A Fairy Tale

I got this in an email from Lorisa, and it made me laugh out loud. I just had to share.

THE WORLD'S SHORTEST FAIRY TALE

Once upon a time, a girl asked a guy "Will you marry me?" The guy said no, and the girl lived happily ever after and went shopping, dancing and drank Margaritas, always had a clean house, never had to cook, stayed skinny, and farted whenever she wanted.

The end.

M-I-S-S-I-O-N-A-L

Here are some excerpts from articles/websites I reference in my previous post about being Missional. (If you haven't read it, start there. Staring here is like reading the last page of the book first, and I hate that.)

Despite, however, the diversity of biblical language and concepts, certain features appear consistently enough throughout Scripture to provide a broad, working definition of the mission of God. God works to create a distinct community to participate in his life for the sake of the world. Notice in this definition that God’s mission is not primarily to save individual souls. While individuals who embrace the mission of God receive the blessing of salvation, God’s work is most clearly seen in a contrast community that bears the marks of God’s redemption. From this perspective, mission is more than just evangelism or service. The mission work of God also includes the formation of a visible community demonstrating the reign of God.

The move to a missional church perspective will require dramatic shifts in congregational life. Take, for instance, the practice of evangelism. In vendor churches, evangelism appeals to seekers focusing on their individual needs. Salvation is portrayed as a personal experience where God is invited to become a part of “my life.” In contrast, evangelism rooted in notions of the mission of God invites persons to abandon lives focused on their own interests to join the work of God for the sake of the world. Instead of viewing salvation as inviting God into “my life,” missional evangelism invites participants into God’s life—a life which is communal by its very nature. Salvation, therefore, may be personal, but never private. Vendor church plants might seek locations where the church can grow the fastest. They value homogenous churches—churches where people look the same and share the same interests, concerns, etc—because these churches grow the fastest. Missional church plants might prioritize locations where God is most interested in having people present for the work of mercy, faith, and justice. Because the mission of God involves breaking down barriers created by human societies, missional churches value diversity. In its rich variety, the church demonstrates God’s mission to create a new humanity.

"Feeling screwed up at a screwed up time in a screwed up place does not necessarily make you screwed up." ~Mark Hunter, Pump Up The Volume

"Jesus came to raise the dead. He did not come to teach the teachable; He did not come to improve the improvable; He did not come to reform the reformable. None of those things works."~Robert Farrer Capon

Just how deafening is the silence?

Last Tuesday night, I went to church. Not my church, but a suburban church that holds a service for young singles. I went to the service pretty regularly right after I moved here, but then it got to be a little much for me (and the boy I was interested in quit showing up, too) so I haven’t been in a while.

A month or two ago I visited, and had a great time. I sat in the back of the dark church and just rested and listened. That’s really why I went back last week; I figured I could do the same thing again, but I was wrong. We were shoved into a small room, and there really was no “back” to hide in.

“Couldn’t you have rested and listened in the dark in your house?”, you might ask. Of course. But I wouldn’t have.

So there I was, amid the jumping young singles, not in the back, listening to the Singles Minister talk about fearing God and listening to his voice. He said that when you don’t hear God’s voice, it’s because you haven’t been faithful in listening. Or, usually, because God’s answer is no. But I, of course, have to disagree. I even went as far as taking personal offense.

Here’s the deal:
Over the last few weeks, I have been talking with some of the members and the preacher at my church about what it means to be Missional. As far as I can tell, this is a term coined by Christians, because those little squiggly red lines come up under it any time I type it. And it’s not in the dictionary.

The best way I can describe a Missional mindset is to say that it’s the effort to move the church, as a local body, from a Country Club Mentality (if you look like us and act like us and talk in a way that we approve of, you can join) to one where the members live out and participate in the Kingdom of God, whatever that means and whatever that looks like in their neighborhood. You can find some more info about it at these sites, but I only skimmed them, so I make no promises as to their specific intelligence, but I do think they’ll help explain the idea:
Friend of Missional
Internet Monk.Com
FAQs
ACU College of Biblical Studies Newsletter (first article only)

And I was asked to think about being on a Missional Steering Committee for our church, which is a 15-month commitment. This Missional idea really appeals to me, and it is something I feel strongly about. But they told us to pray about it, and some even said that we only needed to accept if we felt that we had a “calling” for this work.

So I asked God: Do I have a calling?

And God didn’t say anything.

So I asked some of my friends and family to pray.

And we asked God: Do I have a calling?

And still, no answer.

So I fasted. And I said: God, I want to do something. I feel strongly about this. Let me know if you don’t want me to do it.

And I just got hungry. Which made me cranky. And God sure didn’t budge.

So I figured that if God had a strong opinion, He or She had the responsibility and ample opportunity to let me know. But He or She had not. So I did what I thought was best. I accepted the invitation to be on the Steering Committee. I know the work will be hard, and annoying, at times, but I am amazed by the opportunity to dream about what our church should be, to dialogue with God about it (providing that He or She answers). There’s no right or wrong answer here, there’s no way to fail. We just want to become what God wants us to be where we are, and that’s HUGE.

And you know, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that God rarely speaks to me clearly. I can count on one hand the times that I have actually audibly heard God’s voice. And once it called my name. And the other times it told me that He or She loved me very much. I do tend to get a feeling that I should or shouldn’t do something, but I don’t know if that’s always God. Maybe it is.

I like what my friend Anne has to say about it in Plan B: "I try to listen for God’s voice inside me, but my sense of discernment tends to be ever so slightly muddled. When God wants to get my attention, She clears Her throat a number of times, trying to get me to look up, or inward–and then if I don’t pay attention, She rolls Her eyes, makes a low growling sound, and starts kicking me under the table with Her foot."

And right now, I’d really like God to give me some advice, some direction. Many times lately, I’ve felt like I’m in way over my head at work; I love that my bosses trust me and give me lots of responsibilities, but sometimes I feel way out of my league. I also feel responsible for fixing problems in our singles group that are not all my responsibility (and that I don’t know how to fix, anyway), and that’s a heavy burden to bear. I feel like I should be making friends elsewhere, but I don’t really have an elsewhere, so I’m worrying about how to get that done. Lately, I can’t handle certain boys anymore, and have just quit trying. Seriously. I’m quitting boys because there’s too much other crap going on, and I can’t handle it. Nor do I want to.

But that’s all to say that I’d really love to hear the voice of God, but based on experience, I’m not going to hold my breath. And the more I think about it, the more I realize that perhaps God is very intentional about the things I hear Him/Her say. Maybe God’s keeping it simple ‘cause that’s all I can handle. Or I all need to remember. If I try to remember too much at once, it starts to all fall out of my head, and I don’t remember any of it, so maybe God knows me well enough to help me out with that.

Musings

Have you ever wanted to take a personal day from your life? Is that possible?

So help him, already!

Seriously, send the man some money. Lots of money, if you can spare it.

All the Women who truly feel me, throw your hands up at me

Do you ever have a conversation with a friend you don’t talk with much or read something on their blog or hear them say something and think, “This is not the person that I know.” I had that experience today, and it was very odd. Disconcerting, almost. I suppose everyone changes, and that is an inevitable and sometimes positive fact of life. But it still feels uncomfortable when it is staring you in the face. Come to think of it, almost everything feels uncomfortable when it is staring you in the face. I really don’t like staring. It makes me wonder about what must be hanging out of my nose.

Speaking of friends, I counted myself very lucky yesterday to have the new guy friends that I have made in the past few months. These guy friends are different from most other guy friends I have had in the past, because, 1) they are not dating one of my friends, 2) I’m closer to them than any of the girls in the group, and 3) the question of dating or attraction between me and any of them doesn’t come up. . .nor do I expect it to. And I appreciate that they did me a huge favor on Sunday.

Let me preface this by saying that I had just had a horrible week in Singledom. One of the worst in a long time. One that made marriage and/or the L-word look like wonderful options because they would solve a lot of problems and eliminate a lot of conversations I had to have in the past week.

Anyway, after church on Sunday morning, we were all standing around in a big group talking, and I asked one of the girls a question. She answered it and we moved on. Then, a few minutes later, one of my guy friends—who had been there for the whole conversation—asked her the EXACT SAME QUESTION. I accused him of selective listening and we all laughed at him mercilessly.

Then, I pulled one of the other guys aside and asked him a big favor that will make my life in Singledom much easier in the future (long story). A few minutes later, I ended up following him and Guy #1 out of the church building, and he turned and said, “Hey I was just telling (insert Guy #1’s name here) about that favor you asked me.

“Oh, he knows about it,” I said. “I told him Friday night when I called to ask him about something else.”

“You did?”, Guy #1 said.

At that point, after selective listening instance #2 within 10 minutes, I said, “YES! Man, why do I need to be dating anybody when I have YOU GUYS to not listen to me?!” We all had a good laugh, and I felt much better about being single.

Thanks, guys. I needed that.