I recently had an amazing weekend in Big Bear, a mountain town near Los Angeles. My co-author Mike Peterson and I were there speaking at the winter retreat for North Coast Church's singles group. It was a remarkable group of people.  It was obvious to us that they really cared for each other and it was awesome to be a part of. We spent much of the weekend talking about being the family of God.

Our talks were loosely based on our round-the-world journey chronicled in Four Souls.  Mike discussed how our brothers & sisters in other countries seem to have a much more vibrant faith and love for others than we do. Each of their days -- even the boring ones -- are met with contentment and expectation of God's love and action in their lives and those of others.

What is the difference between there and here, we asked. Do they have better teaching or theology? No. In Russia we heard illuminating sermons on such subjects as what colors women were allowed to wear while picking mushrooms. Was it better music? No. In some places they invited us to sing and actually liked it... which shows you how bad their own music must have been. Was it better buildings? Certainly not. It was an old dormitory building in Siberia, a bamboo-walled structure in Bangladesh, a tent in Lesotho -- not much compared to even the church on the corner here.

The most striking difference was that they seemed to truly see each other as family. They always did what they could to meet each other's needs in the same way they would for their own blood-family. In Russia when we needed a place to stay, a family didn't just open up their guestroom -- they moved completely out of the house to give us a place to stay. And that on only a few hours notice. It wasn't just because we were Americans. We had the impression they would do that for anyone in The Family.

How can we really change our communities? By loving each other. That's what Jesus was talking about when he said, "My mother and brothers are the ones who hear and do God's Word. Obedience is thicker than blood." (Luke 8:21 from the Message) Deep down, we all need the love of The Family. And that's what we need to offer to others.... it's what Jesus wanted... "Love one another."

It really is too bad that it's so much easier to whine and argue about theology and wi-fi in the sanctuary when such a rich life is available to us in simply loving one another in the name of Jesus. Such small thinking even seems fun at times… or is it just a convenient diversion from the invisible and unshakable truth, promise, and beckoning call of God's reality?  It is hard to think big the way it seems God wants us to think big ("now unto him who is able to do more than we could ask or imagine...") I include myself in this. I get stuck in ruts of such tiny issues compared with the beauty of God's family.

At the end of Lewis' 'Screwtape Letters', there is an essay titled, 'Screwtape Proposes a Toast'. Here's an excerpt I quoted in my talk at the retreat:

…it would be vain to deny that the human souls on whose anguish we have been feasting tonight were of pretty poor quality. Not all the most skilful cookery of our tormentors could make them better than insipid. [However] consider… the mere quantity. The quality may be wretched; but we never had souls in more abundance.
[Nevertheless] it is a change for the better. The great (and toothsome) sinners are made out of the very same material as those horrible phenomena, the great Saints. The virtual disappearance of such material may mean insipid meals for us. But is it not utter frustration and famine for the Enemy? He did not create the humans - He did not become one of them and die among them by torture - in order to produce….'failed' humans. He wanted to make Saints…things like Himself.

Lewis does a good job of reminding us of what is possible.  Even better is Paul's revelation in Ephesians 2:10, which reads, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

Amazing stuff, and what really caught my attention was the word "workmanship". In the Greek New Testament, this word is "Poiema" which is the root for our English word "poem". It's a crazy thought, isn't it? God creates poems or works of art (in his eyes). But even before they are created, good works are prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. I certainly feel best when doing good works. And the best kind are those that allow us to love others through our actions, don't you agree?  But realizing that the entire process is God's "workmanship" or poetry is a staggering leap. I have to squint to glimpse its beauty.

Life as God's poetry is big-thinking at its very best.  Slippery to grasp in our floundering small-minded internet filtered pseudo-reality, the best of life - both for our own enjoyment and for the glory of God comes from meeting our neighbor's needs (not wants).  In his preface to The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis writes about big thinking and small thinking, the "either-or" of "good" and "evil": "We are … living in a world where … every road, after a few miles, forks into two, and each of those into two again, and at each fork you must make a decision."  Opening our homes to strangers and friends.  Holding our possessions loosely.  Loving our spouse.  Training and disciplining our minds and bodies to respond to the love of Christ.  It is in these navigational decisions that life begins to grow large and beautiful.

Repetitious non-rhyming dissonance is not the life God has for us. If he's really the creator and he is good, then what is good for him is also good for us.  In God's eyes we may be his Shakespeare Sonnet or the raw words of Frost.  Even a Johnny Cash song may be among us.  Whatever the melody, let's learn to live out our poem heritage and let ourselves live large and love one another.

Trey,

A great article. I have heard from more mathmatically inclined people than myself that there is beauty in math at the higher levels. I enjoy the idea that His control can be so orchestrated that it becomes a thing of art and beauty redardless of what medium.
--Christopher J. Hastings ( chrisjhastings at aol dot com ) on 8/31/2004; 12:11:10 PM

Trey, you hit the nail on the head. Living and loving each other as family is the poetry of God.
--Eric Jardine ( greatjardini at yahoo dot com ) on 5/15/2004; 5:21:43 PM