outside is better

I once was lost, but now I'm found...

Today has been a day of lost things. This morning I realized my "church keys", a separate key ring with only church keys, had gone missing. I knew I had them in the building when I began the day. Before lunch they had gone M.I.A and I was tearing up my office and pacing down the halls trying to find them. I gave up and just hoped they would turn up.

I spent the afternoon doing some reading and preparing for Sunday. At St. Paul's we are in the middle of a pre-Easter sermon series on Grace. This weeks passage is Luke 15:11-32, the famous story of the Prodigal Son. The very last verse in the passage is this;

We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”

I never saw the irony in my quest for my keys in all this. As I was getting out of my truck and heading into Starbucks I saw a metallic glint on the floorboards of the back seat. I don't know how my keys got there, but I found them.

I still didn't get it.

After an hour of studying I received a phone call from the cleaners. I had just dropped off a few suits to be cleaned. The attendant informed me she found a small yellow book in the inside pocket of one of the jackets. My eyes immediately gleamed!

You see I carry a small Field Notes notebook in my back pocket. I use it to record prayer requests and prayers. I lost a yellow notebook in December. I tore the house and closet apart trying to find it.

At that moment I got it.

I realized throughout my day of study that lostness matters. It doesn't matter because of the practical side of it. I had replacement keys and quite the stash of notebooks. But those were MY keys and MY notebook. I was attached to them. I had used them in the everyday beauty of life and I had lost them. It didn't make sense when they disappeared. I searched and searched because it drove me crazy I lost something I valued.

They both appeared in random places...within an hour of each other. In the midst of praying and preparing in a story about being lost and found. My keys and torn up notebook became a means of grace.

Friends-We matter because we belong to God. Yes, He has others, but they aren't US. You and I are uniquely important to the creator of this world. When we are reconciled back to him, through the life and work of Jesus Christ, great rejoicing happens.

Saturdays in Scripture: Walking Steadily with God

These last few months I have been using The Message for my 90 day reading cycle. I have a theological crush on Eugene Peterson, so I figured it was time to give the paraphrase a chance. Some folks knock The Message. It has worked very well for me. I want to share with you just one of the great little joys I have found.

Genesis 5 is one of the family tree (or begat) passages. Most folks quickly skip over these. They tend to get boring and unless you really understand what is going on, they appear to be almost useless. I will save my thoughts on their necessity for a later post...

Genesis 5:24 is a great little nugget.

We really don't hear much else about Enoch. The best understanding really comes from Hebrews 11:5-6 (NLT)

Heb. 11:5  It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—“he disappeared, because God took him.” For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God. 11:6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

While there is some pretty awesome linguistic and literary parallels going on in Gen 5 (7th son line...compared to 7th son of Cain, you know..cool bible geek stuff), the lesson here really is about faith.

Enoch had it.

He had TONS of it. He walked steadily.

When you understand death comes as a curse and consequence of sin and the fact the writer told us Enoch DIDN'T die, something has to be said.

What type of life do we have for God to take us away from death? The whole thing is pretty dramatic. So in the middle of a huge list of people's names, children and age at death, the writer of the Genesis tells us about a man whose faith is so great God simply took him.

Sandwiched between the story of the Fall into Sin, Cain and Abel and the story about the world going completely too crazy town with Noah being the last man standing...we hear about a guy who walked steadily with God.

We don't get much information because I imagine there wasn't that much to say. Enoch was so focused and faithful God is what shone through...and not him.

Friends-we need to be walking steadily.

Saturdays in Scripture: The benefits of the long read..or what you didn't learn in VBS about Daniel!

I love having the time on Saturday to do a long read of scripture. Picking a book and reading it all the way through, jotting down a few notes and perhaps chasing down a rabbit trail. It is amazing how much clarity a confusing piece of scripture might have when it is read as part of the whole book.

This month I am doing a pretty deep study of Daniel. Today I wanted to read Daniel again and try to get a grip on the timeline. Daniel jumps all over the place and I wanted to get in for myself and sketch out the chronology.

Daniel is a real booger.

Even conservative scholars are comfortable dating it outside of the time most classicists place for the Old Testament (sometime around 200BC..smack in the middle of those 400 years between the Old and New Testament). They have interesting arguments, but my reading today wasn't focusing on that. Most people know I am fascinated with the apocalyptic. Daniel is the best Old Testament representation of the genre. It has fantastic stories set inside the context of a group of people struggling to maintain their distinction as the people of God. Plus it has really crazy stuff!

So in just 1 hour or so of reading I came up for breath. I had read the book through and taken a few notes. I will say I accomplished my goal but also found a bit of serendipitous information. Once placed inside the chronological framework of Daniel, this tidbit was even more interesting. We are all familiar with Daniel and his mad skills of dream interpreting. That makes up the bulk of chapters 2-6. We got all that down in VBS as kids. The new little bit I came across today was how Daniel himself had to get some help interpreting dreams/visions he had!! In chapters 7 one of his servants assists him. In chapters 8 and 9 Gabriel, an angel, tells him and comforts him.

What makes this even more interesting is if we place these chapters in their proper chronological order. Chapter 7 and 8 are dreams daniel had during Belshazzar's reign. Chapter 5 gives us the great story we are all familar with regarding the writing on the wall. Reading these dreams and then reading chapter 5 is real interesting.

Chapters 6 and 9 can go hand in hand. They both identify pretty early on during the reign of Darius (9 uses the term 'in the first year') so it is hard to exactly time them out. I chose to read 9->6.

We think of Daniel as this sort of superman, with creepy powers to interpret anything. I remember a Sunday School drawing of him in which he looked like a combo of Ironman and Captain America! But now we see Daniel himself could get frightened and needed help. But no matter, he always relied on God. The power of the Spirit kept him strong when he was in situations that could easily get him killed. Daniel was a type of the ideal Christian leader in a world that would love to kill him. Daniel was a person to be emulated not because of his great strength, but on how he depended, leaned and looked to God for everything.

Oddly enough, this reading is probably the most accurate anyway!

Todays reading was great. I wasn't expecting anything half this serious or good to happen. The frame of mind I was in had me noticing things I might not otherwise. This is the biggest reason I try to get people to read large pieces of scripture fairly often. Write in your Bible. You might not know when a note you made 2 years before could jump start an amazing time of personal study.

Saturdays in Scripture: Brian Eno, Revelation 21 and Soundtracking the Apocalypse

A few weeks back a good friend of mine retweeted this tweet and attached me to it.

 

Read Revelation 21 while playing Brian Eno's "The Big Ship."You're welcome.

— Evangelical Hipster (@evnglcalhipster) July 22, 2012

I was thankful. While it might have been done in jest, I think it was almost totally on the money. The song provides a wonderful soundtrack to reading Revelation 21. It makes reading such a beautiful chapter a multisensory experience.

So take a few minutes today and try this out. I felt it fit really well.

 

Revelation 21 (The Message)

I saw Heaven and earth new-created. Gone the first Heaven, gone the first earth, gone the sea.

² I saw Holy Jerusalem, new-created, descending resplendent out of Heaven, as ready for God as a bride for her husband.

^3-5 I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They’re his people, he’s their God. He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone.” The Enthroned continued, “Look! I’m making everything new. Write it all down—each word dependable and accurate.”

^6-8 Then he said, “It’s happened. I’m A to Z. I’m the Beginning, I’m the Conclusion. From Water-of-Life Well I give freely to the thirsty. Conquerors inherit all this. I’ll be God to them, they’ll be sons and daughters to me. But for the rest—the feckless and faithless, degenerates and murderers, sex peddlers and sorcerers, idolaters and all liars—for them it’s Lake Fire and Brimstone. Second death!”

^9-12 One of the Seven Angels who had carried the bowls filled with the seven final disasters spoke to me: “Come here. I’ll show you the Bride, the Wife of the Lamb.” He took me away in the Spirit to an enormous, high mountain and showed me Holy Jerusalem descending out of Heaven from God, resplendent in the bright glory of God.

^12-14 The City shimmered like a precious gem, light-filled, pulsing light. She had a wall majestic and high with twelve gates. At each gate stood an Angel, and on the gates were inscribed the names of the Twelve Tribes of the sons of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, three gates on the west. The wall was set on twelve foundations, the names of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb inscribed on them.

^15-21 The Angel speaking with me had a gold measuring stick to measure the City, its gates, and its wall. The City was laid out in a perfect square. He measured the City with the measuring stick: twelve thousand stadia, its length, width, and height all equal. Using the standard measure, the Angel measured the thickness of its wall: 144 cubits. The wall was jasper, the color of Glory, and the City was pure gold, translucent as glass. The foundations of the City walls were garnished with every precious gem imaginable: the first foundation jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate a single pearl.

^21-27 The main street of the City was pure gold, translucent as glass. But there was no sign of a Temple, for the Lord God—the Sovereign-Strong—and the Lamb are the Temple. The City doesn’t need sun or moon for light. God’s Glory is its light, the Lamb its lamp! The nations will walk in its light and earth’s kings bring in their splendor. Its gates will never be shut by day, and there won’t be any night. They’ll bring the glory and honor of the nations into the City. Nothing dirty or defiled will get into the City, and no one who defiles or deceives. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will get in.

Saturdays in Scripture: Tears in Heaven

As a pastor, I have to always have a sermon in my pocket. I have only needed to pull it out 2 or 3 times in my ministry, but it helps to have a few passages of scripture you are always thinking about and can easily share with other folks through a sermon.

My favorite passage for this is Revelation 7:9-17. Over the years I have found it to be a rich passage for prayer and meditation as well as serving as a great place for a sermon.

Revelation 7:9-17

New Living Translation (NLT)

⁹ After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ And they were shouting with a great roar,

“Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne
    and from the Lamb!”

¹¹ And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living beings. And they fell before the throne with their faces to the ground and worshiped God. ¹² They sang,

“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
    and thanksgiving and honor
and power and strength belong to our God
    forever and ever! Amen.”

¹³ Then one of the twenty-four elders asked me, “Who are these who are clothed in white? Where did they come from?”

¹⁴ And I said to him, “Sir, you are the one who knows.”

Then he said to me, “These are the ones who died in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white.

¹⁵ “That is why they stand in front of God’s throne
    and serve him day and night in his Temple.
And he who sits on the throne
    will give them shelter.
¹⁶ They will never again be hungry or thirsty;
    they will never be scorched by the heat of the sun.
¹⁷ For the Lamb on the throne
    will be their Shepherd.
He will lead them to springs of life-giving water.
    And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

In multiple places in the scriptures we find the image of God wiping tears away.  It pops up in Revelation in a few places, one of them being 7:17 "...And God will wipe every tear from their eyes."

The more I dig into Revelation, the more I find myself reading the Old Testament and sharpening up my Hebrew skills.  The image bank of 1st century Judaism, especially in a post Temple context, provides many primary sources for some of the odder images in Revelation.

What I found was this; two specific words used for "crying" in the OT (there are minor terms as well).  Both are terms we use now, and the first has crept its way into Christian language. 

Weeping is a word and emotion that is often used now to describe deep spiritual expression.  Weeping in the OT comes from ‏בְּכִית, and is usually used as an expression of lament, sorrow, and grief.  There are a few places where it is used to describe joy as well.  This is probably because one of the elements that separates weeping is the physical expression of grief.  "Wailing" could also be used to translate the word. It is also connected to ideas of pleading and distress.  Weeping is normally a negative emotion.

Tears however, are a different emotion.‏דִּמְעָה occurs far less often (usually in either the Psalms or Jeremiah).  Many times it is associated with prayer. and at others as an expression of a lament of inside of thanksgiving in apocryphal texts. In a few places, tears show a finality of suffering.

The Greek text of the NT doesn't have the rich theological sense the Hebrew does, but it still helps us refine our sense of "tears" when it comes to eternity.

Rev. 7:17 because the Lamb in the middle of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Rev. 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more—or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist.” (NET)

The interesting piece is that the italicized phrase in 7:17 is an allusion to Isaiah 25:8

He will swallow up death permanently. The sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from every face, and remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.  Indeed, the LORD has announced it!

In both our passages in Revelation, we see a theme of re-building not just the created order, but putting the earthly social structure back together in an imaginative way.  It is something fulfilling enough to not just be an individual state of bliss, but a view of heaven as an all encompassing reality in which all that is evil is broken apart and goodness is the order of eternity. You can read Isaiah 25 for the full picture of the OT narrative.

In the full scope of the eschaton (the wonderful rebuilding and fulfilling of all of God's promises), with the whole world wrapped up, Christ is still concerned with me and you. He is still concerned with our recognition of how we might have participated in a world that needed remaking, but when we visibily recognize our contributions, all pain and suffering is taken away.

Saturdays in Scripture: Sin, Harshness and Christian Perfection

This summer I led a short Bible study on 1 John. I decided to not teach it as a formal study but instead teach a few strategies to help folks learn to read and study their Bible better. During one of our lessons, my good friend Jeff mentioned how harsh some of the injunctions to not sin seemed to be.

Jeff was right! If anyone was in the wrong mood or spiritual state, these verses could seem to be pretty heavy.

1 John 3:4-10

Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God. ⁵ And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in him. ⁶ Anyone who continues to live in him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is.

⁷ Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. ⁸ But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. ¹⁰ So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.

Part of the design of the class was to teach using larger portions of the Bible to begin study and learn to interpret based on a more holistic approach to reading scripture...ie; do certain observations still have the same validity when we put them as part of the entire book of 1st John?

Knowing 1st John was one of John Wesley's favorite books and he preached a sermon on this passage, I had my class read sermon 19, The Great Privilege of Those That Are Born of God. What we found most helpful was Wesley's idea of "outward" sin, especially the person who has latched themselves to God cannot sin, not out of command but out of operation. If a person has placed themself in the Holy Spirit, outward (willing) sin is not part of the persons life. Wesley's own definition of sin according to this passage was a "willing transgression of a known law of God."

Wesley then gives a pattern from grace to sin, to help people understand the path to willful sin. You can find this in section 2.

You see the unquestionable progress from grace to sin: Thus it goes on, from step to step. (1.) The divine seed of loving, conquering faith, remains in him that is born of God. "He keepeth himself," by the grace of God, and "cannot commit sin." (2.) A temptation arises; whether from the world, the flesh, or the devil, it matters not. (3.) The Spirit of God gives him warning that sin is near, and bids him more abundantly watch unto prayer. (4.) He gives way, in some degree, to the temptation, which now begins to grow pleasing to him. (5.) The Holy Spirit is grieved; his faith is weakened; and his love of God grows cold. (6.) The Spirit reproves him more sharply, and saith, "This is the way; walk thou in it." (7.) He turns away from the painful voice of God, and listens to the pleasing voice of the tempter. (8.) Evil desire begins and spreads in his soul, till faith and love vanish away: He is then capable of committing outward sin, the power of the Lord being departed from him.

In our discussion, we did note the complexity of understanding a "known law of God", and the weight of grey area in our culture.  The call to "not sin" was actually a call to the deep life with Christ that keeps us away from such practices. It is about trusting Jesus! Those who are focusing on and are close to God are kept from sin by the power of the Holy Spirit! 

It was a great discussion and a great time helping folks realize how important our heritage was in sorting out tough issues. The call to Christian Perfection is one we as a people called Methodist should hold close. In so many ways, our forgotten knowledge of this principle should be lamented. What would our lives and the lives of those around us look like if we all banded together and made this the focus of our lives once again?

Saturdays in Scripture: John 3:1-21

John 3:16 is the world's favorite Bible verse. We all know it. We even hold it up at sporting events. For people who grew up in church and did Bible drills, it had to be the first one we memorized. It succinctly states the gospel mission of the Triune God.

Sadly, we often pass over this section of scripture because we think we have it all down. There is nothing new to glean out of it.

I myself have done this before.

Last week, when I took the youth at St. Paul's on our summer mission trip, I accidentally found myself spending two days reading the 3rd chapter of John. Later I realized I was supposed to be reading 1 John 3 (it was at that point the theme of camp made much more sense).

What I did find on my little two day excursion in John 3 was something I have never really paid attention to.

3:14-15 (NLT)
 No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Human One. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so must the Human One be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.

Lifting up snakes...huh? Unless Jesus is some Appalachian hill preacher with a box full of rattlers, this makes us scratch our heads.

What Jesus is referencing comes from Numbers 21:8-9 (NRSV)

And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.

During one of the Israelites notorious streaks of grumbling, God sent snakes among the camp and people were being bit and died. When they repented, Moses was instructed to make a bronze snake and set it on a pole. When anyone was bitten by a snake they could look at the snake on the pole and be healed.

Crazy story.

The interesting part of it is the Hebrew word that gives us the verb "look." A simple word, but rich in meaning. The idea of looking upon God, or gazing at Him implies a sense of awe and worship. It is the gaze in which revelation comes and an awareness of a saving experience. This wasn't just looking at a snake!

A simple action with tremendous results.

It brings new meaning to what Jesus told Nicodemus that night. The son of man must be lifted up for people to look upon. In the simple action tremendous things happen. When people set their eyes upon Jesus no judgment is reckoned against them.

God provides a way to fix the destructive powers of sin. His son has been lifted up among us, high to where we all can see. The simple cure for the death blow of sin is to gaze upon him. To recognize what he has done and to then live into this new life, this freedom.

I was quite surprised and spent the rest of my week thinking about this. The simple call to look at Jesus.

The Benefits of Old Bibles

I like to write in my Bible. Alot. Possibly too much. The reason behind me making a new Bible my "main" Bible often happens because I can no longer read sections of it due to notes and highlighting. I also try to legitimately date my notes so I have an idea of when I am making them.

Every few months I pull down an old Bible. I flip through the pages and see where I had made notes. I can judge, through the emphasis, where I was spiritually at the the time. I remember passages I had read and meditated on. My old Bibles provide an annotated version of my spiritual journey.

I also have a few Bibles which belonged to family members. It is a blessing to pull out one of my Father's old Bibles and read his notes taken during college, or my Grandfather's notes for teaching a Sunday School class.

In this age of digital scriptures, the only thing that concerns me is the loss of the physicality of scripture. Having a favorite Bible, reminiscing over the prayers ensconced within it, strengthens the soul. Each of us have these chicken scratched and day-glo colored memoirs of our faith journey.

As I have said before; write in your Bible and remember the time of spiritual growth noted in each and every mark. At the beginning of a new season, you now have a symbol of the healing grace of Jesus Christ to physically touch, see, smell and feel.

Saturdays in Scripture: Descendents...and understanding the family lists

I am currently teaching a Bible study on 1st John. The first day of class I asked everyone what their favorite and least favorite books of the bible were. Interesting, the least favorite were almost all either Revelation or Old Testament books with long lists of names. When we get confused...we give up. It's a fact of life.

Earlier this month in my daily bible reading I was scheduled to read the first 10 chapters of 1st Chronicles. I quickly realized I would be reading 9 chapters of name lists, family lines and ancient census data. I thought about my friends when this came up.

1st Chronicles is part of a larger biblical history of Israel and how her kings affected her. It used to be one large book, but it was divided up into two (1st and 2nd Chronicles). While Kings and their behavior are the main characters, the tension points revolve around the Temple, priests and how well Israel is worshiping. The book ends with the conquering of Jerusalem and the  later return of some exiles. These last verses in 2 Chronicles (36:22-23) connect us to one of the last lists in 1 Chronicles (9:1-33). Chronicles outlines what happens when sin runs rampant among God's people and their leaders and the consequences. Ezra and Nehemiah give us a final end to the story, with two different descripitions of Jerusalem and the temple being rebuilt.

So back to the lists

Yes, a huge chunk of seemingly boring lists dominates the beginning of 1st Chronicles (chapters 1-9). But the very end of the story informs the beginning. This isn't a history being written in progress, but an intentional retelling of the how the current situation came to be, namely the return from Exile. Starting with the descendents of Adam (1:1) and ending the lists with Saul's family, the writer is making sure the line of Israel is told...but in regards to the exile. The story of God's people is a story of how we relate to Him who saved us.

The verse gives us plenty of interpretive hints in  9:1-2

The people of Judah were exiled to Babylon because they were unfaithful to the Lord. The first of the exiles to return to their property in their former towns were priests, Levites, Temple servants, and other Israelites.

This is an issue of worship. Yes, some bad political decisions were made, but when we read this verse as the beginning of a narrative shift and combine it with the multitude of verses introducing each King in terms of how well they led Israel in worship, a new picture forms.

Worship Matters.

How we as a people relate to God matters. How we decide to honor him matters...are we doing it blindly and without care or do we understand the immensity of worshiping the living God? Our stories connect us because they place us as part of a long line. The beautiful thing is the dramatic inclusion of Jesus Christ. He is our High Priest, the writer and finisher of all things Holy. In Him we are brought into this family of God and are no longer outsiders. Our family list begins and ends with Him!

Hopefully, this gives you an insight into how and why we have those long and hopefully no longer boring lists of families and names.

Peace/Chaos and the Coming Kingdom

I once worked a job where we began all staff meetings with a Peace/Chaos scale. My good friend JD Walt coined the idea and it was very fruitful. Each of shared on a scale of 1-10 how much peace AND chaos we had in our lives. His theory was something called "the shalom zone" in which each individual perfectly balanced the peace and chaos in his or her life. Since we were all in seminary and working a fast paced job, it all made sense.

For me, I've found I need a certain amount of chaos to really perform well. It keeps me motivated and thinking creatively. The unraveling point comes to a disastrous end when I have been getting energy off the chaos side for too long. I think each of us know the feeling.

Over the summer I have been preaching through Matthew 5-7, more commonly known as "The Sermon on the Mount". It has been a fruitful time of both preparation and worship. I've found an interesting thread to the whole sermon I hope to share at a later date. But for now, lets keep thinking about peace and chaos.

The larger section of my passage this week is Matthew 6:19-34. The passage gives several directions to go, but I have chosen to really let two verses segments drive the sermon.

Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? 6:27

 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.  Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. 6:31-33

How do we let anxiety drive our life?

What do our projections of anxiety do to others?

When I reflect on these passages I remember the peace/chaos scale. The abolishment of anxiety is not the focus of these verses, but what we as humans living in relationship with Christ choose to do with anxiety. The call to follow Jesus is an individual one, but the response and ongoing sanctification of the believer brings us into a community linked in worship and mission. In this new community the support systems for a new way of life are found. Anxiety drives us to fuller reliance on God. Life in my friend's "shalom zone" is a current projection of a future eschaological awareness!

To go back to the question regarding projection, what if the way we publically handle our anxiety, through acknowledgement and holiness, becomes the thing helping others to come to Christ? It's not that we have anxiety...but how we handle it.

The words of Paul in Philippians 4:6 close us the best.

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.