a glowing ember

from spark to flame

fanning the spark of grace

that ignites lives

to a blazing flame in Christ

a great Gospel goal – the mighty missional mission

breathed into life by the very Majesty of God

heated directly by the Message of the Gospel

fueled by the Movement of Grace in lives

meaning for our being always there 

just waiting fore these to be placed together

with the spark inside and fanned to flame

in a life, a family, a community, this world

commitments made

Christ above all, pointing not there we need it not

next, the Calling of us together and each one  

and finally together to our Community as one

strategies laid

Simple for sanity’s sake, focusing on the above alone

Sustain any effort of its own without force or waste

Spread, by lives, by families, by communities

indicators displayed

the Image of Christ magnified to a blazing focus of worship

the Influence of our lives guiding others in His Way

the Intensity of our passion breath to life by His Will 

Utilitarianistic Obliquities

Used, only to be used up,

Exhausting the exhausted, 

The lack of the lacking, spent-

left alone to be lonelier, still.

Shall we deviate by division, 

Turning by degrees oft hence

Squarely against for the right 

To intersect as violently opposed.

Safer to obfuscate in terms

Radical measures calculated

to be not referenced or seen

Used for their purpose then gone.

Momentary thoughts passing

Into another frame lightly

Bringing revolt without dissent

As the line is imperceptibly bent.

Speak plainly as you must & will

knowing that in rememberence

Testaments require sacrifice 

To be seen only in remainders.

Such is true of truth embodied

Except lines are finally erased

Replacing the struggle of direction

With the way of life, ad infinitum.

broken sys / re

Transactional interactions,

disparate actors desperately acting

for self affection by false attraction

per prompted petty promotion

and deignfully designed deceit.

One master, me.

One movement, more.

One monument, mine.
All else outside to its benefit.
Taken oh so beneficently.

Billions of mouths to feed

So many souls in need

Each one trying to lead

No one willing to bleed-

Save for a Saviour, divine seed.

Crushing demands released

in gracious giving without end,

as we could never believe.

So He came to interecede,

truth made to live for all to see.

Given so the taken are regained

Set adrift so the lost may be found

Torn apart to unite the separated-

In Christ, the hope of all unbound &

the Glory of God forever renowned.

In My Own Crushing Grip

I want to lose control.

Not just of my life,

but also of my soul,

I'm tired of the strife.

Striving to maintain,

this grip on the whole,

is driving me insane,

I want to lose control.

As pride hits a lull,

clarity crystallizes clearly,

I want to lose control, 

especially what I hold so dearly.

I want to lose control,

like my need to do alone,

as if divinity I could cajole.

by a heartless driven groan.

Then it can grow more,

than my hands can hold.

Lovelier than before,

when it was so controlled.

This life of mine, not really so,

I still want to lose control.

I'm still learning how to let go,

from this place which I stole.

See, no victory can console,

the truth I already know.

I am not really in control,

I just like to convince myself so.

So when I'm done with my game,

and given the dice a final roll,

maybe I'll move past my shame, 

and know Christ is really in control.

Scalar Semantics - Pragmatically Speaking Life

Regardless the sophistication of the broader societal context or the depth of individual acculturation, the fundamental problem of the human condition persists despite all personal and corporate attempts to overcome the corrupt and malevolent base of humanity's form.

Putrefaction cannot be obfuscated, it will out beyond any attempt to blind the sense otherwise.  Mortality combines with scarcity into violence and brutality- even if veiled in the subtlest of institutionalized forms commanding compliance, no matter how civilized the culture.

This is mankind's nakedness clothed as we will, in tails or togas.  We are insatiable, except as we are promised to be fed.  Wild beasts made pets to our desires- subjects of objects, referents without reverence, trapped to mundanity, kneeling in profanity for a paltry some of meagerness overly divided.

Claim as you might to be free or even unbound- humanity has each of us firmly within its grasp, until our grip from this life shall be loosened, either now or in finality.

This is the darkness haunting the spiritless soul, the tension of death to come and a race of life that cannot be won.  Nothing can be built up that will not fall, nothing can be earned that must not eventually be spent or left wasted.  Fruitless endeavoring into oblivion and worse still judgement of these many ways compared with holiness typically otherwise unknown.

Now, with sufficient entertainment of the less practical soul and despondency of the deepest, comes the greatest praise to the only remedy for the human condition. From such sorrow rises acclimation of a Savior, unlike any mere man. The God-man, Christ- come from eternal perfection and glory, outside of this fallen creation degraded, to restore-redeem-renew.

What no man or system of man can ever do, the atoning work of Christ and powerful working of the Spirit accomplishes singularly and thus combined, because He prefined even time, as the divine and sublime.  Granting as He will this understanding that is beyond comprehension that in such a sacrifice of His mortal flesh is complete recompense for our fallenness so it should no more be trespass.  That His children born of Spirit birthed in death to this life should live eternally, being conformed no longer to the form of corruption rather now after His image of righteousness - ultimately to be freed in His Glory.  Here is where worship cries forth Holy Holy Holy Lord, Praise Eternal.

It's a world [sic]

While any single community in this world still has:
   broken families & failing marriages,
   drug/alcohol dependence & abuse,
   sex-trade (including 'clubs' or porn),
   child abuse & neglect,
   people who die daily for lack of basic necessities
         while others live in wasteful luxury
or people who feel so utterly lost or depraved
         as to take the life of themselves or others
             (especially the most defenseless in the womb) ...
there is still a demand for one more fellowship of believers
   (the Church) committed to bringing the good news of Jesus Christ
   and teaching others to be disciples who follow His Word.

Don't miss the point.  These are all just symptoms of a disease called depravity.

It is known by other names: fallenness, sin, indifference, idolatry, corruption, immorality, wickedness, vice, injustice, perversion, evil, etc... But just like physically, treating the symptoms will not provide a cure.

There is no political, social, cultural, or normative means to permanently 'solve' these problems.  If there were - don't you think we'd have beaten them by now. Can a broken failed system produce an answer?  Better yet, can a group of broken failed people produce a perfect system? This is a spiritual disease that requires a spiritual treatment.  It is a change that comes from outside us and changes ... restores...  the hearts and minds of individuals.

Lives and communities can be restored through the application of the Gospel.
One life, one family, one fellowship of believers, one community at time.

Here is the Gospel:
There is nothing you or I can do to overcome the wickedness of our hearts & minds in their desire toward evil.  We are sinners who will each stand before a Holy and Righteous God one day to give account of our lives.  Some will still claim to be good / moral / upstanding people - but I ask you, compared to what? Compared to some mass-murderer you think you have a pretty good shot, but compared to God you're doomed to suffer judgement - He is the standard, not the one you would chose.  We know this in our heart, but we hide from it and make excuses for our condition and behaviour.

Even as we are deserving of Judgment, even as we are at war with God, even as we have turned our backs and walked away... He comes to us.

He came personally and physically - God the Son was born as a man called Jesus known also as the Christ (or annointed one) some 2000 years ago in a backwater town called Bethlehem in Judah.  He lived a life you and I can never live - perfect in every way - conforming to his expectation of us- partly as an example, but mainly as a means.  Because of His claim to be God, the religious leaders of His day had him condemned to death by the corrupt civil authorities.  So this blameless man who was God in the flesh was killed by Crucifixion.  They nailed his hands & his feet to a cross of wood and hung him up in the air until he was near death from suffocation.  Then they pierced his side with a spear to finish him off.

In His death he became a means of salvation and restoration to His people.  Having lived that perfect life and sacrificed Himself on the Cross for all our sins, God no longer sees the sin of His people... but Him.  But wait --- they killed Him... yes they did.  He died and he was buried in a tomb, but sin-death-and the utter destruction don't stop Jesus - the power of God's Spirit resurrected Him and He appeared to many of the people that knew Him before (500+).  They even witnessed Him rise into Heaven.  So now He is restored to His place in Glory from where He came.  He also promised that all who believe in Him as God the Son and the provider of salvation & restoration will be saved from their sinfulness and restored into fellowship with Him.

He comes even now as God the Spirit to some who read this.  He is working in your heart to help you hear and believe this message.  You've heard this story before, but you've struggled with it emotionally, intellectually, or really in truth because your mind & heart were clouded by sin.  Respond to the Lord as He calls to you, stop living this life in the same way the world teaches... you see what that produces don't you?  He is calling each of us to a relationship with Him through faith in Christ alone.  He forgives. He heals.  He restores.  He is love like we wish we knew love.  He is the treatment and will ultimately be the cure for our sick hearts.

MISSion

lofty spaces & lovely sanctuaries

large steeples & lavish stainglass

lapsed service & legalistic senses

limited servants & listless shepherds

lost souls & living sadness

lonely saints & lamented society
***

lifegiving Scripture & loving Saviour

liberating Spirit & Lord Sovereign

Missing Mission *** God's Glory