Eight: Following Him Not an It
Jesus didn’t invite us to follow his rules or traditions about him, he called us to follow him and we do that by learning recognize how he speaks to us.
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Unmediated Spirituality, Unmanaged Community, and Unmaintained Networks
While talking with a friend in Australia recently we were celebrating a vast network of friends throughout the world that Father has connected on this journey. The people span continents and yet through travel, Skype, and email connections have found a way to share their journeys together. It is truly friends and friends of friends that just keeps expanding in a simple and marvelous way.
“An unmaintained network,” my friend called, and when I heard it my mind reeled. Yes it is, at least by humans. There’s no mailing list, convention, website, organizational name, or agenda that connects these people; it’s just the strength of their friendships and their willingness to keep in touch with each other as God leads. Jesus holds these friendships together and they have truly been a joy.
We humans try to do so much for God, and what we do always has more of our fingerprints on it than his. And while they can do some good for a limited time, they almost always end up with a lot of futile activity to try to maintain them, almost always with frustrating results. Whether we are managing someone’s spiritual journey, trying to create community, or promoting the next movement that we think will help God’s purpose in the world, we are still looking to human conventions instead of letting him be Head of his church.
Throughout Scripture God keeps inviting us away from human scheming and ingenuity to trust his efforts more than our own. Don’t trust in the size of your army, or the horses and chariots of Egypt, the Israelites were reminded. God trumps them all. Don’t think God lives in building made with human hands, or institutional systems either. His work is so much more vital than that. It an never be housed in something man-made, which is why they always fade in their effectiveness, and why those who think they lead them get sidetracked by their own use of authority.
The best aspects of my life and journey don’t come as the result of human effort, but from simply embracing God’s reality and listening to him as he unfolds his working. That’s why the term ‘unmaintained networks’ caught my heart. We don’t maintain them, because Jesus does. And they are fluid and active, rather than structured by our need for definition and order.
Isn’t that true of everything valuable? It doesn’t result from human effort, but Jesus’ leading. You can encourage someone to know Jesus, but you can’t become their mediator. No lesson plan, discipleship curriculum, how-to book, or bible reading schedules will work for the long haul. They will give us a sense of achievement for awhile, but will not ultimately satisfy. They are human systems and he is so much greater than any of them. You don’t find a life in Jesus by following someone else’s plan, but by learning to engage him in your own heart.
And isn’t the deepest expressions of community risen out of unmanaged relationships? Who knows why we connect with some people more than others, or that some friendships continue to grow and deepen, while ones we work harder at don’t seem to? Jesus knows how to knit his church together and it is a work no human could ever engineer.
Unmediated spirituality, unmaintained community, and unmanaged networks are only that in human terms. By not doing it ourselves, we learn to trust Jesus as the one who mediates, manages, and maintains, and he does it with life-giving joy in the unforced rhythms of grace rather than the rigors of human organization.
It’s this joy that I hope we’re learning as the frailties of even our best human efforts becomes clear. Then we can learn to listen to him as he invites us to engage him and others through friendships of heart and watch his greater gathering of the body, grows in the world.
Some Updates Of Interest:
Wayne and Sara will be in Victoria, BC this weekend meeting with some people on this journey during the day on Saturday. I know it’s late notice, but if you’d like to be included, you can get the details here.
- We already have sixteen people signed up for our Experiencing Israel Tour next February. Only twenty-four slots remain. If you’d like to join us, you can check out the trip details and register here.
On May 31 – June 10, Wayne will be in North Carolina to host the first Seeding Community conversation for those who are exploring what community might look like outside the box of human-managed programs. He will also be involved in some gatherings throughout the following week, and host a larger gathering on Saturday afternoon and evening in June 8. You can get more details here.
- Finally, our service station project in Kenya is coming together. See picture below. This amount needs to come in quickly as this land is being developed, so if you feel called to help us support these children with this enterprise, or help with our monthly support until it is completed, we and they would be grateful. If you want to know more about this project or the AIDs recovery home we also support in South Africa, you can see our Sharing With the World page at Lifestream. You can either donate with a credit card there, or you can mail a check to Lifestream Ministries • 1560 Newbury Rd, Ste 1 #313 • Newbury Park, CA 91320. Or if you prefer, we can take your donation over the phone at (805) 498-7774.
Unmediated Spirituality, Unmanaged Community, and Unmaintained Networks Read More »
Australia, Wildfires, & Joy at Home
It’s good to be back from Australia and catch-up a bit on some sleep and tons of office stuff that piled up in my three-week absence. If you want to hear my reflections on my time in Australia as well as some comments on a recent Barna study that concludes Christians more reflect the spirit of the Pharisees in the world than they do the character of Jesus, check out my latest podcast at The God Journey. But back to Australia, this was as wonderful a time with individual people and being there at incredibly significant moments of God’s revelation to them as I’ve ever had. I watched people come alive on a journey and make incredible shifts in their thinking as God brought them into a greater reality.
Since reading the Birthday Book my daugher assembled for my birthday this year, I’m much more attune to the fact that the way God’s life is passed on in the world is not by books, movies, podcasts, or media of any kind, but simply by the way we treate people around us. If we can find God’s love for us real enough that we live quite naturally in the world aware of and caring for people around us, some incredible things happen. In this vein, what we do intentionally is less significant than those words or actions that just pop out spontaneously as we are simply living in the moment with graciousness. I love that. I want to learn more of it.
I even had time to spend with some of the local wildlife:
Many of you know that Sara had to face down a wildfire while I was gone as it swept up the hill behind our home. It was one of the big ones in California already this spring. Fortunately the winds shifted as it got within a mile or two of our home, but it was a harrowing day indeed for my lady while she was home alone. Graciously a host of friends and family shot over to help her load the critical things and get them off the property in case the fire kept coming. That was a Saturday for me and I felt so far away from her as I got text and Facebook updates. I am so grateful a greater castrophe was averted.
I also stopped by Ireland this week and did a podcast interview for PilgrimTalk. I did stop in via Skype rather than actually go there, but nontheless Anthony was very gracious to me as he posed some questions I didn’t always find easy to answer. It’s brief and you can hear it here.
It’s great to be home. Tomorrow we tape more of the Engage videos. I’m blessed to hear that people are finding these helpful in sorting out their own growing relationship with Father and Son. Other than that, I’ve plowed through a thousand emails, many of them to prepare for my upcoming trip to North Carolina.
With Mother’s Day this weekend and lots of family, as well as a Saturday night gathering of some of the believers who live around us, I can truly say it there is no place like home! I hope that’s true for you, too, even if you’re in difficult circumstances. I know Mother’s Day can be a day of pain for many people, those with wayward children, broken moms, or even missing a mom no longer with us. May you especially be at home in the Father that day and know that he is bigger than any thing this world can dish out on us.
Seven: Relaxing into His Reality
Living in God’s reality doesn’t come by trying to get the things we want from him, but learning to receive what he is already giving us.
Would You Want to Come With Us to Israel?
My trip to Israel in 1997 proved too far more impact on me than I ever thought it could. I promised someday to take Sara there. I wanted her to walk this land where God made Himself known in the world. The time has come to make good on that promise! And you are invited to come along with us and explore the land where love was first revealed.
I had no idea what it would mean on a personal level: to stand on the shore in Galilee one evening, while the water lapped at my feet,to climb Mt. Carmel where Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal, to be surrounded by 2000 year old trees in Gethsemane,to experience pitch-black darkness in the very dungeon that held Jesus the night before He was crucified. Time in Israel gave me a different dimension of understanding for God’s work of redemption. I was drawn closer to His heart. I had touched the earth where He had walked. I had been given a first-hand look at the sky, hills, valleys, and waters where He lived out His physical life. I had experienced His earthly home!
We’re making room for forty people to come with us. As we journey, we’ll walk through the Scripture story. I’ll be sharing some thoughts at key sites designed to stimulate personal reflection. And as we go along, we will enjoy a joint conversation about how God is revealing Himself in us.
The Israel Tour Company, known for intimate tours that allow people to absorb the culture and history of the land, is planning our time. They hosted me years ago, and I am happy to be working with them now. We’ll even have the same guide that I enjoyed so much when I was there all those years ago.
We have chosen to travel in February since the weather is comfortable in the desert locations. There aren’t as many tourists in the country at this time. And we can take a smaller, more intimate group more affordably. The length of the trip is designed to move us through the highlights of the country, still allowing time for reflection and a free day in Jerusalem.
I hope you can join us for an awesome time – one that will forever change your perspective and understanding.
Check out our website below and don’t miss the wonderful video under helpful links.
Six: Becoming an Active Learner
We are used to being spoon-fed what others think we ought to know about God. Until we take responsibility for our own journey, we’ll never learn to look to him to teach us.
Departing for Australia, Prepping for Carolina!
In a few hours I’ll take wing for a three-week trip to Australia. There are so many exciting connections in store there, both from people I’ve seen before and for people I’ve only corresponded with. It should be fun
But I’m also getting things arranged for an early June visit to North Carolina. There’s been some people there trying to get me to come for a long time, and we’ve finally found the dates that work for everyone. So I’ve booked out 11 days, even though we haven’t filled up all of that time yet. So, if you know some folks in North Carolina that would like to have a conversation about living loved, or finding life in the relational church, please let me know soon. I’m praying about a number of opportunities at the moment, and want to see if any of you are, too!
Also as part of this trip I’d like to spend some time in a conversation about Seeding Community in the world if there are enough people who want to join me. How does God bring people together in community without the systematized approaches that humanity has been attempting for centuries? I begin with the premise that community is a gift God gives, and not something humans can manufacture with the best of intentions. But we can facilitate environments in which community can find expression, and that’s what I’d like to talk about with others who have a similar passion. (If you don’t know what this is, you can listen to The Greater Gathering at The God Journey.
This won’t be an open event because the venue is small and because there’s a specific type of person I’m looking to have in this more-focused conversation. I’m looking for elder-types, not people who have arrived, but men and women who are a bit seasoned in the journey of living loved and feel a specific nudge from God to help others be equipped in that life as well. If there’s enough interest, we’re going to hold this over the May 31-June 2 weekend near Lake James, North Carolina. We have some bed space available, but some may need to say at nearby hotels. There will be no cost for this retreat other than your own food and lodging.
If you’d like to be part of this day and I don’t already know you, please send me an email with a paragraph or two about your spiritual journey and why you would want to participate in this dialog. I’m not sure what I’m looking for here but it will give me some information as I pray about who God wants to be part of this conversation.
So this is just to see what hunger and desires are out there for the first two weeks of June. Please email me if anything is on your heart.
I’d Love to Know What He Knows Now
I was at the bedside of one of my closest friends when he passed into the next life about six years ago, my first thought was, “I’d love to know what he knows now.” I felt that way again yesterday when I heard that Brennan Manning had passed away. I know he had been very sick for a long time and rejoice that he has now entered into the fullness of the Father’s glory and can enjoy him forever without the frailties of our human flesh and the limitations of this age. He will be sorely missed here, and my heart goes out to those closest to him that will live for awhile with a Brennan-sized hole in their lives. For many, that will be quite large, but fortunately he has left many words behind to encourage others to understand how deeply loved by God they are.
Brennan Manning is the author of The Ragamuffin Gospel, Abba’s Child, Ruthless Trust, and numerous other books. You can see a list of them here at Amazon.com. If you’ve ever read a Manning book or heard him speak, his message was of the deep love of a Father who could reach into our most broken places with transforming compassion. A former Catholic priest, he had an ongoing struggle with alcoholism and wrote about it with such transparency and grace that it freed many others to a more honest journey with their own struggles. Unmasking the empty platitudes of religious obligatoin, he was a voice for the common person finding Jesus in the midst of darkness and discovering what a life-long journey with him might look like. You didn’t have to be wise or whole to discovery the joy of knowing God’s love.
If you haven’t read a Manning book now would be a good time to find out what you’ve missing. Abba’s Child, far and away was my favorite. He was a provocative writer whose openness and honesty made him an endearing figure and his passion for God was infectious to say the least. I have benefited greatly from his life and his writings and am so grateful that God allowed his gift to be so widely shared in the world.
I am convinced that for those who know God, what happens in the first moments after death has to be the ride of all rides. We weren’t created for the foibles and frustrations of this age, but for the glories of eternity in the presence of the Father. While I am content to live here as long as Father desires it, I realize that this is just the lobby for an eternity with him that none of us can imagine. Viewed from there, this life will just be a dew or a vapor. Brennan Manning arrived at the front of the line yesterday and got to finally pass through those doors.
I’d love to know what he knows now! If he could just write one more book….
A Crazy Week Indeed
What a crazy week! This one began in the Bay area of California with some great dialog. Not everyone loved it, however. We did have some people that wanted to promote some abusive views of God that others among us were trying to break free of. It was in interesting conversation to say the least. I know people like them mean well, or so they think, but when you’re militant about others knowing that God will strike them with calamity just to get their attention, you’ve missed who he is entirely.
They even argued that that is exactly what God’s discipline is about. My heart hurts for such people. They sound like abused kids of an angry alcoholic dad as they try to explain that dad’s violence is a sign of his love. God simply isn’t like that. He’s in the world to rescue us from its destruction. Our troubles arise from a fallen world, not a disciplining Father. Discipline means to train up, as in a dad directing his child, not one who’s beating them into submission.
Then, Sara and I had a couple of days on the Central Coast before I head off to Australia. Then we returned home for a quick visit by some dear Swiss friends. All the while we’ve been trying to sort out the new website. I appreciate the patience and help so many of you have offered. It turned out to be more of a mess than we thought it was when it launched, so now we’re having to fix things on the run. But I’ve heard from many of you that you love the new look and how much easier it is to find the free stuff! People really love the free stuff!
Next up is a three-week trip to Australia. There are a lot of hungry hearts there and people taking great risks to follow God instead of man. I love that! And we’re going to begin some of the conversations there about Seeding Community in the world. We have the tendency to keep creating various systems to try to manufacture community in the world. Most don’t realize that God’s kind of community is a gift he gives. We can’t create it by anything we do, but we can recognize what he’s doing and participate with him. By living lives of freedom, love, and hospitality we can open up space in which God can seed his community in the world. I’m excited about exploring that more with people who share a hunger for nonsystematized ways encouraging community in the world.
In June, we’ll be looking to take some of that to the Carolinas as well, though the schedule is far from complete at the point, but will be in the first two weeks of June. And in between those two trips Sara and I will be on Vancouver Island for an anniversary trip, though we’ve set aside some time over the weekend to connect with other hungry hearts in the region.
And finally, we’ve been putting the final touches on a Lifestream trip to Israel next February, February 5-16 to be exact. I’ve wanted to take Sara there since I first visited seventeen years ago. It impacted me more than I expected and has forever shaped my enjoyment of Scripture having been in the land in which it was penned. Standing on the shore of Galilee, or sitting in a private spot in Garden of Gethsemane, or being in the holding cell where Jesus was the night before he was crucified were forever stamped on my heart. Finally God has opened the door for us to go and take 40 people with us and we’ll have the same guide whom I enjoyed so much last time. Full details will be available soon, and we’ll announce it here first.
Five: With Him not For Him
If you constantly find yourself doing things for God, then learn to stop. God does not need you to get his attention or affection, but to simply learn to walk with him.