"Lord, are you going to wash my feet? No, you shall never wash my feet." - Peter, willfully fighting against the atmosphere Jesus was trying to create.
"Then, Lord, not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!" - Peter, laying down his will in submission to the atmosphere Jesus was trying to create.
"Are you resisting the forces pulling at you that just might be the Lord, softly but insistently tugging at your mind?" -- Jerome Daley in his book Soul Space
We started our Friday afternoon very satisfied and thrilled to have a set of words that articulated what a disciple of Jesus is. We thanked God, and then we sent everyone out for some some solo time armed with 4 questions for God, with the expectation that He would speak:
1) Where are you?
2) Who am I to you?
2) Why me?
3) What is left unsaid between you and me?
We went out because we know that there is an atmosphere that we need that gives us access to the very voice of God and to his Holy Spirit. And we know that God is the master at creating that atmosphere and doesn't need our help (or interference) in creating it. When we make the time to subject ourselves to the Atmosphere of God, we transform. We were about to embark on what I believed to be the most important discussion of discovery that we would have on this retreat, and I wanted all of us to come right out of this atmosphere that transforms us before we attempted a discussion of this magnitude.
I've only had 15 years of full-time focus on people, but in those years I have noticed certain tendencies among human beings. I'm no psycho-pro, so I'm admittedly an amateur in my observations, but this is my blog and email list, and it carries no authoritative weight with anyone unless you decide for it to, so here it is.
When a human being finds itself in a certain environment of any kind, the human being has a tendency to react in certain, predictable ways. They still have a choice, mind you, to decide against that tendency. That is the power of the will. The will of a human being can be an unstoppable force for good when used forcefully against an environment that tends to hurt humans. But it can also be a horrible obstacle from good when it is used forcefully against an environment that tends to heal humans.
When the atmosphere is hurtful and wrong, the will needs to kick in. When the atmosphere is helpful and good, the will needs to be laid down.
It's not outlined in list form in Scripture, per se, but Jesus seems to create a certain atmosphere that makes a human being react in certain, predictable ways. It all depends on the human being's will, of course, and whether the will kicks in or is laid down when they experience the "atmosphere of Christ". So people's reactions were usually one of two things: transformation or refusal. One thing that the Christ didn't really allow for was "neutrality".
"So what's your point?" you might ask. Well, my point is that if the atmosphere that Christ created is what transforms people, than the atmosphere that a church of Christ should produce the same thing. So, it is the job of every church member to be like Christ (a disciple) and when they come together, to be like Christ's church...or said another way...to create an "Atmosphere of Transformation."
The 3rd objective of our retreat was "to discover and articulate the atmosphere necessary to transform into a disciple of Jesus" (see Retreat Chronicles I). Said another way, we were trying to answer the question, "What is the atmosphere that every human being needs in order to change into someone with the qualities of a disciple (see Retreat Chronicles VI). And said one more way, we wanted the things that you could look anyone in the eye and say with conviction out of your deep love for them, "you really NEED this...even if you don't think you do...if you want life to the full."
When we returned from our personal "Atmosphere's of Transformation", we started into the question...and we were all over the place on this one. It was some serious chaos. Everything was good and right and true, but there was no sense of totality and completeness and comprehensiveness in our sharing. We did this for quite some time, and I was inwardly hoping that the objective would suddenly be found by and through our continued banter. But no such luck....until, that is, we prayed...this time together.
I interrupted our chaos with a call to prayer, and right as we bowed felt compelled to ask Doyle to lead it. Doyle is our worship minister, and looking back, the best person in our group to word this prayer for us, because he is constantly and always thinking about and creating 'atmosphere' that would, with God's help, lead to transformation. As He prayed, I felt compelled to pick up my pen and write...several words came out of my pen onto the paper...and they seemed to capture the essence of all that we were saying. Upon Doyle's 'Amen', I put them to the team and with a little revision, we felt like God had delivered.
For a human being to be transformed into a follower of Christ, they need these things:
To be LOVED by disciples.
To be TAUGHT what a disciple is (and why it is the best).
To be CHALLENGED to become one.
To be MODELED in front of, so they see it in the flesh.
To be ACCOMPANIED on the journey.
To be FREED to become a disciple (from sin, lies, and religion)
To be REMINDED of why we are disciples.
To be CELEBRATED in the becoming of a disciple.
When a human being is unconditionally loved by followers of Jesus with no strings attached, they are taught what a disciple of Jesus really is, because it is being modeled in front of them. The life of disciple is so real, so true, and so freeing and abundant that it challenges humans to consider becoming one themselves, and when they do they join into a circle of people who are all on the same journey together, constantly reminding each other why they are on it when it appears to be hard, and the life of celebration that they live together because of the great freedom they continue to find and experience is incredible.
In this environment, human beings tend to react in a certain, predictable sort of way...the transform into disciples of Jesus.
It is the primary job of the church to create this environment for all nations of human beings. This is what I intend on doing for the rest of my life. Creating it for myself, creating for my wife, for my children, for my church family, for my neighbors, for my city, for my enemies, for the world. And this is what we in leadership intend on doing together.
May God make it so.
No comments:
Post a Comment