Grace Christian Fellowship Winter Retreat Reflections

This was from a blog of one of the attendees:

"kingdom vision. multitudes in the valley of decision. battle mode.i want to engage this campus. engage this world. love, mercy, justice, compassion. so things are gettin flipped upside down once again. beyond my dates with God in word, sunday worship, mtg w/ pj n shiyon, and just some fun time with my family in christ here and there...hes setting me in training mode and the voice is getting louder and louder.. get out there. go in there. the messy places. pray like crazy. but just engage. listen a lot. deepen relationships with ppl on this campus that are not in your spiritual family. get uncomfortable. love love love and light light light. no agendas. no projects. missions right now, right here. what is it but to love God and love people. how can i love people i hardly know? how can i know people i do not spend time with? kinda feel like im growin up and moving out of the house. good to kno my family is always there and its not goodbye. but my extra time..for this season... can no longer primarily be spent with you and for you...... i sense Him telling me... soon, perhaps starting now, my time is going to go to strangers that i've yet to meet and get to know. and my job is to love them period. not love them so that... love them only if.. love them until... just love them. because God loves me and my needs are set and secure in that love. time to feed the five thousand... how many thousands are on this campus? i forget. good thing to kno i dont create the bread. so refreshing that all i am called to be is a distributor of grace and love. im not the source nor the sustainer. just a jar of clay. but i can hand out treasure."

It has been a week since the retreat and I am still praying for these future ambassadors of the gospel and America. I was meditating on the Sojourner's interview with Philip Yancey. Yancey talked about how the world may see America as a "Christian" nation:

Jacques Ellul makes the comment somewhere, "How is it that the Christian gospel produces societies, the values of which are the opposite of the Christian gospel?" If you just ask somebody, around the world, "Tell me what stands out to you about the United States," they'll say, "military power, unbelievable wealth by the world's standards, and sexual license." All three of these are radically anti-Jesus. So how is it that we're viewed as the most Christian country in the world and yet characterized by the least Christian characteristics?

So these young people will face a world that is awaiting their defining aspect of their lives...what will they respond when they are asked..."what inspires you?" Will they give voice to the faith they profess to one another? They are the "Repairers of the Breach (Isaiah 58:12)" and to find an expression of their redemptive role in this fallen world. One of the "older" students shared about how he stepped out in faith when he was in an interview and he was asked "who, besides your friends and family, played the most important role in your life...." He said embarassingly..."Jesus..." and in that moment...and unveiling of God's provision...

In my time, I felt that there was a sense of prayerful peace as I shared about "future grace" the gift of suffering...doing things unto God, God providing...God seeing...and most of all the challenge of engaging our culture to transform and renew faith...as Wiersbe calls us to be "distributors" and not "manufacturers" of minsitry.

At times I felt not as intellectually engaging as I wanted to be...because fear of being too "intellectual and showy" but rather focus on the convictions of how these truths have impacted my life. The fellowship seemed very "playful" and sometimes I wondered on the urgency that was upon them to "do all things..." and get beyond the "Christian huddle" culture. There was one girl who reminded me of myself...always making people laugh...and yet how much that has been a defense mechanism for me...to keep people at a distance. To take things so lightly that my garments I wear for Christ is not weathered by battle but brand new from the comfort I clothe myself in.

Yet, as I saw them, they were a mosaic of broken lives of pride, loss and shallowed community. They seem to carry a levity that betrays the weight of glory. But there were some who wanted so much more...so much more compassion, power and justice in their journey. Yet, I wanted more of Jesus for them...not the results...but the deep affection that comes from knowing Him. And in that ravaged reality of fallenness there is redemption...hope...and the power of our homecoming for each of us.

I appreciated the worship team and their ability to simply and profoundly place us into an atmosphere of worship...I haven't not worshipped in that manner for some time and it brings me into this intimacy with God...unveiling my innermost sins and insecurities about His sufficiency...in worship, I learn to just be naked...and entering into Spirit and Truth.

I pray for them Lord...that they stumble in the depths of God...