I don’t even know if "practicalizing" and "sacralizing" are real words, but that’s what I’m interested in doing today. Carol’s comment a few posts ago prompted me to do some thinking on how to make "missional spirituality" very practical, because it does sound "lofty" as she put it. I loved her idea of simply inviting people over for a meal, and seeing it in terms of missional spirituality. Making spirituality practical. We could go further and say that we could "sacralize the mundane" by viewing every meal as a sacred event, where thanksgiving is offered and fellowship is shared. I want to give people some more examples of an embodied missional spirituality, so we can see what it might look like with "skin on".
So my message on Sunday will go something like this: God has called us to people through whom his future arrives in the present. Revelation 21-22 is the clearest picture we have of that future – so let’s take a few elements of that future, examine them and think about how we can be people through whom those aspects of God’s future arrive now in the present. The aspects we’ll talk about are:
- PRESENCE: heaven’s main feature is that God lives in the midst of his people 24/7. What are some very practical ways we can become people of presence today?
- HOLINESS: The shape of the New Jerusalem is the shape of the Most Holy Place in the temple, and twice John’s vision details the kind of people who won’t get into the city. How do we need to re-define holiness, and What are some practical ways we can become people of holiness today?
- BEAUTY: God’s glory is the city’s light, but there are jewels all over the place in the city that reflect the light, that bring out specific aspects of the light. It’s a beautiful place. Again, what are some practical ways we can be people that cultivate, create, and celebrate beauty?
- ABUNDANCE: The river of life flows from the the throne through the middle of the city, the tree of life grows on either side, its leaves are for the healing of the nations. Heaven’s a place where people’s needs are met. I’m not talking about "bling-bling abundance", I’m talking about the abundance of everyone’s needs being met. Psalm 23 abundance. What are some practical ways we can be people through whom heaven’s abundance arrives here on earth for those who are in need?
How can we translate these "heavenly" things into an "earthy" spirituality? Focus on being extremely practical in terms of how these things are worked out. I want to put some "flesh" on missional spirituality this week.
Make friends with those who believe very differently than you. Not with a goal to ‘get them saved’, per se, but to really hear their stories and engage them for what they can bring to *your* life. Let them ask the hard questions and say “I don’t know the answer to that either.”
I go to ‘deck events’ with some (new) friends every now and then, surrounding myself with people who behave and believe entirely different than me. And lo and behold, what always comes up? Religion. What’s wrong with it, what could be better. Why they don’t buy it. And I listen. And sometimes apologize. I’ve had several folks say, “Gee if I knew there were christians like you, I probably could believe that stuff too.” Interesting. I take to heart their criticism. And I often concur.
Pretty much get yourself some new friends outside the church culture just for the sake of making new friends to enrich your life. (Keeping friends *in* the culture is fine too, but way too limiting by itself.) Don’t have agendas. Drop the ‘evangelism’ tape that plays over and over ad nauseum in your mind.
That’s how ‘missional’ is playing out in my life anyway. (and learning to breath in a smoke-filled bar….)
Beauty in the arts… I think that in addition to reflecting the Lord’s beauty ourselves, we can celebrate and honor beauty as a gift from God wherever it’s found (I think I’ve said this in the church forums before). I think that sometimes Christians are a bit afraid to acknowledge goodness that dwells in non-Christians, as if we have a corner on God’s good gifts. But if appreciate God’s beauty and presence in non-believers, I think that it would speak hugely to their hearts; it would draw them into the “story” and help them to see that God is actively at work in their lives.