miracles

I've been wrestling with some questions lately: Does God still perform miracles today? If He does, why does He only seem to answer some prayers for healing by miraculously healing people? How does God decide which prayers to answer by healing a person and which ones He won't answer that way?

Many times in the Gospels and the book of Acts there are records or Jesus performing miracles, or Jesus' disciples performing miracles, or people praying for miracles and God stepping in to perform them. Yet, in my own life and the lives of those around me, I'm not sure how many miracles I have actually seen, or how many prayers for healing I have seen answered. Is this because I'm not paying attention when they do happen? Is this because I discount things that some people would call miraculous? Do my prayers for God to intervene in something in a miraculous way just lack enough faith for God to respond by performing a miracle? Or do the lack of miracles just mean that God doesn't perform them today the way He did in Scripture?

I have to say that this blog is not even going to attempt to answer these questions. Right now, I'm just asking the questions and I feel like I'm rather far from having any kind of answers to these questions. And, I think that being willing to ask the hard questions is often the first step in coming to any kind of an answer. If we never ask the questions, we will never find the answers. Some of the answers to our questions may not come until we are in the presence of God, but that doesn't mean asking the question and allowing it to drive you to God in search of an answer is a bad thing.

salt and light

So, this past week the young adults group at my church started . . . a new year, with new ideas, and a new look. Much about how this group will look has changed since last spring when we finished for the year. While I'm usually not one to embrace change quickly or easily, I'm really excited about this year and where we're going. A focus on community and service, rather than just providing another "church service" option. This past week we talked about how sometimes our heads can get full of knowledge and keep growing, but because we never put action to what we study and learn our hands and feet, and ultimately our hearts, are very small.

It was something that challenged me to do a lot of thinking in the past week. I love to study and learn more, and there's really nothing wrong with that . . . as long as it translates into action at some point. But, I know I get caught in the trap of it stopping at my head - at being something that I know and can talk about quite intelligently - and I think that's the case for many other people too. We know it all - we can respond to challenges to our faith. But, we hide in our churches and with our Christian friends because it's safe. We don't have to put ourselves out there.

But, the more I think about it and read Scripture, the more I'm convinced that's not how Jesus calls us to live. Jesus calls us to actively help people, to actively engage in conversation with people. In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, Jesus says this:

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it
be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out
and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be
hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put
it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way,
let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise
your Father in heaven." (Matt 5:13-16)

Jesus calls us to be salt and light in our world. If we're always hiding where it's safe, how much are we really being salt and light?

It's not even possible to shine light on the darkness in our world if we ever do is spend time with other people who are already living in the light. Our light does nothing than make that space a little brighter, but when we go into dark places with our light we can make a big difference.

It's also not possible for us to be salt to our world - to be people who bring a different flavour or way of looking at life - if just hide with other people who think and live like us. I wonder if sometimes when we never get out of our safe worlds we can get to the point of having too much knowledge and too much salt in one place, and it then becomes a detriment to us.

We need to get out and be the salt and light in our world that we are called to be.

I'm as guilty as the next person of hiding in my safe Christian world. My family and friends are Christians, I'm quite involved in my church, and I work for a Christian organization - all of those things make it quite possible for me to live in a world with only other Christians. But, I'm not so sure that this is a good thing for me . . . actually I know it's not. And, so I'm learning how to be intentional about developing relationships with the non-Christians in my world. People such as the couple that runs a cafe near my work where I often go for lunch or coffee, the people in my apartment building that I see regularly in the halls. Building these relationships takes a little of my time, but it's really no that hard to be friendly and smile when I see them and stop to talk rather than just rushing by all the time.

I think each of us, no matter what the world we find ourselves in the most looks like, have people to whom we can be salt and light. But, maybe, just maybe, it will require that we be willing to stop and actually see those people as people and take the few minutes at a time to start building a relationship with them. Being salt and light doesn't mean we just go up to people and preach the Gospel to them. It means we take time to build relationship and live the Gospel in front of them as we do so.

What about you? Who are the people in your life that you can be salt and light to? Your family? Your friends? Your co-workers? Your classmates? Your neighbours? What are the steps you can take to begin to build those relationships with them that will allow you to be salt and light in their world?

thoughts on young adults and the church: part 3

So, a while ago I wrote a couple of posts on this topic, that you can find in the archives on the right-hand side of the page if you wish. This is not really a continuation of those posts though, but it does broach the same subject matter. This post comes from a book that I just finished reading. It was a challenging book at some points, but also encouraging. Part of what was so encouraging to me about the book was to read a section that, at least for me and some of the other young adults I know in the church, described the tension we live with. Especially having grown up in the church, I find myself caught in the midst of this.

The book is called Off-Road Disciplines: Spiritual Adventures for Missional Leaders by Earl Creps. I don't think I could do summarizing what he said justice, so permit to quote a larger section of a book than I normally would on here. In this section, Creps is speaking of Timothy, the young Christian church leader that Paul addressed 2 letters to in Scripture, and the challenges he would have having a Greek father and Jewish mother.

Timothy represents in some ways the younger leader of today who feels
caught between two worlds, one dominated by the more traditional expressions of
the Church (I'll call them the "Jews") and the other made up of the culture in
which they are natives (the "Greeks"). As a product of both, these modern
Timothys also attempt to navigate a morphing culture in which the only question
seems to be the nature of the next change. Yet the "Jewish" world of traditional
church that asks for the allegiance often seems so poorly suited for our highly
fluid environment that they cringe at the thought of giving their lives to it.
Many of these hybrid young people ask me privately, "Am I going crazy?" Or,
after meeting a few peers experiencing the same stresses, they say with obvious
relief, "I thought I was the only one!" (pg. 163)

They cherish their"Jewish" heritage of conservative spiritual values but
recognize that it now faces the challenge of the increasingly diverse, "Greek"
world of which they are also citizens. The mingling of both influences makes our
Timothys something like the the children of cross-cultural missionaries: third-culture people who bond both to their homeland and to their
adopted nation, creating a virtual citizenship that does not exactly represent
either. (pg.163)

I have been incredibly blessed to grow up in a church community that has allowed young adults freedom to do things in a way that works more for them while still being a part of and accountable to the larger community. And I have deeply appreciated that. But, even still, there have been times when I found myself feeling these same sentiments - as I struggle with wanting to be a part of reaching out to my world, balanced with a love and respect for those who are older and more traditional in how they view things and do things.

I would venture a guess that this section from this book describes the way many young adults have felt, and probably do feel, in their interactions with the church. I know when I read this section of the book it was like someone was reading my heart and mind on the matter at various points in my life. And, it was encouraging to me to read it in a book written by someone who is far beyond the young adult years, but "gets it". Then it made me grateful for the number of other followers of Christ in my life who don't fall into the category of young adults who also "get it." I can only pray that more people, both young adults and those who aren't, will "get it". I think that will make a huge difference in how the church (as in the whole body of believers, not just a specific building) moves forward together, rather than divided.