Extreme Community

Yesterday I introduced you to the idea of "communitas". It's community to the extreme degree. Remember this part of the definition:
Communitas is an acute point of community. It takes community to the next level and allows the whole of the community to share a common experience

Communitas happens as a result of several different things:
It can happen when a group of people walk through a trial or difficult time together.
It can happen when they come together to serve someone else inside or outside the community and together combine to accomplish something that couldn't be accomplished apart from the group effort.

This is my desire for the people of LifePoint Church. That we would daily walk together and experience "extreme community". Right now we are walking through a tough time financially but when we shoulder the load together the struggle actually becomes a strengthening of our resolve and commitment to each other.

Coming up:
"How some of our students and a few adults are experiencing communitas this weekend!"

Communitas

OK, I hear what you are thinking, "What? I've never heard of that word!" Maybe, a few of you have but since most have probably not let me give you the Wikapedia Definition.

Communitas is an intense community spirit, the feeling of great social equality, solidarity, and togetherness. Communitas is characteristic of people experiencing liminality together. This term is used to distinguish the modality of social relationship from an area of common living. There is more than one distinction between structure and communitas. The most familiar being the difference of secular and sacred. Every social position has something sacred about it. This sacred component is acquired during rites of passages, through the changing of positions. Part of this sacredness is achieved through the transient humility learned in these phases, this allows people to reach a higher position.

Communitas is an acute point of community. It takes community to the next level and allows the whole of the community to share a common experience, usually through a rite of passage. This brings everyone onto an equal level, even if you are higher in position, you have been lower and you know what that is.

Not going to un-package a lot on it here right now but we will be discussing on this blog over the next week or so. Start thinking about the definition and let it sink in before we begin dialog. The church has preached about community for years and we don't seem to be able to quite get there. What we need is communitas that goes beyond community. More to come!

Glad I'm Back!

The last several weeks have been an amazing time of rest and recovery but I am so glad that I am back. I always look forward to some down time to catch my breath and renew my focus but by the time my break comes to a close I am past ready to get back in the groove. This break has been no exception. Carey, the girls and I have enjoyed our time but it's time to get back in gear and ramp up what God has called us to do.
For the past several weeks God has been brewing some amazing stuff in my heart and head and stretching me to think outside the box more and in bigger ways than maybe ever. Starting this Sunday I am going to try and slowly un-package some of those thoughts as we hang out together at LifePoint.
I can't think of a greater time to be in the midst of the story of God and what He is doing in our world. Join us this Sunday as the journey continues!

In Search of Silence

That sounds like the title to a great book or movie! It may be but it's not one I have read. (maybe I'll write it one day)
It has, however, been the them of my life for the past several months. I find myself having a deep desire to experience more and more silence. I've discovered on this journey that there really are two obstacles to silence:
1) All the external noise that I subject myself to
2) All the internal noise that roars around inside my own head

For months now I have found myself riding down the road with the radio off or sitting in the house with the TV off, which is a really good idea, by the way. I'm constantly looking for a quiet place to just be. However, when I find that place I do not necessarily experience real silence.

I'm learning that there is a lot more noise going on inside of me than there is outside. So my journey has had me learning to be more contemplative of certain thoughts and at the same time trying to learn to let go of more and more thoughts.

Here's a funny thing; The # 1 question I have been asked in recent days has been, "Are you OK?" People don't like silence and so when this guy who struggles with that starts seeking it the world around me is uncomfortable. That may be another obstacle to true silence.

In order to really hear from God I need to quit listening to Joe and at times others. I've got a long way to go on this journey but I am committed to discovering more and more quiet places and then learning to get quiet when I find them. We'll dive into some of this in a series next month.
Until then the journey continues!

SUNDAY MORNING

It's Sunday morning, about 20 minutes into the first service and I am NOT at LifePoint. I am actually sitting in my camper on Tybee Island about to walk down to the beach for the day. Now this is not the first time I have been out on a Sunday but this time has had me doing a lot of thinking, reflecting and looking forward.

There was a time in my life when I would be going totally crazy if I missed a service. (Is everything going OK? Are they missing me? Can it survive without me?) These would be my thoughts. Hopefully I have moved past that.

This morning as I was thinking I realized that there are probably two things that have been the catalysts to my growth in this area:

1) I have an amazing staff. Having a team as incredible as the one we have at LifePoint makes it easy on me to just go and not worry. Knowing that they are there and that we won't miss a beat makes my life so much more peaceful than it could be. By the way, for those of you reading this, please tell them how much you appreciate them!

2) It's not about me! Now, I don't want this reason to take away from what I just said about the staff but this really is why I can relax when I'm gone. LifePoint is NOT about joe tessin or anybody else for that matter. I have had to realize that it is going to be OK and that this whole thing is about God and what He is up to in our world.

See, what I'm trying to say is that I have had to grow past my own insecurities about who I am and what I am part of. For LifePoint to be about me and my personality would paralyze it's ability to be bigger than me and if it isn't going to be bigger than me then it isn't going to be very big.

I'm asking God to give me years and years of leading the staff, teams and people of LifePoint but in that to help me stay focused on the reality that this is His vision and His doing. I have just been invited along for the ride. If I keep this in focus then I think I increase my capacity to be effective but when I loose sight on this my days may be numbered.

Papa is FOND of me

...on the water, there on the mighty sea You spoke of love deep as the ocean When You spoke of Your love for me I am loved by the Father I am loved by the Son It...
...heard you singing in the silence, a simple melody Words of love, O I can hear it My Father is very fond of me

These lyrics are from Chris Tomlin but I have to admit I love when this song is done by CHRIS HILDRETH at LifePoint. Chris H. is such an amazing friend but he is also so gifted at leading people into the presence of Papa. (If you haven't read "The Shack" by William Young stop reading and go buy the book, then you will hang out with Papa)
This past Sunday our band and Chris sang this song. Today it came alive for me.
As Carey and I sat on the beach in Tybee Island, GA we watched dolphins swim along the shoreline and sat and took in the beauty of all Papa has created.
As I have many times in my life, I came face to face with the reality that "My Father is VERY Fond of me".
It's one thing to live life and an entirely different thing to live it with the reality that God the Creator of it all is fond of me. I'm a bit overwhelmed right now!
By the way, My Father, is very fond of you as well. Bask in His goodness this day!

THE COST OF CERTAINTY

I'm reading one of the most challenging books right now, that I have read in a long time. "The Cost of Certainty" by Jeremy Young. While the book is totally resonating with me it is also totally rocking my world.
The culture of the church that I have grown up in is one that promotes certainty at all levels and costs. The goal is to be certain what truth is and to be certain that what we believe about God is absolutely correct. Can I just say that seems a bit arrogant to me!
I was in dialog recently, with a guy who God is using to really challenge me, about the idea of absolute truth. After a comment he made another guy in the group posed this question:
"So are you saying that you don't believe that there is absolute truth"
His response: "I'm not at all saying that I don't believe in absolute truth. As a matter of fact I am quite confident that there is absolute truth! However, what I am saying is that who do I think I am to say that I have discovered what absolute truth is"
wow! That was my response. Now I know that there will be those who read this and think that I have gone off the deep end. (Did you just now come to that conclusion?)
I will also say that most who have that feeling are those who have grown up in the same culture that I did that has caused us to think we have it all figured out and have held certainty up as the goal in life.
One of my greatest desires in life is to learn and grow. I've concluded that I can't do that if all I seek to expose myself to are things that further validate and embed what I already believe. Where's the learning in that?
So, while the book is a bit of a stretch I will press on and seek to know God more. In that process I think I may just have to settle on the reality that He (God) will become even more mysterious to me!