matrix theology

February 8, 2007

^ GATHER ^ Church is not something we do or a place we go. It is part of you – like being human. It is the fabric, not the clothing; it is the dream, not the sleep. It is the something that sits on the edge of your conscious mind, teases at the edge of reality. We fear it because if it swept into our lives, it would revolutionize who we are, what we do.

^ TRUE LOVE ^ True love is beautifully chaotic. It is not controlled; it is unleashed. It breaks down barriers and finds hope. It is color blind; it is gender non-specific. It frees us from culture and taboos and lets us see ourselves and others as God does. The community that it inspires is real, authentic and open. It can only be hinted at with programs and services. These things are empty shadows of something beyond us. They are fragmented echoes that we cannot decipher.

^ SHATTERED ^ Worship is not songs or prayer or speaking in unknown tongues or fellowship. It is something else entirely. It is being knocked to our knees with the force of God’s existence, being prostrated by his overwhelming substance and presence, and then being lifted up to our feet by his grace.

^ BELIEVING ^ Faith is a journey of many steps and stages. Everyone has it. It is bound up in our nature. It is as real as the shoes on your feet, the laws of planetary motion or a friend’s embrace. We tend to think of faith as something that is hard to find. That we almost have to stumble on it. The reality is that it is right in front of us; it is wired into us. It is not the anomaly. Faithlessness is.

^ RISK ^ We expose ourselves and take risks. We create what has not existed before. This is church, faith, worship. It is frightening. It is amazing. It is virtually extinct. We know it mostly by its absence. There is not doubt that we will open ourselves up to abuse and foolishness, but we cannot lock faith away and hope for the best.