I feel like I'm playing wheel of fortune sometimes. I see a good portion of a bigger word and know that there is more to be revealed and keep guessing at what it might be. I don't think that i must figure it out to lead though. I think that just knowing its part of a bigger work of god and helping others see their own calling within the broader frame of gods action in the world adds worth and drive to his children. It also creates partnership and community as we realize that what seemed like a lot of different missions all kinda work together for a single purpose. His kingdom. We are all parts of a single body. We serve different functions and have diverse gifts but are all under his control and working on parts of his masterpiece.
In my own recent experience I have been overwhelmed by overlaps and dreams of the people around me. I feel like they are all singing melodies of the same song and yet it still seems spotty and incomplete.
I think the first thing that happens for a leader is that there own ‘dreams’ need to be redreamed. I remember having all kinds of ideas about how my life might look and what I might do. I honestly don’t even remember them anymore. I have new dreams that I know have come from God. They have grown over time and are continuing to grow.
The beginning of new dreams began with hard lessons. I moved to the city with aspirations of knowing and being used by God. I was mugged and learned about nonviolence, I was stolen from and God broke my materialism, I became broke and learned simplicity. I learned lessons as I walked with mama, and James, and the other James, and Magic, and Fred, and Bill, and Alan, and all my friends who live on these streets, some in houses and many are literally on these streets. They have been my teachers and friends. These are the folks Jesus spent his time with when he walked the earth and they have been for me, His real presence with me. So I fell more and more in love with the Jesus that was kinda dirty and was very different from me, the Jesus that kinda stunk and never had a place to call his own. The Jesus of the bible who was always with the prostitutes. The jesus who was black. The Jesus who didn’t speak english very well. The Jesus who was tired and sickly and has what I think is vomit residue on his handme down clothes. The Jesus that honestly offends most Christians. I love Jesus and I have shaped my life to spend more and more time with him. He has become my dream. My life has honestly become about seeing His kingdom come to our house and street and city. So then what does that produce? well I lead a team that operates two meals for the community each week. My house runs a homechurch right near robles park where I live. My community has a monthly dinner and open mic with the homeless community that we call the conscious party. I live in intentional community that is trying to be the church and see His kingdom come as best we know how. We have committed ourselves to loving God, each other, the land he has given us, and especially the poor. We operate as a house of hospitality for the poor in our neighborhood. Our home has an open door policy where anyone can come over and use our shower, washer, tv, couch, kitchen, food, etc, as long as one of us its there of course. It is a house of hospitality for the poor in our community. These are all just pieces of this dream and the dream keeps growing. Over time, and by way of commitment to the poor we began to think a lot about ecology and food in particular. Justice, power, and the use and consumption of the earths resources. We grew more and more concerned with things like gardens, recycling, and running the a/c because as our vision expands we see more and more of this picture that God is unravelling before us.
Then there are heroes that begin to teach and influence your dreams.Our heros are bonhoeffer who layed down his life standing on behalf of the jewish people in nazi Germany, Dorothy day who shared all she had with the poor throughout the great depression and the early days of the catholic worker. Oscar Romero who was killed because he stood between government and gorilla forces pronouncing Gods heart for the poor and calling for peace and justice in El Salvador. I could go on forever like this because the church of Jesus has always been marked by action on behalf of the poor and oppressed, generosity that mocks the idea of financial security, and walks in the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, the same spirit that he said had anointed him to preach good news to the poor, recovery of sight for the blind, freedom for prisoners, and to proclaim the year of the lords favor. These lives broaden our understanding of what God might do, our place in the history and lineage of His body, and model what true discipleship looks like. They breathe life and possibility into our dreams.
My experience as a leader in this community has felt more like riding a wave. Like I said before I am just picking up on the activity of God among us. He is the author and perfecter of the faith among us but or some reason I seem to have my finger on the pulse around me. So it is true that we help shape and place the dreams within our community in the context of each other, our city and time, and Gods work in the world around us. It isn’t so much that I am a visionary or even a weaver but that God is putting pieces in place and I am merely describing what I see in such a way that those involved better understand and become more committed to their part in this work. Together we strive for and cry out for His kingdom to come. We have but one dream which is the dream that has come from our head, Jesus. We are a diverse body that is being moved by him and as a leader I think i am just blessed with the privilege of seeing the work of god through a broader lens.
'no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.'
In my own recent experience I have been overwhelmed by overlaps and dreams of the people around me. I feel like they are all singing melodies of the same song and yet it still seems spotty and incomplete.
I think the first thing that happens for a leader is that there own ‘dreams’ need to be redreamed. I remember having all kinds of ideas about how my life might look and what I might do. I honestly don’t even remember them anymore. I have new dreams that I know have come from God. They have grown over time and are continuing to grow.
The beginning of new dreams began with hard lessons. I moved to the city with aspirations of knowing and being used by God. I was mugged and learned about nonviolence, I was stolen from and God broke my materialism, I became broke and learned simplicity. I learned lessons as I walked with mama, and James, and the other James, and Magic, and Fred, and Bill, and Alan, and all my friends who live on these streets, some in houses and many are literally on these streets. They have been my teachers and friends. These are the folks Jesus spent his time with when he walked the earth and they have been for me, His real presence with me. So I fell more and more in love with the Jesus that was kinda dirty and was very different from me, the Jesus that kinda stunk and never had a place to call his own. The Jesus of the bible who was always with the prostitutes. The jesus who was black. The Jesus who didn’t speak english very well. The Jesus who was tired and sickly and has what I think is vomit residue on his handme down clothes. The Jesus that honestly offends most Christians. I love Jesus and I have shaped my life to spend more and more time with him. He has become my dream. My life has honestly become about seeing His kingdom come to our house and street and city. So then what does that produce? well I lead a team that operates two meals for the community each week. My house runs a homechurch right near robles park where I live. My community has a monthly dinner and open mic with the homeless community that we call the conscious party. I live in intentional community that is trying to be the church and see His kingdom come as best we know how. We have committed ourselves to loving God, each other, the land he has given us, and especially the poor. We operate as a house of hospitality for the poor in our neighborhood. Our home has an open door policy where anyone can come over and use our shower, washer, tv, couch, kitchen, food, etc, as long as one of us its there of course. It is a house of hospitality for the poor in our community. These are all just pieces of this dream and the dream keeps growing. Over time, and by way of commitment to the poor we began to think a lot about ecology and food in particular. Justice, power, and the use and consumption of the earths resources. We grew more and more concerned with things like gardens, recycling, and running the a/c because as our vision expands we see more and more of this picture that God is unravelling before us.
Then there are heroes that begin to teach and influence your dreams.Our heros are bonhoeffer who layed down his life standing on behalf of the jewish people in nazi Germany, Dorothy day who shared all she had with the poor throughout the great depression and the early days of the catholic worker. Oscar Romero who was killed because he stood between government and gorilla forces pronouncing Gods heart for the poor and calling for peace and justice in El Salvador. I could go on forever like this because the church of Jesus has always been marked by action on behalf of the poor and oppressed, generosity that mocks the idea of financial security, and walks in the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, the same spirit that he said had anointed him to preach good news to the poor, recovery of sight for the blind, freedom for prisoners, and to proclaim the year of the lords favor. These lives broaden our understanding of what God might do, our place in the history and lineage of His body, and model what true discipleship looks like. They breathe life and possibility into our dreams.
My experience as a leader in this community has felt more like riding a wave. Like I said before I am just picking up on the activity of God among us. He is the author and perfecter of the faith among us but or some reason I seem to have my finger on the pulse around me. So it is true that we help shape and place the dreams within our community in the context of each other, our city and time, and Gods work in the world around us. It isn’t so much that I am a visionary or even a weaver but that God is putting pieces in place and I am merely describing what I see in such a way that those involved better understand and become more committed to their part in this work. Together we strive for and cry out for His kingdom to come. We have but one dream which is the dream that has come from our head, Jesus. We are a diverse body that is being moved by him and as a leader I think i am just blessed with the privilege of seeing the work of god through a broader lens.
'no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.'
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