CityFellowship | Union Square NYC

There’s an interesting article in the Times this week about how workplace roles mirror our family relationships.  Your boss becomes nagging mother or distant hard to please father…  If you read along the lines of family counseling literature, it’s easy to wonder if we’re doomed to live out our family dysfunctions for the rest of our lives… Maybe.  Learning to love (rather than be controlled by and manipulate) family sets you free to live out healthy relationships in every other part of your life.

Jesus was never guilt tripped by his mother or his brothers, or his followers. Here’s why: Most of us want the approval of our parents…  This is perfectly natural and yet a huge problem… Continue Reading »

We talked about the problem of “faking” on Sunday.  In the Gospel economy faking is the worst thing you can do in the church… When people fake love or fake niceness or fake depth or anything that has to do with God, even though it’s not malicious, it’s the worst thing you can do.  Why?  Because the Gospel tells us we’re sinful, unloving, self-centered, capable of being immoral when it suits our needs (i.e., when it suits our idols see previous posts) , BUT that God’s unlimited power is present to forgive and heal us of these things.  Is there something you don’t care about that you “know” you *should*?  Don’t fake care, but admit and confess you don’t care enough about it, ask God’s forgiveness, articulate why you know you should care, and ask God to forgive you then change you… and He will.  In a world without God’s heart-changing (and world changing) power, you are limited by your abilities…but in a world in which God’s unlimited power is available to good work, you are only limited by how deeply you’re willing to confess, and not fake it. Continue Reading »

Yes, the world is broken; the Bible always argued this was the case.  But it’s being fixed.  And if you can see that at all then you have a lot to be thankful for!  Whether it’s a day of family stuff or hanging out and watching rented DVDs, I pray you’d have a happy thanksgiving!

[About the photo: One of the Macy's Parade floats being inflated Wednesday night]

Ever try to remember how a song goes while another song is playing in the background? It’s maddeningly difficult. Or ever try to remember a telephone number when someone is saying other numbers in earshot (like in that scene in The Pursuit of Happyness)? The Bible tells us there’s a way of the world, and there’s a way of God, and the job of God’s people is to get on and stay on God’s way. The only problem is, like the song that gets lost in one’s head, people constantly forget what God’s way is. One could say all of church history is a story of people forgetting then remembering and then forgetting again the Way of God.

So what is God’s Way? In the world, we want to treat people the way they deserve: if you are good to me, I should be good to you. That is the way of the world. But God’s way, in Christian parlance, is to treat people not as they deserve but as Jesus deserves. In the Old Testament God’s Way was broken into the twin commands of loving God with all one’s heart, mind, strength, along with loving one’s neighbor (not as they deserve to be loved, but) as you love yourself. The Christian is saying the same thing. The only difference is the Christian believes that in the sacrificial life and death of Jesus God made it a logical certainty that He should love us, not for our sake, but for His.

How would you treat a friend who lost his memory and began to fight against you? How would you train or discipline someone if you knew that in the future this would be your dearest friend? You probably wouldn’t treat them the way their immediate behavior deserved… In a similar way, God is asking you to look at everyone through the lens of Jesus. The world sings the song of “judgment” give people what they deserve… God sings the song of grace and redemption.

A couple of weeks ago we talked about “idols.” An idol is something that winds up steering you and making decisions for you. It’s when a good thing becomes elevated in your mind to the point that it begins to make god-like claims on you with the power to send you to heaven or hell… (When you fulfill your idols you feel like you’re in heaven, when you go contrary to your idols, hell). In looking at examples (mostly from insightful case studies from discussions on idols) I noticed that idols generally fall into four categories. Take it for what its worth… What are your idols?

1. The Pleasure Idol. Everyone would rather enjoy something than not, but the pleasure idol is when “fun” or “interest” becomes a controlling force in your life. You feel most alive when you’re experiencing pleasure or having fun in some way. Pleasure idol people often “live” for the weekends, parties, or vacations. Sometimes it manifests in near-addictive behavior toward things like sex, video games, television or movies, serial dramas. On the other hand the pleasure idol person may find themselves quitting things (jobs, relationships, responsibilities) when it stops being “fun” or “interesting.” Continue Reading »

So we’re going to have a prayer meeting this Sunday in place of our regular worship.  There are probably some questions floating around in your head about what to expect…

Q1 - Is there going to be any weirdness?  A: No.  Some of us may be a little goofy at times, but we’re usually not weird.  Praying is the act of speaking to God (whereas things like Bible reading and Bible-based sermons allow God to speak to us).  If you are genuinely talking to God there should be nothing weird about it to you - just the way in charismatic churches or churches from different cultures, the “weird” stuff is only weird to us who are strangers, to them it’s normal, so we shouldn’t judge it.

Q2 - What the heck are we going to pray about for an hour?  “There’s something wrong with the church.  It’s not what it’s supposed to be.  I’m not what I think I’m supposed to be.” If there’s any part of you that feels that way, the answer is Prayer.  Perfect people don’t need to pray because they have nothing to pray about, only sinners need God.  So Jesus says come all ye sinners.  Perfect people need not apply.

Q3 - What if I tend to fall asleep during prayer?  Try to get a good night’s sleep Saturday, and have some coffee and a light breakfast before our 11:11 meeting.  But if you still fall asleep, that means you needed the rest.

Q4 - Do I have to pray outloud?  There will be time for both public and private prayer.  You can pray silently, or pray for all of us by praying outloud.  Sometimes it’s better to pray silently (because you’re less self-conscious that way), and sometimes it’s better to pray aloud (because then other people can share in your prayer) but it’s up to what you think God wants you to do.

Q5 - Can I bring a friend?  Will they be weirded out?  I can’t think of anything more cross-cultural and generational than prayer.  Every culture in every time, even people who don’t believe in God can understand prayer.  So it is a great time to bring a friend.

So Sunday prayer meeting: Come one, come all.  11:11 at the Union Square Loft.

[I was going to do this one as a video blog, but I need a shave and my hair is sticking sideways so I'll write you a transcript instead.]

There’s a part where Jesus says “Love one another as I have loved you” and “by this the world will know that you are my disciples…that you love one another as I have loved you!” The point is that Jesus’ love is a little different from the way we usually do friendships. The way we usually do friendship is we find people who are fun or make us feel good or are “easy to talk to” or good for us in some way. “Friends” are usually people we can lean on or are useful to us on an emotional level…but Jesus has a different concept of friendship. Continue Reading »

We’re having a prayer meeting in two Sundays, November 23rd. We’re not planning anything fancy, just getting together to pray at our regular time Sunday morning, 11:11. Here’s why I think this is so important: Our church is an experiment. Every church is an experiment of sorts, but I think this is true of our church especially. We wanted to know what would happen if (as much as possible) we got rid of everything unnecessary and focused our attention on the things that really matter: loving God, loving people, His Word… What can happen if people live purely by faith?

I’ll tell you what happens: Great ideas that start with faith get sidetracked. Our sin, pride, and personal ambition get in the way of God’s plans for us. We become focused and fixated on the things of this world (that we know are less-important) and lose focus on God’s presence, His character, His mercy, His Gospel. We go on for ages apart for the sweetness and power of knowing His presence. And what’s worse, we go on in a low spiritual state, completely satisfied with ourselves…

This is us. What we need to do is humble ourselves, admit what’s wrong, and repent. God can’t resist when people humble themselves, confess their sin and turn to Him. Martin Luther said “All of life is repentance.” This is the one thing we need to get good at doing. And this is why the prayer meeting is so important. Not that one meeting will change your life, but I pray at the very least it will put a God-shaped dent in your soul…and mine. Let’s connect with God, live by faith, learn to hear His voice together. So I look forward to seeing you this Sunday - but I’m asking you to make an extra special effort to come and pray with us on the 23rd.

What a great week it’s been for our country! Not only did we get the chance to elect a supremely capable and qualified president but we were able to renew the idea of America as a country built on ideas and (dare I say) hope rather than fear, and race, class-ism and political maneuvering. It reminds us that this country is worth fighting for, not just the people of the country and its security, but the very idea of America is worth fighting for. But before we go forward we need to assess our role in America. I mean “our” role as in the role of people like us, believers who hold to a higher authority, an even greater government with God as king. Continue Reading »

Life is not like in the movies. Cops don’t pick off DNA from dust particles off sneakers to solve a crime, and two people don’t fall in love through the typical well worn story lines (although I’m partial to Jane Austen inspired romantic comedies). The difference with real life is that it can be more boring to watch (if you’re watching someone else’s life) but it’s more fun to live out (characters in movies are miserable most of the time, and only happy at the ending - fun to watch, but I wouldn’t want to live that way). So here are five things single people often don’t do - but should - in finding a mate. Continue Reading »