Fort Worth surprise
Everything I have been through spiritually the last couple of weeks, well, got rolled up into a big ball of WOW! when I went to church this morning.
There wasn't time for a message today at the church I went to. Today was a day for stories. There was a video from the mother C3 church and it was about some things they're going through, about going up a level, about not putting new wine into old skins, and that's something I can really relate to. I won't be the same human being I was when I got here. The isolation and solitude have given me time to spend learning about some things I needed to change in my own life. I love encounters with God; you never leave from one the same way you were before you have it.
I know the pastor of this church; not well, but I know him. He calls me a friend of his, which made me feel pretty good. And I told him how grateful I was to his church for the way they welcomed me and made me feel last Sunday. A young couple from this church is moving to a different state but shared the same sentiments I felt with these folks. It was their turn to tell their stories.
The girl started attending this church when she and her sister moved to Fort Worth from:
Oregon.
Ya had to figure Oregon was gonna show up here somewhere.
So he gets up after this couple and there isn't much time for a message so he starts off with sharing a Scripture from 1 Corinthians 2 in which Paul talks about how he approached sharing the Gospel with the Corinthians. It kinda resonated with me because I don't use a fancy approach when I share. I'm just folks. I just talk to folks like they'e folks just like me. I think we're all in this sin business together so there's no need to be lofty or wordy.
Did I mention by the way, when the young guy telling his part of the couple's story said the word "Shit". Yup, in church. And the pastor handled it beautifully. There's nothing phony about C3 church. It's as real as it gets.
Anyway, the pastor goes on to talk about community. Hmmm...there's an idea and he said something that really hit home with me. He said if we can't find it, it's up to us to MAKE it.
I told you I was gonna need that silverware and all those plates. I don't expect God's provision without showing me what it's for. I just didn't expect a trip to Fort Worth was going to be the catalyst for it.
In the before-mentioned video the leader of C3 talked about stirring up our gifts that the Holy Spirit gives us. He used hospitality as an example. I can cook. I like to cook. You wouldn't want to go to someone's house to eat that can't cook when you could go to someone else's house who could was one of the parts of the video. So was the part about standing still and trying to stuff new stuff into an old you. I've kind of spoken about these themes throughout the last couple of weeks.
Anyway, those themes had concurrent meaning to me and I so get what the guy is saying. And then, the pastor shared what I'd told him with the congregation. He knows I've been around; as he told them, he knows my story. He does, by the way, and it amazes me he can remember it. But like I told him, nobody has ever made me feel as welcome as I felt at his church. I felt like family.
The woman that told her story said the same thing from when she joined their church three years ago.
They get it.
I can't get something else out of my head from last week. Pastor Aaron apologized to the people of C3 and those guests that were there. His words really struck me because of things I've seen happen in my own lifetime. He apologized if anyone had made an profession of faith and had not been told what happens next. He apologized if the big C church had hurt anyone. I know a lot about church hurt. I thought that was interesting. I know a lot of LDS people that are church-hurt, too. He apologized for stuff that other people had done; where the big C church let someone down. Where the Church was judgmental or exclusive. Where the Church was responsible for the hurts in someone's life. It's kinda like praying for forgiveness for the forefathers in asking God to remove a generational curse. (That's a thing, by the way and something I learned about in Ft. Worth as well).
The thought I can't help thinking about is this: How can our church reach those that have been church-hurt when what we're inviting them back to looks a lot like what caused that hurt in the first place? I don't know it's the right question, but I know that it's a question in my little mind.
I see the value in what C3 Fort Worth is doing. Pastor Brandon asked us to ask the Holy Spirit what He wants us to do with what we learned:
My answer was this: Take it home.
I'm not looking to switch churches anytime soon I also see the need for and the value of what Ogden First Baptist does. For now. But I also see the thing that's as plain as the nose on my face; the same thing I saw with my friends in Murray. If we're unwilling to move as the Holy Spirit directs us and can't get out of our own way, He will bring people to Ogden that will.
I'm guessing that in the near future, you're gonna be hearing a lot more about dinner at my joint.
There wasn't time for a message today at the church I went to. Today was a day for stories. There was a video from the mother C3 church and it was about some things they're going through, about going up a level, about not putting new wine into old skins, and that's something I can really relate to. I won't be the same human being I was when I got here. The isolation and solitude have given me time to spend learning about some things I needed to change in my own life. I love encounters with God; you never leave from one the same way you were before you have it.
I know the pastor of this church; not well, but I know him. He calls me a friend of his, which made me feel pretty good. And I told him how grateful I was to his church for the way they welcomed me and made me feel last Sunday. A young couple from this church is moving to a different state but shared the same sentiments I felt with these folks. It was their turn to tell their stories.
The girl started attending this church when she and her sister moved to Fort Worth from:
Oregon.
Ya had to figure Oregon was gonna show up here somewhere.
So he gets up after this couple and there isn't much time for a message so he starts off with sharing a Scripture from 1 Corinthians 2 in which Paul talks about how he approached sharing the Gospel with the Corinthians. It kinda resonated with me because I don't use a fancy approach when I share. I'm just folks. I just talk to folks like they'e folks just like me. I think we're all in this sin business together so there's no need to be lofty or wordy.
Did I mention by the way, when the young guy telling his part of the couple's story said the word "Shit". Yup, in church. And the pastor handled it beautifully. There's nothing phony about C3 church. It's as real as it gets.
Anyway, the pastor goes on to talk about community. Hmmm...there's an idea and he said something that really hit home with me. He said if we can't find it, it's up to us to MAKE it.
I told you I was gonna need that silverware and all those plates. I don't expect God's provision without showing me what it's for. I just didn't expect a trip to Fort Worth was going to be the catalyst for it.
In the before-mentioned video the leader of C3 talked about stirring up our gifts that the Holy Spirit gives us. He used hospitality as an example. I can cook. I like to cook. You wouldn't want to go to someone's house to eat that can't cook when you could go to someone else's house who could was one of the parts of the video. So was the part about standing still and trying to stuff new stuff into an old you. I've kind of spoken about these themes throughout the last couple of weeks.
Anyway, those themes had concurrent meaning to me and I so get what the guy is saying. And then, the pastor shared what I'd told him with the congregation. He knows I've been around; as he told them, he knows my story. He does, by the way, and it amazes me he can remember it. But like I told him, nobody has ever made me feel as welcome as I felt at his church. I felt like family.
The woman that told her story said the same thing from when she joined their church three years ago.
They get it.
I can't get something else out of my head from last week. Pastor Aaron apologized to the people of C3 and those guests that were there. His words really struck me because of things I've seen happen in my own lifetime. He apologized if anyone had made an profession of faith and had not been told what happens next. He apologized if the big C church had hurt anyone. I know a lot about church hurt. I thought that was interesting. I know a lot of LDS people that are church-hurt, too. He apologized for stuff that other people had done; where the big C church let someone down. Where the Church was judgmental or exclusive. Where the Church was responsible for the hurts in someone's life. It's kinda like praying for forgiveness for the forefathers in asking God to remove a generational curse. (That's a thing, by the way and something I learned about in Ft. Worth as well).
The thought I can't help thinking about is this: How can our church reach those that have been church-hurt when what we're inviting them back to looks a lot like what caused that hurt in the first place? I don't know it's the right question, but I know that it's a question in my little mind.
I see the value in what C3 Fort Worth is doing. Pastor Brandon asked us to ask the Holy Spirit what He wants us to do with what we learned:
My answer was this: Take it home.
I'm not looking to switch churches anytime soon I also see the need for and the value of what Ogden First Baptist does. For now. But I also see the thing that's as plain as the nose on my face; the same thing I saw with my friends in Murray. If we're unwilling to move as the Holy Spirit directs us and can't get out of our own way, He will bring people to Ogden that will.
I'm guessing that in the near future, you're gonna be hearing a lot more about dinner at my joint.
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