Re-gifting Love for Christmas

Like many others this holiday season, the Living Stones Family sent Christmas cards, attended "white elephants" and hosted delicious dessert get togethers. Amidst all that activity, however, we continue to look for ways to celebrate Jesus and his birth, which is easily overlooked with all the other common seasonal festivities. How do you celebrate God’s extravagant gift of love? Our family found it best to re-gift. We re-gift God’s gift to us; Jesus: His love, shown in the form of a servant. So off to a group foster home we went on Christmas Day to celebrate the birth of our King. And what better way to celebrate a birthday but with a classic ice cream party?

So armed with 15 gallons of ice cream and all the fixings: cones, a choice of sprinkles, caramel and whipped cream, we aimed to flesh out God’s love to others. Because that’s what Christmas--this Christmas, as well as that first Christmas--is all about, putting flesh on love.

Jesus in a Tow Truck

Last year, when our son was only 1 year old we found the “Little People Nativity Set” on Craigslist. Last year our boy just stared at it, but this year he is in his “terrific twos” so it gets a lot more play. We keep the stable, wise men, animals, angel and of course Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus on a bookshelf. But daily, we search for baby Jesus. You see, he does not remain under the star. We always find the Jesus figure throughout our home. I have found Jesus in the midst of a train yard layout, under our dinner table and even driving a tow truck, down the ramp of the Little People garage. Jesus does not stay in one place. He is not confined to the stable or his place in between Mary and Joseph. I am not the only one who has had this problem. I have seen the nativity display of infant Jesus secured by chains, and remember news reports of Jesus missing from town nativity displays. Even the gospel of Luke records Mary and Joseph looking for the “missing” boy Jesus.

We have places where we want Jesus to be. We want Jesus on the shelf, or on Sunday mornings or with us in crisis. We want a Jesus we can control and place. But Jesus tends to roam freely, to go wherever he wants. We champion the cause of keeping Christ in Christmas, but that is where we really want to keep him! Keep him in Christmas and Easter, and keep Jesus Christ in the church, as long as He doesn’t roam into other places; as long as Jesus stays away from our dinner table, or out of our tow truck, or our work place. Keep Christ in Christmas but keep him out of our Christmas and New Year’s parties. But we have a Jesus who tends to roam, who understands that true hospitality and relationship invites Jesus to roam through our hours and weeks, to visit us not only in crisis but also between calmness and celebration. So this holiday season don’t stop at keeping Christ in Christmas but also allow Jesus to find himself in the raucous celebration of the New Year, the intimacy of friendships and the grittiness of train yards and tow trucks.

Response & Responsibility

Living Stones Church is part of a movement called “simple church”. It may be a misnomer at times because being the Church can be rather complex or simply messy. We have no church choir or praise team, no Sunday school or greeters; in fact we have none of those garnishes that often accompany the Church in America. So what does full participation look like? How does someone get involved? What type of response is desired from a member of the Living Stones family and what responsibility is given? Well we are glad that you asked!☺ There actually is more opportunity to plug-in at Living Stones than you might think. It just may look different (perhaps more messy). The Bible tells us that there is a “priesthood of all believers” (1 Peter 2:9 and others)—in other words, every member is a minister and a missionary. Jesus did not tell us a lot about what his followers’ worship gathering should look like, but instead focused on how we should live and follow Him. So we try to keep our weekly worship gathering simple but purposeful. It’s not our gathering time that defines us however… it is our scattering time: what we do during the other hours of the week when we are not crammed around a table or filling a living room.
We encourage intentional community. On different days and times we meet in smaller groups of 2 or 3 where we share what God is doing in our lives; we encourage each other by helping stay accountable to God’s purpose in our lives, and pray for each other and those whom God has put on our path. These micro-gatherings help shape us into devoted disciples of Jesus.

We also encourage participation in our gatherings! While visitors are encouraged to participate at their comfort level, once you have joined us twice you are considered part of the family. So people take turns bringing our common meal; instead of a sermon there is a Bible discussion where people can respond by bringing their observations and their questions. And worship, service projects, etc. are not planned by a small few in leadership but are part of our response to what God is doing in our lives and God’s call in our lives. And eventually you too will share in co-hosting a gathering at your favorite coffee shop, home or anywhere else God might be calling you.

And much of our responsibility is to people who are not familiar with Living Stones or even Christ for that matter: Jesus tells us to love our neighbor. Part of our response to that command is to help your new neighbor move in, invite your co-worker over for a BBQ, and act on all of those good things each of us would do if we only had more time. Our lack of committed mid-week meetings are meant to encourage people to worship God with their whole lives. The response and responsibilities of those in the Living Stones family are found in the words of Jesus: love God, love others and as you go make disciples. There are no bystanders… everyone’s part of the family!

Reduce, Re-use, Recycle

While this phrase is often the mantra of our environmentally conscious generation, it also happens to fit the philosophy of ministry embraced by Living Stones.


Reduce: It seems church has gotten complicated. Church in its original format was a rather simple affair, no Sunday bests, no pews, no smoke machines. Just God and people. While we are not personally against any of these new elements of a worship service, these garnishes tend to distract us from the main course: A community of people gathering in Jesus' name. So we reduce the frills, like pulpits, pews and parking lots and let the main thing be the main thing.

Reuse: Since we don't have a lot, we value and utilize what we do have. The secular becomes sacred: as living rooms become worship space and coffee shop conversations substitute for Sunday school. Scripture itself is also reused in our gathering time as words for worship, invitation to communion and to shape our devotional dialogue.

Recycle: While we treasure the relationships with God and with one another in our small authentic faith community, we know that healthy organisms grow and reproduce. So as individuals we grow in spiritual maturity by not settling to be merely bystanders. For many in the Living Stones Family that means starting the cycle all over again. Making disciples, and through them, birthing new home churches in our houses, workplaces, and coffee shops all over Tampa Bay.

Coffee Shop Community

At the Panera that I frequent, there are two main groups of people—those who are eating alone with their laptops (of which I am often one) and those who come to connect with friends. So what’s the difference between these “coffee shoppers” that hang out at for hours on end: the quiet laptoppers and those that shove several tables together? In a word, community. Those eating together are sharing relationships—they are in community— while those by themselves are in close physical proximity, but not a community. They are not communicating; they are eating together yet eating alone. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a certain amount of communication between the “alone in community” folks. We chuckle at emails, and talk on cell phones. We even alternate using the electrical outlets. But our “community” is a sorry replica of the stories and meals shared at tables 10 feet away.
Proximity cannot compare with intimacy. We can fill a crowded restaurant, church or bar, and still be very much alone. Alone without God and alone without the love of others. The strange thing about loneliness is that it happens in the most crowded of places.

An Inconvenient Truth

Our faith community that meets in Tampa Palms has been looking at the New Testament book of Philippians. We have been discussing it for the past month will conclude our time in Philippians on Saturday the 21st.

Even though I continue to learn new things in our time of biblical reflection. I have been still wrestling with the text we looked at a couple of weeks ago. It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that responding to God's shaping word sometimes takes more than a week. These are the words that I am still mediating on:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:3-4

One of the questions we often ask during our time focusing on Scripture is: how is God asking us to respond to the passage? And I remember that week trying to take other people's interest more into consideration. So I started with our family of faith

The whole week I was more prayerful about our community, I thought about calling and checking in with a couple of guys in our group. And I found my actions fell short, my good thoughts never fully translated to generous actions. I confessed my shortcomings and of course people where gracious. The following week I put my personal convenience aside for the interest of a neighbor. I didn’t do anything noteworthy, just what would have been the neighborly thing to do in decades past, which seems new and radical in an apartment complex where the only thing people share, is a parking lot.

And even in my modest living out of Philippians 2:3-4 I found it to be inconvenient. Taking others into consideration is inconvenient. It is easy to identify the interest of others as just speed bumps and distractions for my own pursuits for me pursing my interests.
Could it be possible that putting other’s peoples interests ahead of my own actually furthers the interests of God. That by putting aside my agenda and investing in others I am being obedient to God, I am following the Great commandment of Jesus to Love your neighbor as yourself.

So for the last month I continue modestly flesh out the Philippians passage in my life. Slowly realizing opportunities where I can surpass embrace the inconvenience by putting my interests and preferences aside for others. Even though I now wrestle with these inconveniences I look forward to a time when I boldly live out Philippians 2. Where I am more in tune with God’s heart not just for a few but God’s love for the whole word. I pray to become more like Jesus whom for our interests gave his life.

A"To Do" List that's Done!

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like my "To Do" list is endless! As soon as I cross something off, there's two or three more tasks to add. There's never time to bask in the satisfaction of knowing I'm done as there's constantly more and more "To Do".

Heaven, however, is a place with no "To Do" list. No homework. No "I really should...". Nothing hanging over your head that's not finished. In Heaven, the task is complete, the race is run.

In this life, it feels like the mad dash is never over. Oh sure, there are moments of rest. Glimpses of glory. Small stirrings of satisfaction as another item is checked off. But it's never complete--the road still beckons, we have not yet arrived, our travels are far from over.

But in Heaven, they will be. The rest--and the satisfaction--will be complete. And when we finally hear our Daddy utter those words, "Well done my good and faithful servant" we'll know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the journey, and the race has all been worth it.

Do you see what this means--all those pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running--and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed--that exhilarating finish in and with God--he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

Hebrews 12:1-3
The Message

Garlic Smashed Potatoes

We had a great Seed Group on Saturday night in Tampa Palms. We started the book of Philippians and feasted on the Word of God and some home-cooked barbecue chicken, mashed potatoes and creamed corn. This seems like a great place to post our "favorite recipes" so that they're accessible to anyone who wants them. These were definitely delicious!

As Justice says--
"MMMM...nummy papas!"

Garlic Smashed Potatoes

• 7 lb. small red potatoes
• 7 garlic cloves pressed/minced (or you can just use the already minced garlic)
  
• 5 Tbsp. olive oil
• Salt to taste
  
• Dash of pepper
• 1 cup water
• 1 8 oz. package of light cream cheese with chives, softened (you could add a bit more if you wanted to
• 2/3-1 cup of whole milk

Wash, then halve or quarter potatoes to make even sizes. Place potatoes in a 6 quart slow cooker. Add garlic, oil, salt and water and mix to coat. Cover crockpot and cook on high for 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 hours until potatoes are tender. Mash potatoes roughly with a potato masher (or a fork). It might be easier to put them in a larger bowl to do this, then transfer them back to the slow cooker. Stir in cream cheese until blended, then add enough milk for desired consistency. You can serve this right away, or cover and hold it in the slow cooker up to 2 hours on low.

To reheat, simply microwave and add a bit of milk.

ENJOY!

8 Months in Short

It's been a long time since we last wrote. Here's a breakdown of where we've been at...

December...

• Christmas Eve we invited anyone who wanted to join us to attend a nearby church's Christmas Eve pageant and service. We hosted a dessert reception at our home afterwards.
• Our Tampa Palms Seed Group changed nights for the month of December, from Saturdays to Thursdays. We wanted to see if this change would allow others to attend who had other obligations on the weekend. After a month of trying this on for size, we decided to keep meeting on Saturday evenings.
• We prayed and prayed that we would be allowed to introduce someone to Christ before the end of 2007--and at our final meeting of the year, on December 26, 2007, the Lord answered our prayer!

January...

• We went "home" to Jersey and shared a wonderful time of fellowship with family and old friends.
• We traveled to San Antonio, Texas, for the RCA's "ONE THING" conference. It was a really sweet time of rest and renewal as we were poured into by dear friends from seminary and challenged by amazing speakers. We got back to Tampa ready to "hit the ground running"!
• We arrived home from San Antonio to a flooded apartment. 400 gallons of water came down through our ceiling (in our absence) and the majority of our material possessions were ruined. We were thankful to have renter's insurance, but had to stay temporarily in a hotel and then sort through mildewed things and decide which to move and which to trash.

February...

• We moved into a "new" apartment one hallway over from our old one. We had a lot of work to do with moving/sorting/working with the insurance company, etc. The flood really wiped us out for almost an entire month.
• We began the process of making our home ready to host people again. The second week after the flood, we again had church in our home, albeit there was almost no furniture! For a month we held worship in an empty place; people were really gracious, and we were able to use the large "space" for some interesting fellowship activities--we even had a paper airplane fight one night!

March...

• Life finally returned to normal. Steve continued to meet with USF students, alternating between a weekly discussion of the Bible and a "walk out your faith" in which students were challenged to live out what they were studying. They handed out candy to strangers, dined "On Top of the Palms" to experience upper room fellowship and prayed for each other.
• Easter! We hosted our first "Celebration" on Easter Sunday. FRC, a sister church on the other side of Tampa, was kind enough to host us for a combined service. It was a wonderful time of sharing together what God has been doing in our midst.

April...

• Our second baptism! Dr. Sergei Paromchick was baptized in Tarpon Springs in the Gulf of Mexico on April 19. Sergei became a Christian while joining the "family" of the Tampa Palms Seed Group, and God is already starting to do cool things through him!