A Culture of Engagement
We carefully assess what is worthy as we live out,
ㅤembody,
ㅤengage with,
God’s values.
With our value in him.
It’s the breath of Goodness
ㅤhis breath in our lungs,
That animates us.
It piques,
ㅤtriggers…
DESIRE
Our need to Discover him.
To Encounter him in greater,
ㅤin more significant,
Ways.
To truly Encounter,
ㅤwe must Surrender.
Surrender to what is real,
ㅤto what is true.
In him…
And in us.
This surrender leads us to connection.
Connection with him.
Connection with others.
For we realize,
ㅤwe recognize,
That we belong.
That our lives,
ㅤthe way we live,
Must Integrate with those lives around us.
And we find in this Integration is Restoration.
We are reconnected with,
ㅤrestored to,
The best version of our selves.
The selves he designed us to be.
Discovering,
ㅤliving into,
Our true selves,
Leads to…
Compels…
Engagement.
For we find this life in him attractive.
Enticing.
Life in him,
ㅤin his Kingdom,
leads us,
ㅤtempts us,
Away from our brokenness…
Away from our depravity…
And into…
His grace.
A grace that values us,
ㅤeven as it meets us where we are.
Unexpectedly,
ㅤgrace comes first.
Comes freely.
Apart from our sense of worth.
Apart from our sense of worthlessness.
Apart from anything,
ㅤfrom everything,
We do.
We doubt this grace.
Question it.
Suspect it.
We labor,
ㅤwe battle,
Against it.
We exhaust ourselves in our efforts to prove it wrong.
But it persists.
But God persists.
And finally,
ㅤin our exhaustion,
We surrender to it.
We give in to the blessing.
We experience it.
Blessing
Belonging
Our hearts admit God’s love.
We feel the truth.
The truth of who God is.
Of who we are.
Of who we are in him.
We are reconciled.
Cleansed.
Our debt cancelled.
Forgiven.
And in our acceptance of his movement toward us,
ㅤwe step from the shadows.
We move into true existence.
An existence lived with,
ㅤshared with,
Others.
Engagement
Lord. My dear Lord. My loving Father.
Only you…
Only you could reach me…
And you did.
Only you could truly and fully love me…
And you did.
Only you could offer grace to me…
And you did.
Only you could offer belonging.
Lord Jesus, I belong to you.
I fully, completely, belong to you.
I love you.
A sermon psalm written in real time, as I sat in church listening to a sermon preached by Pastor Phil on 6/3/18: A Culture of Engagement
