Comments from Mike:
I appreciated Larry's comments. It's a New Year and new and renewed hope arises. Here's a thought about those of us who remain away from organized church. Is that causing us to grow closer to Jesus? Is our love for one another and for Jesus growing? Are we spending more or less time with studying, meditating, and seeking His truth? Are we less or more aware of His presence and His revealing of who we really are? Are we digging deeper and deeper into His Word and trying to understand His Love for us? These are questions I've asked myself. If being away from the community of church life is disconnecting us with inner work and spiritual growth; if we are becoming cold; if love, joy, peace are illusive and replaced by anger, irritability, conflict, judging and fear; then maybe we might need to reconnect with institutional church or a house church at some level. Dad
My experience in church began at an early age, where my family consistently attended all types of church gatherings, including summer camps, where I often played my guitar and led worship with a team of leaders. We were a group supporting each other on our individual journeys. We functioned like a family..sometimes dysfunctional.. but loving one another in spite of our many weaknesses and character flaws. It was because of my relationship with God, and desire to see people change for the better, that I decided to participate in missions with YWAM and become a junior high teacher.
ReplyDeleteI now am a mother and wife living in beautiful Colorado and have a group of friends that I can completely express my thoughts, opinions, and defeats. But it is not in a church, building, or set of rules that a church provides. I believe that we are all prone to sin, living in the grace of God’s mercy. He reaches his hand out to us as we struggle to consistently live our lives without sin, working toward a life pursuing our God given dreams.
Ashley
Brennan Manning wrote,
“Life is an experience without an agenda, that love is always unearned, undeserved, and unexpected.
Give up our false face for God.
Loving ourselves frees us to love others.
A friend is someone who knows everything about you and still loves you.
The pure in heart praise him from sunrise to sundown.
Holiness is not a personal achievement. It is an emptiness you discover in yourself.”