This Cross Is For You
Stefan Youngblood March 18 at 8:14am The Chris Mintz Video is now at http://www.estreetgathering.org under media !!!
Hey Friends,
Walking out of the Gathering Sunday, one woman couldn’t hold back the tears. Really, why would you want to? One man said, “I think I just experienced church for the first time.”
What seems unusual in many church meetings, is becoming “not so unusual” indeed, in these meetings we call, “The Gathering.” Real? Yep. Honest? Sure. Churchy? Nope. We know it as the amazing dynamic place which the human soul longs for, where raw honesty meets illuminating truth. That place where we come out of hiding, quit trying to seem impressive, and acknowledge our total dependence on God and the reality of our sinful situation. Pastor Ned powerfully touched on it this past week as he encouraged us to look into God’s Facebook, and see our story in the criminals on the cross.
On the cross the open arms of The Crucified reached out to feel the pain and suffering of you and me. Think of it as God in the flesh, here to absorb the guilt, rejection, shame, and failure of the ones He calls his brothers and sisters. One writer says, “ He did not come to us with the crushing impact of His glory, but by the way of weakness, vulnerability, and need. Jesus was a naked, humiliated, exposed God on a cross who allowed us to get close to Him. The world doesn’t understand this type of vulnerability.
Have you experienced that moment of truth when defenses fall and the masks drop, in an act of humility. You see, “The Gathering,” (and the Kingdom of God itself for that matter) belongs to people who aren’t trying to impress anybody, even themselves. They aren’t plotting how they can draw attention to themselves, worrying about how their actions will be interpreted , or wondering if they’ll get gold stars for their behavior. I have a real life illustration though. Many of you saw the powerful story of my friend and brother Chris Mintz. It’s posted under the media tab at http://www.estreetgathering.org along with a song I wrote that I thought would be appropriate. I hope this blesses you.