my city

I often have these moments... i call them Chicago moments. these moments strike me when this great city calls out to me and reminds me why I love living here:

a cool breeze at the lake front, hipsters in Wicker Park, goosebumps at Wrigley, corn hole (bags for some of you) with my boys, paddle boats with my little girls in Lincoln Park, walking hand and hand with my wife down a tree covered street, the skyline in the evening, riding my bike to the office in the cool of the morning, a BBQ after church on sunday night, standing on stage at the Brixen Ivy Community Center and hearing people's voices rise up in worship over my own amplified voice, and on and on they go....

i have these moments frequently (especially in the spring and summer!), but a thought struck me the other day:

do i love the people of this city as much as i love the city itself?

ouch. that one stung a bit. you see the city doesn't talk back, it accepts me for who i am. the city doesn't cut me off when i am driving, it always has room on it's streets for me. the city is easy to love because it almost always gives back. the people on the other hand... well, that is a different story.

suffice it to say, that i am convicted of my lack of love toward the people in this city. Paul said that without love I am like a clanging symbol. last i heard, that just sounds like noise. Chicago doesn't need more noise. it has enough as it is. what it could use is love. maybe the Beatles had it right when they said; 'all we need is love!". love is all we need. but it isn't an earthly love that comes and goes like the weather in our fair city. it is the unending, unfading, unfailing love of JESUS CHRIST. that is the love that forgives every sin, and heals every heart. that love is all we need.

may GOD grant me a super-earthly love for the men, women, children of this city. no matter what neighborhood they are from, no matter what they might look like,  no matter if they deserve it or not. may HE grant me the ability to see them as HE sees them. may HE grant me the ability to share in HIS passion, and may we see the people of Chicago come to know that all they need is LOVE, for GOD is LOVE. 

thoughts on sunday

- we announced our intent to change the name of our 2 sites yesterday. i know this caught a lot of people by surprise, but i am convinced that it is the right decision. i am genuinely excited about the move to Missio Dei.

- worship @ wrigley was so much fun. it was great to see so many really engaged in connecting with GOD.

- attendance was great, especially for the 2nd week of july! we almost broke the 300 mark at wrigleyville, and the 80 mark in wicker park.

- i am learning a lot about leadership recently. mostly, that at times it is really difficult. that often you feel alone. this teaches me the necessity of staying close to JESUS. i cannot lead unless i am led.

- david taught yesterday. he really did good. when he was teaching, i felt i saw a glimpse of the future. he is going to be really used in this movement. how exciting to be a part of it :-)

- the bbq down in wicker was fantastic. i think almost 70% of the people stayed after service and hung out.  community was real and beautiful.

- now that we have the announcement over with, i am excited to dive into things. this is the final part of the transition to a multi-site church. time to stop talking, time to start doing. 

change

we recently announced some major changes taking place in our church; in a couple of months we will make the move to unite our two churches under one name. we will no longer be named The Church of Wrigleyville or citichurch, instead both communities will be known as Missio Dei. (more on the name at a later time)

this announcement caught a number of people off guard (deer in the headlights!), as any significant change usually does, and it got me thinking about change.

for some reason we are leery of changes (myself included!), and yet i have begun to think that change is something that GOD not only helps us through, but something that HE wants for us on a continual basis, and something that HE will often force us into.

here is the deal:

- change causes us to learn full dependence on HIM.

when we are faced with the option of trusting GOD and trusting something else, we will almost always go with the latter. it is just our sin nature. we are infatuated with the here and now, what we can taste, smell, see, etc. sometimes GOD causes change to show us how temporal all those other things are, and thus learn complete and total dependence on HIM. it is called trust.

- change causes us to listen to HIS voice.

remember when GOD told Abraham to go, but HE didn't tell him where? Abraham was forced into a constant state of change. this caused Abraham to learn to listen for the voice of the FATHER. for he was to be guided by that VOICE and that VOICE alone.

- change brings something new.

GOD is always doing something new, something fresh.  there is a verse in Isaiah that i love (chapter 43 i think), where GOD says HE will do a new thing. that springs will bubble up in the desert and that HIS work will always be brought forth. i am always looking forward to the next thing GOD is doing. HE is always wanting to work is HE not?

- change is evidence of relationship.

people or churches that don't change are often  married to tradition. tradition breeds ritual and regimentation.  conversely, relationships are always liquid. evolution and change within relationship is always necessary, therefore change is evidence of relationship. i want to be in intimate relationship with GOD. i want to always be evolving in the rhythms of knowing HIM. ritual and regimentation is for the religious, not for those who are bound to GOD with the singular desire of knowing HIM.

my two cents...

may GOD bring us change always, 

j

i wanted to share this...

http://capturingtheinfinite.blogspot.com/2008/07/missio-dei.html

what a weekend!

this has to be one of the best weekends for our church since we moved here to chicago:

• we kicked the weekend off with our second BaseCamp (leadership gathering) on saturday morning:
• attendance was great. we had around 67 people taking time out of there saturday to hang with us!
  
• we took the opportunity to break down 'missional church'
• this was easy to talk about because it is my passion.
• it was fun to see people really 'get it'. i think this is going to be foundational for us as we move forward on the mission of GOD.

• our sunday services we're amazing as well
• it was hot and sweaty at both locations (in wicker park we handed out popcicles!) but people turned out to meet with GOD. we had 278 @ the wrig and 67 @ wicker!
• i felt like even though it was hot and somewhat hard to focus people were really engaged. the response time in wicker was really intimate and beautiful. it made me proud to be a part of this community.

• if that wasn't enough, we also hosted a kid karnival for wicker park on sunday morning!
• it had the works: face painting, giant slides, bouncy houses, etc.!
• the neighborhood kids had a blast :-)
• our volunteers were amaaaaaazzzziiiiinngggg! they were really phenominal. we had over 40 comprised of folks from both our locations. they really displayed great hearts; serving this neighborhood on behalf of JESUS.
• even when the rain came (in a big way) everyone stuck around and served with amazing hearts.
• i was extremely proud to be a small part of this event. YOU ALL MADE IT HAPPEN!
• p.s. - david wagner kicked butt on this one. way to go waggy!

here is to many more weekends like this! thank you JESUS.

thoughts on sunday

• overall it was a great sunday!
• good attendance @ both locations
• we passed the 2008-2009 budget
• during the budget meeting some folks asked some great questions! i love this time to dialogue about our heart and soul. we need to provide more opportunities like this...
• jonathan colon did a great job leading worship!
• the bbq in wicker park was awesome! i love this chance to connect with one another and connect with our neighborhood. we're praying GOD gives us a real opportunity to make a difference in Chicago this summer.
• teaching on money was a lot more fun than i thought! it was challenging for me personally so i was that much more connected to the passage.
• busy week ahead: BaseCamp on saturday and Kid Karnival on sunday... should be great.  

so i got this e mail yesterday. you know the kind...

 so i got this e mail yesterday. you know the kind...

Well, it's final. Gay couples can now officially marry in the state of California. The ban was lifted on gay marriages today. And yes, their staunchest supporters were in the streets hugging and kissing publicly.

Among all of the other tragedies in the world this week, this must grieve the Lord the most. Our nation is fallen, and has fallen. A once great nation were we...

i have to say, this was a tough one for me to swallow. i mean, i get my fare share of "Christian" e-mails that tend to be diatribes about the latest and most horrific ills in the world. you would think that i would be used to them by now; the 'W' rants, the 'Barack Hussein Obama is an Islamist extremist' lies, the 'pass along to 10 other people and they will be blessed' forwards, etc. you would think i would be numb to it all. this one though, struck a chord. (i only included a portion for our discussion)

among all the other tragedies in the world this week, this one must grieve the Lord the most.

lets just take a moment and consider those other tragedies. a hundred thousand dead in Myanmar, and many more missing. another cyclone bearing down on this already grief stricken country filled with people who may not know HIM. some forty thousand people dead in China. bodies lining the streets, entire schools caved in killing hundreds of children, many more homeless, parents worried  about how they are going to feed their children.

to compare what happened in california to these tragedies is simply astonishing. to think God is grieved more over some piece of legislation than these calamities is ludicrous.

why are gay marriages particularly worthy of our mourning? is this human condition some how any worse than the many others that plague us? do we mourn the same over the thousands of people in this country who drink away their sorrows every night?  do we mourn the same over the self absorbed who run to cosmetic surgery to cure their insecurities? do we mourn the 'self medicating', or the 'dollar worshipping yuppie', or the dead beat parents, or the corrupt politicians, or 'fill in the blank here of the many things that we could list'?

for the record i think GOD heavily grieved the losses in Myanmar and China this week. i believe He wept over so many that are experiencing the effects of sin death. i believe HE cries for the beautiful people without food, water, and shelter. does He weep for california and our country. i believe HE does, but it is not over what you might think.

He grieves in california and in the rest of the U.S. for HIS people. HIS people that fail to see who HE is and what HE wants to do. HIS people who cry foul over laws passed in california, but sit idle as a world away is broken. HE grieves as HIS people collect their stimulus checks from the good ol' US of A, and watch charlie gibson report on the tragedies on the  new flat screens TV's they just bought. HE grieves over so many who call themselves HIS followers but cannot even apply HIS only sermon to their lives. He grieves over those who forgot that love is the greatest commandment. He grieves over those who have never allowed HIS beauty to be fulfilled in them so that that beauty can be displayed to a world of shadow and darkness.

HE grieves.

Peter once said that 'judgment begins with the house of GOD'. may HE judge us and refine HIS church. may HE have mercy on our souls.