Continuing the Conversation

sacred space has now been gathering regularly on Saturday morning since mid-February. We have enjoyed the venue at Cafe Barista and the conversation has involved a few regulars as well as others from week to week. At times we are asked if we are a church group, to which we reply that we are not, but that we are a conversation exploring together life in the way of Jesus.

What this has meant over the weeks is that we have engaged what it means to be human in such a way that it makes God's presence visible in the world. We have talked that for us to be human in this way necessarily leads us to identify not only with the humanity of Jesus of Nazareth, but indeed with Jesus -- for he is God who has become one of us, God who has become a human being making visible the presence of God in the world. So in being human beings identified with Jesus of Nazareth, we make God visible in the world by the way we treat customers and employees if we are business people, the way we treat our spouses and children if we are married, the way we treat our neighbors, the way we treat strangers.

Making God visible in the world as human beings who identify with Jesus, calls us to view others in ways that God views them -- not to reject people, but for us to be open to accept whomever God brings into our lives. This is not always easy, but then it is not about what makes us comfortable, it is about making space and making God visible in our community.

So as a group gathering on Saturday mornings, and those who join us in conversation, we are discovering what it means in real ways what it means to do life in the way of Jesus. We are discovering that we are becoming more than a conversation group, but a community of persons who want to help each other be the kind of people who make God visible in the world.

If you have thought about being a part of the conversation of sacred space I invite you to join us on Saturday mornings at Cafe Barista in Lake Villa, IL from 9 - 11 am and engage in a conversational journey that is stretching us.

Roland

Who is Jesus?

Since sacred space is a conversation exploring life in the way of Jesus, it might be a good question to ask, "who do we think Jesus is?" or perhaps, "what are our thoughts about Jesus?"

This was a question Jesus asked those who hung out with him as well. As he spent time with blue collar types and people on the edge of society, he asked the twelve who were closest to him, "Who do people say that I am?" I think this question caught them off guard a bit and after they had a moment to think about it they began repeating to him what others were saying about him. As one of Jesus' followers, Matthew -- who happened to be an ex-tax collector, remarked that some said he was the prophet John the Baptist (who was in reality Jesus' cousin who told the people about Jesus' coming -- some people must have figured he wasn't executed after all); some said he was one of the prophets who had wandered the earth hundreds of years before, but somehow appeared again (maybe like a ghost).

But then Jesus asked them, like he still asks each one of us, "Who do you say I am?" That is a question we all have to figure out. For Peter, one of Jesus' followers, he said, "You are the One who has come to liberate humanity, the Son of the living God."

What this means and what implications this has for our exploring together life in the way of Jesus is something we can talk about this coming Saturday, March 17th.

See you there.
Roland

God-Moments in Our Lives

I was watching the film Alfie on DVD. Its about a guy who enjoys being single and has a lot of one-night stands. However, in the midst of his hedonistic lifestyle, he begins to encounter issues that bring his life to a standstill, or at least a very uneasy forward movement. While he is in the midst of this time, he experiences what I call a "God-moment."

We all have them if we have ears and eyes to notice them. God is indeed moving through each of our lives, trying to get across to us that God loves us and desires for us to be in relationship with God. Usually when life is going our way, when we are in control, we are too focused on ourselves to notice others, let alone God speaking to us. But when we experience some kind of pain -- emotional or physical, some kind of news that knocks us to the ground, we are vulnerable, our insides are open -- and these times are God-moments in our lives. These are times when we cry out, we long for a different direction, we long for hope -- and if we open up our ears and eyes we will discover that God is next to us reaching out to us, to walk with us, to touch us and bring healing and hope to us. But most of us remain somewhat blind and deaf and don't take the opportunity to see God in these God-moments. We figure out a way to get out of the situation we are in and find a way to go on -- when the life God gave to us was meant to be more than a mere "going on."

I don't know if Alfie was ever open to the God-moments in his life, though he came close -- but one thing he did realize (at the end of the movie): though he was single, unattached, had freedom to do whatever he wanted to do, he did not have peace of mind -- and as he stated, "Without peace of mind, you've got nothing."

I want to try and be open to God in the God-moments that make themselves visible in my life, and perhaps somehow discover God in ways I never experienced before.

Roland