Around the world

Last night at the Westside Thirst was an amazing experience to hear people tell about what God is up to in their lives all over the world. From Thailand, to Australia, to Israel, to Tanzania, to Colombia, to El Salvador, to New Orleans, to Milwaukee and Waukesha -- those of us who gathered to experience the Spirit together heard how God is weaving our journies together, that we may grow in faith. This growth has come through both highs and lows, celebrations and challenges. But the guidance of God's hand is evident through it all. In the past months, we have grown in prayer and reading scripture, in worshipping more regularly, in making decisions and commitements with our time, money, goals, and plans. The most common characteristic of our stories, was that God was helping us to grow spiritually by calling us to serve people and to share our faith.

This commonality started to make a lot of sense in light of reading Matthew 28:16-20. Jesus tells his disciples to "go", to "make disciples", to baptize them into God's name "Father, Son, Holy Spirit" -- i.e. into God's saving presence -- to teach people to follow Jesus as their rabbi that they too may participate in his messianic mission with him, who is "always with us." By going around the world, around the block, and even around our Facebook connections, we have grown in our own discipleship by encouraging others to follow Jesus. There's no need to sit around and wait until we're "ready" to live our faith with radical passion. Getting off our duffs and "going" and "doing" is how we are experiencing God nurture us into being more and more "ready".