Running down on time today as I catch up on my readings. It has been one of those days…but then again as a mom of 2 it is always “one of those days”, where you run around like a chicken with it’s head cut-off…and for me even worse now that I am trying to figure out how to earn money and still be the mom I am used to being. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I will figure it out…yet I too lose my focus and get anxious and sidetracked – quite easily.
This is where I started the day…at 4:15 or so this morning. Couldn’t fall back asleep – so I laid there for an hour before finally pulling myself out into the “frosty air” (no running the heat at night out here in Cali – reminds me of the “cold air dorms” back at Purdue – love it!). Any who, my day would get better shortly there after…for I decided not to ponder the repetitive thoughts that were lurking around in my mind – but focus on the tasks at hand: doing a few yoga-type exercises to warm up, making my coffee, starting my Christmas music and getting on-line for my readings. Yet, before I did the last one…I had pulled up the screen I had left open last night on purpose – a link to sign up to volunteer at MPPC’s Fair Trade Marketplace.
I mention this not because I want to highlight what I am doing..but to highlight what people from MPPC are like. They have taken the messages from the readings of today that talk about “to give is better than to receive”, that Jesus came to serve the world as an example for us and the likes – and they put it into practice better than any other church I have ever been part of. They are continually innovating new ways to get out into the community – such as with our Compassion Weekend each Spring…which in itself spurs on new mini ministries. Each campus (main, San Mateo, Mountain View, Cafe and Sanctuary) has started their own service oriented ministries. They are trying to get a new program off the ground called Catalyst that will hopefully eventually launch many more opportunities for each and every person in our church to figure out what they are gifted at, what they are passionate about, and empower them to go out and change their corner of the world.
I mention all of this not just because I am proud to be part of such a church and to help in some small ways…but because I am proud of where their heart is. As John Ortberg, our senior pastor, always says, “This is a Jesus church. It always has been, even before I was here. It always will be a Jesus church. That is just what we are.”
What type of Jesus church is it? To what Jesus is John referring to?
He is referring to the one that left the throne room of heaven to come down to a stinky place called Earth that was full of greed, anger, hatred, lust, abuse of power and control – just to name a few – because He was God’s gift to us. He didn’t come just to show us a glimpse of heaven…but to make heaven appear on Earth. He didn’t come just to show us how to live a sinless life…He came to help give us a more clearer picture of who God is, what His heart truly is like…of how much He loves us. While His work on the cross was the most important work there ever was…it was not the only work He came to do. It was the culmination of His work, the exclamation point at the end of wonderfully, beautifully, extravagantly long sentence detailing His love for His creation – all of it, each and every part of it.
While my love language is not “receiving gifts”, I have found that sometimes there is no greater way to feel the Love of God in my heart, pulsing thru my veins than when I am giving “gifts”…of money, of time, of talents…to strangers, to friends, to my kiddos, even to you who read my blog and hopefully get some type of motivation out of it! For when I am giving and serving…I don’t know that there is any other way I can draw closer to Jesus than by imitating Him in this way. And that, my friends, makes my “cup runneth over”.
For more on serving, you can read Rediscovering & Rephrasing: Heaven on Earth?
Today’s readings: Acts 20:35 and 1 John 4:10
