Right at the centre of the gospel of Jesus we find the Cross. Something happened on that cross, something shocking and revolutionary. The cross wasn’t just the method of Jesus death, but he made sure it was part of our own process to encountering the eternal life He invites us to. For the next 6 weeks leading to Easter, we are going to reflect on this most crucial moment in history.
Like computers, people have “operating systems”, sets of rules or assumptions we use to navigate life. “The code” we talked about last week (earn worth to get love), is actually a virus that robs, diminishes and ultimately destroys.
Jesus doesn’t simply fix the old operating system, he explodes it completely and rewrites everything.
Do you wrestle with disappointment, disillusionment, frustration, hopelessness, depletion, exhaustion… going through the motions without it ever feeling like it’s enough?
That comes from something we’re going to call “The Code”. What’s the code? Earn worth and you can be loved. But the code is a liar that destroys relationship with God and with others.
Yet here’s the wonderful news: The code can be detected. The code can be hacked.
Last week we touched on a couple of the creative processes that He seems to use over and over again. Creating something where previously there was nothing, and then bringing order into the chaos that comes from that initial flourish of creativity. The very next thing He does? He grows stuff. Plants, vegetables, trees with fruit, stuff with roots. This week we’re going to explore God-the-gardener and consider what it means to tend growing things, to trust in the invisible behind-the-scenes processes that ultimately lead to healthy, delicious fruit. And the bible has amazing things to say about fruit!
God’s primary work today is what it’s always been: Creating a good and beautiful creation. All through the big story of scripture, from the initial reveal in Eden, through the fall, the law, the prophets and straight through to the redeeming work of Jesus on the Cross, in every moment, God has been creating and recreating, artfully leading his creation towards his beautiful intentions. And he’s invited us to share in that work. This is the work of the Kingdom.
Every artist has tools and processes. This week we unpack two of the processes that God seems to use over and over again. We look at each, and explore how we are invited to come alongside him in this work, both in our own lives and in the lives of those around us.
We’re starting into a new series about the work of God that will take us through to lent. We’ll be looking at the work of the Kingdom, the work God has for us to do, through the lens of the work he’s doing to this very day: Creating a good and beautiful creation. We’re going to explore what’s in the toolkit of God, and look at how all this broadens what we can think of when we think about serving Him.
Joyce brings a powerful word to us about how Jesus has come to us from among those in the margins of society and what that means for us as we find our identity in Him.
When I think about the healthiest expressions of “home”, three things come to mind, primarily:
1) Home is where we know where we are.
2) Home is the place we can extend hospitality. It’s the primary place we have the right to say “mi casa es su casa”.
3) Home can be more than a location.
There is a clear sense that God is inviting us into a kind “homecoming” season. This week we continue the conversation we started a couple of weeks ago, digging a little deeper into what it means to be at home in Christ.
