A couple of months ago we watched a video on Sunday morning by Penn of Penn and Teller (here's the link if you missed it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa9JE_ZVL88&feature=related).  He's an atheist, but in the video he's talking about a guy who gives him a Bible after one of their shows, and how impressed he was with the guy, with how genuine he was.  He goes on to talk about what he calls 'proselytizing,' which means trying to convince someone to believe what you believe, and it's pretty surprising what he says--that he thinks that if you're a Christian, you should be trying to convince others to believe in Jesus. He says that if he knew a truck was bearing down on you, how much would you have to hate someone not to tell them that they were going to get hit by the truck, and that sooner or later he'd tackle you out of the way regardless of whether or not you believed you were going to be hit.  Do I even need to make the comparison? Okay, I will--if we really believe in eternal separation from God, how much would we have to hate someone to let them experience that without trying to introduce them to Jesus? See, I knew I didn't have to tell you that!

Not bad advice from an atheist is it?  Now we don't normally use the word 'proselytize' because, frankly, it sounds, well, odd. "I don't want to proselytize my friends, I like my friends!" (With a nod to Tommy Smothers, if you remember him.) We talk about being missional, or sharing our faith.  And we do it for the reason that Penn talks about, but let me say it in kind of a more positive way: How much would we have to love someone to want to rescue them from dying?  (Hmm, how much did God love us to do just that?)

See, we aren't missional because it's a way of getting on God's good side, that it earns us points we need to make sure we get into heaven.  It's not about putting notches on the belt of faith I wear (like the bat-belt) that shows how good of a Christian I am.  It's not even really about responsibility.  We want to be missional because there are people in our lives that we genuinely care about, people that we love.  And if we love them, and we really believe that they are in danger, we are going to lovingly try to help them see that danger and the way out of it.  If we just see it as our duty to tell others about Jesus, then all of our relationships are tinged with ulterior motives, and we discard relationships once our "duty" is done.  But if it's about love, then it's more about wanting the best for our friends or family, and an ongoing love for them regardless of how they respond.

I think it's pretty cool that Penn could have that perspective.  He really gets it, much better than we as Christians do most of the time. Balaam's ass strikes again! (Obscure Old Testament reference alert, see Numbers 22:21-33 if that intrigues you.)

So I signed on to facebook today, and saw a friend of mine from back east, Dave, was signed on as well and I messaged him to see how he was.  He told me he was in a big mess and needed help.  (Sit back, this is a long story.) I asked him what was up, and he said he was in London on vacation and had been robbed at gunpoint in a park by his hotel, and was now at the airport trying to get home.  I said, "What?!" (Pretty witty, huh?) At the same time another friend of mine hit me with a message and I just casually told him I was dealing with Dave in a crisis situation, and Tom said, wait a minute, I was just chatting with him to, I think this is a scam, that it's not really him.  "Really?" says I (I'm a regular Mark Twain as i chat.) So i called Dave to see what was up, and here he's in Ohio, going to work, and not stuck in London and had not been robbed and his facebook account had been compromised. So I go back to "Dave" who is still chatting with me and ask him what happened, and he said that he had been robbed and his right leg was hurt real bad.  So I said (honest, I really did write this) "I thought your right leg was your prosthetic leg. Or was that your left?"  Well, he ignored that and went for my money, so I told him I just just talked to Dave and I was pretty sure that neither he nor any of his friends would be helping him.  Found out later he had been chatting with lots of people trying to cam them out of money.)

Now besides the obvious lesson about the potential dangers of identity theft and being careful of facebook scams, let me make a really outrageous connection here to what we've been talking about as far as genuine community goes.  I wonder (are you ready for this) how often the person we're chatting with, even when we're standing there face to face with them, isn't really the person we're chatting with.  Does that need some explaining?  Are we really seeing the real person, the real Dave, the genuine article, or we seeing hat the other person wants us to see, the fake Dave, a front because the other person doesn't really want us to know who he really is.

Or, to put it on the other foot, are we trying to scam people with a false identity, because we don't really want them to know the real us?  Masks, false identities, even identity theft (trying to be someone we're not--hey, this is really a pretty good illustration after all!), we all do this to some extent.  And we might pull it off for a while, but it isn't long till others are posting the truth, beware,  we're a fake.

We need real relationships, places where we can be us--the real us--accepted and included and loved just as we are.  Because it's there, in those kinds of relationships that real transformation and healing takes place.  That's what we're after at Oasis.  No more scamming, no more masks, just a group immersed in the grace of God.

I'm not sure whatever happened to "Dave." he unfriended me as soon as I let him know I had seen through him....hmmm, maybe there's some parallel to how we handle relationships there too. Another time!

So I've just finished reading "Bo's Cafe," a book about the transforming power of authentic relationships.  Here's the blurb from the book I just posted on my facebook status: "What if there was a place safe enough to tell the worst about you and still be loved just as much, if not more, for sharing it?"  That kind of place the authors call "an environment of grace." And they say that it's in the safety of that kind of grace that healing and wholeness is experienced. 

Oddly enough, isn't that just what Paul says about authentic relationships in Ephesians 4, that it's where we are free to speak the truth in love, free to love and be loved for who we are (not for who we pretend to be) that  we become mature, we "attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (translation--we become like Jesus, God's goal for our character.) Could this be part of the reason we don't experience much of what God desires for us? That we find it difficult/frightening/impossible to allow anyone in close enough to see us for who we really are.  "Never let hem see you sweat" might be a good campaign for a deodorant, but it stinks as a way of life, especially in the church.  We were created for transparency, to experience genuineness in our friendships.  But some of us are too good at the mask wearing thing, Check that--we're all too good at the mask wearing thing! 

We talked a  little about why this past Sunday at Oasis--busyness (which may just be a convenient way of not having to be genuine), pride (I'm not sure I want you to know who I am), individualism (I don't really need you), isolation (I am a rock, I am an island) and Poor dealing with conflict (I'm taking my ball and going home).  But doing life together is not just a nice option for us.  It is in the context of those relationships that we find the healing we need from the self.

I think we do this pretty well at Oasis.  I've never been in a place that is as much an environment of grace as this place is.  But it's a constant struggle to keep from falling into the safety of hiding.  And to respond in love to the needs that are being revealed. I'm not is a "settling" kind of mood today!  A mediocre family is not what I want--I want a place that when we share the worst about ourselves, we loved just as much, if not more.   (Which I'm sure thrills the men out there! "Alright, we're going to get to talk about our weaknesses!!"  Here's the truth--you'll be a better man/husband/father/worker because of it.)

So drop the dang pride, you're not impressing anyone in this crowd!  As Denise says, this is no place for butt pucker Christians.  Just a place for people who have discovered grace and can't help but live out it with each other.

None of us have been unmoved by the destruction and loss of life from the earthquake that hit Haiti this past week.  We received an email from our friends in Tucson from a woman who is serving in the medical field there describing her experience going through the quake and aftershocks, the loss of life, injuries and devastation that resulted, and her commitment to staying to help with the injured even though her heart longed to be back home with family.  It was heartrending and challenging. 

John says that if we see our brother in need and close our heart against him, how does the love of Christ abide in us?  That word for "heart" there is actually the word that means "innards" or "guts".  If the needs of those around us don't hit us there, don't impact us that deeply, John says, then we haven't really experienced the compassion that Jesus has demonstrated for us.  But it's more than just a gut wrenching feeling, it's a call to action, a call to be compassionate, not just feel compassionate.

We're a long way from Port Au Prince.  But there are ways for us to respond.

First, Pray.  Let's not ever overlook the power and effect prayer has. Too often we say, Well, the least we can do is pray."  No, the best you can do is pray, to seek God's heart, to bring the power of God to bear on the relief efforts that are taking place.

Second, give.  There's going to be great financial need over the upcoming months for relief aid, money to buy food, water, blankets, etc.  We'll be collecting for that this Sunday and funneling that through World Relief, a Christian relief organization.  But it really doesn't matter who you give to, just make sure it's reputable.  Does it really matter who gets the credit right now?  Simply allow God to speak to your hearts as to what he would have you give, and then do that.

Third, we'll be looking for other ways to help such as clothing donations, relief teams, any ways we can respond compassionately.  We'll pass those on to you.  And hopefully you'll post here other ways that e can be of help. 

Think of how many times the NT says that "Jesus had compassion on them."  Let's be like the Lord we follow.

Hey, I'm old, it takes me a while to warm up to these newfangled things. Shoot, I'll be tweeting next, whatever that is.  But here I am entering the world of blogging, thinking that someone out there may actually be interested/get some benefit out of what they find here.  And that would be a God thing for sure! 

It's not that I think I have much of great significance to say.  It's more that I'm thinking a lot about our outpost of faith, this family of Jesus followers we call Oasis, and all of the things that we're facing, all the life we're dealing with, and I'm hoping this may give me a forum to discuss those things kind of "real time."  And I do mean 'discuss.' I'm not the only one God can use to bring understanding and insight to our experiences, in fact I believe it's as we all speak into the lives of those in our family out of the particular gift/passion that God has placed inside of us that needs are fully met.  They didn't realize it when they said it, but the "it takes a village to raise a child" people were pretty close to describing the truth about the body of Christ--it takes the whole body, each part doing what God has called it to do, to bring growth and to fully meet the needs of those in the family.  We really do need each other--I love that phrase, and thanks to Reuben Welch. 

No telling how often this blogging will take place, I'll probably let it be driven by the needs and experiences of the moment, rather than a time schedule...because that's how I roll!  But I'll be praying that God paves the way on this, and that he uses this to enhance our walk with him--otherwise, why do it?

So I'll be the blogger, you be the blogee, and let's all be blog responders.