* What we care about: ideals and realities
by Mike Smith | Mark 3:3, Matthew 12:46
When talking about what we care about or what’s important to us, the conversation is always a spotlight shined on the incomplete nature of life and the apparent duplicity often evidenced in those things we commonly refer to as our “values.” Values are inherently both an aberration of reality, what is or is not there, and also a statement of our ideals, what we aspire to do and who we long to be.
Thoughtful followers of Christ from the very beginning wrestled with what feels like hypocrisy inherent in the way of Jesus. Those who follow him are said to in fact be what often their lives struggle to exhibit. When one needs the biblical writers, it is evident that while they acknowledged the new reality that following Christ produces in a person’s life, there existed for them, in the midst of that “achieved” reality another incomplete reality that requires one to aspire, long, and exert effort towards realizing it in their daily lives.
This discussion as a community involving what we care about, what we think is important, and what we can say that we “value” is no different. It is a collective observation of the evidence present in our lives after lighter years together. The evidence of what we have come to care about and what is changing us is, at time, found in abundance. It is, at the same time, paltry, depending on where and how one looks. This is in keeping with the fact that there is also in our “values” a deep sense of longing and aspiration that is inherent in journeying together to God without having arrived. Our participation in those two realities is both normal and healthy. It is the reality described over and over by N.T. writers. It is the reality that Jesus taught on numerous occasion. Our ability to embrace it may be to a large degree our ability to embrace the life that Jesus offers on the terms that he offers it.
The values of any tribe (group of people who are not related by blood but rather by the shared desire to live and pursue survival together) are simply their collective attempt to answer the following question:
What do we need to live and how do we go about helping each other with that?
The following statements are my attempt to both obese what is true of our group and what is spoken of as aspirations, dreams, longing by a group of people who have committed to following Jesus on a journey together to God.
- Simple Lessons Learned vs. Complicated Teaching Taught
- learning rather than teaching as the priority
- Small-Cali Living
- fewer but more meaningful relationships/experiences
- Stability
- found in healthy rhythms
- Slower Pace
- practiced over the long haul
- Sustainability
- can we do this over the next 20 years
- Synthesis
- individual parts brought together by the master of the Spirit
- Sincerity
- the atmosphere for health and growth
- Spiritual Equality of Those in the Body
- there is one head over all
- Stewardship
- each of us caring for what we are connected to and responsible for
- Specific roles that each member contributes through
- each one has been placed in the Body by the master of the Spirt
- and each one has entered into this journey on the same terms
- Serving vs. Leading
- serving is the priority and perspective that Jesus taught and lived;
- leading is primarily a by product
- Stimulated vs. Sedentary Environment
- discomfort and discontent are necessary elements in the spiritual life
*This is an old historic note from Mike that helped frame our initial discussion of values as “what do we care about?” What are the ideals? And what are the realities?
We are a group of families striving to live an authentic faith free from artificial social constructs. We do not go to church, rather, we are the church. For 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, we struggle with and how to grow in this reality. We are Liquid.