Uncommon and Too Often Unknown

We live in a world that is broken.  We see it all the time, and unfortunately, we can begin to think this is just the way it has to be.

But it doesn't.

You see there is a golden strand of hope that is woven right into the DNA of all things:  and this strand is the very real presence of God who still speaks real hope and real life for all.  It's just that it's hard sometimes to see this strand through the fog in our hearts.

I read just this morning of a time when a young Catholic monk heard the call of God to start a new type of Christian community.  It was based on the simple desire to bring Jesus to the people.  He banded together with two others brothers in a coastal town in Alabama. 

Their meetings were pretty austere:  a short time of music, a brief sermon and then wine and cheese following for fellowship time.

In 2 years, 200 people were attending what was informally called "folk Mass"--which simply meant church that fits with real people.

At one point the monks who were in charge of this folk Mass expressed their joy in this succinct phrase describing their experience saying: This is right.

This is right.  Maybe something that is too uncommon and too often unknown for people who are searching for meaning.  But, as I said before, there is a golden strand of hope being offered by our God who cares so deeply for all people.

As I was thinking about how beautiful this story is, I was reminded of John 3:16, an exceedingly common verse.  But I only repeat the beginning of it for us here:  "For God so loved the world that He gave."

That's it.  He gave.

He gave everything for the purpose of freedom, for life.  He provided abundance to overcome the chains and brokenness of this world.  For our churches, He provided everything necessary for His Kingdom to be manifest in this world.

Maybe we try too hard.  Maybe we miss the point.  Maybe it's as simple as wanting to bring Jesus to people, and when it happens we are blessed with a sense of this is right.

My prayer today is that our hearts would be captured by a sense of God's real presence, and that He would bring us through our convoluted schemes, lists and strategic plans, and get us to a place where we would experience something uncommon:  the simplicity of God's blessing.

BT