cReaTe

My fingers are itching today to make something. I want to paint a mural all over my bedroom walls or throw some pottery, maybe build something. I am needing to be creative. Unfortunately, all I really have time to do is school work, but I'll probably survive. The point is, this itch to do something special has me thinking about how special God is. God is a much better God than I would be. Think about this- the Creator created us to create.

We are naturally endowed with the gift to do something, to build, or write, or sing, or draw, or take pictures... we are given the opportunity to be bigger than ourselves. God wants us to move outside of our smallness and create something that speaks to the world. We could have been designed simply to do one set task all the same way, but that isn't how God wanted us to be. And that is something beautiful.

Somewhere Holy

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up."

When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am."

"Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

Exodus 3:1-6

When was the last time you were somewhere holy? When was the last time you took off your shoes? When was the last time you responded to God, "Here I am?" We need some more moments of holiness.

Know This.

I was wavering between two topics to write about tonight and then I realized that I was listening to Phil Collins say that he can't stop loving you so I guess that's a sign. Love it is.

We were talking in my New Testament class last night about Paul's letters to the people in Thessalonika. He uses beautiful language to talk to them. He describes their relationship as that of siblings (1 Thess. 2:1), of mother and child (2:7-8), a father and his children (2:11), and he writes that when they were separated from one another he felt like an orphan (2:17). (Quick note: Some of those might not be in your Bible, depending on the translation. It's in the Greek though, promise!) I was overcome, thinking of how much they loved one another, how vulnerable they were in the wake of their relationship. Paul's language means that the Thessalonians were everything to him.

In conversation in class, our professor mentioned that he worked with a congregation that was struggling with the wounds of feeling unloved. All of their needs were being met, but they didn't feel like their pastor truly cared for them. They were broken hearted.

As I sat there, I was flooded with emotion. I kept thinking, "I hope that our students know that they are loved..." I want to use this as an opportunity to make sure that all of you know that you are loved. Not because of your family or because of the way you look or what you add to our group. We love you because you are you and that is enough. I am so glad that I get to work with each of you and I pray tonight that you know how important you are to me. Thank you for letting me be with you.

A Random Thought

I've been thinking a lot lately about the person that I am and why I am the way am I. This is a huge question really, and I'm not sure there is an answer. Here's what I really am thinking about:

Are you the person you are because of your circumstances or would you be the same no matter where you can from?

We were talking about a similar topic in one of my classes today. Our professor said that at the root of it all, people are basically the same. And everyone is just doing the best he/she can. If that's true, and we're essentially all the same, then we are just the result of our environment, right? So what if I were born to abusive parents and I was born addicted to cocaine? Is there any chance that I could be the person that I am now? Maybe a question more easily answered, have most of my moral choices simply been the result of unpresented opportunities?

And where does God play into this?

worship

"Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of the conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of the mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose- and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable."
-Bishop William Temple

I like this definition a lot. It seems like such a challenge, such a call to learn how to adore the right way. I want to learn how to be selfless, I want to be submitted to God. I want to grow and learn.

We've been planning for Northbound and considering what works for you guys and in one of my classes we're talking about how to lead worship...and so I want to know what worship is like for you. Are you connected to God when we worship together? What aspects of worship do you like? What do you dislike? Tell me about your favorite worship experiences.