Two sons

Matthew 21:28-32, "two sons" -
Most of us are familiar with the parable (story) of the prodigal son (better titled "the forgiving father") where two sons are involved. A lesser known story is that contained here in Matthew's gospel, where again two sons are the primary characters. In this case the sons again represent the outcasts of Israel on the one hand, and the religious leaders on the other. Ironically (tragically) the modern church in the West more closely resembles the second son who says yes, but doesn't truly go!
The majority of our time and energy as apprentices (disciples) to Christ should be spent doing (abundant) life, the triangle, rather than wasting "His time" doing "church", the box. (See link below)
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dyMQl7sPKMY&feature=plpp
Dale Bruner in his commentary on this parable (his own and a collection of the best accepted others over time) clearly emphasizes the dichotomy here that Jesus pointed to often during His ministry.
The "famous", the noticeable "Christians" (churches & ministries) are quite often the second son who says yes, but doesn't go, whereas those who truly go are often the unnoticed. Big fancy buildings and programs, wealthy well-dressed peddlers of a "prosperity gospel", etc. in our time are no different than the religious leaders (e.g. Pharisees) of Jesus time on earth.
We must remember that He said "Go". Our time spent in corporate worship in our "boxes" on Sunday mornings is and should be only a very small part of following Jesus. Most of it should be a 24/7 desire and effort to reflect our Savior in our daily lives, wherever and to whomever He takes us.

Winterpast -

Out of dormant branches and "dead" seed spring explodes forth with new life.  And, those we have lost spring forth too into new life.  For, He IS making all things new.  And, in this “season” of Creation it would seem He is recreating His Son’s Church as well?!  Something is indeed happening to the Body of Christ.

Do feel His warm breath even now as those heavy but gentle footsteps come ever closer?  Yes, Aslan is on the move, and His people with Him.

Isaiah 43:19 & Rev. 21:5, the promises are true:

“See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.”

And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”

Dynamic and erratic, spontaneous and radical, audacious and immature, committed if not altogether coherent, ecumenically open and often experimental, visible here and there, now and then, but unsettled institutionally.   Almost monastic in nature but most of all... enacting a fearful hope for human life in society.

William Stringfellow

Looking down I saw Scotland, England, Wales and to the Northwest, Ireland. [Africa, Oceana, and all of Europe and Asia, Latin America too, even North America!]  The treetops upon the hills and the clustered clouds hid the people. Suddenly small, flickering lights appeared. They were scattered all over the isles. I came closer to the land. The light was firelight. There were fires burning from the top of Scotland to Land's End on the tip of Cornwall. [From one pole to the other]  Lightning streaked downward from the sky above me. I saw it touch down with flashing swiftness, exploding each of the fires into streams of light. Like lava, they burned their fiery path downward from the top of Scotland to Land's End. The waters did not stop them, but the fire spread across the seas to Ireland and to Europe.  [To the ends of the earth!]

Then the Lord said: I will penetrate the darkness with a visitation of My power. With lightning swiftness I will release the power of my Spirit through a renewed people who have learned how to be led by the Spirit. They will explode with a witness that will touch every part of society in Britain. [Every part of Creation]  I'm strategically placing them to touch the farms, villages, towns and cities. No one will be without a witness whether they be children in the schools, farmers in the fields, workers in the factories and docks, students in the universities and colleges, the media, the press, the arts or government.

I seemed to see an army of all types of people moving into the continent(s) with a compassionate ministry - participating, caring communities involved with each other at a grass-roots level, sharing the love of God everywhere. I saw the empty cradles of Europe [and North America], her churches, holding a new generation of Christian leaders.

Jean Darnall, “Heaven, Here I Come"

Simple, organic, “Church”, the Body of Christ manifested in the world . . . disciples following in obedience.

What if?

What if Jesus sent a disciple or two to your church to minister there?  Would your church welcome and embrace their presence?

What if they started a support ministry for people suffering from mental health issues?  Would your church say, "No, too many liability issues. We could be sued and lose our buildings."

What if The Lord wanted your church to learn more about intimately connecting with His Father, and so He had the disciples provide a time of intimacy and quiet worship. But, what if your church decided not enough people were coming so they "suggested" it might be best to stop offering that time?  Hmm, did Jesus quit praying to His Father just because the others fell asleep? Did the abbott, priest or pastor quit worshiping the LORD God in the chapel because no one else was there? No, even more reason to remain in prayer.

What if your church started a prayer ministry & team to be available to intercede for others?  If no one comes forward, will it stop this too, will it stop praying?

What if those disciples said, "We must teach you about spiritual disciplines so that you can participate in the Holy Spirit's work of transformation in yourself, formation into the likeness of Christ? But again, what if your church says "the numbers just aren't there, it's a waste of valuable time and resources, let's table it for now."

What if those disciples were available and desired to disciple others, intimately like Jesus had done for them? By what if your church had decided "this or that" program was the only way to go, and dismissed the disciples Jesus had sent?

What if this kind of thing happened in all the churches in the Western world?!  It has, it is, and Christ has said, "Shake off the dust from those buildings, move on, go to the lost and weary outside those doors, my lambs are there, minister to them."

What if people actually chose to follow Jesus and obey all He commanded? What if?

He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. (John 1:11 NIV). But He wasn't surprised, they did the same to the prophets.

excerpts from Celtic Daily Prayer during Lent . . .

I couldn't think of an appropriate title for this entry, maybe "re-emergent church" would have been good as a friendly dig on my friends in the "Emergent Church Movement"?!  I just continue to sense God is returning His Son's Church back to Him, His Body manifest in the world, and it's going to have to come out of the "boxes" sooner or later for that happen!  Organic and simple; no buildings, no programs, no budgets, no exclusive paid clergy . . . just Jesus and the Holy Spirit doing the Father's bidding!

"March 9
PSALM 85:13    ISAIAH 61:1-4    LUKE 14:15-24

What is both Good and New about the Good News is the wild claim that Jesus did not simply tell us that God loves us even in our wickedness and folly and wants us to love each other the same way and to love Him too, but that if we let Him, God will actually bring about this unprecedented transformation of our hearts Himself.
What is both Good and New about the Good News is that mad insistence that Jesus lives on among us not just as another haunting memory but as the outlandish, holy, and invisible power of God working not just through the sacraments but in countless hidden ways to make even slobs like us loving and whole beyond anything we could conceivably pull off by ourselves.
Thus the Gospel is not only Good and New but, if you take it seriously, a Holy Terror. Jesus never claimed that the process of being changed from a slob into a human being was going to be a Sunday-School picnic. On the contrary, child-birth may occasionally be painless, but rebirth never. Part of what it means to be a slob is to hang on for dear life to our slobbery.
Frederick Buechner

March 10            
PSALM 34:18    ISAIAH 30:17    LUKE 14:7-11

True discretion is impossible without true humility. Self-deception is unlikely when a person is humble enough to submit to the judgment of another.
John Cassian

March 11
PSALM 142:1-7    SONG OF SONGS 8:8-9    MATTHEW 7:24-27

The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others and by himself. He enters the community of Christians with his demands, his own law, and judges the brethren and himself accordingly. He acts as if he is the creator of community, as if it is his dream which holds the community together. When things do not go his way, he calls the effort a failure. When his ideal picture is destroyed, he sees the community going to smash. So he becomes first an accuser of his brethren, then God, and finally the despairing accuser of himself.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer



March 12 
PSALM 144:1-8    Isaiah 28:10    MATTHEW 13:52
The renewal of the church will come from a new type of monasticism, which has only in common with the old an uncompromising allegiance to the Sermon on the Mount. It is high time men and women banded together to do this.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

March 13
PSALM 144:9-15 ' EZEKIEL 17:22-24    MATTHEW 13:31-32

Dynamic and erratic, spontaneous and radical, audacious and immature, committed if not altogether coherent, ecumenically open and often experimental, visible here and there, now and then, but unsettled institutionally.   Almost monastic in nature but most of all... enacting a fearful hope for human life in society.
William Stringfellow

March 14
PSALM 85:1-7    I KINGS 18:44-45    MATTHEW 25:1-I3

Looking down I saw Scotland, England, Wales and to the Northwest, Ireland. The treetops upon the hills and the clustered clouds hid the people. Suddenly small, flickering lights appeared. They were scattered all over the isles. I came closer to the land. The light was firelight. There were fires burning from the top of Scotland to Land's End on the tip of Cornwall. Lightning streaked downward from the sky above me. I saw it touch down with flashing swiftness, exploding each of the fires into streams of light. Like lava, they burned their fiery path downward from the top of Scotland to Land's End. The waters did not stop them, but the fire spread across the seas to Ireland and to Europe.
Then the Lord said: I will penetrate the darkness with a visitation of My power. With lightning swiftness I will release the power of my Spirit through a renewed people who have learned how to be led by the Spirit. They will explode with a witness that will touch every part of society in Britain. I'm strategically placing them to touch the farms, villages, towns and cities. No one will be without a witness whether they be children in the schools, farmers in the fields, workers in the factories and docks, students in the universities and colleges, the media, the press, the arts or government.
I seemed to see an army of all types of people moving into the continent with a compassionate ministry - participating, caring communities involved with each other at a grass-roots level, sharing the love of God everywhere. I saw the empty cradles of Europe, her churches, holding a new generation of Christian leaders.
Jean Darnall, Heaven, Here I Come"

A Bittersweet Saturday -

I generally look forward to the weekend, even as an old retired Moose. But today is different. My heart and soul sense an emptiness, it is the lack if her presence in this world. My Mother, a woman of quiet strength and faith is no longer here. And while I take solace in knowing she intercedes in prayer for me and my beloved at the feet of her Savior, I am nonetheless "out of sorts"?
I was expecting with delight the arrival of eldest son (and grandson) Kyle this morning, coming for the wedding of two precious friends. Alas, the winter weather has grounded his flight, and sent a wave of sadness through our family here. (May need to Skype later for that heart-lifting "Kyle fix"?)
Cody is off to care for our furry & feathered friends at the zoo, and Patti is off to an all day lab at Sac City, it's me and the animals here, and old Riley (14yr old Lab) is at my feet sensing my sadness and doing his part to comfort.
But, I am also an old Moose of faith, I have walked darkness before, and I have known the Light than shines even in the darkness. And, even when it is dark, I cling to that faith that I will once again sing my praises in that Light. For now, I accept, even embrace, the darkness, (only by Grace mind you), because I know these wilderness trials are the things of great growth in spiritual formation. Christ Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit, so must I go, led by that same Spirit. I will "come forth as gold", tempered by fire, and a better "wounded healer" and anam cara (soul friend) because of it, thanks be to God.
And so, I press on (we all press on) in the knowledge that even now He is making all things new in heaven and earth. I ask only that regardless of my circumstances I might reflect the love, grace and mercy of Christ, and impart to others the HOPE I have come to know in my deepest heart and soul.
Pray for me Mom. For you too have known the darkness well. From birth unto death you have walked the hills and those valleys. You have known heartbreak, and yet also great JOY. Disappointed and struck down, but never abandoned, forsaken but never forsaken, a child without a father and yet with The Father. Thank you Mom, for everything that only now I see so clearly.

"Patrick, we named you thusly after he who knew well trials but also the Savior Whose company I enJOY this day. May His Peace go with you, wherever He may send you. He will guide you through this wilderness and others, and protect you throughout the storms. And He will bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He will show you. He will bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors."

Christ as the Light illumine and guide me in this time and through all darkness. Be a shield about me, in Your Name drive away the evil dweeb and keep him at bay. Christ above and below me, behind and before me, Christ beside me on my left and on my right, this day Lord be within and without me, lowly and meek yet all powerful be in my heart and on my tongue, lowly and meek yet all powerful.
In Your Name; Father, Son & Spirit, I surrender. To You, Three In One, One In Three, Holy Trinity, Relationship at the Center I submit in trust. This day enfold me.
Amen.

in solitude — at Da Moose's Lodge.