Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Summer Shootings

Dear Friends please pray for our block tonight. There was a shooting a bit earlier around 9 and an innocent boy was hit. None of us were home and all of the neighbors we know well are fine as well but it is a sad thing when people are afraid for their children to play on a summer night.

It is also sad that we could feel this coming, the other night talking with one of our neighbors we remarked that it felt like something like this was bound to happen soon. That should not be the case! Pray that as it gets warmer people would be filled with peace from the Holy Spirit and that Beekman Ave would not see another shooting this summer. Pray for wisdom for parents and us as we decide when and where to play outside with the kids. Also please pray for the boy and his family, we're unsure of his status right now. Most importantly pray for those who would use guns to solve their issues that the bullets would be stopped in mid-air and that they'd find peaceful solutions to disagreements.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Your Kingdom Come?

Hi Friends,

It has certainly been a while and we have so much to update you one, including our Easter celebrations! Keep an eye out for that post, hopefully the lovely Sara Frazier will be writing it;) This weekend I got a chance to take a group from the NYU Navs back to my parents house in PA which was great. It was a warm and sunny weekend and a great time to relax and fellowship.

I was filled with such joy the whole time which carried over into our church service at Trinity Grace last night. There is usually some sort of call and response liturgy at the end of the sermon and last nights was a little unusual. It was combination baptist gospel/old time episcopalian liturgy. We basically shouted back our response as a reminder to ourselves of Jesus' call to action at the end of the sermon on the mount. Sara and I were both so excited afterward that we really couldn't contain it. Which got me to thinking about the Kingdom of God.

We say that we are trying to bring the Kingdom of God to earth, to the here and now to live as though we are under God's rule and not the worlds. This we say is the way to draw people to a relationship with Jesus, by inviting them to live in the Kingdom. But what kind of Kingdom are we preaching? We walk around plagued by worry and fear, we let the insignificant things bring us down and we are constantly battling to stay above the rising tide of issues being thrown at us. We are cynical and pessimistic and rarely filled with joy or excitement, we even tend to think that those who do constantly have a bright smile on their face are faking it.

Friends, this is not what the kingdom of Jesus Christ the living God looks like! I'm pretty sure when we are reunited with Him face to face, standing in His glory in heaven, we will be so overcome that we'll just turn to the brother or sister next to us and scream. Have you ever watched one of the those America's Funniest Home videos where a kid gets exactly what they wanted for Christmas and they just flip? Like they scream at the top of their lungs for so long that they can't breathe? We look at those and laugh, thinking "oh children, they've got nothing to worry about and get so excited over the small things. How cute."

WE HAVE GOTTEN EXACTLY WHAT WE'VE ALWAYS WANTED. JESUS CHRIST DEFEATED DEATH AND ROSE AGAIN SO THAT WE COULD HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE GOD WHO CREATED OUR EVERY FIBER AND THOUGHT
Now pause, think about that for 5 seconds and scream, I don't care where you are or what you're doing. It'll be good for you, trust me. If someone asks you why you're so excited/crazy, tell them. Invite them into this kingdom where instead of worry and stress the streets resound with singing and dancing and celebrating, all commanded by God. Why is it that the commandments of God we choose not to follow are those telling us not to fear or be anxious? We're willing to do everything else but we still want to live with fear and anxiety? That's crazy. Let's give it up right now, together and display ourselves as a people so redeemed that they have complete freedom to be joyful and celebrate the glorious work of our God!