SETTING THE TABLE: Considering the content
So here we go. We are now talking about movement which we briefly touched down on during Episode 2 of The Open Table Cast. In this episode we put out on the table (figuratively) this idea (which is not new) that the Jesus way of being in the world is very much a movement of love which firstly comes to us as we experience the Father’s great love for us, and is meant to go through us to the sphere of relationships that make up our world. The problem, is that the church has practiced something very different for hundreds of years. Christianity has often been more about attracting people to a place and centralizing the sacred rather than decentralizing and releasing people to catch the wave of what God is doing in “their place” of the world – where they work, live and play.
This is the narrative of Scripture – movement! God is not held captive by man made structures, or the narrow dogmatism that defines so much of religious frameworks. In the Hebrew Scriptures, God revealed himself in bushes on mountain tops, silent whispers in caves and visions and dreams when people were fast asleep.
The ancient way of thinking about the divine was that of localized deities. People had gods and goddesses who ruled over different lands and nations. If you were travelling to a new territory, you would want to know which gods were worshipped and what the gods required of you in that land.
The difference with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is that he seems to reveal himself here, there and everywhere. The Hebrew Scriptures are full of stories of God showing up in Egypt, Babylon, the wilderness and the mountain. There is no place that this God will not go and no place he has not been, because all of the world belongs to him, or as one Psalmist says, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it belongs to him.” Psalm 24:1
In Israels story, God moves into a tabernacle that is sort of like a big tent. Tents, (then and now) are not static, they are made to move and literally that’s what happened. God’s presence moved with His people and was in the midst of his people.
And then, God’s presence was moved indoors. Camp came to an end! Like all the other gods of surrounding nations, Israel wanted a Temple that would put God inside where he could be worshipped. The problem was that this wasn’t God’s idea and as a result the nation of Israel localized their God – or at least so it was thought.
When Jesus steps onto the dusty roads of Palestine he is a threat most of all to the religious establishment of the day and the Temple system. He speaks of the temple being destroyed and rebuilt in just three days, which get all the religious elite riled up. Jesus begins to define the Kingdom of God as within or already present (apparently another space that God will move into if permitted) and that the Kingdom of his Father is ever expanding out into the world that he loves.
The story is about our hearts being moved to love and be loved. It’s a story where we find the effects of God’s work in Jesus rippling outwards with all his sons and daughters finding a place at the table of the Father.
Much of Western Christianity continues to hold to a Temple theology, thus betraying the very nature of the story of God that we find in Scripture. Sunday morning preachers speak of a gospel of movement, yet church practice conveys something entirely different. It’s time to reimagine who we are in this world and who we get to be, as we get swept up in the movement of God.
THE INVITATION: Living open to God
The invitation is to be open to the movement of the Spirit all around you and to the people that you “do life with”. A good question to ask yourself is, “Do I have a yearning desire to see people get back to church, or do I have a yearning desire to see Jesus in the people I have relationship with?”
We do not need revival but a renewal. Revival looks back at the “good ol days” whereas renewal has us looking forward with new eyes, renewed hearts at what God is up to in the world.
THE NEXT STEP: Learning and unlearning
The best thing you can do is ask the Father to show you the next step for you and then possition yourself to listen. Listen for what he is saying to you? What questions are surfacing? What doubts emerge? Don’t judge them. Let them come, and let the Spirit lead you, after all – there is no place, space or territory you will not find his presence!
A couple of resources that may be helpful for you are:
- Starfish Movement: Dan Gridder
- Small is Big, Slow is Fast: Caesar Kalinowski
Written by Ray Jones / Leader with Open Table Communities