What is this thing called Salvation? (3/20/11)

Great to see everyone again yesterday. If you missed it, we started off the morning with some getting-to-know-you time. We talked about ways that we experienced or understood wholeness over the last week and shared that in small groups.

Karl updated us on a few friends in our community:

• Steve and Lara got married!
• Darrin and Jolene recently returned from Ethiopia with their new kids! They are currently trying to get the family healthy upon returning with a few small, treatable medical issues.
• Heather is recovering well from surgery, but goes back to school this week and could use our support and prayers.

Then... we jumped right back in to the concept of wholeness!

Wholeness is not something we will ever have a complete understanding of; our understanding of it is changeable and different at different points in our lives. Our goal then, is to try to get as close to understanding and achieving it as possible.

Karl shared with us a goal of his: to offer a different framework for answering the question, "What's the point of God?"

He compared the search for wholeness with using a GPS. If you know the exact destination, you plug it in, and the GPS will get you there. However, if you're not quite sure of your destination or it's coordinates, it can be a frustrating journey trying to arrive at the right place. So it's important for us to evaluate our coordinates now and then and make sure we've got them right.

In the spirit of re-evaluation, let's take a fresh look at this thing called salvation.

What is Salvation?

Many of us have been taught that the concept of salvation is explained with: Fall and Redemption. This, however, is a limited view of the picture of salvation. Karl offered a different view that looks a bit more like this:

Creation

If we view salvation from the beginning, starting with creation, this journey towards wholeness makes a lot more sense.

Genesis 1:26-27

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

God set things up from the beginning for us to reflect His image, to look like Him, to be like Him. Sometimes, when we feel a disconnect, discontentment, or longing, it can be a subconscious realization that something's not right. If we're created in God's image, the potential is there; the coordinates are there; we just have to rediscover them.

Genesis 1:31

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

God looked at our original setting and said that all of it was "very good." How then, have we come to the conclusion that all of us are inherently evil? Created in God's image, called not just good, but "very good" by God, and yet, inherently evil? That doesn't really seem to be a logical conclusion. Maybe, just maybe, it's time we looked at things a little differently....

Genesis 2:25

Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

People, at their original, and at their best: no fear, no shame, no need to hide. Another way to say it: whole.

Fall

Now, after Creation, which here we are assuming is actually the beginning of this salvation process, we see what is typically labeled by Bible chapter headings "The Fall." Thinking differently about this passage than most of us were probably taught, let's see what it's like if we view it this way: Eve is confronted with an alternate reality than what she knows and trusts. She isn't choosing what's bad because it's bad, or because she's selfish or inherently evil. What if, when the serpent offers a different reality, she's just trying to decide if the reality that she has known is good for us, or if what the serpent's laying out is better?

Genesis 3:1-5

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Here, we see Eve battling with the question of which reality she's going to believe. Note that her observations, and the elements that factor into her decision are good things: good for food, pleasing to the eye, desirable for gaining wisdom. Maybe her intentions are good, after all...

Genesis 3:6-7

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Now, unfortunately, Adam and Eve are confronted with the fact that their decisions weren't actually the best choices to make. Now, things are broken. Now something is not right.

Genesis 3:8-10

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

This is the classic example of the lack of wholeness: "I was afraid." There are parts about me that I'm ashamed of. There are parts about God that I'm afraid of. I feel the need to hide. I'm fearful and ashamed. This is where the wholeness we've been talking about gets disrupted.

Enter: the need for redemption.

Redemption

Redemption is atonement, forgiveness, the universal need we have to reconnect with God. So God makes a way for us to reconnect by Jesus' sacrifice.

We've typically learned to stop there. Blam! The sin is atoned for! But you and I both know that it doesn't fix everything. Things are not right again just because of the atonement. The potential exists now... there's a way... now what?

That's where restoration comes in.

Restoration

Restoration is a movement, a process, a journey that starts at the cross and heads where? Let's figure that out...

Once we participate in the event of atonement or redemption, we begin on the journey of restoration that has now been made possible. But restoration to what? How about, to the original "very good" plan God had for us?

God's intent for us is shalom: wholeness. We see that in the way He created us. We see it referred back to so many times, like in this well-known passage:

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

The word "prosper" here, is the word "shalom." Plans to bring you back to wholeness.

So, what's the point?

It is not to systematically eliminate our sin so God will be increasingly pleased with us and so we can grow continually closer to Him.

What is it then?

The point is to receive and embrace God's love, and in so doing, rediscover the image of God initially formed in us. (This might actually be as simple as loving God and loving my neighbor....) If we get love right (understanding God's love for us, and extending as much love as possible to God and others), we may get very close the picture of wholeness.

Some closing thoughts on wholeness:

• The journey towards wholeness as an individual is an individual journey in that the path for each person is different.
• Wholeness cannot be embraced without community (evidenced by the fact that we were created in community).
• The journey towards wholeness as a community is not a shared path. It is however, a shared experience.
• On our journey together, we should embrace each other with kindness and tolerance reflecting the image of our Creator who's kindness brings us to repentance.

We'll talk more about that repentance in next week's blog!

Story, Shalom and then some (3/13/11)

It was great to see everyone yesterday! We started out talking about story and how:

• important it is.
• we have to train ourselves to value others' stories.
• we can use what we learn from other people's stories to gain wisdom for our own lives.

We recapped a bit of last week by asking the questions:
What's the point of God?
What's the point of church?

To begin to answer these questions, it's important to understand how our perspectives are formed out of the framework of belief or world view we, as individuals, have built.

Each of our frameworks will be different. Karl shared a bit of his framework with the group to give us a good example. "I grew up believing that God's purpose in my life was to help my life work out." However, he started to see things happen that contradicted this framework of belief.

If God seems to be a contradiction when I look at life, then something is missing:

Either God is wrong
OR
my understanding of God is wrong.

What we want to do here today (and continue in the future, of course) is to raise questions to help us start understanding some of that.

Discussion #1: What do you think God's general purpose is in our lives?

One answer to this question may be...
And one possibility we're going to explore is...

God's purpose in our lives is to bring us closer and closer to Shalom.

The goal is a movement, not an arrival. Here are a few moments in the Bible where we see this movement towards shalom.

Numbers 6:24-26

The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.

Genesis 15:15

You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.

Matthew 5:23-24

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

After reflecting on these verses, Karl encouraged us to draw a picture of our idea of wholeness.

Discussion #2: Share your picture with your group and and explain what you think wholeness looks like in our lives.

(For the online discussion, you can talk about what you drew, if you were there. Or, if you weren't there, talk about the mental picture you get of wholeness in our lives.)

Have fun with the discussions. I can't wait to hear your thoughts!

First Meeting (a little business business, and then, let's continue the conversation) (3/6/11)

First, a little business. If you were there and don't need a recap, but want to converse some more, feel free to skip down.

Here's a quick view of the business section:
Name
Kids
Finances
Parking/Carpooling

Why the name Immerge? back to top
Check out our first blog that explains it a bit more in depth. But what we like about this name is that it resonates with what we hope for and has good application principles.

What about the kids? back to top
Bob and Jane are working with the kids and hope to incorporate good conversation that aligns with what the adults talk about each week. We will also provide time for families to process conversations and ideas together. We need help! If you're at all interested in working with the kids, please talk to Bob or Jane.

How can you contribute financially? back to top
Great question. We're hoping to sustain Karl on at least a part-time basis. When we can, we'll make him full-time. And when we can, we'll start renting a space that will accommodate our group. In the meantime, we're at the Duell's. And in the meantime, the Blacks need our help! To give, please make checks out to Epic Church with a memo line of Immerge. Epic is acting as a launch pad for the church we're planting and is graciously helping us keep track of finances for a while.

Whoa, parking. back to top
We know; it's a little rough out there, since we're meeting at someone's house. Get to know some people, find out if you live close enough, and carpool if at all possible! We'd greatly appreciate it. Also, please get to know Ed; he's the guy that will be directing traffic.


Let the conversation begin! back to top

We talked about a lot of heavy stuff on the first day... go figure (Karl...). Here's a recap of the intro.

Underlying Goal... aka, why are we here?

• We recognize a need for spiritual growth.
• We think community has a lot to do with this.
• We feel like the good of community has been lost and we want to get it back.
• We want to break down preconceptions of what church is for the purpose of facilitating true and authentic community.

Speaking of community, let's get to know each other a bit.
We know right now that Heather is recovering from surgery, Jolene and Darrin are traveling to Ethiopia to adopt two new kids, and Steve and Lara are getting married Saturday. Please keep these friends in your prayers and get to know them. They're pretty awesome folks.

As a community, we're entering a formation stage. What is that and why? Good questions.

• Our mission and purpose are broad and we want a chance to form a better picture together.
• We want to wrestle together with some questions like:
  
  • What is church?
  • What are our priorities?
  • What are our core values?
• We think this will be best accomplished with a larger group than the planning teams, but a small enough group that serious conversation and community are still possible.

Karl reassured us that he's not perfect and doesn't expect our community to be perfect. He's coming from a perspective of "I know that I don't know." We're all learning this together and the shared search for truth is more important than knowing all of the final answers. The Holy Spirit is capable of guiding us and we should listen to Him as we figure things out together. Not any one person is going to get it all right, but as we listen to God and to each other, hopefully we'll get close as we form our opinions.

And this is where it got fun...

We took a look at some images and had some conversations in groups about how those images hit us and how we related to the ideas they expressed. This was a great opportunity to get to know some people in the group and not feel the need to be right, nor the fear of being wrong, as we were just relating our own experiences.

What do you see in these images that represents different seasons in your life?

Image #1

Image #2

Image #3

Image #4

Image #5

Image #6

• Which image do you relate to most?
• Which seems the best expression of the most recent trek of your journey?
• Does one of the images scare you?
• Does one comfort you?
• What other thoughts come to mind?

Feel free to comment below, and include the image number in your comments.



We ended the morning by launching some more questions to think about over the next week. Here's a taste of where we're heading.

• What's the point of God?
• What's the point of church?
• How do I interpret God?
  

  Do I view God through the lens of life?

  Does my success in life determine how happy God is with me? For instance, if things are going badly, is it because God is punishing me for my bad behavior?








Or, do I view life through the lens of God?

What I need is a framework that allows life to happen and an understanding of God that transcends life's circumstances.

We want to explore the idea of Shalom, which here means: Peace, Harmony with God and Others, Wholeness.

A note from Karl:

And a note from our kids...
Bob and Jane asked some of the older kids, "What is church?" Though most of us were probably expecting a kind-hearted chuckle, the answers were actually quite profound:

• Worshiping God
• Don't hurt other people's feelings
• Listen to other people
• Make friends
• Help people in need

Please enjoy reading and participating in the conversation below.