Tag Archives: invitation

A Preview of Addiction & Grace

Addiction & Grace by Gerald May

Our new Wholeness Group meets again tomorrow evening at the church, 6:30 PM. It is a group that is open to everyone. The book we are reading is Addiction & Grace by Gerald May, and it has tons of good stuff for our conversation. Here is one of my favorite few sentences from the first few chapters:

Grace is the most powerful force in the universe. It can transcend repression, addiction, and every other internal or external power that seeks to oppress the freedom of the human heart. Grace is where our hope lies.

Our wholeness group is not about fixing anyone. I don’t think any of us have any answers in the first place. Addiction itself is a disease/process that all human beings are afflicted with. Some of us are addicted to chemical substances, and others are addicted to work, family, gossip, computers, information, power, and so on. And so while the book will help us understand the processes behind our addictions, the hope is that we will discover more about grace – why it is such a gift and how it can help us in our struggle to be loved and deal with our addictions.

Gerald May describes sin as anything that gets in the way of us being able to fully love ourselves, one another, and God. I like that definition a lot. One of our key directions of our group is that we will explore that in deeper detail but also practice some ways of finding balance in our lives, balance in our relationships with God and one another.

Join us – it’s an open invitation. I will have some extra books on hand if you are joining us for the first time.


Invitation

Nathan & Josephat the zoo, being invitational

It’s good to be back from Nashville.

In between great conversations and informative workshops, I had a chance to pick up a few books, including “Missional Worship” by Cathy Townley. I had this initial issue with the book – it just rubbed me in the wrong way during my first skim on board the flight back home. But as I’ve had a chance to dig in more deeply, I am intrigued by it.

The key thing is simply this – don’t be attractional; be invitational.

The world is changing out there, and job seekers will even tell you that all the traditional advice no longer works. You can’t wait for that great job to come to you – you have to go out, beat the bushes, work your contacts, and even court your next employer. You have to go invite opportunities and possibilities through networking, hard work, and relationship building.

Likewise, for those of who follow Christ, responding to God’s call to share the good news of God’s love, hope, and wholeness for the world is no longer something that can be done by waiting for others to come to you. We can’t just live a certain way and expect people to figure it out themselves. We do have to talk. We have to go and be among the people in our neighborhoods, get to know them, and tell them about the good news. The more time we spend inviting, the more our community of faith will grow, the more disciples will be made.

What do you think? Have you experienced this change in some other place in your life? When do you remember being invited in a way that changed your life?

Post your response below.


Welcome


Visit the Table this Easter!

Check out the Table this Easter Sunday!

Are you looking for a faith community to check out this Sunday?

You are invited to visit the Table and join us as we celebrate the ancient mystery of the Christian faith – Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again!

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