free to be

..."building His kingdom with earth's broken things".

Did you know a squirrel can run 26 miles per hour? Me neither, until church this morning. We learn all kinds of glorious truth at Redeemer. :) Jim began his message this morning by saying "God has given you unique gifts that make you, you. When you do not show up, we miss you."

we miss you?

It's been a long time since I've believed that to be true when it comes to corporate worship. But this morning, sitting as one part of the whole, I could tell that he was serious; he meant what he said. He didn't look away-instead he locked eyes with some of us as if to say, it's true. I looked around the room, at many individual faces, and was struck by the fact that I knew some significant pieces of the stories represented by each person present. I could identify a gift of nearly each person my eyes rested upon. I know these things about each person not by my own merit but because we have been encouraged by those leading us to ask questions of each other, to listen, to show up. As a result, each person matters not just to our body, but to me.
We need each other. It's true.

I get scared sometimes in this new body. I don't know why. I'm praying we'll become that city on the hill. Sparkles of light all over our town and world as we launch each other out. I pray that the people who come to fill the seats in our gathering place will reflect the same people Christ ministered to while he walked among us. He's building His kingdom with earth's broken things.

So it's true that the squirrel can run 26 miles per hour. And that a chameleon's
tongue is twice the length of it's body. It's also true that I was challenged and blessed by the message today, and by those who used their gifts to lead us in worship songs, I was blessed by the art that was created during the message, and by the hugs of a sweet little girl. And that's just the beginning.



For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you: do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift in prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. Romans 12: 3-8