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.
Tonight, our party-loving Faith in the City pub ministry crew will brave the Mardis Gras crowds to hit Dodie’s on lower Greenville (2129 Greenville Ave, Dallas, TX). We hope you can join us. We’ll be talking, chatting, enjoying good food, and celebrating the last day before Lent. All are invited. Look for me or for the folks with a few Banned Questions about Jesus books. Our question of the night will be about Jesus’ first miracle in the Gospel of John – what did it mean that he turned water into wine? Does that mean it’s okay to drink?
Then tomorrow night, we’ll have our Ash Wednesday service at 7:00 PM in the Sanctuary at East Dallas Christian Church. Join us.
If you want more info on what Lent is, check out this fun Youtube video.
Like many of you, I struggle trying to find balance in life. Whether its work, family life, time for me, or time with God, I’m always having to make choices that reveal where my priorities are. Sometimes, it feels like I make the wrong choices. Other times, I make the right choices. It feels like I’m doing a high wire act over the Dallas skyline.
This has been especially true for me as I just sent my wife and kids off to Korea. When they are here, I can easily tune myself out when I am in their presence with tv, computer, or work issues. But now that they are gone and our apartment is so quiet, I regret tuning them out at all. I would give anything for them to be back, even with my kids’ uncanny ability to leave out toys in unlikely places so I can step on them and almost require medical attention.
In the moment of life, priorities can easily get mixed up. Yes, bringing home financial resources to provide for our family is so important, but is it important enough to risk missing out on events in their life that only come around once?
Is taking on a second job to pay off debt worth it if it means we end up working ourselves into exhaustion?
Can we find time in our lives to say “no” to our family so we can rest in quiet or have a conversation with a close friend over a cup of coffee?
If we commit to growing as followers of Jesus, how do we make spirituality a daily affair in the chaos and unpredictability of life?
These are not easy questions to answer, and yet we are all there in one way or another. Learning how to set boundaries and priorities may go a long way in determining the kind of balance we develop in our life. And it is so hard to do.
I don’t have all the answers, but I am inviting you to share in conversation with us through the month of June at the Table. We’ll be digging into these questions, looking at some great stories and passages in the Bible that challenge us, and listening to God and one another as we seek balance and wholeness. Maybe you know a friend or two who might be interested in this conversation.
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!
You are invited to check out the Table! We are a diverse community of followers of Jesus in East Dallas who seek to grow closer to God and make a difference in our world.
We worship together at 9:30 AM every Sunday morning.
Like many of you, I struggle trying to find balance in life. Whether its work, family life, time for me, or time with God, I’m always having to make choices that reveal where my priorities are. Sometimes, it feels like I make the wrong choices. Other times, I make the right choices. It feels like I’m doing a high wire act over the Dallas skyline.
