ourspace Part One: Good Relationships are Necessary

Ok, let's start the experiment.

On Sunday we are having our first PREVIEW SERVICE. For all intents and purposes, this is a REAL church service. Not fake. Not a practice.

All the messages that I am preparing are all titled "OURSPACE" - a play on the myspace.com thing...the online community. Basically all that we will talk about in the next weeks or months is COMMUNITY (i.e. ourspace). This is ourspace - expand your network.

The first message is about RELATIONSHIPS. Specifically, that good relationships are necessary to build Community. That may seem basic and elementary, but you and I both know that it's not as easy as it sounds.

Here's the journey through the text... see if you can follow my line of thinking (I'm not yet fully prepared for the message)... when you're done reading, please leave a comment, a question, a suggestion, a frustration... a response. What does this mean to you?

Mark 12:28-29 Says:

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is
the most important?" "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

Jesus quoted the "Shema" (a jewish prayer). The Shema is found in Duet. 6:4-7 (part of the Torah). In Jesus day (and for centuries before and after) the jewish people quoted the Shema regularly, maybe even several times per day.

Here's some notes about the Shema:

• Meant a renewal of your relationship with God
• A celebration of Gods promise of Grace
• Acknowledgment of allegiance to God alone
• A whole-hearted acceptance of life IN God… Again, and again and again... quoted regularly

When Jesus was asked the question (in the above verse) by another teacher of the law - he was asking Jesus what his interpretation of the Torah (the first five books of the bible) was. He was asking Jesus to give the bottom line about living the faith.

His answer (found in the scripture above) puts emphasis on 3 relationships... I highlighted it in RED

1. A relationship with US and God (love the Lord...)
2. A relationship with US and others (Love your neighbor...)
3. A relationship with US and US (...as yourself)

Jesus is telling us that the GREATEST thing we can do in life is to LOVE in those relationships listed above.

Let me summarize love: "Doing the best thing possible for that person". Love is an action.

• Us and God - doing the best thing possible in our relationship with God
• Us and Others - doing the best thing possible in our relationship with others
• Us and Us - doing the best thing possible in our relationship with ourselves.

In Luke 10:25-37 Jesus expounds on "who is our neighbor"... I will re-tell this story in a modern setting so that we "get" the shock of the story like the original listeners where jolted when Jesus originally told the story.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE THE CHURCH? HERE? NOW? TODAY? How does this scripture speak to these questions?

• What is the bible all about?
• Who is a Christian? What’s a Christian supposed to DO?
• How do you summarize Axis?
• What’s the big picture for our lives?
• What's ourspace (our community) supposed to be about?

The answer is found in the scripture I quoted above. The answer is to do the best thing possible for God, for Others, and for ourselves... the answer is LOVE.

I suggest that all the problems in the whole world are relationship problems. Everything can be traced back to a problem in one of those 3 relationships (God, others, self).

The answer to the problems is Love.

We are either part of the problem or part of the solution. Axis will be part of the solution.

That's the basic idea... there are details and examples that I want to throw in, but that's it.

Please give your thoughts, opinions, illustrations, share your story.

Need help responding?

How about this... WHAT SHOULD LOOKING AT A SCRIPTURE LIKE THIS MEAN TO A NON-CHRISTIAN? WHAT WOULD YOU PULL OUT OF A VERSE LIKE THIS (the Mark 12 verse quoted at the beginning) AND TELL AN UN-CHURCHED PERSON?

WHAT SHOULD IT MEAN TO A NOMINAL CHRISTIAN?

WHAT SHOULD A SOLD-OUT BELIEVER DO WITH A VERSE LIKE THAT?

AN EXPERIMENT IN CONTRIBUTION

This is an experiment... first let me set the premise for the experiment, then I'll explain what I want to try.

THE PREMISE:
For Centuries reading the bible alone was practically unheard of. Ancient peoples only heard the scriptures read aloud in groups of people. Sometimes there was only one copy of the bible (or portion of the bible) in an entire village/town. It was unheard of to study the scriptures in isolation.

Because of the oral nature of the scriptures, the ancient/near east mindset saw themselves as part of a discussion that has gone on for thousands of years. Community, community, community. TOGETHER wrestling and searching and engaging the scriptures as a people hungry to know God in order to follow God.

The printing press changed everything.

Now, pastors study the bible alone, stand on stage and deliver the message alone, then they received e-mails and phone calls from individuals who agree or don't agree.

THE EXPERIMENT:
I want to provide places (this is just one place) that people can contribute to the conversation about the scriptures. Someone once said. "God has spoken, the rest is conversation".

1. Right here on this site I will post general thoughts and ideas about messages that I'd like to present during our sunday gatherings. I will include the scriptures. Ideally, I'll tell you what each Sunday's topic is 6 weeks in advance.

2. YOU will come here and read my posts... then you will comment on them.

2a. YOU have many, many options. you may give your opinion about the topic or scripture. You may make a suggestion to me. You may tell me that you don't agree. You may tell me that something I said frustrates you. You may tell me that you've been convicted and moved to change something in your life. You may tell me about a past experience with the topic... (i.e. ANGER - you can tell us how God has helped you deal with your anger).

3. I will read all the comments and choose a comment or two to present at the gathering where WE will present the topic you've commented on.

3a. I will ASK YOU for permission first. So, be sure to leave your name (and contact info if I don't already have it)

3b. I prefer to have YOU present your story, point of view, disagrement, or inspiration at the Gathering... I will probably have you WRITE DOWN exactly what you want to say and READ it at the Gathering... or maybe we'll video tape you and SHOW you at the Gathering.

4. Poems, artwork, sculptures... what creative ways can you come up with to help us connect with the text? These things can enhance our gatherings.

Is it clear as mud?

Even if you're not part of Axis - would you just let me know what you think of the basic idea?

question? e-mail me at info@axiscommunitychurch.com

---Joe Green