I Hope Your Friendships Are Deeper than Andre Agassi's

Saturday afternoons are pretty intense sermon prep days for me primarily because it is non-stop from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed. So, I need little points of relief throughout the day and one of the most common is checking out the headlines on ESPN.com. This Saturday, the headline that caught my attention first was: "Ex-coach had 'no clue' Agassi was taking meth."

Here's a quote from that article by Brad Gilbert (Agassi's former trainer and friend): Because we (Gilbert and Agassi) hung out a ton, but that doesn't mean you ask things that are personal. As I read the article, I became deeply saddened by the reality of most people's relationships.

I believe that in a Biblically functioning church, relationships are intensely personal. Now granted, not everyone in the church will be best friends, but the ones you "hang out a ton" with, better be personal. How sad is it and unloving is it that we would never ask, "Hey bro, how are you doing...really?" That all we would do is gather together and watch TV, play board games, eat guacamole, but never be caring enough, be loving enough to make it personal. Recently, I had very good friend of mine asked me how I was doing in the area of spending time with my son. The long and short of it was that he was able to show me that I was, in fact, being inattentive with my son. Furthermore, this inattentiveness was resulting not just in a lack of relationship, but in a lack of discipline, which really is a lack of love that puts stress on my wife and will someday, cause my son to pay a bigger than expected price. I made the adjustment and things are much better because of good friends who ask personal questions.

With the backdrop of a hyper-individualistic and relationally desolate culture, the church must rise up and be different. We must be personal. We are in relationship with a personal God. The world didn't start with power by an isolated and alone God. It start with love and community within the triune God and out of that overflow, the world and human beings were created. Sin in your life will cause you to drift from relationships (real relationships), but as you draw near to God, expect (and inspect) that you will draw near to others as well.

Loving Each Other Like Family

One of my favorite times of the week is when my little family gathers around the table for breakfast. That usually happens for us on Saturday mornings. This morning I was basking in the joy of that moment. I said to Rachel and Ella (Simon was sleeping), "I'm so glad to be with my family." To which Ella replied and I quote, "We're missing a kid. Where's Simon?" As if to say, "This is great, but it's incomplete without Simon." And she's right - wonderfully right. And it brought me great joy that she would want Simon to be included.

I think it's similar with God's spiritual family (the church, us). He loves to be with the gathered family. He enjoys it and looks forward to it as should we. Therefore, the call to gather together (on Sunday or any other day) shouldn't be viewed as a legalistic command, but rather a time of joy and love and celebration of the gathered family of God. And I think He loves it when we say things like, "We're missing a kid. Where's ______?" Not as an accusation, but because it's just not the same without them! When we say it like Ella did, what could be more loving?

When You're Here, You're Family

I heard recently (through the grapevine) about some confusion surrounding our "Family Meetings". Some had thought the meetings were just for families. Let me clear that up: they are not just for families - they're for everyone who calls Jubilee home.

Let me just quickly explain why we use the word family anyway. We believe and hopefully practice that the church isn't just a place where people gather together once a week on a Sunday, but do life together. That we don't just affiliate, but fellowship. That we don't act like a club, but a family. A family with brothers and sister, aunts and uncles, cousins, spiritual mothers and fathers, grandmas and grandpas. We aspire to be a family.

So when we give events names like "Family Meeting" or "Family Weekend", it's not just for biological families, but for the entire spiritual family. Because when you're here, you're family.

Relationship Incubator

If you are interested in deepening your friendships at Jubilee, getting involved with Family Night-Inn is a great way to do it. Greater depth of friendship can be experienced in one night than 52 weeks of "HI's and BYE's" on Sunday. Listen to what of our members Heidi Sever has to say.

Ben and I participated in Family Night-Inn by
hosting a married couple. At first, we were a bit
uncertain how it would go, but 5 minutes after our
guests arrived, all fears were forgotten and we were
having a great time. We hosted John & Kara Russo, who
we knew very little. We had a fun evening visiting,
getting to know each other and playing games. They
taught us Canasta. And they creamed us playing
Sequence. The following morning, we fixed a big
breakfast together and I taught John how to cut up a
mango, which he had never tasted before and kept
calling a papaya. It was a great experience and
created wonderful memories. We are looking forward to
Family Night-Inn again this year. It is such a
great opportunity to create and enjoy deeper
relationships within your church family.

So it doesn't matter if you have been at Jubilee for 10 days or 10 years, married or single, young or old, you can participate in Family Night-Inn on Sept 7th. Sign up on Sunday via your communication card!

Be In the Know

If you are in a Jubilee Church life group, looking to join one or think you might be interested in one at some point in the future, you'll want to be at our next First Tuesday on August 7th. I will be unveiling exciting new plans for group life.

Be in the know!

What an Unbelievable Church!

I have had the privilege to witness some of the most phenomenial servant hearts and teamwork I had ever seen during this Oneblaze week. So many Jubileeits gave all they had in time and energy as a living sacrifice of worship that was a huge blessing to this community and the Oneblazers that were here. Even more, it was a high stress environment due to the magnitude of the responisibility, but all I ever saw were A+ attitudes and lots of team work.

I am so thrilled and privileged to be a part of such a giving community.

Community Anyone?

We are lonely people. We feel it all the time. We feel it when we come home at night and the phone doesn't ring. We feel it when sadness kicks in and no one seems to care. We feel it when we are still at the office at 9 pm. We feel it when we go to bed alone. It's not that we don't try to relate to others, but that doesn't seem to satisfy us. We get disappointed when people don't meet all our needs (even though they were never meant to - that's God's job). The problem is we really don't understand what community is and what it takes to have it. It's a buzz word these days, but the reality of community seems to elude us. We need to get a grip on what community really is.

Community flows out of who God is.

The Father, Son and Spirit live in perfect relationship while on mission together (mission is important to experiencing authentic community). So if you want to tap into community the way it was meant to be experienced, get close to God. Repent (right now) of the sin that stands in the way of you relating to God. If you are experiencing loneliness, I'll bet anything your walk with God is less than stellar.

Here's some more about community that I borrowed from a friend:

Community is experiencing Christ through one another.

Community is knowing and being known, serving and being served, celebrating and being celebrated. Community is hanging out with Christian friends and laughing about stupid things. Community is gradually opening up our true selves to people and letting them see who we really are. Community is telling each other the truth in love.

Community is not just being "nice."

True community involves being in a bad mood and still being pleasant to others. Community means asking for help. To be in community means to be in need. To feel other peoples' pain, that's community. To think more about what others need, that's community. Community involves crying and looking foolish in front of others. To be in community means to be uncomfortable at times. Community involves risking our image. Community is not just eating together. Community is not seeing people at church. Community is not saying, "Fine" when asked how you are doing. To be in community involves using your phone a lot.

To experience community is to arrange one's life in such a way that fellow members of the church are seen not as a burden to deal with, but friends with which to do life.

Community is seeing church as a family to belong to, not a service to go to. Community involves simplifying one's lifestyle in order to welcome others.

Community means sacrificing time and money for those who need either. To listen more than you talk is community. To work out all conflicts and never hold grudges is community. Community is the way of Jesus who related to and lived with twelve very imperfect men when he could have accomplished his mission and lived his life without them. Jesus showed us how to do community by who he was and how he lived.

Let's be a church that just doesn't have the word community listed in our brochures and website. Let's be a church that experiences authentic community and models it to the world around us.

Bryan