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Peter Rollins speaks here about the irony of Christianity, using the irony of say someone who mocks 70's music, clothing and style while wearing it themselves. In the same way, he says we as the church can hear the truth of the Gospel without actually heeding it.
A radical change in my life the last few years (as well as Rachelle's), has been that the talk of mission, social justice and relationship, is becoming true in our lives. We're still far from being as consistent as we'd like to be, but something different is happening.
The way we are living a missional life is in a few places, our neighborhood, the children's school and around town. As I've said before, we live in suburbia, mostly older White neighbors, semi-retired with some families of high schoolers. We have little in common with many of our neighbors but we still have good relationships with most. How? Daily, we are outside, talking, going across the street to ask how things are going, following up on previous conversations, talking shop.
For example, the other day I was raking our leaves and because of the friendship my neighbors and I have, JR from across the street said, "Hey David! Don't forget to unplug your hoses once winter comes. The water inside can freeze and the pipes can break and flood your basement!" That's no spiritual conversation, but it's normal stuff that creates relationships and caring for each other in practical ways. I feel JR and I are good neighbors and enjoy each other.
The school is the other place where we are living this missional life. Both R' and I are there just about every day meeting parents, and my focus is to get to know a to of the Latino moms and dads.
I've had good conversations with many Latino parents (Jose, Jorge, Carlos, Sergio, Micah, Octavio and Kayla, Ms. Amanda, Ms. Chumacero, Abbie and Tim, Suzanne, Michelle and John, Ms. Leigh, Alma, German) and others. The other day, Octavio told me he sees me around the school so much, he thought I was a bilingual teacher!
The other day, Maria told Rachelle that her husband had to leave Colorado for Louisiana a few days ago to look for work. He will be gone for 4-6 months, they have three small children. We are going to help them out this Christmas together with our church and the school.
The other day, Octavio asked me about God and where I go to church. He told me he's not very committed to God but he wants to go back. A few nights ago we went to a Foster Family night out at Red Robbin where we had over 40 parents and children. Both 'R and I made it an effort to meet just about everyone and introduce parents to each other. We learned so much about many people. One of them is Amy who is the school's counselor, and we found out that night she is divorced and yet continues to raise her children and serve at the school.
Lastly, we are beginning to be involved in the new business development area of Arvada, Old Town. A few weeks ago I went to their Board of Directors meeting. Tomorrow, our family is volunteering in Old Town to hang Christmas lights and just to be a part of the community. Old Town is a growing sector locally, with new businesses and younger people coming in. It's totally different than EL Foster, where it's mostly lower income families and immigrants, but we feel we can be an influence in both the hip parts of town and in education.
Our new church supports all these efforts, and in fact celebrates what I'm doing because it's part of our vision as a church. It feels good to live this way, a more consistent life that is more and more missional and not just church-centered.
The other day I was interviewing a young leader for a graphics/video job at Foothills. We got talking about church and vision and my role there. We talked about the usual stuff - production, good videos and good worship. But what made a difference in her is when I began to tell her of my work outside the usual church activities.
It made things real and told her that church is not just about making sure the coffee is made and chairs are set up (very important things btw)...that's is not what Jesus told us to do. And hopefully she met someone who's life is trying to be about helping the practical needs of those around me, in our school and city.
That felt good.
Have a great day,
Into the future,
davidT
