So about 400 years ago, people were getting sick of kings
• They just did stupid things
• They went to wars that had to be fought by our own sons
• They imposed taxes to fund those wars that we had to pay
• They paid too little attention to the economy, the well being of their subjects
• They married within their own families (keep power in the family)
• Consequent to this inbreeding their offspring got stupider and stupider, made worse and worse leaders
And the absolute and divine right of the king, which had for so long been the lens through which everybody saw society…
• Began to make less and less sense
• Began to be eminently challengeable
• Western society was ready for a new lens, a new reality, a new way to be a society
And lo and behold, bubbling up from the Enlightenment came a fresh new idea: the rule of law
• The idea that instead of the monarch being able to rule by fiat, rule by the whim, society could be organized differently
• We could live a new story, a new central value, a new way of organizing ourselves
…a novel concept called the rule of law
The old order had been ruled by personality
• If the king/queen were good, the rules were good, and it went well for the nation
• If the king/queen were bad… we better pray for regime change
But the new way allowed for more consistent good for the people
• Both good and bad personalities could occupy positions of power, because the laws would transcend them
• The rule of law would allow business people to keep doing business even if the king/president was bad
• The rule of law would allow for consistent property rights
• Would define how people would relate under good administrations and bad
• In it’s pure form, rule of law defined what people could/could not do to their neighbors
And it didn’t matter if one of those neighbors had the king’s favor
This new and fresh idea was so liberating, so freeing, that it swept through western civilization like mighty flood
And in that flood, quite naturally the theologians took off their old lenses (rooted in God-the-King images)
• And put on some new lenses (rooted in legal images of God)
And just as big as the shift happening in society, a shift began to happen in how Christians interpreted their religion
• A morphing of emphasis
• A clarifying of what certain truths meant
• Things began to make sense in the framework of this social understanding of the importance of law, order, justice
And in this new spiritual environment, some scripture truths stood out clearly
• Other scripture truths began to fade into the background
One of the truths that stood out, was forensic, legal ramifications of sin
• One example, sin began to be codified like written laws
X is a sin, Y is not
Furthermore, X is a cardinal/mortal sin, Y is only a venal one
A white lie might be a misdemeanor kind of sin
Sexual sin is a felony kind of sin
• Another example: the consequences of sin were clearly noted
The wages of sin is death, Paul tells us
• And with this lens of law and order, great emphasis was put on the obligations, the penalties of sin being met
Consequently, during this time period, a fresh emphasis of interpretation came to the forefront about the cross of Jesus
• The cross of Jesus, was seen as legal payment for Sin/sins
• Evoked images of God as Judge, Jesus going to punishment on our behalf
• We, guilty before the bar of law and justice, are exonerated by the substitutional sacrifice of Jesus
• We are freed from the wages of sin, death (hell)
And as a result of this particular interpretive lens…
Christian spirituality took on a sin-centric emphasis
• The centerpiece of one’s walk w/ God, was the removal of sin
• Victory over sin
• Obedience to the ways of God
• Forsaking the rule of the flesh, and embracing the higher life
And so as society took on the glories of the rule of law, this emphasis became part of Christian spirituality
• And many rich truths were plumbed in this emphasis
• For example: the concept of grace was deeply studied, deeply savored, deeply honored
• Also, forgiveness was elevated in thought/experience of many
• Many very helpful things happened as a result of this emphasis in the last few centuries of the Christian faith
But some negative consequences also entered the faith
We said last week that a sin-centric spirituality is dead end
1. it doesn’t give adequate weight to love of God
• Pins God down to a set of laws he has made, must enforce
• Puts God in a box that is too small to contain the vastness of love
2. it causes sin myopia
• In other words, we don’t see sin very clearly
• We’re short sighted, or our sight is too heavily influenced by the transient moods of the times in which we live
• For example, as a church during sexual repression of the Victorian era, western church weighted sexual sin extra heavily
• But this being a era of colonialism, sins of injustice, sins of not caring for those in need we weighted quite lightly
Another example: rudeness is weighted heavily
• Christians should behave according to social norms
• Christians should fit in w/ the governing niceness of society
But the failure to act rudely is weighted quite lightly…
• Rudeness is the tool of the activist, the prophet, the one called by God to challenge the status quo
• But when we fail to act rudely to challenge injustice…
…Well, that sin is weighted quite lightly
…We don’t see inactivity in the face of injustice as that big a sin
So one of the negative consequences of this shift…
This “rule-of-law applied to spirituality” shift…
• Is that spirituality has become sin-centric
• And sin-centric spirituality hasn’t served us that well
So, as an aside, I thought we’d look at one dimension of sin we don’t tend to see that clearly
In the consumeristic society in which we live, we all have a tendency to overlook the sin of selfishness
• Whenever we posture ourselves to serve ourselves…
• We are taught by the advertising industry of our nation…
• We are taught by the business/commerce postures of our leading institutions…
…that we’ve done a good thing
But in the spirituality of following Jesus, there is a very different set of assumptions about life
• Things we do every day, without considering them at all…
• Depending on the motive we bring to them…
• Could be sin
• Things as normal as closing a business deal
• Winning for ourselves a compliment
• Making ourselves happier
• Gaining the affection of someone else
Not a thing in the world bad about these things
• Unless the mindset we bring to them is contrary to the life and message of Jesus
• Unless the mindset we bring to them crowds out the reason we exist
We are created by God, for communion w/ God
• The dance, we’ve called it
• All our eggs are in the God basket, as followers of Jesus
• Our hopes are found in the ways of God
• Our truth is found in God, our motivation is found in God
• God’s ways, God-conversation, God-song, God-relationship
But when our lives are organized for…
Lived for…
Centered on…
…anything other than God
• Life doesn’t run as it was designed
• Life doesn’t work as designed
• And this, the ancients called “sin”
The lens of sin-centric spirituality has caused us to focus on bad actions as the sins of note
• But when we see our purpose in life as the experience of God
• The ways of God, the truths of God, the mind of God, the heart of God, the actions and deeds of God
• Then anything that is not that, becomes sin
Anything other motivation than communion w/ the ways, the heart of God, is an invitation to repentance
Ours is to orient our lives such that we center on the indwelling Presence of God
• Anything else, invites us to…
See that the path we’re on is off
Stop and turn around
Walk a new path that does honor the Presence of God
Anything other than orienting our lives around the indwelling Presence of God invites us to the dance step of repentance
God, l want to see how am living apart from You
I want to see how I treat my spouse, how I treat my friends…
In any way that is off from Your way
Please show me
Please open my eyes to see
I want to treat people the way You treat me.
Please order my life’s path to take me there
In the book I invited you to read as companion to this series, Larry Crabb gave three illustrations of living for self
• They highlight how truly difficult it is to see selfishness in our society
• There are 3 instances, 3 prayers
• Each is a couplet, the first selfish, the second oriented to our purpose of God-centeredness
• Each of the 1st prayers in the couplet, I have prayed, I could pray
The first couplet: a hurting wife
She reports to God where she is, who she is…
As honestly as she can
God, I don’t know what to do about my husband. I feel so unheard, so unnoticed. He rarely makes me feel cherished. I feel like I’m losing my identity. I hate myself. I have no sense of my worth as a woman.
So far so good:
Come to God, be as honest as you can w/ who/where you are
Now her prayer:
Option #1
Please God, either change him or show me how I can live with him.
Show me how I can find my voice when I’m with him. God, I need to know that You will be with me. I need to feel Your love, to not feel so wounded and alone. Please, help me learn how to live with my husband without losing myself.
Could as heartfelt a prayer as that be cause for repentance?
Could this prayer invite this woman to stop, turn, and walk a different path?
Option #2
God, I see it now. Nothing matters more to me than whether I feel good about myself. I relate to my husband with no real thought of revealing Your character to him. I don’t even know what that would look like. I don’t know You well enough to want to reveal You to my husband. Lord, have mercy on me a selfish, sinful woman!
The former is the prayer of a consumer-driven society
The latter is the prayer of a woman seeking to live in a way that is oriented to God as the center of her life
The second couplet: a distraught father
God, my son has been using illegal drugs for two years. I’m terrified he will ruin his life. I’ve tried everything – tough love, counseling, backing off. I feel like such a failure as a father.
Again…
Come to God, be as honest as you can w/ who/where you are
So far so good
Now his prayer:
Option #1
Please God, show me what’s wrong, show me what to do. I’ll do anything. Anything! Just make him better. I’ve spent time w/ him, I’ve talked to him, I’ve prayed w/ him. I know dads who spend almost no time with their kids, who turn out to be solid, growing Christians. I just don’t get it. But I know You have a good plan for my family. Please, just show me how to reach my sons heart.
Again, is this prayer cause for repentance? for turning to another path?
Option #2
Oh God, as I have been coming to You as honestly as I can, I see things about myself I have not seen. I see what’s at stake for me.
I’m terrified that I’ll never be able to accept myself as a man until my son straightens out. It’s all about me! I see that now. And I see it is wrong. As long as that terror drives me, I do not love anybody – not my son, not my wife, not You. God, I’ve been living to enjoy my family, not for Your ways, your heart, your vision. I’ve been obsessed with my dreams and demanding that You fulfill them. Have mercy!
The former is the prayer of a consumer-driven religion
The latter is the prayer of a man seeking to love as God loves
Seeking to live with God as the center of his life
The former invites repentance
The latter seeks to live God-centered
Finally, the prayer of one grappling w/ depression
First, come to God, be as honest as you can w/ who/where you are
God, I’m sliding deeper and deeper into a dark hole, I’m immobilized for hours every day. I never feel good, I never feel happy. I’m getting really negative and that my friends are tired of me being so down, but I just feel so bad.
Prayer option #1
Please God, heal my wounds. Something must be eating me from the inside out, but I really don’t know what it is. A lot is going wrong right now – my arthritis is worse than ever, my friends rarely call, and I don’t like my job. Please, guide me to the right therapist or pastor, or to a doctor who can prescribe the best medication. I don’t know how much longer I can go on living like this. Please, help me feel better.
A heartfelt prayer. Is it cause for repentance?
Option #2
Oh God, I see it now! By the way I’m living, I’m saying to myself and to the world around me that You’re only worth praising when things are good. I’m saying w/ my actions that trusting You when things are bad only means that I’m hoping things in my life will get better.
Now of course God, I want things to get better. I want the painful things in my life to stop, and some good things to begin. But even in the middle of this depression, God I want to relate to You. I’m not. Instead, I’m using You. Have mercy!
My experience reading these 3 options the first time
• When I read the 1st prayer: Yes! That’s a good prayer.
• But when I saw the 2nd prayer, something in me knew the failure, the weakness, the anemia of the first one
• What appeared so normal to me, so proper to me…
• Took on hues of emptiness/shallow sinfulness in light of the 2nd
That’s the power of our consumer-driven, selfishness-affirming culture
It has tremendous power over us
But why?
Why are we so susceptible to selfish orientation to life?
Why do the first of these prayers seem such familiar territory to us?
It starts with a very deep, very primal, very old fear
From our first memories, we are afraid
We’re afraid something is wrong w/ us
We’re afraid nobody will like us
We’re afraid we’ll be alone, that we’ll get lost and never come home
We’re afraid when dad gets mad at us
We’re afraid when mom is late coming home
We’re afraid we’re on our own
And so, nobody instinctively trusts God
Our hearts often betray us; even if we want to trust God
Trusting God is something supernatural in us
It is a work of HS of God in us
But as we learn to dance w/ God
As we master these three movements in the dance
• Come to God, be as honest as you can w/ who/where you are
• Bring your images of God, to God for regular readjustment
• See the path we’re on, is off, step back, turn, walk another
As we do these steps, we release the Spirit of God dwelling in us, to begin to address this primal, central, archetypical fear w/in us
And the Spirit of Jesus is at work silently dismantling the stronghold of fear
By introducing love, acceptance, peace, goodness…
Our primal fear is being dismantled
The dance does that
It changes us
Our selfishness is really just a way we protect ourselves from this deep central fear
A fear the Spirit of God readily dismantles as we dance w/ God
In the past we’ve talked about what this primal fear does to us
How it drives us, pushes us, and how harsh a taskmaster it is
But all the unnecessary driving to succeed…
all the getting people to like us…
all the energy we spend addressing our central fear…
…if we would but dance w/God
…we would find the indwelling Spirit of God dismantling the very source of all that frenetic activity
…dismantling our primal fear by exposing us to healing love
And this is why we’ve done this series on dancing w/ God
It is the purpose for which we are created
It is living out why we exist on the planet
It dismantles the primal fears that drive us
It opens us to the abundant life Jesus talked about
It is how we experience what Paul talked about
The capacity to be content regardless of circumstances
And it is this I desire for you, for our community
So about 400 years ago, people were getting sick of kings
• They just did stupid things
• They went to wars that had to be fought by our own sons
• They imposed taxes to fund those wars that we had to pay
• They paid too little attention to the economy, the well being of their subjects
• They married within their own families (keep power in the family)
• Consequent to this inbreeding their offspring got stupider and stupider, made worse and worse leaders
And the absolute and divine right of the king, which had for so long been the lens through which everybody saw society…
• Began to make less and less sense
• Began to be eminently challengeable
• Western society was ready for a new lens, a new reality, a new way to be a society
And lo and behold, bubbling up from the Enlightenment came a fresh new idea: the rule of law
• The idea that instead of the monarch being able to rule by fiat, rule by the whim, society could be organized differently
• We could live a new story, a new central value, a new way of organizing ourselves
…a novel concept called the rule of law
The old order had been ruled by personality
• If the king/queen were good, the rules were good, and it went well for the nation
• If the king/queen were bad… we better pray for regime change
But the new way allowed for more consistent good for the people
• Both good and bad personalities could occupy positions of power, because the laws would transcend them
• The rule of law would allow business people to keep doing business even if the king/president was bad
• The rule of law would allow for consistent property rights
• Would define how people would relate under good administrations and bad
• In it’s pure form, rule of law defined what people could/could not do to their neighbors
And it didn’t matter if one of those neighbors had the king’s favor
This new and fresh idea was so liberating, so freeing, that it swept through western civilization like mighty flood
And in that flood, quite naturally the theologians took off their old lenses (rooted in God-the-King images)
• And put on some new lenses (rooted in legal images of God)
And just as big as the shift happening in society, a shift began to happen in how Christians interpreted their religion
• A morphing of emphasis
• A clarifying of what certain truths meant
• Things began to make sense in the framework of this social understanding of the importance of law, order, justice
And in this new spiritual environment, some scripture truths stood out clearly
• Other scripture truths began to fade into the background
One of the truths that stood out, was forensic, legal ramifications of sin
• One example, sin began to be codified like written laws
X is a sin, Y is not
Furthermore, X is a cardinal/mortal sin, Y is only a venal one
A white lie might be a misdemeanor kind of sin
Sexual sin is a felony kind of sin
• Another example: the consequences of sin were clearly noted
The wages of sin is death, Paul tells us
• And with this lens of law and order, great emphasis was put on the obligations, the penalties of sin being met
Consequently, during this time period, a fresh emphasis of interpretation came to the forefront about the cross of Jesus
• The cross of Jesus, was seen as legal payment for Sin/sins
• Evoked images of God as Judge, Jesus going to punishment on our behalf
• We, guilty before the bar of law and justice, are exonerated by the substitutional sacrifice of Jesus
• We are freed from the wages of sin, death (hell)
And as a result of this particular interpretive lens…
Christian spirituality took on a sin-centric emphasis
• The centerpiece of one’s walk w/ God, was the removal of sin
• Victory over sin
• Obedience to the ways of God
• Forsaking the rule of the flesh, and embracing the higher life
And so as society took on the glories of the rule of law, this emphasis became part of Christian spirituality
• And many rich truths were plumbed in this emphasis
• For example: the concept of grace was deeply studied, deeply savored, deeply honored
• Also, forgiveness was elevated in thought/experience of many
• Many very helpful things happened as a result of this emphasis in the last few centuries of the Christian faith
But some negative consequences also entered the faith
We said last week that a sin-centric spirituality is dead end
1. it doesn’t give adequate weight to love of God
• Pins God down to a set of laws he has made, must enforce
• Puts God in a box that is too small to contain the vastness of love
2. it causes sin myopia
• In other words, we don’t see sin very clearly
• We’re short sighted, or our sight is too heavily influenced by the transient moods of the times in which we live
• For example, as a church during sexual repression of the Victorian era, western church weighted sexual sin extra heavily
• But this being a era of colonialism, sins of injustice, sins of not caring for those in need we weighted quite lightly
Another example: rudeness is weighted heavily
• Christians should behave according to social norms
• Christians should fit in w/ the governing niceness of society
But the failure to act rudely is weighted quite lightly…
• Rudeness is the tool of the activist, the prophet, the one called by God to challenge the status quo
• But when we fail to act rudely to challenge injustice…
…Well, that sin is weighted quite lightly
…We don’t see inactivity in the face of injustice as that big a sin
So one of the negative consequences of this shift…
This “rule-of-law applied to spirituality” shift…
• Is that spirituality has become sin-centric
• And sin-centric spirituality hasn’t served us that well
So, as an aside, I thought we’d look at one dimension of sin we don’t tend to see that clearly
In the consumeristic society in which we live, we all have a tendency to overlook the sin of selfishness
• Whenever we posture ourselves to serve ourselves…
• We are taught by the advertising industry of our nation…
• We are taught by the business/commerce postures of our leading institutions…
…that we’ve done a good thing
But in the spirituality of following Jesus, there is a very different set of assumptions about life
• Things we do every day, without considering them at all…
• Depending on the motive we bring to them…
• Could be sin
• Things as normal as closing a business deal
• Winning for ourselves a compliment
• Making ourselves happier
• Gaining the affection of someone else
Not a thing in the world bad about these things
• Unless the mindset we bring to them is contrary to the life and message of Jesus
• Unless the mindset we bring to them crowds out the reason we exist
We are created by God, for communion w/ God
• The dance, we’ve called it
• All our eggs are in the God basket, as followers of Jesus
• Our hopes are found in the ways of God
• Our truth is found in God, our motivation is found in God
• God’s ways, God-conversation, God-song, God-relationship
But when our lives are organized for…
Lived for…
Centered on…
…anything other than God
• Life doesn’t run as it was designed
• Life doesn’t work as designed
• And this, the ancients called “sin”
The lens of sin-centric spirituality has caused us to focus on bad actions as the sins of note
• But when we see our purpose in life as the experience of God
• The ways of God, the truths of God, the mind of God, the heart of God, the actions and deeds of God
• Then anything that is not that, becomes sin
Anything other motivation than communion w/ the ways, the heart of God, is an invitation to repentance
Ours is to orient our lives such that we center on the indwelling Presence of God
• Anything else, invites us to…
See that the path we’re on is off
Stop and turn around
Walk a new path that does honor the Presence of God
Anything other than orienting our lives around the indwelling Presence of God invites us to the dance step of repentance
God, l want to see how am living apart from You
I want to see how I treat my spouse, how I treat my friends…
In any way that is off from Your way
Please show me
Please open my eyes to see
I want to treat people the way You treat me.
Please order my life’s path to take me there
In the book I invited you to read as companion to this series, Larry Crabb gave three illustrations of living for self
• They highlight how truly difficult it is to see selfishness in our society
• There are 3 instances, 3 prayers
• Each is a couplet, the first selfish, the second oriented to our purpose of God-centeredness
• Each of the 1st prayers in the couplet, I have prayed, I could pray
The first couplet: a hurting wife
She reports to God where she is, who she is…
As honestly as she can
God, I don’t know what to do about my husband. I feel so unheard, so unnoticed. He rarely makes me feel cherished. I feel like I’m losing my identity. I hate myself. I have no sense of my worth as a woman.
So far so good:
Come to God, be as honest as you can w/ who/where you are
Now her prayer:
Option #1
Please God, either change him or show me how I can live with him.
Show me how I can find my voice when I’m with him. God, I need to know that You will be with me. I need to feel Your love, to not feel so wounded and alone. Please, help me learn how to live with my husband without losing myself.
Could as heartfelt a prayer as that be cause for repentance?
Could this prayer invite this woman to stop, turn, and walk a different path?
Option #2
God, I see it now. Nothing matters more to me than whether I feel good about myself. I relate to my husband with no real thought of revealing Your character to him. I don’t even know what that would look like. I don’t know You well enough to want to reveal You to my husband. Lord, have mercy on me a selfish, sinful woman!
The former is the prayer of a consumer-driven society
The latter is the prayer of a woman seeking to live in a way that is oriented to God as the center of her life
The second couplet: a distraught father
God, my son has been using illegal drugs for two years. I’m terrified he will ruin his life. I’ve tried everything – tough love, counseling, backing off. I feel like such a failure as a father.
Again…
Come to God, be as honest as you can w/ who/where you are
So far so good
Now his prayer:
Option #1
Please God, show me what’s wrong, show me what to do. I’ll do anything. Anything! Just make him better. I’ve spent time w/ him, I’ve talked to him, I’ve prayed w/ him. I know dads who spend almost no time with their kids, who turn out to be solid, growing Christians. I just don’t get it. But I know You have a good plan for my family. Please, just show me how to reach my sons heart.
Again, is this prayer cause for repentance? for turning to another path?
Option #2
Oh God, as I have been coming to You as honestly as I can, I see things about myself I have not seen. I see what’s at stake for me.
I’m terrified that I’ll never be able to accept myself as a man until my son straightens out. It’s all about me! I see that now. And I see it is wrong. As long as that terror drives me, I do not love anybody – not my son, not my wife, not You. God, I’ve been living to enjoy my family, not for Your ways, your heart, your vision. I’ve been obsessed with my dreams and demanding that You fulfill them. Have mercy!
The former is the prayer of a consumer-driven religion
The latter is the prayer of a man seeking to love as God loves
Seeking to live with God as the center of his life
The former invites repentance
The latter seeks to live God-centered
Finally, the prayer of one grappling w/ depression
First, come to God, be as honest as you can w/ who/where you are
God, I’m sliding deeper and deeper into a dark hole, I’m immobilized for hours every day. I never feel good, I never feel happy. I’m getting really negative and that my friends are tired of me being so down, but I just feel so bad.
Prayer option #1
Please God, heal my wounds. Something must be eating me from the inside out, but I really don’t know what it is. A lot is going wrong right now – my arthritis is worse than ever, my friends rarely call, and I don’t like my job. Please, guide me to the right therapist or pastor, or to a doctor who can prescribe the best medication. I don’t know how much longer I can go on living like this. Please, help me feel better.
A heartfelt prayer. Is it cause for repentance?
Option #2
Oh God, I see it now! By the way I’m living, I’m saying to myself and to the world around me that You’re only worth praising when things are good. I’m saying w/ my actions that trusting You when things are bad only means that I’m hoping things in my life will get better.
Now of course God, I want things to get better. I want the painful things in my life to stop, and some good things to begin. But even in the middle of this depression, God I want to relate to You. I’m not. Instead, I’m using You. Have mercy!
My experience reading these 3 options the first time
• When I read the 1st prayer: Yes! That’s a good prayer.
• But when I saw the 2nd prayer, something in me knew the failure, the weakness, the anemia of the first one
• What appeared so normal to me, so proper to me…
• Took on hues of emptiness/shallow sinfulness in light of the 2nd
That’s the power of our consumer-driven, selfishness-affirming culture
It has tremendous power over us
But why?
Why are we so susceptible to selfish orientation to life?
Why do the first of these prayers seem such familiar territory to us?
It starts with a very deep, very primal, very old fear
From our first memories, we are afraid
We’re afraid something is wrong w/ us
We’re afraid nobody will like us
We’re afraid we’ll be alone, that we’ll get lost and never come home
We’re afraid when dad gets mad at us
We’re afraid when mom is late coming home
We’re afraid we’re on our own
And so, nobody instinctively trusts God
Our hearts often betray us; even if we want to trust God
Trusting God is something supernatural in us
It is a work of HS of God in us
But as we learn to dance w/ God
As we master these three movements in the dance
• Come to God, be as honest as you can w/ who/where you are
• Bring your images of God, to God for regular readjustment
• See the path we’re on, is off, step back, turn, walk another
As we do these steps, we release the Spirit of God dwelling in us, to begin to address this primal, central, archetypical fear w/in us
And the Spirit of Jesus is at work silently dismantling the stronghold of fear
By introducing love, acceptance, peace, goodness…
Our primal fear is being dismantled
The dance does that
It changes us
Our selfishness is really just a way we protect ourselves from this deep central fear
A fear the Spirit of God readily dismantles as we dance w/ God
In the past we’ve talked about what this primal fear does to us
How it drives us, pushes us, and how harsh a taskmaster it is
But all the unnecessary driving to succeed…
all the getting people to like us…
all the energy we spend addressing our central fear…
…if we would but dance w/God
…we would find the indwelling Spirit of God dismantling the very source of all that frenetic activity
…dismantling our primal fear by exposing us to healing love
And this is why we’ve done this series on dancing w/ God
It is the purpose for which we are created
It is living out why we exist on the planet
It dismantles the primal fears that drive us
It opens us to the abundant life Jesus talked about
It is how we experience what Paul talked about
The capacity to be content regardless of circumstances
And it is this I desire for you, for our community
So, I enjoin you
Dance w/ God