Missio Dei

"...the Word of God is not intended to teach us how to chatter, or make us eloquent or subtle, but to reform our lives" - John Calvin

Last week in The Gospel Class, we went through an exercise (timelines) which was designed to help us listen carefully and pay attention to what God has been doing in each of our lives. Since Sunday evening, I have had a number of discussions with some of you about this very topic. There have been revelations, reminders, aha moments, tears, etc.

What I am finding out, as Eugene Peterson also notes, is that as we look at the stories that God has and is writing that we:

...find ourselves listening and answering matters that most concern us: who we are, where we came from, where we are going, what makes us tick, the texture of the world and the communities in which we live, and — most of all — the incredible love of God among us, doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

As a pastor who is privileged to hear some many stories, I am constantly encouraged to hear how this "incredible love" is shaping so many of you. I hear through tears how God is has taken and is taking painful situations and deeply teaching and forming you. I see smiles come across your face when you talk about from where God has rescued you and is changing you. I love the stories!

As we more fully participate in God's mission, his Spirit brings our attention to those areas of our lives we have not yet fully turned over to to his control, those areas that need God's transforming grace, and reminds each of us of the deep transformative work that has already taken place. 

The story that God has written for me and for you "calls us to personal communion with the loving Lord himself" (J.I. Paker) Paying attention to the work of his Spirit in my life has been well worth my time. It has been a constant reminder for me of God's care and provision during every single dark night of the soul, bump in the road, and joy that I have encountered. 

If you are interested in hearing how God has been working in my life, shoot me an and I'll share my story with you in print form or in person. My Gospel story is something worth sharing and paying attention to... and so is yours.

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And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. — 1 Corinthians 2:1—5