we are not called to hate

"We are only asked to love, to offer hope to the many hopeless. We don't get to choose all the endings, but we are asked to play the rescuers. We won't solve all mysteries and our hearts will certainly break in such a vulnerable life, but it is the best way. We were made to be lovers bold in broken places, pouring ourselves out again and again until we're called home." - jamie tworkowski

If we say we love God yet hate a brother or sister, we are liars. For if we do not love a fellow believer, whom we have seen, we cannot love God, whom we have not seen. And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love one another. - 1 john 4:20-21

Jesus doesn't call us to be haters, killers, violent savages, and exploiters...the question is then, why are we doing it?

we say that we love everyone like Christ does, but...

we treat someone struggling with homosexuality as if they aren't human, not allowing them into the church, and treating them much differently from other "straight" people. The same goes for someone who is a prostitute, porn star, or sex worker.

we shy away when someone is chronically disabled (wheelchair bound, autism, retardation, cebral palsy, etc.), we think that it's because of a particular sin of their parents or themselves, because they have not been "healed."

we find out a pastor or church leader is struggling with sin, and we push him/her away, saying they are supposed to be held to a "higher standard", when no one within the church or otherwise helped them stay accountable for thier actions, or even considered the fact that they are human and will have sin nature as well. (I'm convinced the reason that Ted Haggard struggled for 3 years is because he did not have a stategic plan of accountability, and he did not feel comfortable sharing his stuggles with his contemporaries and/or family)

we tell someone who is not a follower of Christ that they are worthless and that we need to "fix them" because they are going to suffer in hell, when in reality it comes off as a really cocky, "we're better than you" mentality.

we claim the reason for not helping the poor and oppressed is because it is "their fault" that they are that way.

we put ourselves in boxes, staying away from the "world", thinking they are "unsavable" or that "they will come to us."

To me it's shocking, because I know that in the Bible:

God used a known prostitute to save the Israelites (Josh 2:1)

Jesus did not condemn a woman caught in adultery (John 8:11)

God used physical suffering without earthly resolve for his Glory (2 Corinthians 12, Job)

Paul admitted that he was actively struggling with sin, but still preached agianst it and acknowledged it's wrong (Romans 7-8)

Jesus never rebuked or expressed hatred toward anyone during his life and ministry, and died for everyone and everything. His love is true love( Romans 5:8; 1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

Jesus proclaims that we will always have the poor with us (John 12:8) and that we should care for the poor no matter what (Luke 14:13).

Jesus teaches that we cannot love just the people we are comfortable with, we have to get our hands dirty and go to them (Matthew 5:45-47)


I find myself struggling with these issues all the time, if not daily. It hurts to know that i am such a selfish person, and i am trying to die to myself and live souly for God, the problem is that in our 20th century Americanized Christianity, we have stripped the teachings of Jesus of thier raw essence, and tweaked them to support our own selfish ideas and philosophies. One of the best quotes i ever heard about the reality of the gospel is buy a very learned man named John Perkins "We cannot change people and then expect to love them. Our love for them must change thier lives."

That is a maxim that i am desperately trying to live my life by. Growing with almost the exact opposite mindset doesn't help me, but it's a process i am trying to work through. death brings life. weakness is strength, and unity is faith.

peace and love,
jeremy

brotherly love?

brotherly love
Current mood: confused

tonight i was taken back by a spiritual experience I'v never felt before. Tonight we had a party for my brother Nathan's graduation from Multnomah. The party went good, and I was enjoying the company. and then it happened.

My parents I guess peparped a DVD video chronicling my brothers life from birth until now. It was nice and i was looking back at all our memories as kids together. What was i was not expecting was what came next...

The song "the line between the two" was playing by Mark Harris in the video, and listening to the lyrics and watching the film, I started to tear up.

Now, it's not those "I'm gonna try and cry to make it look all emotional". These were real authentic tears, deep from within my heart, i was weeping inside, and i honestly don't know why. I've only ever experienced tears like this once before in my life, and that was when my grandparents passed away, and one other instance in life which would be to long to write about here. I'm not one to cry very much. I'm just not wired that way emotionally. I write, I think, I conceive, I ponder. Music is my form of expression! But for some reason, these tears came, and they came naturally and authentically. It was raw, real, and devout. This was true, and it was beautiful.

was it out of love for my family? Was God finally working on my heart and seeing that my relationship with my brother was not the best? I don't know. All I know is that i felt the Spirit of God upon me at that moment. Was it convicting? Sure. But I'd rather know what it all meant. It's a deep theological struggle within to find why this happened and what it means... it's a big question mark in my mind right now.

is it supposed to be this way

is it supposed to be this way?


my first year at multnomah is over...and, i feel really weird. to be 100% honest, while most people are counting down the days until they will be home and away from school, i honestly don't want to go home!

that's right...you heard correctly...i don't want to go home.


why? well, i'm 21 and have found a real sense of individuality here at Multnomah, and am beginning that psychological stage where I leave my parents' grip, so to speak. and there are reasons i don't really want to go home...

is Multnomah the reason? Sort of. There have been profs. at multnomah who have really challenged me and encouraged me to think outside the "box" of Evangelicism and have really pushed me to thing about things and question them. A lot of my friends have done that too (you all know who you are, and i'm greatful for each of you!)

is it home? sadly, yes...i've grown up with two or three best friends my whole life. It's always been that way for some reason. Well, my best friend since elementary school is going to be away at his families vacation house for the summer in Michigan (He also goes to school there), and then there are other friends who have moved on with thier lives. Friends that i haven't seen in a long time, and friends that aren't going down the right path. Honestly, what is left...few. very few.
more notably, being on a secluded island in a city of less than 50K and practically NOTHING to do...it leaves me lifeless...waisting time, and not being productive.

on top of that, I'm planning to do summer ministry for ministry credit at home either with my church or with a local christian school in my town. i'm not sure which i'm going to do yet, to be honest, the only reason I'm really doing it is to get the required ministry credit. i honestly don't feel the desire to do it convictingly. Hence, i'm not so sure it will be really fulfilling at may "sound." am i being a fake christian who's not really seeing the right side of things, i don't know?

in reality,
i feel like i'm leaving a home. i love portland. i love multnomah. and i love all you wonderful people.

i feel like i'm in this broken state that cannot be fixed, because i'm not so sure what's broken, yet.

honestly, looking at life right now, i see a big question mark ?


i don't know what i'm doing, or am going to do. when i leave here for 3 months, it will be a strange time, and when i get back, i'll be back to a place i know is "real"....i don't know. am i supposed to feel this way...is it supposed to feel like i'm losing a close friend?

this is who i am

My life story

This is my life story, about who I am, where I came from, and what I am about. Let us not waste any time. I was born April 29th, 1986 in Portland, Oregon. I was born 22 ½ weeks pre-mature, weighing only 1lb. 6 oz. I couldn’t breathe on my own, was on a ventilator, and my eyes were fused shut. If I could post pictures of it I certainly would, and I may do so later on, but right now I don’t have any baby pictures with me. I was miniscule, tiny, petite, and didn’t seem to have hope of surviving. The doctors handed me into my mother’s arms saying, “we will let you hold him when he dies.” her response was a stern rejection, proclaiming that if God wants to take me, he will do so, but as long as my body is on this earth, everything shall be done within human power to save my life!
At that, the doctors went to it. I was hooked up to a crap load of machines that would now probably look like an old Atari game system. I had tubes coming out of my body, I.V.’s everywhere. It was like a scene from a scary movie sort of…or maybe like something from E.R. or House. After two weeks my eyes opened and I was introduced to the world. I was in the hospital for a total of 8 months from the day I was born. My parents often got calls in the middle of the night from the day I was born saying that I wasn’t going to make it through the night. They spent countless hours at my bedside praying for God’s healing power and protection. And then I was finally able to go home…for some time. I was soon back in the hospital time after time with pneumonia in my lungs…calls would come in from the hospital, saying I was on my death bed…still, prayers lifted up from friends and family around the country. They came from everywhere from Hawaii to Indiana to New York. Never once did my parents and grandparents lose faith in God. Jesus was their rock.
While I was home, I was put on 24 hour ventilation monitoring (In case I accidentally stopped breathing) and had a gigantic baby monitor that was on 24/7. Then it seemed to die down a bit…for the next two years, I spent days in physical therapy trying to get my tiny body to function and develop as normally as possible…it was determined that I had a neuromuscular condition that to this day is unknown in it‘s origin (for the most part, it appears to be Muscular Dystrophy.) If you see me around campus walking kind of limp, or slow, it’s because my body tires out a lot faster than you’re average male. Because of this problem I was not at all athletic in my school years. It was most notably these situations that spawned my love for art, music, poetry, reading, and writing!
In 1992 my parents felt called to adopt children from the ravaged orphanages in Romania. Tens upon thousands of Gypsy babies were cram packed in orphanages and being left for dead…my parents went and, long story short, came back with two 9 month old twin girls, whom we named Ruth (after my grandmother) and Joy (I’m not sure to this day why that name came about). It turns out, that the girls were diagnosed with mild to severe autism.
Now, let’s just say that the State of Hawaii DOE isn’t exactly what it should be (if you Google “Hawaii public school problems”, you’ll see what I mean.) I was the kid who was teased, harassed, picked- on, and degraded; and I had no friends. I had a serious lack of community with friends. I remember in 4th grade the entire class called me gay! I was psychologically destroyed, conditioned to believe I was worthless, ugly, un-attractive, and stupid. I would come to school in the morning and the kids would say (pretty much everyday) “why did you have to come to school today, you’re so stupid, you should just say home!” Ouch! That was a scar size extra large! Depression and anxiety were embedded deep within me!
When I finally got out of public school, I found true friends…well, I had 1. It was there, when I was 12 that I met my best friend Ian Grotenhuis. Now, I’m the kind of guy who grew up having only two or 3 best friends my whole life, and that’s it. I was never a popular kid. I still was teased and taunted, picked on for being “different.” But I knew Ian was there. We shared laughs and memories and to this day we can recall almost anything that happened over those few years. I went through a lot in private school. And then high school reared its ugly head at me. I was 16 going on 17 and only a high school freshman. There were some ups and downs…rivalries, disownments, mistakes that I watched my friends make, that I disapproved of, but they didn’t seem to care about my opinion… after my freshman year, sophomore year didn’t prove to be any better. I went through a serious bout of depression and was involved with cutting. Friends turned their backs and totally stabbed me in the back and I was scarred by the leadership (some of them teachers) who thought they were better than everyone else. The events that year was what made me decide to leave school and attend community college.
It was in the summer of 2004 that my life was changed forever…I was on my way with my 7 best friends to SpringHill Camps in Michigan to be a part of their high school program called TST (Teen Service Team). My world was changed upside down by God’s grace. TST teams are divided into teams of 30 teens that do work around the camp all the way from maintenance to accommodations work to construction…it’s a student work service program…high schoolers would come for 2 weeks at a time and be placed on a team of 25 teens (co-ed), with 5 counselors. I was pumped and super excited that God was gonna rock out! For months prior to the trip I had been praying that God would use me in amazing ways on this trip. But things ended up changing…when we arrived at the camp (which is a total of 810 acre’s with nearly 800 staff members and about 2000 campers enrolled each week, from 1st grade through High School!) we figured out that I was some how put on a separate team away from ALL of my friends. We were originally supposed to be together, but apparently God had other plans. I was put on a separate team because of my health conditions. Being the socially anxious, shy person that I was, I freaked! I literally probably felt the worse I’ve ever felt in my life that day! I was a wreck! I figured, “This is not what I paid for, and this is not going to help me!” I thought I was bound for failure…but God had other plans…the first few days were rough, but after the first week; I realized that I was really having the best time of my life!!! God rocked out like crazy! I met the nicest, most sincere friends I have ever met in my entire life, whom I still keep in contact with to this day! God broke my heart, and allowed me to see what He can do in any situations if I only trust Him…My team leader, Krista, became one of my heroes in life, because she wanted so bad for me to feel welcomed, loved, accepted, and a part of the team. She knew I had problems, and was SOULY committed to helping overcome my fears!!! And she did! She went out of here way to make me feel accepted, and the other people did too!!! I remember when a girl named Courtney talked to me constantly about Hawaii (and I’ll be honest, that was a big hit with everyone “he’s from Hawaii, he’s so COOL!!!”) and about life…she really tried hard to crack my shell, and she did! By the last night of campfires, I shared with everyone how God had shown me how to succeed on my own and how I am loved by Him. Tears rolled down my face as I expressed how much I had fallen in love with SpringHill! That final day was probably one of the hardest days of my life!
It is by God’s provision that I’ve gone back to work at SpringHill Camps for the past two summers as Summer Staff and I am planning to go back their again and work with them full time. This past summer I was blessed enough to see Krista walk down the aisle and get married! SpringHill is why I’m majoring in youth ministry! I’ve never experienced community anywhere else like I have at SpringHill. No offense guys, but I’ll even go as far to say that SpringHill focuses on community stronger than Multnomah does! (Now, that’s a bold statement!) Although I’m sure it depends on one’s own experience. Multnomah is still were I want to be and it is probably the most loving, community focused school I have ever been at.
Today, I still am wrestling with a lot of personal issues in my life that will take years to overcome, but God has been faithful. I have been immensely blessed and will continue to seek God wherever His truth manifests itself. This is my life story! God is love.

simple heart

this past sunday i went to visit my portland church's Jr. High Ministry. It was really cool, but God rocked out in a really insane way...imago dei community has been my church home for the past 2 months and i absolutely love it! the junior high ministry wasn't anything out the box then what i expected. What I loved about it is that the kids were allowed to totally have their own opinions and were not "corrected" by the person teaching. there were no "sunday school 'Jesus', 'Bible' " answers here. It was raw, heartfelt love. the way christ did it! I was sitting in the back of the room observing the ministry, and one of the girls (probably just started the 6th grade, about 11 or 12 years old) came up to me and politely introduced herself. "Hi, what's your name?" she asked in a sweet cheerful way with a smiling gleaming off her rounded small face. "I'm Jeremy" I said kindly, trying not to sound too enthusiastic.."Hi, I'm Olivia, she said" with a cheerful smile. The kids get doughnuts every sunday (that may be why they're popular, you never know) provided by the church staff. The next thing I know, she reaches out and hands me a donut, still with that same sweet smile on her face. I politely thank her and sent a smile her way as well. She then proceeded to offer me a seat next to her in the circle of chairs sitting around the room. I accepted, and took a seat. The lesson for the day was on original sin, and I could not believe how smart these kids were, and how authentic the leaders were with the kids. this wasn't a "let's get biblical" thing, this was geniune love. the leaders proclaimed with great sincerity "there is no wrong answer here. that is what being a Christian is, asking questions and figuring things out." I was taken back so deeply by the response. NEVER in my life have I seen a ministry leader say such a thing. Most of the time all i've seen are leaders teaching and cramming the kids heads full of information that would probably render useless in the future. Sure, communal connection was made, but as far as how truthfully authentic the teaching was, it was more of "give me the answer i just gave you." the real kicker her was not that. it was Olivia. She shared a story of how she'd been unfaithful to her parents while they were away and such, i don't really remember what it was, but nevertheless, i could tell her heart was authentically in love with God. She said she wanted to do what was right and knew what was right! After the lesson ended, the kids went into the service for the last 10 minutes or so of it. imago dei has communion every sunday, and they want the kids to have an opportunity to take communion as well (which I think is fantastic!). During the worship, which was simultaneous with communion, as I stood their among the service, i glanced down for a second, to a sight that blew my mind! There was Olivia, by herself (she wasn't sitting particularly close to anyone in the row of chairs), with her hands raised in Worship to God. It was real, it was authentic, it was sincere, and melted my heart! Never in my life have I seen such a young child be open and true about his/her faith! NEVER! I almost started crying, and tears welled up in my eyes. Olivia had a heart, a simple heart, but a heart to know Jesus more. A heart that God had been brewing, that God is growing, and that the spirit is using. Unfortunately I didn't look to see if Olivia went and took communion, but i would not be surprised if she did, for I know she knows who Jesus is and why that table is there for us. I'll never forget that sunday. it was almost like a dream come true. Never in my life have i seen community done in this fashion before. Never have I seen so many devoted Christ-followers who are all in one place for one reason and because of one person. It's jesus' simple heart that breaks down these barriers we've set for others and draws us closer.

cheers,
jeremy

is rescue really possible?

CLCK ON THIS IMAGE TO GO THE "TO WRITE LOVE ON HER ARMS" WEB SITE


by Jamie Tworkowski

Pedro the Lion is loud in the speakers, and the city waits just outside our open windows. She sits and sings, legs crossed in the passenger seat, her pretty voice hiding in the volume. Music is a safe place and Pedro is her favorite. It hits me that she won't see this skyline for several weeks, and we will be without her. I lean forward, knowing this will be written, and I ask what she'd say if her story had an audience. She smiles. "Tell them to look up. Tell them to remember the stars."

I would rather write her a song, because songs don't wait to resolve, and because songs mean so much to her. Stories wait for endings, but songs are brave things bold enough to sing when all they know is darkness. These words, like most words, will be written next to midnight, between hurricane and harbor, as both claim to save her.

Renee is 19. When I meet her, cocaine is fresh in her system. She hasn't slept in 36 hours and she won't for another 24. It is a familiar blur of coke, pot, pills and alcohol. She has agreed to meet us, to listen and to let us pray. We ask Renee to come with us, to leave this broken night. She says she'll go to rehab tomorrow, but she isn't ready now. It is too great a change. We pray and say goodbye and it is hard to leave without her.

She has known such great pain; haunted dreams as a child, the near-constant presence of evil ever since. She has felt the touch of awful naked men, battled depression and addiction, and attempted suicide. Her arms remember razor blades, fifty scars that speak of self-inflicted wounds. Six hours after I meet her, she is feeling trapped, two groups of "friends" offering opposite ideas. Everyone is asleep. The sun is rising. She drinks long from a bottle of liquor, takes a razor blade from the table and locks herself in the bathroom. She cuts herself, using the blade to write "FUCK UP" large across her left forearm.

The nurse at the treatment center finds the wound several hours later. The center has no detox, names her too great a risk, and does not accept her. For the next five days, she is ours to love. We become her hospital and the possibility of healing fills our living room with life. It is unspoken and there are only a few of us, but we will be her church, the body of Christ coming alive to meet her needs, to write love on her arms.

She is full of contrast, more alive and closer to death than anyone I've known, like a Johnny Cash song or some theatre star. She owns attitude and humor beyond her 19 years, and when she tells me her story, she is humble and quiet and kind, shaped by the pain of a hundred lifetimes. I sit privileged but breaking as she shares. Her life has been so dark yet there is some soft hope in her words, and on consecutive evenings, I watch the prettiest girls in the room tell her that she's beautiful. I think it's God reminding her.

I've never walked this road, but I decide that if we're going to run a five-day rehab, it is going to be the coolest in the country. It is going to be rock and roll. We start with the basics; lots of fun, too much Starbucks and way too many cigarettes.

Thursday night she is in the balcony for Band Marino, Orlando's finest. They are indie-folk-fabulous, a movement disguised as a circus. She loves them and she smiles when I point out the A&R man from Atlantic Europe, in town from London just to catch this show.

She is in good seats when the Magic beat the Sonics the next night, screaming like a lifelong fan with every Dwight Howard dunk. On the way home, we stop for more coffee and books, Blue Like Jazz and (Anne Lamott's) traveling Mercies.

On Saturday, the Taste of Chaos tour is in town and I'm not even sure we can get in, but doors do open and minutes after parking, we are on stage for Thrice, one of her favorite bands. She stands ten feet from the drummer, smiling constantly. It is a bright moment there in the music, as light and rain collide above the stage. It feels like healing. It is certainly hope.

Sunday night is church and many gather after the service to pray for Renee, this her last night before entering rehab. Some are strangers but all are friends tonight. The prayers move from broken to bold, all encouraging. We're talking to God but I think as much, we're talking to her, telling her she's loved, saying she does not go alone. One among us knows her best. Ryan sits in the corner strumming an acoustic guitar, singing songs she's inspired.

After church our house fills with friends, there for a few more moments before goodbye. Everyone has some gift for her, some note or hug or piece of encouragement. She pulls me aside and tells me she would like to give me something. I smile surprised, wondering what it could be. We walk through the crowded living room, to the garage and her stuff.

She hands me her last razor blade, tells me it is the one she used to cut her arm and her last lines of cocaine five nights before. She's had it with her ever since, shares that tonight will be the hardest night and she shouldn't have it. I hold it carefully, thank her and know instantly that this moment, this gift, will stay with me. It hits me to wonder if this great feeling is what Christ knows when we surrender our broken hearts, when we trade death for life.

As we arrive at the treatment center, she finishes: "The stars are always there but we miss them in the dirt and clouds. We miss them in the storms. Tell them to remember hope. We have hope."

I have watched life come back to her, and it has been a privilege. When our time with her began, someone suggested shifts but that is the language of business. Love is something better. I have been challenged and changed, reminded that love is that simple answer to so many of our hardest questions. Don Miller says we're called to hold our hands against the wounds of a broken world, to stop the bleeding. I agree so greatly.

We often ask God to show up. We pray prayers of rescue. Perhaps God would ask us to be that rescue, to be His body, to move for things that matter. He is not invisible when we come alive. I might be simple but more and more, I believe God works in love, speaks in love, is revealed in our love. I have seen that this week and honestly, it has been simple: Take a broken girl, treat her like a famous princess, give her the best seats in the house. Buy her coffee and cigarettes for the coming down, books and bathroom things for the days ahead. Tell her something true when all she's known are lies. Tell her God loves her. Tell her about forgiveness, the possibility of freedom, tell her she was made to dance in white dresses. All these things are true.

We are only asked to love, to offer hope to the many hopeless. We don't get to choose all the endings, but we are asked to play the rescuers. We won't solve all mysteries and our hearts will certainly break in such a vulnerable life, but it is the best way. We were made to be lovers bold in broken places, pouring ourselves out again and again until we're called home.

I have learned so much in one week with one brave girl. She is alive now, in the patience and safety of rehab, covered in marks of madness but choosing to believe that God makes things new, that He meant hope and healing in the stars. She would ask you to remember.


It's a fact of life: Depression hurts. but it doesn't have to be that way. I think of the years I struggled with depression and have watched my friends go through it, rendering me speechless. how do you love someone who won't love back, who is searching for love in the wrong places, and who is broken beyond belief. Renee was one of those people. Jamie was the Jesus Renee saw. through a enormous act of love, she is in the arms of Jesus because of it. When are we gonna get a clue that America's young people are suffering and that the media is feeding nothing but a bunched of fucked up lies! It's no secret we live in a fucked up society (and I use these words with utmost discretion. I think it's an appropriate time.) where sex is currency and nothing matters. Can we change that, I'm not so sure yet. It's something i'm personally struggling with. Can we change the world for the better, and are we supposed to or is it God who is in control? Is rescue really possible? I've heard it said that suffering brings God glory, and I believe it, but when someone suffers against God's intentions, then what do we do because we have no way of distinguishing what is of God and what isn't of God. In all rationality, I look at the character of Jesus and I see that He loved under the most mundane of circumstances. He did not condemn. The great Commandment sums it up pretty well (Matthew 22: 37-39) " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." this is just something I'm wrestling with in my current journey.

thoughts...ideas...

love wins

yesterday (October 14th) i had the priveledge of visiting the city of Berkeley California. It's one of those postmodern cities, with a lot of different people. Berkeley is the home of UC Berkeley, a world renowned institution. a lot of college students are around. we were there for thrift shops and used CD stores (because we who doesn't love browsing for vintage stuff). as we step out of the car onto the street, i immediately noted the area. there was a church group on the side of one street singing worship songs and preaching the gospel and passing out tracts. as we walked down the streets were laden with vendors and homeless beggars. a block down was an eastern religious cult of "spiritual yoga" passing out pamphlets. a block further was a group that I'm not quite so sure what was. i also saw a bunch of people handing out books on Scientology and "Dianetics." we had a good time walking around and searching for stuff. it was a great day, but i just couldn't get my mind off of that Christian group. after a while it hit me. that church group was doing nothing different from any of the other religious groups on that street. if a non-Christ follower was bombarded with numerous facts about several religious faiths, what do you think will happen. chances are, they're gonna look at it as religious propaganda and not read any of it. now, remember the gospel is in all this religious clutter, and it doesn't get read either. more than likely people are going to be turned off by such presentations of religion rather than turned toward it. while i commend that church group's heart for the gospel and for witness and evangelism, i don't think it was very effective at all, because it was no different than any of the other religious groups. the key word here is "different." Christ calls us a His followers to be different than this world. i shall ask, what would it look like if we took on a different approach to the gospel. if we understood that people need love more than anything. if we went to them, on their turf, in their gutter, to meet their needs. what if all we did was love them. sure, we let people know that were Christ followers but we don't force them to believe it, but we just live out a Holy example of Christ's love to them. the other key word here is LOVE. love wins. you see, that church group on the street was trying to scar people into accepting the gospel because "the wrath of God will judge them", but i think they missed the point. the point of the gospel isn't to scar people into salvation. how often did Jesus condemn people for sinning? NEVER! what did he do? He loved! Even on the cross, as he suffered, he loved. Not only did he love, but he forgave sins. often times i think we look at the world with a boastful "thank God i'm not like them" attitude, when according to the Bible, the sin of partiality is no worse than the sin of homosexuality. we need to love this world, not condemn it. God is the final judge, not us. we need to converse, to immerse, and to saturate this world with the love of Christ. love wins.

emergent

millions around the United States and the world are discovering a refreshment to what was known as the "jesus movement" of the 1970s and hence gave birth to modern "evangelicalism." the emergent church, originated in the mind of author and Pastor Brian D. McLaren, is sweeping the nation, for people who just don't feel connected to the church anymore. this movement mainly consists of youngling college age students (while McLaren himself is 50 years old). why? here's the deal. would you agree that our western culture is shifting and moving rapidly? in 2002, the term "blog" did not exist in american vocabulary. Now, everyone knows what a blog is, right? This cultural and philosophical shift is what we refer to as Post-Modernism. What's that? Post-Modernism is the response to the philosophy of monderism? well, what's that? modernism is basically a human philosophy shaped by the elements of modern culture. look at it this way, throughout history Christians have had to deal with new situations in the church. it happen in the 17th century, with a guy named Martin Luther. the church had to re-emerge from what it had become. the Roman Catholic church had changed it's position on theology and Christ's diety and atonement. Luther recognized that problem, and hence wrote his 95 Thesis (95 consecutive reasons why the 17th century Roman church was incorrect in it's theology). is culture not emerging today? Absolutely! And Christians have to deal with the issues faced into today's relevant cultural landscape. If you say the word "Christian" in today's society, what happens? Stereotypes? Christians are: anti-gay, pro-war, republican, anti-poor, hateful, uncompassionate. and what was Jesus? He loved gays, despised wars (but predicted that some are inevitable), was NOT a political figure, loved everyone, and was the most compassionate historical figure to ever walk this earth. what's better to say, to tell a gay person "you're gay, and you need to turn from your sins" or to say "you are forgiven, Jesus loves You, and so do we" ? this essence of the emergent movement is this idea the culture is constantly "emerging" and that we must respond to it in a way that is relevant and active. we must share the love of Christ with everyone, at whatever means or cost it takes. you see, Jesus loved us so much that he died for us. he died for people he didn't know, that rejected him (remember the theif on the cross?), for people that hated him. He loved them so much. what did he say "Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing." Nevertheless, the church is emerging and we need to embrace cultural differences. what are your thoughts. this is not just my blog. this is for anyone who has thoughts, ideas, feelings. SPILL!

a breif introduction

this is the story of my life. who i am, what i'm going through. where i've been, where i'm at. what's on my mind. unpublished works of my poetry, songs, writings. this is who i am. this is my way to breathe out my fresh ideas. Granted, Multnomah is a great way to do that, too! I want to point out a few things. first, the colour scheme. why white on green? two reasons, 1) they are two of my favorite colors and 2) I'm not sure if anyone remembers the old child evangelism method known as the "wordless book", it's a book of colors that supposed to give the gospel message to younglings. Well, white stands for our souls and hearts after we accept Jesus, white as snow. pure. forgiven. clean. eternally saved. green: that's about our life as Christ followers, as we "grow" in descipleship of Christ. Secondly, what will be addressed on this blog? ANYTHING. Nearly anything that comes not just to my mind, but your mind's as well. Have a question for me? Disagree? Let me know, and I'll post a response on here! This is not a personal "journal", this is a converstation with the world around me, as i seek to find out more of this journey God has put us on. So, breathe!

In Christ Alone,
Jeremy