Friday, October 29, 2004
Wasn't That A Party
**Back dated
Last night Jeff Walling spoke last, and left a lasting impression. We are all broken people as God works through us. It is never about what we do, but rather it is about what God does in us and through us.
Jeff posed the idea that we have forgotten how to celebrate. When people see you with a Bible, they will hush, they we become very somber. Exodus 15 reflects God’s people when they know that God has saved them. We are not called to always be loud and boisterous. But we are not even that some of the time. We do not have many occasions where we do get to party, where we are the people of God recognizing that God has saved us.
Then I think about the church I lead. I think about the things that seem to really touch people there. Are we all depressed? Do we all need to see some kind of community counselor who can help us through the grief, or depression that has settled over this community? Or is this me. Is this where I am most authentic, and so that is when we touch people? I want to recapture the joy, the celebration. This does not mean that we lose the ability to be down, but rather we can express that too. But we do not want to be always down, we want to reflect the joy of God too. Even in some of the most depressed psalms, they seem to reflect an inner joy and confidence in God that doesn’t make sense, but it does show God. I think that more time in the Psalms will be good for me.
Last night Jeff Walling spoke last, and left a lasting impression. We are all broken people as God works through us. It is never about what we do, but rather it is about what God does in us and through us.
Jeff posed the idea that we have forgotten how to celebrate. When people see you with a Bible, they will hush, they we become very somber. Exodus 15 reflects God’s people when they know that God has saved them. We are not called to always be loud and boisterous. But we are not even that some of the time. We do not have many occasions where we do get to party, where we are the people of God recognizing that God has saved us.
Then I think about the church I lead. I think about the things that seem to really touch people there. Are we all depressed? Do we all need to see some kind of community counselor who can help us through the grief, or depression that has settled over this community? Or is this me. Is this where I am most authentic, and so that is when we touch people? I want to recapture the joy, the celebration. This does not mean that we lose the ability to be down, but rather we can express that too. But we do not want to be always down, we want to reflect the joy of God too. Even in some of the most depressed psalms, they seem to reflect an inner joy and confidence in God that doesn’t make sense, but it does show God. I think that more time in the Psalms will be good for me.
// posted by Eric @ 1:19 PM 
