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Tuesday night was one of those hot nights with no breeze indoors, and the eyes were getting just a little bit droopy as we were just getting used to a week with little sleep.  But in the midst of the blanket of snooze that was slowly being laid over us…we heard a great message from Bishop Thomas on community.

He reminded us that Unity is not always positive in and of itself.  Unity has led to some pretty awful things, in fact.  But it can, and offers to be, a great asset, especially in the body of Christ, and the coming Kingdom.  Thomas reminded us of some common myths about “Community”:

1. Community is made of all similar people.  (there is beauty in the diversity found in the whole)

2. Community happens when others love ME.  (everyone is loved, how can I contribute?)

3. Community is destroyed when someone messes up. (there is strength in forgiveness, & restoration)

4. Community happens naturally, without effort. (Genuine community is built and worked at, with the Holy Spirit and the resolve of God’s People.)

5. Community includes hierarchy. (all members are indispensable and valued highly)

He then pointed us to the verses of 1 Corinthians chapter 13, that LOVE is what enables True community.  Binds it all together in perfect Unity.  That definitely puts us in check, if we’ve complained at all recently about the groups we are a part of lacking genuine community.  When is the last time we purposefully involved ourselves in bringing love to where there was none within’ our group?

And not just huggy, warm-fuzzy, smiles and hand shakes kinda love.  But correcting, revealing, Christ-centered, unafraid, all-encompassing, enemy as much as friend….Love.  May we see places to be Love’s presence in our communities this week…knowing that Unity comes as we Love…and allow ourselves to be Loved…

In the evening services of IYC, early in the week we hadn’t figured out to leave all the doors open to invite God’s Southern California breeze through.  So toward the final message, it became a bit stuffy, odoriferous,  and to a teenager running on a few hours of sleep the previous night…..conducive to napping.

So our teens had gone through a few “tricks” to keeping the human body awake and aware.  Pretending to follow a fly with your eyes briefly.  Pinching your leg.  Taking notes.  They had an entire arsenal ready, as Bishop Roller was set to take the stage that night.

It was pretty amazing.  He didn’t jump around on stage.  He doesn’t have a loud booming voice.  The microphone wasn’t turned up crazy high.  There were no flashing lights, pyrotechnics, video illustrations, or puppet shows during his talk.  And yet, every teenager in our group, and leaders included, were fixed on his words.  Edge of our seats, waiting for him to offer out the next sentence of each paragraph.

He was telling a story.  Illustrating how each Bible story is only a pixel of the picture God is painting.

He told a few stories from scripture overall, and gave us the challenge to be telling stories ourselves.  When Jesus was asked a question, often instead of giving the factual answer, or anticipated response, he told a story.  Stories captivate us.  The ask politely for our attention, and draw us in as the plot unfolds.  They paint a picture, often capturing the beauty not just of the information being transferred, but of the God who reveals Truth in creative ways…and calls us to be a part of that creativity ourselves.

Bishop Roller challenged us to find stories from scripture that we love, and develop a love to tell them.  Starting with an achievable number, like one. 🙂  Then 8, then 52, and on.  The more stories we are able to tell from scripture, the more God’s creative and beautiful Truth is revealed.

As we left to discuss the evening as a small group, we also realized that each of us is part of the story God is telling.  That being able to tell our “story” and find God’s active presence within it, should be one of our first goals as we try to decide which stories to work on.

May we be story tellers this week…and beyond..to a world that is ready to listen to a story worth telling….

So a few of our times together at IYC gave me some things to think about.  One right out of the gate was our evening session from Monday night, with Miles McPherson.  I hadn’t really heard of Mr.McPherson before that night, so if you love him…bear with me.  I’m new here.

He began by telling how he used to be a professional sports player of some kind, and now has grown a church from nothing to being an incredibly blessed congregation of 12,000 people.  As an example of their greatness, he dropped the fact that they donated 600 community service hours as a church last year.  I stink at math, but that comes out to less than 3 minutes per person a year.  It’s sad to think that might actually be a high number.

He talked about authentic worship briefly, and boldly declared that the only way to truly worship freely was to stand with both arms raised high in the air.  Waist level wasn’t cuttin’ it.  He even had all the teens stand and perform the action (without even saying “Simon Says”), to prove his point.  It was hard to hear much after this, but thankfully I continued to listen.

Because he brought out some good points from Daniel 3, and the story of the guys with 3 funny names, who ended up in the fiery furnace.  If you haven’t read it…go read it now.  But you probably have, and even seen the chocolate bunny version on Veggie Tales.  The main point of his message here was to not worry about the consequences of following Jesus.  He pointed out that not even the SMELL of fire was on them, which is quite a feat.  Beyond how we worship, because that’s pretty trivial in the scheme of things….how often to we live toward others out of Love, Forgiveness, Grace, Mercy, Truth, Holiness, Life, Redemption, etc..without concern for how the world may respond?

Another thing he mentioned, simply in the peripheral of his talk, was our prayers.  He said “God is bored with our prayers.”  After being a bit offended, in the way my daughters might be if you told her I was bored with her attempts at talking with me….I connected with what he was saying.

What are most of the prayers we offer?  “God, bless this food…”  But is there anything wrong with the food?  Does it require a movement of God upon our food to do something supernatural?  How about “God, keep me safe while I sleep tonight, etc.”  Granted, sometimes we face things in the late hours, and it’s a good habit.  Along with praying for Grandma, who’s feeling a bit under the weather.  These are not bad prayers.  But for them to be the only, or even majority of the prayers we breathe on a daily basis?

These 3 men were about to be cast into a furnace so hot it killed the guards who opened it.  They were trusting in God to provide for them.  Imagine God’s excitement, compared to “God bless this pizza I’m about to eat….”

May we live in such a way, that requires us to pray for things that get God excited…