When we obey Christ with whole hearts
That’s when deep redemption can start
As we see His face
We’re filled up with grace
And what divides us falls apart
Tag Archives: reconciliation
Poem: Nailing it!
StandardWhen it came to sin
Christ nailed it!
Yet on my own
I failed it!
We’re called to love
Each other
Yet I can’t stand
My brother
We like to say
We’re nice
But pain makes us
Think twice
If you touch on
My trauma
Prepare to feel
The drama
I call my soul
To worship
So He can turn
This warship
Dissolving sin’s
Dividing
Through gracious Re-
Conciling
Let Him rewrite
My story
So all can see
His glory
WADACAM! Men’s Weekend (Fall 2022)
StandardDetails TBD: Probably Labor Day Weekend somewhere in Northern California
WADACAM! Weekend Workshop is a mashup spiritual retreat and boot camp. The goal is to equip men to succeed in their most important and difficult challenges (i.e., relationships). We do this by tapping into the power of the cross via an innovative small group process known as Rings of Reconciling (pronounced “RoR!”).
Continue readingLimerick: The Inverse Of Anger
StandardThe inverse of anger at sin
Is where reconciling begins
For when we all seek
To help out the weak
We shift from win-lose to win-win
LifeView: Part-y of God [from iHack]
StandardOver on my professional blog iHack, I’ve been working through the excellent book Designing Your Life. In addition to articulating a philosophy of work (WorkView), they challenge us to write down a philosophy of life (LifeView).
Since that obviously overlaps with my spiritual journaling here, I decided to repost it.
To move forward Together
We must internalize And reconcile
The excluded pain That enabled us
To become Us By creating Them
LifeView (Designing Your Life)
Three Dimensions of Christian Identity
Standard- Position: We are already completely accepted as the Father’s beloved children
- Process: We are still becoming redemptive co-heirs with Jesus
- Perception: We develop this identity in (not from) community as we practice reconciliation by hearing and obeying the Spirt
Dream: Wild Thing
StandardI am holding a monster in my hands
Round and furry, mostly head
Like a Furby
But evil, like a gremlin
Yellow eyes, snarling teeth
Rabid Continue reading
DADS Confrontational Devotion
StandardDedicated to my Father.
DECLARE Truth
- God is in control.
- We are absolutely on track for the future He has for us and our loved ones.
- How quickly and thoroughly we yield to Him determines how fast and painful it will be to reach that future
ASK Better Questions
a) What in Ernie needs to change?
b) What in me needs to change?
DOCUMENT Listening
- Set a time to seek the Holy Spirit for answers
- Write down whatever you hear
SHARE Results
- Present it to me as “This is what I think I heard,”
- Not “This is what I think you should do.”
TGR-S6E5: Wounded Feelings
StandardJoin us on The Great Reset (via Zoom or YouTube Live at Tue Dec 29 1PM PST) as we work through the revelations from last week’s episode.
Question: How should we respond when we are hurt by the actions of other believers — who themselves are hurting?
Perspective: Seek the cross and grace of Christ, as the only true cure for our pain — and theirs.
Continue readingPrelude to Reconciliation
StandardType I Response
- I feel pain
- Someone just did something
- I see what they did wrong
- I blame them for my pain
- It is because they are broken
- I try to fix them
- They do not let me
- This implies they will cause me more pain
- I escalate or run away
- I need them to repent before I can feel safe
TGR-S6E2d1: Family Time
StandardQ. How should we react when other people hurt us, or they claim that we hurt them?
P. Seek to Ground our identity and security in Christ, so we can respond with curiosity and compassion rather than fear or anger
When I feel threatened, my natural instinct is either fear (giving in) or anger (taking over). I am learning that neither of these is very effective at spreading the Kingdom of God; though both may be expedient in terms of protecting the self, at least in the short term.
Conversely, when the challenge is not in an area that threatens my identity, I find myself relaxed and eager to engage with understanding all sides of the issue. I am able to focus on ensuring that others feel heard, and become confident enough to explore creative ways of solving the underlying problems.
How do we build a community and practices where all of us can feel safer confronting the emotional issues that define both our identities and our differences?
TGR-S2E7: Enrollment
StandardThis Tuesday 6/30 with the Biastes we complete our second Season of The Great Reset, on Education, by attempting to co-construct an answer to the question:
What is the Most Important Thing to collectively keep getting better at doing, in order for us and the world to experience the fullness of God’s Kingdom (Love)?
LEAD! B.8 From Anger to Reconciliation
StandardIn Which We Forgive Those Who Don’t Deserve It, Because We Don’t Either
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” — Matthew 5:5
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” — Matthew 5:9
Anger is unique among the seven deadly sins in that, in general, anger isn’t even a sin (cf. Ephesians 4:26). At one level, it is simply an emotional reaction to having our boundaries crossed. And at the highest level, anger is actually a virtue, since it is a significant part of God’s character — i.e., the “name” to which we are being conformed!
At the same time, anger is also the name of one of the most violent and dangerous sins. We can define sinful anger as a self-righteous passion for punishing those who offend us. This is why anger is so empowering and so deadly: it magnifies the sins of others to the point where we ignore our own.
Because anger is so devastating, we need to combat it with both meekness — the ability to restrain our passions in submission to God’s rule — and peacemaking, which seeks restoration and reconciliation instead of revenge.
Of course, that is easier said then done…
Assigned Reading
-
Peter Kreeft: Back to Virtue
- 10. The Meek and the Peacemakers vs. The Anger-driven
- Dick Hockett: Foundations of Wisdom
- 3.4 (Gentle and healing) Example: Proverbs about the Tongue
LEAD! Part B: Christian Character
StandardAs mentioned earlier, the LEAD! Bible Study is a tripod, built on three legs:
- theological education
- character formation
- skill development
Having finished writing the lessons for Part A, we now turn out attention to the second trimester (which the class will start in January). This blog post is for the initial outline; as before, the final version will be part of the living syllabus at https://2transform.us/lead/
Continue reading
Twelve Steps to Arrow-Proof Your Ministry
StandardApologies for the pretentious title, but I wanted to challenge myself to identify and reorganize the lessons we covered in last year’s leadership class into a coherent prescription for facing down “Ministry Killers”. The idea is that each of these “steps” would be a single “life lesson”, but that together they provide the “full armor of God.“
What do you think? Did I miss anything important?
Radically Happy 