Bloom Church

The Underground may not be so unique after all. God seems to have house church networks that look very similar in distant places like Denver, CO as well. Awesome. I like their concept. "Gardens of Resurrection" are sprouting up and blooming more than we might expect. Traditional-style churches may not win out after all.

http://bloomchurchdenver.com/#/home

The Single Story

How to create a single story- show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become.

It is impossible to talk about the single story without talking about power (the ability to not just tell the story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person)

Palestinian poet writes, "if you want to dispossess a people, the simplest way to do it is to tell their story and to start with secondly." Start with the arrows of the Native Americans and not with the arrival of the British. And you have an entirely different story. Start the story with the failure of the African state and not with the colonial creation of the African state, and you have an entirely different story.

All of these stories make me who I am, but to insist on only these negative stories is to flatten my experience, and to overlook the many other stories that formed me.

The single story creates stereotypes. And the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete; they make one story become the only story.

Engage with all stories, not just the negative ones.

The consequence of the single story is this: it robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar.

Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity.

A Reflection

I was sitting in one of my roommate's rooms today, talking about our days and a potential new roommate we are both excited to have move in soon. In the midst of the discussion I brought up how I came to live in the house and how welcomed I felt by her. My roommate then said something rather touching to me. It was something like this: "I always wanted you to move in. Do you ever choose people? Like when you first meet someone and you are trying to feel them out. Well, I chose you." It was such a casual conversation but for some reason this response really struck me. I felt so..... touched. I really can't describe it any other way.

I have regrettably fallen out of the habit of self-contemplation and reflection, but tonight I wanted to dig a little deeper and perhaps uncover why this comment hit me so powerfully. I believe it stems from the similarity between what she said and what God says to us in his Word.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last.

Sometimes I forget that simple truth. In my head I might think, "I chose to follow Jesus in college" or "I am not doing a very good job being a disciple right now," but this Scripture demonstrates a security we can feel, knowing that it is really Jesus who has chosen us and sent us out. He hasn't left us to be unpicked players in a game of soccer or flag football. I'm pretty sure we have all experienced the anxiety of standing amidst our fellow classmates (most of whom are more athletic or popular than ourselves) and worry about whether or not we will be picked last. The worst blow to ego a middle schooler could imagine, right? And it has undoubtedly happened once or twice. We don't get picked. We are last. We are shamed.

Maybe some part of me still feels a sense of insecurity or inadequacy among peers. I was never the popular, outgoing, social butterfly growing up. And who could be, considering my upbringing by two very misguided and negligent parents? I have seen the hand of God work miracles in this area of my life, however. Although I am still very much introverted, God really blessed me with great friends in college who brought out the more confident and social side of me. Many of these same friends are still part of my life now.

It's an amazing feeling to be wanted and to be sought out by someone. To be chosen is almost like being told, "You are so special to me." How I felt today in response to what my roommate said to me almost in passing is actually something we should feel each time we meditate on the beautiful truth that God chose us (even before we were ever born!). The Enemy can attack people in a number of ways. One way he attacks me is by feeding me lies about my true worth and value, not only in the eyes of God but in the eyes of other people. When I take the bait I become a more suspicious, critical and self-loathing person. And these kinds of lies used to bombard me a lot. They still do today, but fortunately I am better equipped to fight the lies with the Truth. I can better recognize the attacks, the condemning voices and the trap to reel me back in. And tonight Jesus has lovingly, gently, and quite artfully spoken those tender assurances again to my heart through the voice of a friend. He is still equipping me and building me up just when I need it. And even when I think I don't.

For this reason, and for so many more, I love Him dearly.