Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Three meetings

About a week before I left Melbourne I had three meetings in the same day. The three people that I met with were all on different parts of their journey towards the kingdom, and it was really quite inspiring to get to see them in such close proximity.

The first was a young lady who is in a very transitional phase of her life. She had begun to question things in her life, and in looking for some spiritual truth had found Jesus' teachings really resonated with her. But she couldn't really reconcile the radical love and subversive message of Jesus with the churches she had seen. But for some reason she had seen my blog and thought I seemed to be wrestling with these inconsistancies myself and got in touch. We talked about things for a couple of hours. I have introduced her to our community and it looks like she might be dipping her toe into some of the practices of the group.

The second was a good friend from way back, who is very insightful, but doesn't see anything very particularly inspiring in the Christendom camp. But we talked about him realizing that consumerism just keeps growing and mutating into a beast that we have long since lost control of, and he expressed his desire to try and walk free from this. I shared with him some of my own issues with this, and my understanding of Jesus' teachings on money and the kingdom. It was a great time.

The third was a regular appointment with one of my dear friends that has been walking out this journey for a number of years now. He is completely committed to living in a prophetic community, rejecting the consumerist ethic. He is part of a community deeply committed to social justice, housing the homeless, feeding the hungry, advocating for the stranger. He is learning to be disciplined in worship, and deepening his spiritual practice. And he is still very keen and excited about the kingdom.

I am grateful to be in someway part of these conversations. I believe the kingdom of God that Jesus lived, taught, and handed to His disciples is not only where we find our salvation, but where we find the salvation of the entire earth. I am learning more and more that the prayer I want to live out is: May your kingdom come, and your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

rev

1 comment:

Janet Woodlock said...

Hey Rev... just checked out your blog and seen your news (though I'd heard some rumours) that you had left Australia...

You'll be missed... but the "cyber world" is a small place. We are through Christ the children of "a wandering Aramean" after all... the Spirit may lead us into all sorts of places both physically and via the inner journey.

May you know all God's blessings and the welcome of brothers and sisters as you settle and reiorient.

Love Janet