Living like 1 billion others

This Thursday @ 6 p.m. we're going to have our first "Poverty Supper". Beans and rice, and nothing else, will be provided.

The idea behind this is manifold (sorry for the archaic word; it just popped into my head). First, we will be taking donations. We ask that those joining us will donate what they'd normally spend on a family meal. 100% of this will be given away to alleviate hunger. 50% will stay local and be given to organizations like Food for Thought and Cherry Street Mission. The other 50% will go global to organizations like Nazarene Disaster Relief and Nazarene Compassionate Ministries.

Second, we hope that by eating together each week a simple meal of beans and rice we will begin to identify more fully with those in our world in need. Over 1 billion people on this planet, including some in the U.S., subsist on the equivalent or less each day.

Finally, we hope that our own priorities will begin to shift away from the materialism which is so prevalent and insidious in the way it consumes our lives. As we identify with those who suffer around the world we hope to recognize how we can begin living simpler lives which can enable us to better help our brothers and sisters in need around the world. In this way we hope to help further the Kingdom of God here on earth even as it is in heaven.

We hope you'll join us.

GPS: Reorient Yourself

(Note: Emmaus Road Church will meet every Sunday in June at 6 p.m. We'd consider it a privilege if you joined us.)

A couple of weeks ago I began the journey of reading through the entire Bible in 90 days. I'd love if you join me and tell me about it. Don't be legalistic about it if you miss a day, but allow it to stretch you to read more than you have before. Here's a link with the schedule.

While reading through the books of Exodus and Numbers, I was struck by the sheer amount of rituals and sacrifices and holy days and feasts and . . . well all of the myriad things that God called the Israelites to follow. Some of it sounds confusing, even bizarre, to our modern ears, but it must have had a purpose. What possibly could be the reason behind such an all-encompassing list of rituals and regulations?

As I prayed and asked God to help me understand, slowly I began to see what a radically tranformative way of life this must have been. God's purpose in calling and creating the Israelites as His people was to demonstrate to the world how best to live in relationship to God and with others. They were to be the nation through whom all nations would be blessed. And so, as they participated in the worship patterns laid out for them by God through Moses, their entire way of thinking, believing, and being was transformed.

Like a mountaineer alone in the vast wilderness of Alaska taking a GPS reading to locate her precise position, each time the Israelites gathered for worship, each time they kept the feasts and performed the sacrifices, they reoriented themselves according to God's loving direction.

The insight gained into Israel's worship also gave me insight into our worship and this question:

What is the purpose behind our modern-day rituals, liturgies, and celebrations? Is it not to reorient ourselves to the Kingdom of God, to the Way of the Cross, to life in the Holy Spirit?

Lord, let it be so.