Just finished a book by Henri Nouwen titled "The Return of the Prodigal Son." It is a book that was inspired by Rembrandt's famous painting depicting Jesus' parable. Unless you have a lot of time, I don't know that I would recommend the book, however, he has a great conclusion, which may be worth your time.
He spends the first two thirds of the book talking about the roles we play, and talks about both sons, then he finishes by talking about how eventually, we should begin to take on the role of the father. We should begin to welcome people home. To be the one that expresses forgiveness, to be the one that has a party over the one who was dead. Those of you who are going to move to a whole other state just to start a church, I think God expects all of us to take on the role of the father to a certain extent. I understand we will each experience times of being the prodigal and needing to come home, and times of being the elder son and being a judgmental jerk, but overall, we are going with the purpose of starting a community of faith where there was not one before.
So that is the "devotional" side, here is the practical. OK, doing some thinking about some tentative plans. I am thinking through how we can go about a lot of things, so here is some of what I am thinking right now. Hopefully most everyone can get to Denver between July and September of 2009. Those were dates most everyone I had talked to felt fairly comfortable with, and I understand that may not work out. But I am thinking once everyone gets there that will get there, we start meeting.
Now, I think for about 2 to 3 months we can just meet, just those of us that are there with the express purpose of starting this church (which remains nameless). What we will do at those meetings is a lot like Bible study, but maybe a bit more involved. We can discuss important issues, difficult topics. Obviously the most prominent, at least in my mind, is homosexuality. We will work through the issue, and while we won't have all the answers, we can at least have a starting point, and at least be on the same page. We will also need to work through budget, and things like that. So what things do you think we will need to talk and think about?
I am thinking after we have had a chance to do that for awhile, we can expand some, begin to have worship services, specialized groups, figure out a place to meet, even if its temporary, structure children's and youth ministries, and on. This is obviously only tentative, and I really do want some of your input on how you think this can go, how you would change it, etc. I think the time where it will just be the founding core will really benefit us because we will get to know eachother better, we will have a good, unified vision, and we will all have similar goals from the outset.
Proverb of the week "A scoffer who is rebuked will only hate you; the wise, when rebuked, will love you." Proverbs 9:8. What you jokers think?
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6 comments:
I completely agree about us being the ones to welcome people home, to "have a party over the one who was dead". I like that picture.
I love the thought of having a couple months of just us being able to hang out and discuss and to pray. And I completely agree about needing to come to an agreement about homosexuality - from what I have read, Denver has one of the largest gay/lesbian/transexual populations in the country. And that excites me for the ministry opportunities available - and now makes me grateful for the numerous gays I was friends with in Brownwood - but also scares me because it is such a fine line between loving the sinner and hating the sin in a situation such as homosexuality. Anyway, many lessons are to be learned, I know.
I'm still very excited about all of this and only pray that the Lord will continue to guide and prepare each of us individually and as a group. I'm so excited about the things that lie ahead.
Merry CHRISTmas, everyone!
i think the problem we face with homosexuality is a symptom of another problem (which i'm not sure i can pinpoint right now). there is some larger, i think, dilemma we face that causes us to have a problem or a need to discuss HS. i think it would suit us well to spend some time thinking about why we have a problem with HS. We should probably look at what we all individually believe it means to be a sinner or to be saved or anything that falls in between, what these categories are inclusive and exclusive of in regards to a person's capability ethically or morally. things of that nature.
Good thoughts, I don't want us to really get into all of this here, because is it such a difficult and hard issue, it would be hard to do it justice on a blog.
A great book I just finished is titled "God in the Alley" and if you guys read only one book this year, I would recommend that. The church he has in the book is really a lot of what I think we would like to see in Denver.
Bethany, something you might look into, and I am probably going to as well, is there is a school there in Denver for underprivileged kids, kids with problems that were kicked out of other schools, I think you would be an excellent teacher there.
Grant, I think we do need to talk through those things, what do we think it really means to be saved, what is a sinner, etc. I think we need to come to a place where we know what each other think and can find common ground and the things which we must as a church agree on. hope you guys are well.
I really would like to meet up with you guys some time (Chris and Grant) just to discuss some things. When would be a good time to meet?
i'm pretty flexible. i work mornings and afternoons, but usually have weekends and evenings available.
whenever is good for me, just give me a bit of notice.
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