Reflections on Moving

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9

This past Sunday I mentioned that although it was our last Sunday of worship at Redmond Middle School, we would continue to be a mobile church. We will always be a mobile church, Jesus’ Church is always to be a Church on the move. The God we worship is a sending God; the creative loving fullness of the Father sending his Son, the   just, merciful and loving Son sending the Spirit to make his home in us even as we are sent to a broken and hurting world in desperate need of a savior. 

The pages of scripture reflect this sentness. The Old Testament prophet wrote about the impetus for and the posture of those sent, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8). Jesus sent his disciples and all who take his name, with the charge, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18–20)

Several years ago when I first suggested Creekside move to a building that would combine worship, ministry center and offices, I heard from someone who was concerned about what seemed to be a shift in our vision. Over lunch, they told me that the Creekside vision was to never have a building. Yet as we discussed vision and sentness, we both agreed that neither having a building nor not having one were vision, but were instead implementations of a vision. That vision? To be a sent people, a mobile missionary church focused not on ourselves but to those we have been sent beyond our walls\\

As we complete another chapter in the story of Creekside -- as we move with excitement to our new location -- we do so as people sent by God and shaped by the places he has sent us thus far. We go remembering and celebrating the chapters completed, even as we begin this new one. It is wonderful that this new chapter begins during the season of Lent, a time where we ask, “what would it look like for the infinite and the penitent to begin to feel like home in our lives.” 

Spend some time this week thinking through your story. Reflect on when your story first  connected into God’s story. Remember when your story connected into Creekside’s story. Reconnect with a time or a place where you were struck by the weight of the infiniteness of God, a time perhaps when you simultaneously felt both small and insignificant yet deeply loved and called to something far greater than yourself? 

As we move into new places of sentness, we need to be intentional. Listening for God’s voice. Reflecting upon and examining our lives and the voices that speak into them. Participating with him as he moves and shapes us, ordinary people living the extraordinary way of Jesus. 

Peace, hope and love

Doug