What does Satisfaction look like?

Even if you don't know it - you're looking for something. You're seeking something out. Everything you do, in fact, is really in pursuit of this thing. You're joined in this pursuit by pretty much everyone that's ever lived. A search for that elusive thing called Satisfaction.

Take a minute to consider this sentence and fill in the blank: I would be completely satisfied if ____________.

What did you think of? If you were feeling really holy today you probably put down something like "world hunger was ended." If you were honest, you probably put down something like "I had my house on the beach and a million dollars in the bank." Whatever you put down, there probably still exists within it a fundamental misunderstanding of satisfaction that keeps us from ever really attaining it.

We are incredibly task and goal oriented people. We make a list of tasks or we set a goal and then we go about the steps necessary to achieve it. But when we start to talk about the purpose or goal of our life, this kind of understanding is detrimental to true satisfaction for two reasons.

First, what do you do in the meantime while you're achieving your goal? Some people are so focused on some future achievement that everyday in between just simply gets in the way. They resent everyday that is not the day they achieve their goal. They're so focused on the future that they never appreciate the present. This "in between time" is definitely not satisfying. Think about it for a second, I'll bet you know someone who lives in the future - do they seem very satisfied?

Secondly, what do you do after you achieve your goal? What are you supposed to do once the achievement is past? This might sound silly but I think a lot of people presume that they will meet their goal and then stop, basking in the glow of that achievement for the rest of their lives. If our achievement is behind us, then we start living in the past. We take today for granted and risk getting really lazy because we've ran out of things to achieve. This "after the fact" time is definitely not satisfying either. I'll bet you know someone like this also, who lives perpetually in some past moment - aside from being kinda pathetic, do they seem very satisfied?

So, if Satisfaction is a destination that I'm either heading toward or already gotten to, it makes today thoroughly unsatisfying either way. We need to stop thinking about Satisfaction as a destination we get to but, rather a direction we're heading.

I bring up this topic not only for our personal reflection but to spark conversation in our Core Community. I wonder if, in the midst of such a fantastic community, we fall victim to the latter condition and start thinking we've "made it" as a community. Surely, we've accomplished many of our goals to grow deep relationships, to live life together, and to encouage each other toward God. But are we done now? Do we just maintain for the rest of our lives? I don't know about you but I'm way too young to be "done", and so is our community.

A helpful reflection is to think of Core today not as a finished product but a fantastic start. As open and accepting as we've been to the people that have entered our community - we should look for and anticipate the next person to join our community with the fervency we did the first. We should actively invite others and make new people feel welcome and accepted. When we get together to do something, we shouldn't take for granted the new members of our community that need to explicitly hear how welcome they are to be with us.

Core should also be a shared experience. A space where everyone feels some ownership of the community and looks for places to apply their gifts. Surely we shouldn't want to go to the same place at the same time and listen to the same person talk about the same things. No, we welcome the kind of diversity that comes from many people providing and acting on new ideas for our gathering times and activities. In a way, everybody is a leader in Core. None of us should shy away from throwing our gifts in the mix. To the extent that people withhold the gifts God gave them, the community is all the poorer.

We should also be reminded that Core is not solely a community that gathers on Thursday night but a community that is sent everyday into the city to reflect God. We do that best through our relationships so our community should always look for opportunities to be out in the city interacting with each other and others. All of us should look for opportunities to be (1) social with people outside our community (2) civicly engaged in the issues facing our city and (3) serving those that are in need. On that last point, service is not a "one size fits all" activity. Some people will enjoy working with kids as an act of service. Others will enjoy interacting with adults or working with their hands to build a house. It doesn't matter how you serve but we are called to serve. Let 2007 be the year you figure out a way to serve that is natural for your giftings and personality.

Not what we were yesterday and not what we will be tomorrow - today is what matters. And everyday that our Core Community is a welcoming, serving, shared community is a day we can be satisfied with the direction we're heading.

The Wager of Devotion

What if I told you something really bad was about to happen to you? You won't know when, where, how, who - nothing, just that something bad is going to happen to you and when it happens...well, its gonna be bad. You would probably walk around pretty jumpy. Perhaps you would find yourself being a little more timid, not taking as many risks. But as careful as you are, you can never be sure if or when "it" is coming.

Now what if I told you why something was bad was going to happen to you? What if I told you the reason was because you were a follower of God? That one day there would be consequences for being so devoted to God, persecution, death, or even worse - ridicule!

How fortunate are we that our hardships as Christians in America don't even come remotely close to violence or death? This is, unfortunately, not always in the case in other areas of the world where following Christ can mean jail or death. Their plight is much the same of the Jewish nation throughout the ages. I was reminded of the story of Shadrach Meshack and Abendigo in the book of Daniel. Faced with the consequence of a fiery death in a furnace, they chose God over the king, boldly stating that they would rather die than disavow their God. They said that God had the power to save them from this fate. But even if he chose not to, they would still not bow down to the king. This was quite a dangerous wager they had going with the king and with God. They could face the fire and God would either save them or not save them, but what was more unbearable to them than anything was walking away from their God. Their boldness for God was rewarded as God stood with them in the fire; their devotion, shining in sharp contrast to the thousands of Israelites that had chosen to capitulate in the same situation rather than face the same trial.

Lest we think that God is somehow obligated by our actions to work this way or that, think of John the Baptist. He is our counter-example in one way. Like many prophets, he was bold for God but was eventually killed by the same people that he was sent to. We should hear echoes of Jesus' life in this example as well. Here were more followers of God that decided that nothing would stop them from proclaiming their devotion to God boldly and suffered as a result. What was more unacceptable to them than even death was to say that they almost fought the good fight, almost finished the race, almost keep the faith.

This brings us back to our current dilemma, if fiery furnaces and death aren't our consequence for following God then why do we walk around as if it were? At the risk of scorn or a snide comment from a coworker or classmate, many Christ followers sheepishly go about their devotional lives hoping to not draw much attention to themselves. Their compromise is a devotion not so bold as to draw attention but not so cold as to equate to, at least in their own minds, rejection of God. I doubt that God is fooled or that he's very pleased. Should he savor a glass of lukewarm water anymore than you or I would?

By their scorn, our culture in many ways has the church up against the proverbial ropes. Where Christians have found the courage to boldly display their devotion for God, they often lack the love and respect necessary for the message to be pure and the hearers to be affected.

We've feared the fire for too long and our world is ill served by the timid faith produced as a result. What this world needs more than anything is a Church that is proud of her Savior. Nothing will build peoples' faith in God more than people with faith in God. Nothing will give people confidence in God more than people who are confident in God. Nothing will help this world know what God is like more than people that model, by their lives, what God is like. Nothing will make people desire God more than people that desire God.

So if my life is a wager between the possibility of persecution or the assurance of God's pleasure then gimme the dice - I'm betting it all on the latter.

Who's on our gift list this Christmas?

Years ago, before Hallmark and Best Buy got ahold of it, Christmas was all about generosity. As followers of Christ, we make it our practice to reclaim this meaning in our celebration of God's Gift.

The average American will spend over $800 this year for Christmas. With as many iPods and Playstations that will be bought in the next month, I wonder if could we be as generous to those in need as we are to those that have no material need at all?

There are so many great charities out there, one of my personal favorites is Samaritan's Purse. You might know them for their Operation Christmas Child program that delivers gifts to millions of children all over the world each year. Another very cool thing to check out on their website is their gift catalog. These aren't just any normal kind of gifts though, these are gifts that could save somebody's life. For $35, you can feed a family for two months or give an orphan food/shelter/education/healthcare for a month. For $9 you can feed a baby for a week.

In the midst of this year's holiday spending binge, lets take an opportunity to bless people as if their lives depended on us doing so. Because, truthfully, they do.

Gift Ideas

Last night we talked about what it means to give like God gave, of himself. Here are a few gift ideas that may be fun to make for your friends and family. Start with what you enjoy doing and go from there!

• Hand-made Christmas card
• Baked goods
• Framed picture
• Collage of pictures
• "Free change of strings on guitar" gift certificate
• Knitted pair of gloves or hat
• Hand-made wreath
• Help with home improvement
• Hand-written eCard webpage
• Craft

Grand Illumination

For your viewing pleasure, here was the view at our recent "Grand Illumination" party. Next time you're at Core, take a second to look over the city and be inspired by the view that God's given us. This is the city we have been called to bless and serve. God tells his people in Jeremiah 29 to seek the blessing and peace of the city he has sent them. Because we will prosper only as the city prospers. Our lives, fate, and faith are beautifully tied up in the places we find ourselves sent to by God. As we honor God with our lives in this city, we not only pray for God's kingdom to come to Richmond but we actually bring it here.

One day, the glow that illuminates Richmond won’t come from bulbs of glass and wire. The day that God is glorified and honored in every corner of Richmond is the day we’ll truly see a Grand Illumination.

21 Days of Prayer

As most of you are aware, Commonwealth Chapel is in the middle of a dedicated 21 Days of Prayer as we search God's will for how we solve our space challenges. I hope that you will join this effort. You can see what some of the church's members are experiencing on ComChap's new blog, 21 Days of Prayer. Check it out at http://blog.comchap.com. Also, don't forget about the dedicated day of prayer on Friday, November 3rd. There will be 3 one-hour worship times (7-8AM, 12-1PM, 7-8PM) with 30 minute prayer times laid out between. You can sign up to pray during one (or more) of the 30 minute slots at church this weekend.

God is a Journey

Think back through your life for a moment. Remember when you graduated from high school. Remember when you moved to the place you currently live. Remember the time you achieved something you've hard for. All of these moments and memories make up what we call our life. A string of moments leading from the past to our present reality. They make us who we are and bear heavy on our present course in life. But do these moments, these autonomous events, really capture the flow of our life story? Could we understand any one of our stories on their own, outside the context of our entire life story? Don't our passions, our past, and our dreams feed into each of these stories? Don't other stories feed into the next?

Recently in Core we were talking about one particular kind of story. Call it our "conversion story" or our "testimony" but it is the moment in our life when we made a decision to begin a relationship with God. We looked at the "conversion stories" of several other people in the Bible. But, as we read these stories, something seemed to be missing. Anxiety, fear, and hatred were evident but unexplained in the story. It was only when we looked back in the story, at the events leading up to the moment they started following God, that we saw everything in context. We saw the path their life story had taken toward God.

Whether its a symptom of our culture or our nature, we are event-based people. We tend to think of stories as autonomous units but in doing so we risk losing sight of the larger Story that all of these events fit into. In the same way, we must not see our relationship with God simply as a single event that happened but as a series of events that form a story leading us to God.

Why is this important? Because we begin to appreciate elements of our story we previously thought were insignificant. We see a story, beautiful in all of complexity and richness. We appreciate all of the things that God did (and is doing) in our lives to lead us to him.

Because, surely our journey toward God is not over when we make the decision to follow him. The event marks a major turn in the story but, as followers of God, we must appreciate the story he's woven so far enough to continue it. So my meditation today is two-fold. For the seeker I would submit that not one moment in your life is insignificant. It is all, hopefully, leading you toward God. Every conversation, conflict, and conquest leads you closer to God if you pay close enough attention to the Storyline. For the Jesus follower I would submit that your journey is far from over. In fact, with your newfound knowledge of and commitment to God you should be all the more motivated to journey toward him. Like any good relationship, once you meet someone, the real work of getting to know them begins.

So let me encourage you today, not to let the journey begin, but to let the journey continue...

Why God is better than Google

I'm not sure what yours is - it may be a movie, a band, or a restaurant. It might be a company or a place but, whatever it is, you are an evangelist of it. It's that thing that you are so excited about that you run around telling everyone about it. You buy copies of it and give it away. You harrass your friend until they've listened to it. You have 101 reasons why they should vacation there (and 50 restaurants they need to check out when they get there).

I have many but one of mine is Google. Every other day, Google seems to release a tool (for free) that makes my life easier and makes me more productive. It's like they can read my mind. I say, "Wouldn't it be great if..." and they've already made it. Talk to me and I'll mention my gCalendar or gMail at least once. Our Core website is completely made up of Google technology. If you're reading this, you have Google to thank for it.

What is that thing and what makes you so excited about it that you have to tell everyone else? You see, I think God has made everyone of us evangelists. He's pre-wired us to get excited about something and then start running around telling everyone else about it.

So here's the point, does following God get us that excited? Do we have 101 reasons why people should check out Jesus and see what he's all about? Because, to be honest, the church hasn't given the world many good reasons to follow God lately. If someone asked you why they should follow God, what would you say? There's many answers but here are three to get you thinking:

Why follow God?

1. Story - As Christ-followers, we find out that we're a part of a larger Story ("HIS-story"). That Story tells us where we came from, why things are the way they are, what's going on now, and what's going to happen. That Story gives us meaning, purpose, and direction. We find out that most of the questions we have about our life are answered by that Story.
2. Relationship - We find out that we were made for relationship. That God is a Person we can know and get to know. That we were made to be in healthy relationship with the people around us. Just about every song our culture's poets write are about relationships. So when we tell the Story in terms of a broken relationship and the on-going reconciliation, people resonate with that.
3. Lifestyle - We find out that Jesus' teaching were all about everyday living. Following Jesus wasn't about lifeless ceremonies but a lifestyle that touches every part of who we are. And because they were meant to form a lifestyle, Jesus teachings are relevant to every part of my life (not just Sunday morning). They can help me live today, not just when I die.

What if this was what we were telling people about follow Jesus? What if we actually had answer when people asked us why they should? (1 Peter 3:15) This is the Gospel, the Good News that we have for the world. We can tell people that they matter, that their lives have value and meaning, that God didn't just leave them to figure out life but send his Son to teach us how to live.

So next time you're telling someone about how much you love Google, tell them, "...but there's something else that I get even more excited about, let me tell you about that...".