why are you here?

For a few weeks now, some of us have been focused on that question. Why do we do the things we do? Why do we go to church? Is it for family expectations, to see friends, because its expected? Or because we really just want to worship? In 1 Kings 19, Elijah had a meeting with God in a cave. God asked him one question two times. Seemed pretty important, I'd guess. "Why are you here?"

I've been thinking about the connection between that question, and our expectations. We expect things from the people we have solid relationships with. They will show up when they say they will. They will treat me with respect, and in love. They will speak to me honestly. Jesus talks a little bit about this in Matthew 7:9-11. If you ask your dad for some bread, is he going to give you a stone? Would he give you a snake instead of the fish you asked for? (paraphrased terribly by me.) I think sometimes we get distracted by those other reasons to go to church... the friends and family, or just out of a sense of duty, because we don't really expect God to be there. Maybe we've felt disappointed by people in the church, and so we've lowered our expectations. But God doesn't disappoint! He does meet with us when we seek Him. He does answer our prayers when we pray (you can check out Jeremiah 29:12 about that one. And a bunch of other places as well). And He has things to say to you. New, fresh things. So why are you here?

listening prayer and tacos

Two weeks ago we had a really small crowd, which gave us an opportunity to do some listening prayer for each other. Pretty simple, but powerful.

This past weekend, we had a small fellowship night. Community is one of the main purposes of The Foundry, and personally, one of my favorite things to do in community is eat together. So we did. Nick and I decided to share one of our favorite meals with the group, tacos. Nothing super fancy, but it did the trick. People had a chance to relax and get to know each other a little better. For instance, I make my salsa a little too hot. I wasn't complaining though, I'll enjoy the leftovers for a while. :)

breaking chains

I've been a follower of Jesus for a long time, but something that didn't really click for me for years was the connection between confession and freedom. Pretty odd, since those go hand in hand, but I just really didn't get it. There was something about confession that seemed so down and hard, and it didn't really gel with my idea of freedom. But after some digging in the Word, I realized I was wrong. Shocker, I know. They do go hand in hand. Because confession and repentance breaks the chains of sin! And furthermore, if I confess, say, to another person, then I no longer care about hiding my sin, because I've already told people! Its good stuff. So we gave it a try. And handed out some broken chain links to symbolize what happened in the spirit. I can't speak for anyone else, but I for one felt some serious freedom.