Our recent travels have caused us to missed all of the neighborhood barbeques in August. Fortunately we made it back for the last one of the month. On the last Friday of the month we move the barbeque from the church to a corner on Grant St. (the heart of the West Side's business district), right across from the church's men's discipleship house. The music team plays worship music while we eat good food, share with each other, and invite others in from the neighborhood.
This Friday we also added the baptism of one of the guys living in the men's discipleship house. Four of his six housemates stood by to get him wet, but everyday Eddie lives immersed in a community of disciples that are seeking the Father's heart, learning from Jesus, and living the life of the Holy Spirit. None of them are doing it perfectly, and there's plenty of conflict and learning hard lessons taking place. But this is what it means to be baptized into the life of Christ.
We too have been blessed to be immersed in community with so many disciples of Jesus, especially the Schenks who live right downstairs. Again we don't do it perfectly; sometimes we run and hide in our apartment, sometimes there's hurt feelings and misunderstandings, sometimes there's harsh words. But there's also parenting together, which teaches me so much about the Father's love. There's long talks around the dinner table, where we ask hard questions and learn together what it means to live like Christ. There's moments of forgiveness, where the Spirit binds us closer in unity.
It has been these things that I have missed most about being away from home, and it is these things that I hope to experience more and more in the months ahead. May we all be immersed in a community that is loving with the Father's heart, learning from Jesus, and alive with the Holy Spirit!
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