On the edge

This past friday I went to my Seminary roomate's house warming party. It was cool catching up with him and just enjoy spending time with friends. A very interesting thing came out of that experience for me. The first is that this is their first house.
So, a first home. My friends have been married for a bit over a year by now. They just got their house a couple of months ago. When I came in I congratulated him on being a home owner now. His reply was; "I won't be a home owner until 2030." It made me laugh and now that I have thought about it I also know it tells me a lot about him. Realism, confidence, faith, perspective, etc. A lot of it is grounded in realism. He knows he doesn't yet own the house, he knows it'll be a long way before they "truly" own the house. However, he is confident they will make it through, after all he did say he was going to be a home owner. There is also a very real sense faith as how could one possibly know where life would lead or how it will go for the next 25 years or so. Finally, he was smiling as he said that; the prospect of owning this house is daunting and long, yet not crushingly impossible. Commitments are interesting, some are easy to get into and agree with. Others are more like very heavy, even annoying endeavors. As I sit here I wonder what kind of commmitment is Calvary to each one of us. It is obvious to me that many of you are deeply committed to Calvary. In fact, I can say that I now count myself amongst that group.
The reason I am wondering what kind of commitment Calvary is to you is the fact that it will affect how each will deal with the problems we have now and the ones that are coming. Pastor Kim has spoken often about the Chinese character for crisis ( I think that is the word) and the two meanings it has. I believe very strongly that if we see our commitment to Calvary the way my roomate and his wife see theirs with that house we will have a much easier time with the problems. It doesn't mean the problems won't be hard or we won't be scared, upset, annoyed, etc. But it does mean that we have little something inside us that pulls us through. In their case they're starting a life together, it's a house they like very much, etc. In my case, it is the love I see in the church, the family that makes Calvary what it is. The vision to do its best to adjust to this new world and work to live in it, etc. What's that little something that helps you know you love Calvary?
Just one more thing, that "little something" isn't so little. Have you ever notice how many of the most important things in Christianity are little somethings? A little baby changing the world. A man from a little unknow part of Galilee redeemed all of us. A faith system that started in a little, far away part of the Roman empire eventually conquered that empire.

It all starts with a little something. In the case of Christianity all those little somethings have been cared for by God! We are yet another "little something" in a long line that is deeply cared for and loved by God.

Oct. 2nd Fall Festival

On Oct. 2 there was a street festival on West Marshall st. It was an amazing experience. The people and all that stuff. What I enjoyed the most was walking down from church with 7 people from church! Not only that, we hung out for a while and then had lunch at a place that already had Russ, Becky and their children taking up two tables!
I've been talking a lot about us walking down the street. So, when I saw 15 people related to Calvary eating in, and interacting with the people in one of the restaurants down the street I was very proud. What I did not expect was that the one reason I was most happy about was not the fact that we were all "taking up space" on West Marshall. It was the fact that I was spending time with Calvary people with no agenda other than being together. Since that day I've been thinking about how much I was fed by that time.
I'm writing this on Sunday night right after coming home from yet another empowered task force meeting. What was different about this night was that we refocused and changed our process. I haven't left one of these meetings as hopeful and fulfilled as I did today. Up to this point we had been greatly stressed and worried by the process in addition to the issues that precipitated our undertaking it. I trust we will now be able to come back to our reason for the work we're putting in, the church.