Day 3-4 w/John 15

John 15:23-24

23 He who hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father.

Today I was struck by how closely Jesus identifies with the Father.  To hate one is to hate the other.  I'm sure that if you had asked the Pharisees if the hated God they would have denied it quite vigorously.  But Jesus know that they hate him, and Jesus is so sure of his identity in God, that he can say that to ate me is to hate the father.  In John 13:1 we see Jesus strong identity with the Father from whom he came.   How can Jesus be so sure of their hate?  For one he knew what was to come, his torture and his death. For another he also knew how they questioned and did not rejoice at the results of the miracles that he/Jesus has performed.  One has to question the validity of someone's love for God, when they do not rejoice and give God the credit when a blind man sees, a paralyzed man walks, a dead person is raised to life, and the storms of the seas are calmed.  It's also reminds me to look in my life and to see where God has done miracles for me. Do I really love God with all my heart, all my soul, on my mind, all my strength when I look back and see what God has done for me and do not live as if he is the greatest God of the universe.  

Day 2 w/John 15

“When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.   John 15:26-27

Today, I was struck several times in my day's work by the work of the Holy Spirit.  I saw him working in people's lives, sometime when they were not even aware of it.  I do not believe in coincidences, and I don't believe in chance.  People do what they do, either out of their will or based upon the influence of Good [the Holy Spirit] or evil.  Most of the time we take credit for the good that we do and look to shift the blame for the bad that we do.  

In the verses above I was struck by the community that I see between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  They exist in perfect fellowship with each other.  Each has a role to play that exists because of their relationships.  That role can not be completed without the work of each other, nor can it be competed without the influence of the other.  The Son sends, but he sends from the Father.  The spirit goes but goes from the Father.  The Spirit testifies of the Son, and the Spirit is the truth of the Father and the Son.  

On that same note I was talking with one of my best friends today, and he started to do something, I started to say something and didn't even get one word out of my mouth before I stopped because I knew what he was going to do.  He on the other hand, knew what I thought he was going to do and what I was going to say.  He finished my sentence in his head, I finished his action in my head.  I'm not saying that our brief exchange is the perfect example of community as compared to the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  That kind of 'community' only exists over time, in the context of trust.  I am saying that we have thought of Father, Son and Holy Spirit far too often as "individuals" instead of the community/fellowship that they are.  We would do well to be in "community" with our Father, our Savior, the Sprit of Truth, and our fellow dusty brothers of faith.

Day 1 w/ John 15

Here are the instructions I gave to the group...

1. For 5 days read John 15 and only after reading it for 5 days then do the following:
1. View John chapter 15 through a lens of your definition of community.  What do you see?
2. Read John chapter 15 and every where that Jesus says "you" read it not as an individual but read the "you" as a collective group.  
3. LIst what a "community" a "group" a band of "brothers" a "church" ought to be about/look like according to John chapter 15…
4. In John 15, Jesus uses the story of the vine and branches imagery.  Jesus used that to help his disciples understand the concept he was trying to get across.  What, in your opinion, was that concept?
5. Now come up with a creative way to share that concept with our group on our retreat.  It could be a story you write, a picture you draw, a poster board with images cut from magazines or printed from the internet.  It could be a song or a poem that you write.  It could be a drama or another analogy, like Jesus, used.  The bottom line is this:  how do you explain the concept that Jesus was teaching his disciples, in a way that makes sense to you?  I want you to share this.  Yes I know this will push your comfort zone.  Yes I know it is outside of your box.  But it will make you think critically about what Jesus was living out on His Journey with His Disciples.

A few initial impressions...

- Jesus commands us twice to love one another in V.12 & V. 17

- Jesus only asks us to do something that He, himself is already doing, remaining/abiding in God's love.  Jesus is already practicing community and expects us to do the same.

- a whole book could be written about what it means to remain and abide.

- the power of community is revealed, when we live in community we can can ask what ever we want and God will provide.  Jesus mentions this twice.  The caveat is that it is a community "ask", not an individual "ask."  The power of community also provides that we will bear fruit.

- Jesus wants us to know complete joy, that is why he is commanding us to be in community/fellowship/abide in his love, commands and love each other.

- Jesus chose us, again he tells us twice, that he chose us to bear fruit and chose us out of the world.

- Jesus gives us fair warning that the world will hate us.

Day 6 w/John 13 - Conclusions

We were assigned to read John chapter 13 for 5 days and then to answer some questions...

1. For 5 days read John 13 and only after reading it for 5 days then do the following:
1. View John chapter 13 through a lens of your definition of community.  What do you see?
2. What would challenge you if you were apart of Jesus disciples in this context?  Why?
3. Who acts like an "individual" and who acts like they are part of a "community"?  Why do you think so?

So after 5 days with John 13, here are some of my conclusions...

What did I see?
... Community is defined by love for one another.  This is done over time, takes energy and work.
... Community is defined by striving to be in "tune" with other community members.  Do we pick up on others hurts, joy, etc.?
... Community is defined by the work of love.  It is never done, it is on going.
... Community is defined by the choice that we make to obey the command our Rabbi gave us to love each other as He loved us.
... Community is defined very differently from the rest of the world, it is marked by serventhood, by our serving one another.
... Community is defined by trust we choose to extend to one another.  This is in an attempt to reflect the perfect community that we see between Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
... Community is defined ownership, submission and risk.

What would challenge me?
In my opinion the biggest challenge is to change the way that I view myself.  The world encourages me to think for myself, about myself.  Jesus challenges me to think not of self but of the community.

Who acts as an individual & who acts like part of a community?
East question, easy answer... Jesus = community, disciples = individuals....

Day 4 w/ John 13

So today as I read through John chapter 13, I was struck by v. 1 "having loved his own who were in the world."  To me there are a couple of things that this verse implies.  Jesus actively loves those on earth and in heaven.  It also implies that Jesus love for this community of believers was an active thing that Jesus was and had been doing over time.  This has huge implications for us as as we strive to live in community.  We too often make the mistake of living too little; by this I mean that we fail to extend our love, in real and tangible ways to people outside of our nuclear family.  Maybe I am more acutely aware of this because my love language is one of gifts.  I want to love other people with what makes me feel loved.  So I give gifts.  As I bless others with this love of gift giving, my circle of community love grows.  

I was made aware of this one time in worship as I stood at the back door of my church greeting people.  I am a hugger.  I hug people.  And after hugging one particular elderly woman, she stopped me, took my hand and said, "Thank you, you will never know how much it means to me to be hugged.  I live alone, no one ever touches me, the hug you give me each week, is a reminder that I am loved."  People will know that we are His disciples by the way we love each other.  But how often do we demonstrate that love in tangible ways.?  Jesus chose to love on his disciples, and yet one more act of love was washing the feet of the disciples.  They needed this demonstration of love in action.

Along that line of thinking, then v. 22 jumped out at me, it says... "[the disciples] were at a loss to know which of them Jesus meant."  What has happened here is that Jesus has told them that one of their own was going to betray the community and Jesus.  and the "community" of the disciples were clueless as to what he was talking about.  Had they really been loving on each other, caring for one another, focused on the community rather than themselves, they probably would not have been at such a loss.  They would have known that Judas was not on the same page as they were.  But their community was not demonstrating love to one another, so they were clueless and Jesus did have to give them a command to love each other in v.34.  Let's live out Jesus command to love each other and let's make our circle of community a growing circle!

Day 5 w/ John 13

My thinking today is marked by one thought, and that is a weird one to me, in that it is a grammatical thought.  As I read verse 34 this morning I was struck by the fact that it is written in future tense.  Here it is in its entirety... "34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  These are some of the possible implications:

1.  Love is a choice to do something; not a feeling.

2.  That choice to love is not a once and done thing, but a choice we make moment by moment.

3.  As dusty disciples, if we have chosen to follow our Rabbi, this is a command, not a choice.  Thus in each and every moment we have a choice to obey the command to love or to disobey the command to love.

4.  Our standard of how we are to love is To love as Jesus loved.

5.  Our love is to be for other disciples, not just any one.  (This may be the toughest group to love, because we are closest to them, we know them, they know us)

6.  Our love for others is what will attract others to become disciples.  

7.  This is a call of a life time.  We will never be done loving others.  When we choose to be obedient to our Rabbi's command to love, we both accomplish the command and still have more to do.  

Day 3 w/ John 13

Now on day three I am seeing yet new things.  Today I was struck by the interaction between Peter and Jesus when it came time to wash Peter's feet.  In every community there is a pecking order.  People can relatively and quickly establish who is in charge, who can be counted on, who is quiet, who likes the sound of their own voice.  I'm sure this was true among Jesus' disciples as well. Peter understands this and it is just wrong that Jesus is washing feet.  Jesus is the leader, he is The Lord, he is the Rabbi, he is the one that everyone is striving to more like.  People of high status within the community don't do bottom rung jobs.  From Jesus perspective, he knows that this is how the group is thinking. He also knows that the group is still thinking the way the world thinks. And Jesus wants to set a very different standard for the way community is done.  Jesus words from the Gospel of Mark remind us that Jesus himself said, "I came not to be served but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many."  Jesus knows that his time with the group is short, and he knows that this may be one of the last times to set the community thinking in a brand-new direction. 

We can see Peter's thinking shift, he wants Jesus to know that he is all in.  But Jesus cautions Peter, that a full cleansing is not what is needed. I hesitate even to suggest it, but I think one of the things we can take here is that service to one another, service to the community, does have its limits.  My hesitancy, comes from a big concern that our current culture is so about not serving one another, that to suggest that there are limits to the way we serve, is to give a community excuses not to serve. I strongly want to avoid that!

Day 2 w/ John 13

Today as I read, I am struck by two things...

First in verse 3, it is apparent that Jesus lives in community.  Not just the community that he has forged with the disciples but the community he came from and was returning to, the community of the Father and the Holy Spirit, with the Son.  This kind of community has built and provided perfect trust.  A trust so great that Jesus was willing to lay down his life at the father's plan/will.  This reminds me of The verse where Jesus says no one has greater love than this, but they lay down their life for another.

Second, In verse 31 and 32, I am struck by the fact that the community that exists between father and son is one in which the son is glorified by doing with the father wants. But the father is also glorified by the sons obedience.  This to me speaks to the strength of any community, when one seeks the good of the community over self, the community is glorified.  Not everyone in the community understands, but it is glorified by truth over time.  This also speaks to the strength and power of a community that is marked by selflessness rather than selfishness.  The principal action of selflessness is love; that is why in verse 34 our Lord goes on to say that people will know we are his followers by the way we do community, by how we love one another.

Day 1 w/John 13

This discipleship journey has been an amazing time.  As we approach Module 5 - this weekend will be all about Community and the unique role that it plays in discipleship.  We are to focus our reading for 7 days on John chapter 13.  Here are the instructions...

1. Define Community, what does it look like, what should it be?
2. For 5 days read John 13 and only after reading it for 5 days then do the following:
1. View John chapter 13 through a lens of your definition of community.  What do you see?
2. What would challenge you if you were apart of Jesus disciples in this context?  Why?
3. Who acts like an "individual" and who acts like they are part of a "community"?  Why do you think so?

Day 1:

So my definition of community is heavily influenced by v.34, the New Commandment, that says we are to love one another as Christ has loved us, by this all people will know that we are His disciples.  

So for me, Community answers a question of ownership [are we His Disciples or not], Community answers a question of submission [are we willing to put our needs/wants secondary to the needs of those in the group] and Community answers a question of risk [are we willing to open ourselves up to the potential hurt that comes with any relationship.]

In this chapter, Jesus starts by answering the question of ownership, what he is about to do, what he is about to undergo, would be troubling if Jesus was living for himself.  It would be hard to do, if Jesus was his own person.  But in verses 1 & 2, Jesus points out that he knows that he came from God and was returning to God.  He belongs to and with God.  I am reminded of that verse from Romans 8:31, when Paul says, "if God is for us, who can be against us?"

In this initial reading for this weeks' assignment I am also struck by the fact that there are two, about to be, betrayals mentioned in this chapter; Judas and Peter.  Those are my thoughts for today.