category 4 - the poor you will always have with you

If I move on from my last post within 'LovingGodLovingPeople', please don't assume I have my love deficiency issues nailed - I don't.

I do, however, have a desire to get some thoughts down about the 'poor' (category 4 in reading between John's lines). To be clear from the outset, I reckon, given the Beatitudes, you could make just about anybody 'poor' - for now, I'm talking about materially poor.

Let me illustrate from Isaiah 58:6-9 (Message)

This is the kind of fast day I'm after:
   to break the chains of injustice,
   get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
   free the oppressed, cancel debts. 

What I'm interested in seeing you do is:
   sharing your food with the hungry,
   inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
   putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
   being available to your own families. 

Do this and the lights will turn on,
   and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
   The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
   You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am'.

Our stance at the Christian Centre Nottingham (CCN) is that everybody who considers themselves a follower of Christ should be intentionally serving the poor (STP) in some way, shape or form...regularly with both time & money.

I have the privilege of working with 58i, the STP ministry of CCN, set up with Isaiah 58 as a motivating scripture to facilitate people serving the poor. The ministry is full of great people, from CEO right thro' to the volunteers, making a real difference in people's lives by knowing them.

Tony Campolo came & spoke for us on one of our STP vision days. He said many fascinating & challenging things that day (he also dropped the 'f' word twice which was priceless). My lasting memory, however, is this quote "If you say you care about the poor...you'll know some of their names".

Q: How are you doing on knowing some poor?

I have already referenced Andy Stanley in a previous blog (around the concept of tensions to be managed). He came up with something else that caused me to pause for thought in one of his recent Leadership podcasts, "do for one, what you would wish you could do for everyone". He talked about a depth of relationship which may well be long term & require time as well as money.

Q: What are you doing for one?

Returning to Isaiah 58, I love the clarity of the verses, I also love the seeming cause & effect. It starts with the things God is "interested in seeing you do"...

1. sharing your food with the hungry
2. inviting the homeless poor into your homes
3. putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad
4. being available to your own families

It goes on to spell out the results of us acting like this, though to be clear, I'm not suggesting we 'do' the 4 to get the 6...

1. Do this and the lights will turn on
2. and your lives will turn around at once
3. Your righteousness will pave your way
4. The God of glory will secure your passage
5. Then when you pray, God will answer
6. You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am

There are so many places one could go from there, including a suggestion that if we aren't holding up our end, God can't answer "when you pray", but I'm proposing to leave all that with you.

My final thought is around STP within, "being available to your own families". This idea is supported elsewhere, notably Galatians 6, you might even suggest this is the first aspect to address before moving on. We sometimes struggle with the idea of being seeker friendly & reaching the lost. If we were truly a community of people who looked out for & after one another, I have a suspicion the lost would find us.

Enough for now - yours in HIm

Jonathan

reading between John's lines

I can't quite believe it, but I'm about to hit LoveGodLovePeople again. Rest assured, it's not that I'm stale or myopic, just unable to escape this theme in my meditations & hence seeking to be true to that 'in print'. That said, it's sufficiently reoccuring to warrant it's own category, now created with three previous posts reclassified.

During a sharing time in CCN staff a couple of months ago, I did a version (with help from a flip chart) of backwards mirror of loving people. During that time, I went further than in my post, referencing

1. those that know us & love us
2. those that know us but don't love us
3. those we don't yet know at all &
4. those we don't yet know at all who are ' poor'

In blogging (including lessons from the littles & let's get to scripture), I haven't gone to the 'extremes' - concentrating on category 1, flirting with the thought of the less lovable (category 2) & ignoring the rest. Today I'm going to start to address that gap, it will take my a few posts!

The latest prompt came from reading John 13 - the section where Jesus washes the feet of His disciples. We aren't told that He washed Judas' feet, but since he is named as being there both before & after, I'm going to assume his participation.

I have a tendency to sometimes read the bible at a bit of a pace, something I'm keen to rectify. When I take more time & consider the context, I often find myself with extra thoughts to ponder...Jesus knew what Judas was up to (every bit of it) & He washed his feet! Take a minute - for Jesus to be washing anyone's feet was strange & culturally incorrect, but Judas was

• the fella who ran their money & was bent with it
• the chap He'd spent three years pouring His life into who was about to betray Him
• the bloke whom Satan had firmly in his grip (v.2) & was about to enter (v.27)

Jesus chose to love through serving. I've already confessed to finding it difficult to even love some of the people I do know, even when they love me. Now I have to get my head round loving people who know me yet don't love me...do me a favour.

The next step would be to consider one of the final two categories (the unknown & the poor) - truth is I'd love to rush on & whilst massively challenged by our need to work with & love the 'poor', I'd be letting myself off the hook by doing that.

So, here I sit & ponder my attitude & the state of some relationships. Am I dissatisfied enough (ref epiphany & equations), to actually do something about it? I hope so & I guess we'll find out.

Yours - signed up for the long haul

Jonathan

lessons from the littles

In backwards mirror of loving people I made a start on my thoughts around Loving God:Loving people. I wasn't planning to revisit this topic again, preferring to share some thoughts (as suggested in my last post) on 'magnify'. Whilst those thoughts are fine, maybe even good, they have been dwarfed by my reflections during the past 24 hours.

I had the privilege of being in with the Christian Centre (CCN) 'Elevators' yesterday morning (11-13's). In preparing, given they have been experiencing more of God's presence the last few weeks, I felt to talk with them about the absolute necessity of loving people if we are to & truly do love God. The core scripture was...

The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You've got to love both - 1 John 4:21 (Message)

 ...& we had a few thoughts to guide a conversation rather than have a teaching time. I thought I'd ceased to be surprised when kids show a level of knowledge & understanding they're 'not supposed to' but when one of them started talking about 'knowing' during the first service I was truly gob-smacked. The reality is that at that point the leaders & kids were all on the same page!!

I had spent time the previous evening with an Elevate leader & we'd gotten to talking - during this time we'd discussed the need for us to know & be known (to love & be loved), I think I'd even gone as far as to say that when I looked round CCN staff at those I didn't yet love, it tended to be those I didn't yet know.

Q - is there anybody you need to get to know better?

The other outstanding point that came out yesterday was that we all have defaults. Kids of 11 & 12 don't know or use that word, but they are there for sure. In both of our morning's conversations, on multiple occasions, we heard... I'm not used to, people will think I'm strange...

Q - got any lousy defaults that need resetting?

Towards the end of our (first service) time, we were treated to another gem. To ensure we all understood what we were getting into, we made a series of statements that got progressively more 'uncomfortable' to embrace. As we were getting to the meat of it, one boy raised his hand. The way we'd set things up, this was supposed to mean he disagreed with the statement. He, however, had a question - am I raising my hand if I disagree or can I do it if I dislike what that statement means!

Within a John Piper tweet recently was this phrase "Come on the lookout for God, leave on the lookout for people". To be fair, he was talking in the context of Sunday church hospitality, I'm pretty sure it extends beyond those front doors when we leave.

I made a commitment along with the kids yesterday that this week, for a defined person, in a defined way, I was going to change my defaults & love them better. That rubber's about to hit the road & I suspect before the week's out I'll have some 'dislike' moments. The cause is worth the cost - care to join us?

Jonathan

PS to the Dad of the boy who rocked me to my core yesterday (you know who you are). You should be extremely proud of yourself as a Dad & your son as an emerging young man of God - love you man

backwards mirror of loving people

The logical side of me heavily influences the way I 'consume' scripture - it's something I've come to embrace & enjoy. Recently, it has caused me to consider some scriptures backwards. I started by asking myself whether I gave freely, especially in the area of grace (Romans 3:23), came to the conclusion I didn't & found myself questioning how freely I truly believe I have been given (Matthew 10:8) grace.

That got me to Jesus' boiled down version of the bible

Love God - Love people

Now approached head on, I convince myself that I do love God (and for the record, I do). However, if I come at it backwards by asking how much I truly love people (including the less lovable ones!), I'm left with a wholly unconvincing picture of my love for God (1 John 4:12). I find this a healthy place to be, one of fuller comprehension rather than of condemnation and wouldn't want anybody to feel like they're getting beaten up - that's just not my style. Challenging yes - a bully no.

Now on a roll, I wanted to go on and explore whether there was a backwards reason that might help me unlock a greater love for God and I came across Luke 7

...therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven - for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little

Matthew Henry in his commentary puts it like this

Loving much is not the cause but the effect of her pardon

Let's face it, even a good me ain't that nice, but to know that I can not be loved anymore than I am by God almighty Himself is quite mind blowing. The thing is, the more I get that, the more I will love Him and the more I love Him, the more I will love people.

Enjoy God's backwards kingdom

Jonathan

let's get to scripture

Having used up my first four posts for some necessary basics, it would only be right to start proper with bible. I'm the kind of guy who reads the bible as prompted rather than to a pattern. Another aspect of my reading, is that it's very rare that I carry the same verse for months; but this is currently the case.

Let me (re)introduce you to 1 Thessalonians 3:12 (Message)

And may the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you

Here's where that one sentence is taking me

1. pour on not 'pour out' - I was immediately struck by my need for proximity to the love that the Master is consistently 'pouring out' for it to actually be poured on
2. Digging deeper, I found that there are actually different root words for each of the two phrases - pour on has within its meaning aspects of superabundance rather than just a general outpouring
3. fills your lives - the fuller I am, the easier it is to spill, if I spill, I'll need refilling
4. on everyone around - there's a challenge, both to be mindful of those we choose to do life with & those who we might find less 'lovable'
5. when you get to the end - repeat 1. thro' 4.

I'm an intentional sort of guy & love finishing with next steps - take a moment & decide, where you need to pay more attention in the coming days.

Stay blessed & close to Him as He saturates us with His love

Jonathan