Bono said, "we thought we had the answers, it was the questions we had wrong."

maybe the organized church has been in the same boat...asking and answering the wrong questions.

Here are some of my thoughts....
What does 'being holy' mean?
Divine power is not mediated thru strength, but through weakness. True greatness, true passion, true power is not achieved through the assertion of rights, but thru their release. The very style of Jesus' birth, HIS entrance into the screen of our lives as the baby in the manger transforms life. It makes me so aware that even the most secular of things, when Jesus is in their midst, becomes holy!

Jesus as a baby! What kind of crazy love convinces Jesus to give up heaven, to forsake glory and the rightful place of kingship and to come to me, to us, in the weakest way imaginable.
Waiting for me to come, yet willing for me not to.

Waiting for me to see, yet willing for me to turn away.

Waiting for me to worship, yet willing for me to renounce Him by my shallow ascent to religious form or outright defiance...

Willing. Am I? He is...to allow me...
To betray Him.... And if I am willing..sigh..if we are willing...to deny him, mock him, beat him with my fists and impale him on a cross. Yet even there He comes to me.

And the question must be asked...why? The bible puts it simple...He so loved the world, that's me and you, that he gave His only son, that whoever would believe...that is, allow His life to fill them with real life...would not perish but truly live. and that is a holy thing.

I love that Jesus said He came to give us full life. I think that the great treasure that I am discovering is that to truly love Him is to truly live. Everything comes alive. Fully alive. That is what makes this journey with Jesus so unique, its that a follower of Jesus has a deep, authentic life. Its real. Its powerful. and its transforming. Instead of running from conflict, being afraid of rejection, numbing the pain with my drug of choice(be it religion or a pharmaceutical), avoiding people and making money...I choose to live. to love. to smile. to laugh. to work. to be. hmmm.

What am I saying? When my life is clothed with His, and I choose to live for His glory...all that I do, all that I am, what I see, what I taste, what I hear, what I say...becomes holy and truly sacred.
I love that when I play basketball with Caleb or wrestle with Rosie, and I do it with Jesus in my heart... it is holy and His Presence is there.

I love that when I cook a magnificent plate of steaming curry, and I do it with Jesus in my heart...it is holy and His Presence is there.

I love that when I have a cup of coffee in the morning as the sun rises with a book in hand, and I do it with Jesus in my heart...it is holy and His Presence is there.

I love that when I sit a table with people I love and listen to them talk and watch them describe life, and I do it with Jesus in my heart...it is holy and His Presence is there.

I love that as Darlene walks the hallways of the hospital being an instrument of healing, and she is aware that He has placed her there...it is a holy place and His Presence is there.

I love that as Erin works in her office as an instrument of integrity, and she does it aware that He has placed her there...it is a holy place and His Presence is there.

I love that as Scott walks the hallways of academia as a missionary to the mind of our culture, and he does it aware that He has divine purpose there...it is a holy endeavor and His Presence is there.

I love that as Tracey captures God's signature on people by ripping back the veils that hide true beauty and captures who they truly are on film, and she does it aware that Jesus has placed her there...it is holy and His Presence is there.

I love that as my kids go to school and learn to love new friends, and they do it knowing that Jesus is smiling...it is holy and His Presence is there.

I love that where ever we live, and we live there for Him...it is a holy place, and His Presence is there.

and maybe that's what the church is all about. maybe that is question we need to be answering...Is He here? Is He pleased? Maybe we need to be mission-aries who are guides that help others discover that He is here now.

I think we need to be a gathering of people who understand that when we, together, live in the name of Jesus, He is present...and that makes it holy.