God has been tucking something into my heart for quite some time, regarding the Church, and I’m only just now able to put it into words. I’ve been asking Him for a while to let me be a small part in the healing of His people. You know, the folks who know Him and love Him. Who follow Him, claim His Name and seek community within the body of believers. Growing up in the Church, I’ve noticed a fair amount of fracturing and isolation among its members and I know Jesus well enough to understand that this ought not to be so. I’ve also been blessed to experience the warmth of deep friendships with other believers, the kind where you walk away with this profound sense that you are both intimately known and unconditionally loved. Which, as we all know, is hard to find in a world that measure[...]

All of us here, we’re looking for joy. I don’t mean the temporary bliss we feel when we eat a warm piece of punkin’ pie. I’m talking about that deep abiding sense of gladness and well-being that we all ache for. The stuff that keeps us fulfilled and stable when the world around us attempts to topple us over. I want to speak into that. Now, as a Jesus follower, I’m confident that joy has a Source. And that source is the Maker Himself. My heart echoes with the heart of this guy, who found joy as he got close to God: You make known to me the path of life; in Your Presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11) So, yes, joy comes from God, through relationship to Him, but He’s provided one sure fire way to tap into that joy and here’s [...]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSNyQnnOvVY I want you to listen to this song. Like, the whole thing. It's important that you listen to the whole entire thing. (Just ignore the cheesy graphics, okay? Close your eyes or something.) Then, I want you to think about church. Like, what it is and what it isn't. Church isn't a building where we all go and sit in rows and listen to a leader talking and then sing some songs and head home. Church isn't potluck. Church isn't putting on our Sunday best and hoping everybody thinks we look good and that we have it all together. Church isn't congregating with a bunch of people who look the same as us and think the same as us so we'll feel good about us. But, church is all the Jesus-followers in the whole world spread out and shin[...]

Photo creditToday we went to church. We do that on Sundays. And I like church but I haven't always.  Actually, it wasn't all that long ago that I didn't really like church. Yes, this is confession time. I confess. I went through this phase where I just really didn't understand the point of it. We all sat in pews. (Or nice comfy chairs.) We all stared at the preacher while he stood behind this podium and talked. We sang some songs. No one seemed all that enthused. We wore our Sunday best.Maybe it's pretty basic to most people, but I just didn't get it. Like, who decided we would all sit in pews? And who thought that we should all face the front? And why did only one guy get to get up and talk to everybody? And why did everyone dress a certain way? And why did we all just stand there wh[...]