small things. For that is where the game will be won!