I wanted to make a simple post and say 'out loud' that the choice to simplify, the choice to reduce, the choice to silence, and to mute - is amazing in its simplicity and its power. I am so thankful we are all doing this. I am so thankful there are other Christians willing to step up and say, 'yes, I want to grow!'. This is a marvelous thing and a proof that the Holy Spirit is hard at work changing and maturing each of us, every day. We are all being conformed into the image of Jesus and it is a good thing - and only that much more as we get to pursue Jesus with and through our friends!
This morning as I read in Luke 3 I surveyed the preaching of John with new eyes - I had never noticed before that the answer to every question he gives regarding turning from death to life involves - yep, wealth. Check this out:
"the crowds were asking him, “What then should we do?” John answered them, “The person who has two tunics must share with the person who has none, and the person who has food must do likewise.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He told them, “Collect no more than you are required to.” Then some soldiers also asked him, “And as for us – what should we do?” He told them, “Take money from no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your pay.” (Luke 3:10-14 NET)
...and it goes on to say that they were filled with anticipation and joy. This is because they were suddenly and unexpectedly finding the pearl of greatest price and it was God's life and joy they were stumbling into. I hope we are on the same path! They were about to come face to face with Messiah and the pre-requisites were not unobtainable, they were things people can really accomplish - God want's us to find Him!
I am personally so thankful that this process is bringing back to the surface my passion for people - to see those in my life grow, and mature in their faith. Most exciting of all - Jesus has been reminding me of the joy found in the Gospel; giving, and listening, and seeking to understand - in short, choosing to bear witness to the Gospel at work in people is the source of the greatest joy! I am so pleased to have re-found this simple truth. It is like cleaning out your closet and finding a great gift that you had forgotten all about and that meets some current and urgent need perfectly! "Ahhh, this is the answer to the riddle I have been struggling with! I have been searching and searching and it turns out what I have needed has been here the whole time!"
The simple truth - the answer to the riddle and the treasure lost in the midst of all my stuff at the back of the closet is this - as we give, as we pour out, as we choose to be really, truly, 'with' - as we choose to live with, love with, hope with, and suffer with - as we choose to listen to and then stand in solidarity with our neighbors in the spiritual places named 'life' and 'relationship', then we begin to understand and live in the joy of the Father's heart and hope; growing in our understanding that He truly loves, and truly hopes day in and day out for all His children to come home to him. As we allow ourselves to be poured out into other peoples lives, the Father is faithful to backfill our hearts with the dual nature of His love. We increase in our understanding of the passion and ache of His heart to save all that would come to Him AND we find that His joy, and exuberance, and satisfaction begin to course through our veins in measures greater than we can possibly have the space to contain. He is really just that good, and that is why we are here - to realize that God-goodness and to tell others that Salvation has come for them, that the Kingdom has drawn near to them, and that we need to talk. Blessings and go, be the Kingdom of Life in someone else's life today!
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Monday, December 16, 2013
God is NOT Measurable
These last few days I have had to repent and admit that my big underlying problem (well, I have many in general...) but the big struggle I have been grappling with is as I am breaking out of my routines, doing these fairly peculiar types of fasts, I then find myself wondering if this whole process is accomplishing anything. (not this media aspect so much - that has been itself really wonderful) I think the bottom-line is that I expect too much; I act - and I expect a re-act(ion). What I find myself repenting of is that my mentality basically reduces God to an employee of my impish whims (now that I am getting more serious about this spiritual stuff (tapping on my spiritual watch) - where IS HE???).
Mercifully, when I gain quiet, when I walk and pray and breath with Him suddenly the equation clarifies. When I simplify my expectation matrix, suddenly I see that God IS doing stuff, IS re-arranging, and IS making changes using the vehicle of this intentional fast. In short, when I quit looking for what it is NOT doing for me, I begin to realize and to grasp what God IS doing in and around me.
In the parlance of the old saints one would say we are fixated on receiving consolations from God that save us the aridity of the desert - or hard - times. Modern church vernacular would say that we are addicted to high-points, counting only the mountain-top experiences as the godly, and remonstrating the rest as 'resistance' or explaining away trials by saying 'god was not in it'. But the truth is, that is not liberty! that is not even increasing discernment! It certainly is not maturity! It is pure Opinionation to think that I can discern what part of life 'is God' and what part is not - He is All and In all - for those that are trying to listen to the Holy Spirit, God is causing everything to work together for good (Romans 8:28)! He sends the good to teach me to rejoice and be thankful, and He sends the hard and the bad to teach me to rejoice and be thankful! God is fully in both the high and low points! God is fully in both the richness and the dry places - both are for our good and both lead us to greater maturity. In a word this is all about trust. Does fasting really matter? Does being a community that fasts really matter? We have to trust in order to do it. And in the doing we find out more about Who it is that we are trusting.
Taken down a notch and moved into the day-to-day - God is in both the busyness and the quiet, He is in both the plenty and the sparse, He is in our small group, and in the other small groups, and even in the church body at the end of the street we don't really agree with! He is walking down the street fretting about His bills He cannot pay. He is planning on being alone in a cold apartment on Christmas Day. He will be at a swanky sweater party on the west-side on Christmas Eve. He is and will be with both the rich and the poor, the good and the bad, the successful and the screw-up (so I guess if success has screwed you up then you are doubly blessed? ...just kidding; = )
Part of fasting is learning to seek God and not reward, To seek Him for, and to know Him in, all His magnificent brilliance. The fact that the reward - of blessing and consolation sometimes (often-times!) comes with our seeking - is a really cool side-effect - but those are not at all the reason or even the benefit we are after. Our deep soul-need is that we are each seeking and craving a deeper and better friendship with God. We all desperately want to be wanted - even more so with regard to being both known and wanted by God! At some deep level we all know that we need to diligently be about finding our God-role model and then beginning to imitate Him. To know Him and and to emulate Him is a our greatest good - so if fasting gets us one step closer, if turning off the TV gets us one prayer, one more bit of hope, one faith-thought deeper into relationship with Him. Then lets agree to go hungry one more day.
We step into a fast in trust - in faith - that somewhere in the heavenlies our tiny act creates a ripple and blessings and life are enacted - we may never see the reward in this life - but let us set the example, the bar if you will, by becoming the kind of people who don't need to see reward - and are instead assured purely by trust in a Good God that getting to participate, to step in - even for a second - into God's sovereign will and life, is enough for us and is reward all its own.
Blessings, A.G.
Mercifully, when I gain quiet, when I walk and pray and breath with Him suddenly the equation clarifies. When I simplify my expectation matrix, suddenly I see that God IS doing stuff, IS re-arranging, and IS making changes using the vehicle of this intentional fast. In short, when I quit looking for what it is NOT doing for me, I begin to realize and to grasp what God IS doing in and around me.
In the parlance of the old saints one would say we are fixated on receiving consolations from God that save us the aridity of the desert - or hard - times. Modern church vernacular would say that we are addicted to high-points, counting only the mountain-top experiences as the godly, and remonstrating the rest as 'resistance' or explaining away trials by saying 'god was not in it'. But the truth is, that is not liberty! that is not even increasing discernment! It certainly is not maturity! It is pure Opinionation to think that I can discern what part of life 'is God' and what part is not - He is All and In all - for those that are trying to listen to the Holy Spirit, God is causing everything to work together for good (Romans 8:28)! He sends the good to teach me to rejoice and be thankful, and He sends the hard and the bad to teach me to rejoice and be thankful! God is fully in both the high and low points! God is fully in both the richness and the dry places - both are for our good and both lead us to greater maturity. In a word this is all about trust. Does fasting really matter? Does being a community that fasts really matter? We have to trust in order to do it. And in the doing we find out more about Who it is that we are trusting.
Taken down a notch and moved into the day-to-day - God is in both the busyness and the quiet, He is in both the plenty and the sparse, He is in our small group, and in the other small groups, and even in the church body at the end of the street we don't really agree with! He is walking down the street fretting about His bills He cannot pay. He is planning on being alone in a cold apartment on Christmas Day. He will be at a swanky sweater party on the west-side on Christmas Eve. He is and will be with both the rich and the poor, the good and the bad, the successful and the screw-up (so I guess if success has screwed you up then you are doubly blessed? ...just kidding; = )
Part of fasting is learning to seek God and not reward, To seek Him for, and to know Him in, all His magnificent brilliance. The fact that the reward - of blessing and consolation sometimes (often-times!) comes with our seeking - is a really cool side-effect - but those are not at all the reason or even the benefit we are after. Our deep soul-need is that we are each seeking and craving a deeper and better friendship with God. We all desperately want to be wanted - even more so with regard to being both known and wanted by God! At some deep level we all know that we need to diligently be about finding our God-role model and then beginning to imitate Him. To know Him and and to emulate Him is a our greatest good - so if fasting gets us one step closer, if turning off the TV gets us one prayer, one more bit of hope, one faith-thought deeper into relationship with Him. Then lets agree to go hungry one more day.
We step into a fast in trust - in faith - that somewhere in the heavenlies our tiny act creates a ripple and blessings and life are enacted - we may never see the reward in this life - but let us set the example, the bar if you will, by becoming the kind of people who don't need to see reward - and are instead assured purely by trust in a Good God that getting to participate, to step in - even for a second - into God's sovereign will and life, is enough for us and is reward all its own.
Blessings, A.G.
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Goodwin household - Media Fast
Hi All! Sorry for the long delay since the last post!
We have been luxuriating (seriously!) in the joy of having the TV turned off and media devices put away in the evenings once the work-day is done. (personal note - the only 'twitch' i have been suffering from is the recurring urge to go and log on my iPad for no apparent reason other than looking for something to do).
An odd side effect has been that the sun now goes down much earlier. About 8:30 at night we start feeling like it is midnight and the yawns start setting in. Spencer Crawford (#LoveAndMissSpencerandUrsulaAndMarie = ) was at our house the other night for dinner and by the end of the evening I was struggling to keep my eyes open (we talked for almost 6 hours straight through!). The Goodwin's are finding that with even a modest reduction in our stimulus uptake - with no media and no gadgets in our hands serving as distraction for even part of the day - we are doing a lot more talking when with one another and a lot more reading and quiet-time when apart.
Having this fast occurring in the midst of Advent filled us (initially) with a sense of dread - one more thing to accommodate we groaned as we gazed at the 40+ items already on the calendar in the month of December!!! But in truth, it has been freeing. Alanna and I have been struggling with our share of trials and frustrations and forgiveness as feelings get trampled by a driven world...but in the midst of all the hard stuff, the mere act of fasting seems to have introduced a rich texture to the season and an imbued sense of thankfulness we have not experienced in several years. We have failed at gathering at the table every morning and night to read the daily scriptures and light the daily candles, but on the days we have - the entrance into worshiping God by quieting our hearts and eyes for a few minutes has seemed more natural, more fitting and I think it has a lot to do with the intentionality of choosing to be in a fasted lifestyle already. Don't get me wrong; the temptations to seek distraction, to get angry at increasingly small details, to lose patience; those are all still coming fast and furious and probably more so as spiritual muscles are flexed, but the joy of simple participation in the process is clearly, and increasingly worth it.
Our kids are getting older and more intellectual in their demands on us, but even as that stress amplifies, with the course of this 7 fast, we are finding renewed authority to push back and resist the culture of 'I want'...and the intimidating demands of: 'but so and so in my class already has 3 of those!'... This life of faith and following Jesus and teaching our kids how to love others does not include our making them happy all the time or preventing them from encountering any disappointments - walking this road is about growing in our own friendship with God and teaching them to do the same.
Again, sorry about the delay in reposting.
Truly today, Joy to the World. The Lord will soon be born.
Blessings, on you all:
The Goodwins.
We have been luxuriating (seriously!) in the joy of having the TV turned off and media devices put away in the evenings once the work-day is done. (personal note - the only 'twitch' i have been suffering from is the recurring urge to go and log on my iPad for no apparent reason other than looking for something to do).
An odd side effect has been that the sun now goes down much earlier. About 8:30 at night we start feeling like it is midnight and the yawns start setting in. Spencer Crawford (#LoveAndMissSpencerandUrsulaAndMarie = ) was at our house the other night for dinner and by the end of the evening I was struggling to keep my eyes open (we talked for almost 6 hours straight through!). The Goodwin's are finding that with even a modest reduction in our stimulus uptake - with no media and no gadgets in our hands serving as distraction for even part of the day - we are doing a lot more talking when with one another and a lot more reading and quiet-time when apart.
Having this fast occurring in the midst of Advent filled us (initially) with a sense of dread - one more thing to accommodate we groaned as we gazed at the 40+ items already on the calendar in the month of December!!! But in truth, it has been freeing. Alanna and I have been struggling with our share of trials and frustrations and forgiveness as feelings get trampled by a driven world...but in the midst of all the hard stuff, the mere act of fasting seems to have introduced a rich texture to the season and an imbued sense of thankfulness we have not experienced in several years. We have failed at gathering at the table every morning and night to read the daily scriptures and light the daily candles, but on the days we have - the entrance into worshiping God by quieting our hearts and eyes for a few minutes has seemed more natural, more fitting and I think it has a lot to do with the intentionality of choosing to be in a fasted lifestyle already. Don't get me wrong; the temptations to seek distraction, to get angry at increasingly small details, to lose patience; those are all still coming fast and furious and probably more so as spiritual muscles are flexed, but the joy of simple participation in the process is clearly, and increasingly worth it.
Our kids are getting older and more intellectual in their demands on us, but even as that stress amplifies, with the course of this 7 fast, we are finding renewed authority to push back and resist the culture of 'I want'...and the intimidating demands of: 'but so and so in my class already has 3 of those!'... This life of faith and following Jesus and teaching our kids how to love others does not include our making them happy all the time or preventing them from encountering any disappointments - walking this road is about growing in our own friendship with God and teaching them to do the same.
Again, sorry about the delay in reposting.
Truly today, Joy to the World. The Lord will soon be born.
Blessings, on you all:
The Goodwins.
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