More from Simson

Wolfgang was comparing the kingdoms of this world(our culture)and of God as two separate magnetic fields. He brough up the imagery from science class where you have iron filings near the magnet and you can see the patterns that result. This is what he had to say about it...

The kingdom of God, in this picture, brings a completely different dimension to this set-up. A new, very powerful magnet, so to speak, is lowered from heaven to earth, creating its own magnetic field and influence, and changing the way people think, act and behave. Ultimately, some or many human iron filings change their magnetic allegiance and arrange themselves into this new magnetic field of the Kingdom of God. This causes no small confusion, since the two magnetic systems--the'patterns of this world' and the Kingdom of God--are not the same, and pull people in opposite directions, arranging them in very different patterns. Even the very pattern of people's lives, therefore, has an in-built message: it simply and clearly says to which system you belong. Thus, the very lifetsyle of Chirstians becomes a battle-cry, and may be the real down-to-earth arena of what we may call 'spiritual warfare'

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some thoughts...
Religious magnetic re-alignment says:
I don't drink
I don't smoke
I don't see R-rated movies
I don't cuss
I don't hang out with anyone who does those things
I will read my bible everyday
I will pray everyday
I will think I've earned my salvation...that somehow I'm better than the average joe

and yet for the average church goer, asside from the above list, there is no discernable difference between them and anyone else in their neighborhood.
Kingdom magnetic re-alignment says, in the power given by the blood of Jesus:
I will love people, whatever it costs me
I will not judge those that think differently than me
I will try to give away more than I take
I don't deserve what I have
I will abide with Jesus and He with me moment by moment
I will allow Christ to live out His own wants and desires in me

I thought at one point in my life that I was pretty good...I thought I had this Christianity thing pretty much wrapped up and ready to market. I knew what to do and what not to do to ensure that I would make it. I knew that I was saved by grace, not by works, I was tought that, I read that, I understood that(or so I thought), for cryin' out loug I even taught it to others...

but what I observed in the church was that I needed to be good enough, to do enough, to cross my t's and dot my j's , yeah...it was by grace, but only if I did "my part"...I was a slave to the law...especially man's law...if I dropped the ball then the whole thing was over...I lost out...there was no grace for that...there was only grace for me when I did all the right things...grace was found through the law...or so it seemed...grace was contingent upon my performance...is that really grace at all?

I'm not sure why the church teaches one grace and lives under some other kind of distorted grace. I guess the kind of grace I thought God had for me was the kind I saw demonstrated to those around me and myself. More judgment and condemnation than grace... I guess I didn't see much grace lived out...maybe that was the problem...I never saw it...or if I did it was considered "soft on sin"
I don't know...but what I do know is that I can't ever go back to that distorted view of grace...

Jesus, thank your for revealing yourself to me in the fullness of your grace...live in me...through me...that I was continue to die and you would continue to live.

Wolfgang Simson

In speaking of persecution:

Today we are in danger of turning those words on their heads, and defining blessings and curses according to the patterns of the world, not according to the values of an upside-down Kingdom of God. We feel we are blessed when we are successful and remunerated, honoured and quoted, given seats of honour, and when we are admired and glide pain-gree through a peaceful and safe life with-out porblems. We behave as if religious freedom is a status of blessing, and persecution is inherently bad: we may even pray to th every God who sent the persecution to 'kindly protect us from it'.

Wolfgang on the 'West':

No longer can we call our homes just 'our own' homes, or treat our cars just as 'ours' only . In the West, the lifestyle of many Christians is still centered around a career, TV, hobbies, privacy and pets, sugar-coated with a thin layer of Chirstian behaviour such as attending a church service, praying before meals and listening to Christian music. This is not much different from the lifestyle of the average person living in the West where, in one single lifelong orgy of individualism, almost everything is geared and structured for the pursuit of personal security, success and fun, and even individual spiritual growth.

readings

I've been reading Wolfgang Simson's "Houses that change the world" and it has been an excellent read. I wish I had brought it home...I had a couple of things I wanted to share from it, but it's still at school. Wolfgang seems to take the stand that the institutional church as we know it today has no right to exist in its current form. He is beginning to convince me...but I won't post more until I have the excerpts to post with it.

What I do know is this...the way we have begun to embrace the concept "we are the church" as we live it out together in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces, in our communities...feels more right than anything I have ever experienced in my 31 years on this earth. For that I am very excited...

Still struggling with the position and importance of the larger network in relationship to the house churches themselves...Wolfgang talks about "city wide" celebrations of the church...I look forward to that happening...that we could all put our different philosophies aside so we can actually get to the heart of what it means to be a part of this kingdom.

bunches of stuff

A lot of stuff going on here...

Life is good...finally slowing down a bit...trying to make it slow down a bit...

Finishing up another song to add to my collection...will post a clip soon...

Being the church with people that desire to be disciples of Christ is amazing. This was the first time that most everyone was able to make it so we had a great gathering last night and also made some important decisions. We had someone volunteer to start a bank account for us to be able pool our resources in...I am very excited as to the prospect of us being able to redistribute some wealth to those who really need it. Nothing overhead eating up valuable resources...just people giving and people recieving...beautiful...

We talked about the exchanged life and the hopelessness of the performance based theology most of us have been taught...true grace...freedom
It was great to hear where everyone is and has been...we shared the body and blood of Christ, prayed, shared a meal and shared our lives...it was rich.

first post

here is my first post of the new year...

a lot is going on here...too late to write it...

1. I love Sara and Macee
2. I love my friends
3. I love the church
4. I love my friends and family being the church
5. I love working out and even jogging
6. I love life right now
7. I want other people to know the Jesus I know
8. I want a little less talk and a lot more action
9. I can't believe that my little girl is 4
10. I'm tired