Do you know Carl?

Let me introduce you to my friend. Well, he doesn't remember my name because he struggles with a mental disorder and he is homeless, but he remembers me. Tonight we chatted as I was leaving work and he was fishing through Subway's dumpster, he seems to be "hanging in there."

Carl has taught me that you don't need that much to survive. I'm not saying that he's living the good life, but he seems pretty happy. I wonder what else I will learn from Carl, now if I can just get him to remember my name......

Spiritual Pathway Assessment

Hey, for those of you who weren't at Motion on Sunday August 12th... here is the spiritual pathway assessment that we used.

http://www.willowcreek.org/pdfs/Spiritual%20Pathway%20Assessment.pdf

You might want to check out the podcast for this week too...

Air Filter

Last night our air conditioner stopped blowing cool air, thas was a problem. Early this morning the heat/air guy showed up. He fixed the problem and along the way he shared some wisdom with us. He noticed that we had a really expensive Ultra Pollen air filter. He shared that although they do an excellent job at blocking pollen and allergens, they also do an amazing job at blocking your systems air flow, potentially causing your A/C to freeze up...

So in light of that information I hit Biggs and scored some cheap $0 .89 air filters. Trust me, anything can get through these filters, including air. So we may be breathing in more allergens, but at least were not hot and potentially damaging our A/C system....So why am I blogging about this?

Well, in the simple revelation of an air filter I saw Christians. So often we surround ourselves with Ultra safe filters that protect us from the world and all people not like us. In the process these filters begin to shut down our systems and things like faith, hope, and love can't flow through to other people.

This month we're talking about momentum and I think that one way to maintain or create momentum is by removing the Ultra safe filters from our lives, allowing us to interact with the world. When we begin to get a little dirty with the world around us (I don't mean becoming a crack addict), the flow of the Spirit increases as we find ourselves turning to God in what inevitably will be overwhelming situations and conversations. It all makes sense to me, so I hope you are checking your filters...

The Touch

Last month we took some time to look at how the first church in Acts, was formed, and we used the metaphor of a body to help us visualize the process. The last week we took a look at the final "layer" of the body... the skin. We talk about the idea of "Jesus with skin on" around here a lot. The idea is that after Jesus' physical presence left the earth when he ascended to heaven, he commissioned us to be his "hands" and "feet."

I was reading in a book I've owned for a while by Max Lucado called "Just like Jesus." He uses the story of the leper that Jesus healed as a fascinating example of the power of "skin."

"When Jesus cam down from the hill, great crowds followed him. Then a man with a skin disease came to Jesus. The man bowed down before him and said, "Lord, you can heal me if you will." Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man and said, "I will. Be healed!" And immediately the man was healed from his disease." Matthew 8:1-3

Then Max wonders about the background story of this leper... could it be something like this?

"For five years no one touched me. No one. Not one person. Not my wife. Not my child. Not my friends. No one touched me. They saw me. They spoke to me. I sensed love in their voices. I saw concern in their eyes. But I didn't feel their touch. There was no touch. Not once. No once touched me. What is common to you, I coveted. Handshakes. Warm embraces. A tap on the shoulder to get my attention. A kiss on the lips to steal a heart. Such moments were taken from my world. NO one touched me. NO one bumped into me. What I would have given to be bumped into, to be caught in a crowd, for my shoulder to brush against another's. But for five years it has not happend. How could it? I was not allowed on the streets. Even the rabbis kept their distance from me. I was not permitted in my synagogue. Not even welcome in my own house. I was untouchable. I was a leper. And no one touched me. Until today."

The touch did not heal the disease, you know. Matthew is careful to mention that it was the pronouncement and not the touch of Christ that cured the condition. "Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man and said, 'I will. Be healed!' And immediately the man was healed from his disease" (Matt. 8:3)

The infection was banished by a word from Jesus. The loneliness, however, was treated by a touch from Jesus. Oh, the power of a godly touch. Haven't you known it? The doctor who treated you, or the teacher who dried your tears? Was there a hand holding yours at a funeral? Another on your shoulder during a trial? A handshake or welcome at a new job? A pastoral prayer for healing? Haven't we known the power of a godly touch?

Can't we offer the same?

Many of you already do. Some of you have the master touch of the Physician Himself. You use your hands to pray over the sick and minister to the weak. If you aren't touching them personally, your hands are writing letters, dialing phones, baking pies. You have learned the power of a touch.

But others of us tend to forget. Our hearts are good; it's just that our memories are bad. We forget how significant one touch can be. We fear saying the wrong thing or using the wrong tone or acting the wrong way. So rather than do it incorrectly, we do nothing at all.

Aren't we glad Jesus didn't make the same mistake? If your fear of doing the wrong thing prevents you from doing anything, keep in mind the perspective of the lepers of the world. They aren't picky. They aren't finicky. They're just lonely> They are yearning for a godly touch.

Jesus touched the untouchables of the world. Will you do the same?