How high’s the bar?

Posted on January 24, 2012 by convergence

Sunday I was struck by a convergence of thought.  It happens to me every now and then – perhaps it’s a personal problem.  This time – what came into focus was one of those deep truths of scripture that too easily drops out of our line of sight.2012_convergence_janseries5

Here’s the convergence:  George’s sermon on Peter stepping out of the boat, Brenna’s teaching on the Sermon on the Mount and our current series looking at the Lord’s Prayer.

  • Peter steps out of the tenuous security of the boat and for just a moment actually walks on water a move prompted by Jesus’ declaration – I AM, courage.
  • Jesus takes traditional commands arising from the law and with probably a little common knowledge thrown in and amps them way up ending with Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.

In both instances it seems that the impossible is asked – walking on water, turning the other cheek.  I love that Brenna started off the class on Sunday with the honest admission that as she read the words of Jesus she immediately thinks of all the caveats and invited the class to hold off on immediately thinking of how what Jesus is saying doesn’t apply. 

It’s a good challenge, because personal experience, church and biblical history show that we’re great at trying to lower the bar while calling it God’s best: righteousness becomes legalism, worship become going through liturgical motion, grace becomes license to do what ever you want, participating in the mission of God in the world becomes showing up and taking your normal seat.  Then the storms of life hit and we are forced to stop playing games. 

The Lord’s Prayer isn’t a formula – but guide back to what matters.  A guide back to the heart of God and his desire for us.  A guide to the high bar that our Heavenly Father has for us not to win his affection but to live into the character, relationship and strength of being that we were created for.  A look at the Sermon on the Mount as promises shows you something of our Father’s heart and what Jesus died for – freedom from anger, lust, anxiety and judgment whose word is good, whose action turns evil on it’s head, whose faith is authentic and whose life can withstand the storms.

As George called us to on Sunday, may we be people who step into who Jesus affirms we are, toward transformation and toward identification with the God who sought us out in the storm and called us His own.

Peace :: Jon

Jon

Posted in Calling, Faith & Discipleship, New Testament, Sermon on the Mount | Leave a comment

Calling it–No Convergence tonight

Posted on January 17, 2012 by convergence

It’s official, the Snowpocalypse is almost upon us!  image

Ok, it might not be that bad but driving conditions have a good chance of at least getting pretty icy.  Despite the mountain boy in me that wants to taunt the elements – we also want to make sure every makes it home safe.  We’ll pick right up next week.

Haiti 2012

Trip deadline:  The deadline for the Haiti trip is rapidly approaching and the team is filling up.  So far we have 8 confirmed with room for 4 more.  If you have an application that that hasn’t been turned in or are still thinking about it – let Amber or I know ASAP.

Financial support:  If you can’t go but would like to help financially with the remaining $6000 needed to completely finish the building, you can now give online.  If you’re at Microsoft, Partners in Hope has also been set up for matching funds. 

GIVE ONLINE:  This will take you to the page that explains online giving for first time users.  Once you log in, go to FUND: Convergence // SUBFUND: Partners in Hope.

I hope you all get to enjoy the snow at some point this week!

Peace :: Jon

Jon

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Freedom

Posted on January 10, 2012 by convergence

Freedom is a popular, powerful word and yet amorphous concept. Everybody wants it. Great stories and movies are made about it. It inspires movements that overthrow governments. Yet while we2012_convergence_janseries5 commonly desire it, we can desire its use in radically different ways. Freedom from the intrusions of big government. Freedom from the intrusions of big business. Freedom to make it on my own. Freedom from oppressive systems. Freedom to wear next to nothing. Freedom to cover every inch of my body.

The things that bind us can be just as varied. When Jesus burst on the scene in Matthew chapter 4 soon to start with his famous sermon, he came to bring freedom. This work is pictured– the dawning light of a new day upon those sitting in darkness. That paralyzing darkness took a number of forms: demoralization at having been dominated by outside powers for years, living daily in a place whose identity was failure, silence from God that was met with earnest efforts by the pious few that felt impossible for most. Discouragement, confusion, boredom, exhaustion from an identity of failure all colluded to bind people into what felt like sitting through a night without end. And then Jesus came with the promise of a new day and the freedom of a new future.

The freedom that he would articulate in his famous sermon didn’t necessarily delight with easy easy answers and cheap fixes but it resonated with those who heard it as being what it real and true. If anything the simplicity with which he spoke could be frighteningly honest. He didn’t offer us formulas but invitations in the very heart of God.

The Lord’s Prayer is a beacon that draws us into the life of God in the midst of the storms of life.

Tonight we cut the words, listen to scripture, worship. Tonight is about freedom.

May we discover the simple, powerful and frighteningly honest freedom that God has for us this year.

Peace :: Jon

Posted in New Testament, Worship | Leave a comment

Remembering Haiti

Posted on January 3, 2012 by convergence

Posted on May 8, 2011

On one of the first days we were at Foison, I was taking a break in the shade and I remember turning around to see at least a full classroom of children running up from the river with water jugs to fill barrels that were at the work site. From that point on, there were always kids around doing anything they could to help, whether it was getting water, collecting rocks, or bringing wheelbarrows full of dirt that took five boys to push. It was amazing to see how happy and excited the kids were to be helping build their new classrooms.

Megan Riber

Posted in Haiti, Mission | Leave a comment

A Key Ingredient

Posted on January 2, 2012 by convergence

Posted on May 10, 2011

I recently had the privilege to travel to Haiti and spend time in relationship and construction with the people of Foison, Haiti. Though the area was not directly affected by last January’s 7.0 magnitude earthquake, this region is possibly the poorest within a country that is already considered the poorest within the Western Hemisphere. Food, water, and life do not come easy here, which is evident by the condition of the roads alone. Day and night these roads are trodden by foot often in the company of a donkey train, which is just a part of their subsistence lifestyle. Subsequently, patience and hope are not just skills or a mindset that is learned, but an integral part of life in Haiti.

The hope and prayers of Foison have been more recently expressed in the desire for a new and safe school building for the children. Past efforts by the community to build a school have been unfruitful because of poor construction techniques. With the leadership, team support, vision, and engineering experience provided by the Robinson’s this project has been able to partner the community of Seattle/UPC with the people of Foison.

This April the slab for the school foundation was built and poured in a continuing effort to finish the proposed four room school building. Finishing these classrooms will bring children out of rickety thatched shelters in which they currently attend classes. This project has been and will continue to be a success because the money given towards this effort is in concert with the prayers and desires of the community it will serve. Ownership by the people of Foison was ever present by their efforts from the young to the old. Even more inspiring was catalytic effect created by our labors and relationships we were able to build. The purpose of sending a team and not just funds or materials was surely validated by the encouragement and motivation witnessed by the serving team’s presence and interactions. One definition of a catalyst is a person or thing that precipitates an event without undergoing change. On second thought, maybe the team I was blessed to become family with were more than just catalysts because we too have been encouraged, motivated and changed by the people Foison.

David Thurman

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All the cool kids are doing it…

Posted on December 28, 2011 by convergence

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Carly

Thank you to everyone who came up to the table to buy a t-shirt or sticker, or even just to talk about Haiti!

George got his shirt, too!

I expect to see some folks around Seattle sporting some Partners In Hope SWAG.

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Pulling back the curtain on the world of Revelation

Posted on December 27, 2011 by convergence

This fall we took a look at the book of Revelation.  The Apostle John  jumps into the cultural discussion of ideas around truth, beauty, hope, evil, good, what is possible, who or what is worthy of our trust, what’s in our future and what’s worth standing for.  What catches us by surprise is that it does so in a way that we don’t expect from the Bible.  It communicates though in ways that we experience all the time – images, metaphors, stories – ways that speak to not just our intellect but passions, dreams, emotions and imagination of what’s possible.

Everyday eschatology. Eschatology is really just a study of ideas about where things are going. We all operate out of some idea of the future – we just don’t talk about it as an ology and we might not feel as if we can articulate it very clearly. It’s not so much a question of if we have a view of the future but how our view or the view presented to us in culture influences our decisions today.

Cultivating conversation. Jesus says, the kingdom of heaven is like…  What songs, images, clips, stories, etc. strike you as capturing something of what God is like, about or help illustrate what we’re talking about in the series?  What strikes you as saying something related to faith or Revelation that you don’t agree with?  It’s as we creatively engage with culture around us that we’ll begin to see what God’s calling us to, where there’s common resonance both in and out of the Church and what needs to be questioned as we think about faithfulness for this time and this place.

Below you’ll find resources to dig deeper with and ideas to get you thinking.

Peace::Jon

1. Music. Your End-of-the-World Playlist on the WSJ Blog.  REM’s End of the world as we know it get’s banned for being too easy on their list.  Maybe so, but I remember vividly this song from my jr. high days as capturing the chaos and fears of everything that we going on and the mixed feelings of both anxiety and apathy.  Keep in mind that it came out just a few years before the Berlin wall came down.  Just years before The Day After was on TV showing what would happen in a nuclear war.  I remember not so much watching it as NOT being able to watch it.

2.  Write a short story or poem. Write a short story or a poem that articulates something important for you out of what we’ll be talking about in Revelation that picks up the story in the series image.  What’s happened before?  What made them leave where ever they were to brave the storm? What got them there, what stood in the way, where are they going?  We’ve talked about fear, being uncomfortably known, walking toward the darkness and evil being unmasked and known.

3.  Dig Deeper. If you want to dig deeper into Revelation either for yourself or with a group, here’s some recommendations to get started with.

Books Reversed Thunder by Eugene Peterson and Discipleship on the Edge by Darrell Johnson. image Peterson approaches the book more devotionally to inspire our “praying imaginations” with the Last Word on scripture, Christ, evil ….  Discipleship of the Edge is really a series of sermons that Johnson gave.  It does a great job distilling the issues and presenting the main scriptural and historical research while also connecting to our everyday lived experience.image

More on the 7 churches: I had to make a decision when looking at the series about what to include and not include. I decided to cut a detailed look at the 7 churches of Revelation 2-3, in part because there has been a lot done on this but not as much with the rest of the book. You might want to take a closer look – and I hope you do!  Here’s a place to start:  The Whole World is in His Hands: A Study of Revelation from Earl and friends.

Posted in New Testament, Revelation | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Partners in Hope: Haiti

Posted on December 23, 2011 by convergence

In 2009, University Presbyterian Church’s young adult community – Convergence – met a community called Foison.  Foison is a small village located in the mountains in northwest Haiti.  Foison has a church with a primary school, high school, and vocational school with a computer center.  This school is the best school in the area, and their enrollment has grown from 500 kids to 700 kids in less than two years.  The school buildings that they have are bursting at the seams and they have constructed makeshift classrooms out of branches and tarps.  Members of their congregation have been raising money to expand their campus for a few years, but in a country of severe poverty plagued by hurricanes and an earthquake, it has been slow going.  The meeting of Convergence and Foison in 2009 was brief, but was enough to spark a connection.  We saw an opportunity to partner with and encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ who are halfway around the world. Children and Family Ministries quickly got on board as well, and by the time we sent a second team in January 2010, the children of UPC had raised a significant amount to get started building a school with just their nickels and dimes collected on Sunday mornings.

What makes this opportunity so unique – and what we are so excited about – is that this is not about saving the world or rescuing people. This is about a group of people in one school, in one village, in one country in a world that God loves. This is about being a catalyst and an encouragement of change. It is about empowering people to be the change, and recognizing that they are changing and teaching us too.

Partners in Hope: Haiti is your invitation to a story of hope – one that connects people across generations, faith communities and nations. It’s a story that invites you to participate in God’s passionate mission of restoration for the world He loves.

Posted in Haiti, Mission, Partners in Hope | Leave a comment

Partners In Hope: August ‘11

Posted on December 23, 2011 by convergence

August 23, 2011 by Carly

I hope you have heard the story of how UPC has become attached to a village called Foison in Northwest Haiti. If you haven’t, take a minute to explore this blog.

This story is 30 years in the making, starting when UPC commissioned Bruce Robinson to be a missionary in Haiti. It picks up again in 2009 when Convergence decided to send a group of young adults to serve with Bruce and his wife Deb.

From Convergence’s involvement has sprung a partnership with one church in one village called Foison. This church runs a school with over 700 children in attendance. But they don’t have enough buildings to house them, and the ones they do have are not the most structurally sound. After the earthquake hit Port-au-Prince in 2010, this took on an entirely new level of importance.

Together, UPC and the church at Foison have created a space for God to do an amazing work. There are so many stories – little instances of God showing up to bless leaders in Foison and their community, the children, Bruce and Deb, and UPC team members alike.

In the following video, we take a quick look through numbers, videos and photos at some of the ways God has been working.

Since the last team from Convergence went to Foison and poured the floor for this new school building in April 2011, the community has been active in continuing the work. They have constructed walls and hope to have two classrooms finished for use in September.

I continue to be amazed by the people in Foison, and the passion and desire they have. A spark has been ignited in their hearts, and I am eager to see God continue a mighty work in their community.

Carly

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Sharing vs. Fixing

Posted on December 22, 2011 by convergence

April 2, 2011

Poverty is reinforced by isolation. But one of the gifts of participating with Bruce and Deb Robinson in building the school in Foison is that it helps us to break down that isolation. Our relationship with the Robinson provides us with a pathway to walk together with families in Haiti. As they live and share their lives with the community in Haiti, the Robinsons help us to know how to connect to the community in ways that bring dignity, respect. and meaningful, long-term benefit to children and families. The school itself will provide a gathering place for learning and education which will be an invaluable asset to the entire community for years to come.

This is more than just responding to the immediate needs that arise after a crisis. This is about helping to build the infrastructure that will create of growth, hope and vitality for children and families for generations to come. And tangibly, this year the community itself will benefit greatly through the encouragement of knowing once again that they are not alone.

Our UPC mission personnel are physical witnesses of Jesus Christ – demonstrating his love as “the Word who became flesh, and dwelt among us.” John 1:14. In standing with the Robinsons to help build this school – we get to join in their witness of the gospel.

Mike McCormick Huentelman

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