Why should Christians live in community?

We had a meeting on Monday night about Christian community. To promote Christian community living, in particluar to explore, promote and celebrate our particular community - New Creation Christian Community.

Many people shared about topics as far ranging as 'money and how not to love it', 'bringing up children in Christian community', 'building sharpening relationships' and so on.

I was given the task of answering the question 'Why should Christians live in community?' (in four minutes!)

I came up with 33 reasons. Some of them could well be qualified - but having been given only four minutes I decided not to bother. So here they are... unqualified!

Why should Christians live in community?

1. Because Jesus had a common purse and if it’s good enough for Him, it’s good enough for us
2. Because Jesus taught us to pray to ‘our Father’ for ‘our daily bread’ not to ‘my Father’ for ‘my daily bread’
3. Because in the same prayer, Jesus taught us to pray ‘Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’. Does anyone have personal possessions in heaven? Does anyone clear off or move away in heaven?
4. Because in the same prayer, Jesus taught us to pray ‘Deliver us from evil’ which includes evil like selfishness, covetousness, pride in possessions, and wealth for self
5. Because how else can you ‘lay down your life for your brother’
6. Because when the first church received the Spirit they were ‘all together and had all things in common’
7. Because one washing machine between just 2 or 3 people is a waste compared with one between 7 or 8
8. Ditto cooker
9. Ditto fridge
10. Ditto car
11. Ditto house
12. Because if we are devoted to God, we will hate money (or so Jesus said)
13. Because community is economical and frees funds for the kingdom
14. Because community is practical and frees time for the kingdom
15. Because Jesus said more about money than He did about heaven
16. Because if your were to sum up what Jesus said about money when He was mentioning it more than heaven, you’d get something like ‘get rid of it, don’t have any for yourself, bind it and force it to serve God, be wise with it’. Try doing that without sharing it!
17. Because community is fertile ground for training disciples
18. Because community shows you who you really are and means you get beyond romantic fantasy into reality
19. Because your whole life should be church
20. Because it’s impossible to live in community – so it has to be a miracle and God’s good at miracles
21. Because community brings us into true brotherhood
22. Because no-one’s going to persecute you for living in a three bedroom semi and Jesus said ‘blessed are the persecuted’
23. Because community creates opportunities for industry and service
24. Because community makes church family rather than institution
25. Because community means that we ‘live in the church and go to the world rather than living in the world and going to church’
26. Because what else does ‘love not the world’ mean?
27. Because salvation is not just spiritual or even moral and spiritual – but spiritual, moral, social, political and economic!
28. Because God is a community of 3 in 1
29. Because we will live in community forever after Jesus returns
30. Because ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing – and wealth!’
31. Because it is the lifestyle of true love
32. Because people are looking for love
33. Because all arguments against living in community are ultimately selfish

Clowning in the capital

The things we do...

This is me and two of my fellow fools for Jesus just before we performed a clowning routine on Trafalgar Square as part of a Jesus Festival we ran there on Saturday.

Colourful, eh (am I pretty in pink?)

Ironically, this morning someone showed me a book of less colourful photos of the Jesus Army which has just been published: one of those arty style books of black and white photos, ‘one man's voyage of discovery’ style.

In this case, it seemed like ‘one man’s voyage of discovery with a group of obsessive fanatics who’ve taken all leave of their senses’ if the rather sinister feel of the dark, forbidding photos of strange looking people (being ‘religious’ i.e. odd) was anything to go on.

I think the photographer was genuinely trying to express the Jesus Army ‘as it is’. And the worldly wiseman who wrote the preface was trying to be generous when he admitted that we don’t like being called ‘a cult’ – though he wasn’t generous enough to find a different epithet.

Ok, so we continue to have ‘cult status’ in some circles. If that means we’re totally committed, so be it. We live in a culture that sees any commitment as anathema, so I guess it make us stand out.

But what I object to is the insinuation that being totally committed to Jesus means we must be – well – fools. Religion, apparently, must equal delusion. What’s more, we’re sinister fools, because we’re trying to suck others into our delusion.

Let me say this: some of the most intelligent, sensitive, incisive, generous, deep, impressive, compassionate, creative and wonderful people I know are in the Jesus Army.

If they’re fools, they’re wise fools.

Rather like Jesus.

And let’s face it, art hasn’t been kind to Him (all those effeminate, miserable, stained glass windows... it’s a PR disaster!)

All of which reminds me of something Jesus said:

God will bless you when people insult you and say cruel things about you, all because you are a follower of the Son of Man... You are in for trouble when everyone says good things about you. (Luke 6:22 & 26)

I’d rather be a clown for Jesus than anyone else’s wise man.

Brotherhood

Yesterday my wife, kids and I spent the afternoon with a brother from 4839 (and a half) miles away. The miles melted. They were nothing. Distances of colour, history, culture dropped away - because of brotherhood.

He is a church leader from Kitwe, Zambia, we're church leaders from Coventry, England, and we have the kingdom of God in common.

Of course, as the afternoon went by, we discovered we had much in common on the natural human level as well. The fact that we were human was a good start. And the fact that we have children who we have dreams for; the fact we like rowing down the River Avon, but aren't very good at it; the fact that we'd rather not get wet in the English rain; the fact that laughter is funny and leads to more laughter; the fact that we think Warwick town centre looks pretty...

We also discovered some things that we didn't have in common - and profited by them. Like listening to him talk about the plain reality of witchcraft in his continent. He commented that over here the whole danger of the occult is far more underhand and subtle and mentioned Harry Potter books, which convince children that witchraft is (fictional and) fun. I stayed silent about that fact that I've read all six and am looking forward to number seven. And I wondered - have I swallowed some of the lethargic draught of the rest of my culture. I was challenged (but will I be able to resist number seven?)

But, to return to my main reflection: brotherhood ties - and the brotherhood that Jesus brings is stronger than any other I know.

In Christ's family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. (Galatians 3:28, The Message)

(Read about our previous encounter: Ebony black and salmon pink)

Answers on a postcard

Profound question: do we ever have the luxury of tomorrow?

Any profound answers appreciated!

Hallelujah, all of me!

I led our Sunday morning meeting at the Jesus Centre yesterday. The theme was worship. So we worshipped. And I talked about worship. How it’s an ‘all-of-me’ thing: ‘body, soul and spirit’, ‘heart, mind, soul and strength’.

I used Psalm 103 as the basis for what I was exploring. ‘Praise the Lord , O my soul’ (‘soul’ being the translation of a Hebrew word meaning something closer to ‘all-of-me’ than the more Greek philosophical, disembodied notion we tend to have...)

It’s a wonderful call to praise, Psalm 103. It declares God’s ‘benefits’ to us as individuals and as His people. Benefits which amount to mercy and grace.

Ever wondered what the difference is between mercy and grace (we sometimes confuse them when we sing in Christianese...)? Here’s a little workaday definition which has helped me understand:

It is mercy that God does not give us what we deserve.

It is grace that God gives us what we do not deserve.

So, praise the Lord - all of me!

Here’s the whole psalm. Drink deep.

Psalm 103
Of David.
Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:
The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children-
with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.
The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.
Praise the LORD, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.
Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.
Praise the LORD, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the LORD, O my soul.

If this is a meeting, let's have more of them

Sometimes people moan about meetings. "We have too many meetings".

I think it's a sad sign of love grown cold.

Can you imagine a passionate lover saying, "Do I have to spend more time with her?"

But I suppose what people mean (to give them the benefit of the doubt) is that they don't want to just go through the motions. They want something meaningful. Something living.

It's Agape tonight, our covenant meal, when the most committed members of the church household get together, share, worship, eat a meal including the communion bread and cup.

It's not "a meeting", if by that phrase you mean some formal going through religious motions (heaven forbid).

It's a meal with my best friends. It's a joining of strength with my comrades. We've sworn to live and die together. It's a rare gathering. It's joining with Jesus and His disciples at His last supper, the first communion.

It's a total privalege to be invited and humbles me time after time.

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:25)

A pencil chewer

Theological question for anyone who is up for the challenge:

What is the significance of the fact that the human race began in a garden and finishes up in a city?

(See Genesis and Revelation...)

Pix

Check out the pictures of our last household day out on Tschaka's blog!

Let loose

Sunday morning was... interesting. We’ve been experiencing a fresh release of the Holy Spirit’s presence recently. People have been much more conscious of Him – there’s been some crying and laughing in our worship times as people open up to Him. Much less “going through the motions”. Some have fallen to the ground, or shaken and trembled when others have prayed for them.

This Sunday, as soon as the band struck up the first worship song, I was weeping. Don’t know why. Something to do with loving God. It was freeing and – cleansing. I began to shake a little. God was there.

The sister next to me, a close friend from my community house asked me to pray with her, so I wept over her for a bit. She started to cry as well and then to sigh and to rock and then to shout out. God was there.

Other people were also being prayed for around the hall, and the worship was continuing.

Meanwhile, some kind of fracas was kicking off at the back of the room. Two brothers were fighting. Then the brother leading the meeting shouted very sternly at a load of people who were hanging around in the foyer, “Come in here, in the name of Jesus!” (He’d already asked them to come in a coupe of times.) This was uncharacteristic of this much-loved brother – and very necessary in the circumstances. Some people were being distracted from what God was doing – as another brother pointed out, addressing the whole congregation as we shared the bread and the cup afterwards.

All heaven was let loose – well, some of heaven. And a little bit of hell. God was on the move, and one or two less wholesome spirits were shaken out of hiding. It’s real. This is not religious routine. This is a revival of sorts, and we need it.

But – we’re British! (Actually, thankfully, this is not true of all of us.) We’re not given to public displays of emotion; much less to falling and shaking and other such exhibitions of insobriety.

God is loosening us up. Shaking us out. Reminding Him that He is the “God of the living and not the dead”.

Oh dear...

...this is a bit self-indulgant really. But I thought it was quite fun too.

Something more spiritual next time, honest. In the mean time:

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

A little dilemma

I wondered whether to write this entry because it’s a bit sensitive. I decided to, in the end, because otherwise this blog about life in Christian community could become lopsided, focusing on happy-lovely-positive things and avoiding anything more difficult. There’s plenty of that kind of censorship in Christian bookstores...

(I also decided to go for it because I think I’ve got a fighting chance of keeping this all nice and anonymous – so for those dear readers who think they can work out who I’m talking about – you’ve probably already got it wrong.)

A few days ago, I had cross words with someone. I felt they were out of order in something and I let them know: gave them a flea in their ear. It was something and nothing really – and not the kind of thing I do very often, unlike some of my more confrontational friends (oh, how I envy them at times) – though I do think it mattered.

Problem is, I now know that that person is still sore towards me. In fact, barely speaking to me, as I discovered this morning... I offered a small olive branch – offered to talk it though with them sometime. But it was received stonily.

It all leaves me wondering what to do. It pains me to be at odds with someone, especially a fellow-Christian. But I know that I can’t simply conclude that I should never be “real” with anyone or correct them (believe me, I’m temperamentally inclined to go down this route!)

Jesus spoke of “leaving your gift at the altar when you remember your brother had something against you” (in other words dropping everything to get it sorted). What ought I to do? In this case, to be perfectly frank, the person concerned is really just having a good old sulk. But I do want reconciliation.

Should I apologise, even though I’m quite sure I was not in the wrong and also aware that a leader must lead?

Should I put it out of my mind (after all it’s their problem)?

Should I just pray for them?

Am I too nice? Too harsh? Too bothered?

What do you think?

Interesting Years

Interesting Year 1981:

1. Prince Charles got married

2. Liverpool crowned football Champions of Europe

3. Australia lost the Ashes tournament

4. Pope died

Interesting Year 2005:

1. Prince Charles got married

2. Liverpool crowned football Champions of Europe

3. Australia lost the Ashes tournament

4. Pope died

Lesson Learned:

The next time Charles gets married... someone better warn the Pope

Baptisms last night.

On the face of it, one of the odder things that Christians do. Dipping people under water, fully clothed, while a crowd of people look on and cheer.

Why do we do it?

Reason number one: because Jesus told us to. And why did He tell us to?

I explained it last night, like this:

Dirty people need a bath. Dead people need a burial. Orphaned people need adoption. Baptism is all three.

A bath? Ok, so not a very conventional one (one doesn’t normally bathe fully clothed, or watched by others – certainly not in Church meetings!) This is an inside wash, a cleansing of the moral dirt of our hearts and minds. Not that the water is magical – or even “holy” in itself. It’s just that Jesus has removed the stain of our sin by His sacrificial death. Baptism is saying “yes” to Jesus and it graphically demonstrates the cleansing that results from saying “yes” to Him.

A burial? Fact is, we’re all dead men walking. Our sins have separated us from God, the source of life. Our days are numbered. We’re all due a long stay underground. Death is the inevitable result of sin. But – and here’s the big news, the gospel I get so excited about: Jesus dies for us. Yes, for us, instead of us, did our dying for us. He took the death penalty for sin. Faith in Him means faith that He did our dying for us –or to put it another way (as the New testament often does) we did our dying in Him. So baptism is a graphic entry into Christ’s death (down into the water we go) and His burial (out of sight, gone) – and His resurrection! (Up, out, dripping, glowing – alive!)

An adoption? Yes – we’re baptised (immersed, dipped, initiated) into a name. The new family name – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – in other words – God! God adopts us into His family. It started with the Father begetting a Son in the Spirit. But now, as we’re joined to the Son in baptism by the Spirit – God becomes out Father! (Did you follow all that? It’s quite something!)

And, as children of God, we’re brothers and sisters – “baptised by one Spirit into one body” – the Church of Jesus, the brotherhood of Christ.

Hallelujah! I love baptism – even if it is one of the odder things we do.

And I pray that the three guys we baptised last night will live in the reality of it all the days of their life – and forever after.

A load of rubbish!

Goldsmiths last Saturday (our all-singing, all-dancing - well, music and drama anyway - gospel event at Coventry Jesus Centre).

Phew! Went well, I believe. The theme upon which the evening turned was "clearing up the mess" - hence, the entire hall was decorated with rubbish. Rubbish which, at the climactic part of the evening was winched down to reveal huge red letters spelling out "Jesus' blood makes us clean".

I think that - fairly blatently - said what was to be said.

Perhaps the music and the drama was really rather superfluous...

I was thinking, right...

Met up with a couple of my ex-students last night – they happen to be home from their respective universities, Goldsmiths and Nottingham Trent. Great lads – good to see them.

One of them mentioned that he’d found my blog by doing a Google search... which made me wonder how many other people read this without my knowing about it.

This post is dedicated to my anonymous readers (could be thousands or could be one ex-student at Goldsmiths).

I’ll share a few thoughts that I had as I was walking back from town. It started with looking at a few largish houses and thinking, idly (as I often do), “They’d make quite good community houses”. But then I was walking through parallel lines of the semi-detached and detached dwellings of Humphrey Burton’s Road in Coventry’s suburbia. Which got me thinking about boxes.

Yes, boxes: the boxes that the majority of UK people live in. Boxes with three or four bedrooms in the avenues I was walking through last night. Each box almost inevitably contains a washing machine.

Stay with me (you may wonder where I’m going with this). I could have chosen any number of household appliances – fridges, freezers, microwaves... but we’ll stick to washing machines for the sake of argument.

So Humphrey Burton’s Road must contain, at an estimate, a hundred-odd washing machines.

A hundred-odd washing machines to do the washing of maybe four hundred people.

Then there’s cars. Most of the drives on this fairly well-to-do road had three parked on them. Three hundred cars for the same four hundred people.

Now I’m not good with figures and I’m no environmental expert, but it seems to me that that many washing machines and that many cars (and fridges and freezers and microwaves and... and...) are far more than that many people actually need in terms of a strict ratio of people to resources.

Think about this: each one of those houses will contain two, perhaps three toilets – do people really need to have almost a toilet each.

My point is that UK society, living in its boxes, is grossly wasteful. Why? Because there is no sharing. Not a bit of it. Each box has kit for its inhabitants only. So we live in streets packed with washing machines. And we only actually need about half of them, or less.

Human beings were meant to live in community. They were meant to share the resources of Earth, not horde them in little boxes. And the planet is paying the price, groaning, getting hotter and hotter, heading for melt-down.

I live in community, not, in fact, because of environmental panic. We live for the cause of Jesus. But it’s a noteworthy by-product that we share washing machines at something like a ratio of 8:1 and cars at a ratio of 5:1 (often using a minibus to transport up to 15 people) and toilets at a ratio of 3:1 (actually we’re quite well-off for toilets in our house!)

Sharing. It’s a good idea; it’s how Jesus lived; it’s how the Christian Church started out; it’s not how UK people (in their boxes) live; unlike the boxed-in-life, it doesn’t kill the Earth; it means sacrifice; the Communists weren’t able to force it; I do it because I live for the cause of Jesus.

What’re you doing about it?

Still under the influence

We had more last night at Agape. Here's what I wrote in today's Together bulletin:

The anointings continued at Agape after we considered some of the purposes of the anointing – to know God and who we are in God, to ‘abide’ in the Body, to receive love and power and to move in spiritual gifts. We recognised that anointing will come to different people in different ways (we mustn’t get hung up about the fact that we’re “not experiencing what they’re experiencing”).

Then all heaven was let loose – laughing, crying, shaking, (no falling!) and all manner of other interesting goings-on. Thank you Lord. This should power us up for the coming weeks of activity: J Gen march, Goldsmiths, coach campaign. It’s all go, so Holy Spirit come!

Under the influence

It was Abraham Lincoln who said: “If all the people who fell asleep in church were laid out, end to end... they’d be a lot more comfortable!”

We had a few people laid out at our church last weekend – but for a happier reason. It was our “Alive Weekend” festival in the Giant Marquee (a full knees-up for the mJa) – Easter weekend, so an appropriate weekend to call “Alive”...

And it certainly was alive! We had a lot of very powerful Holy Spirit happenings – people laughing and crying as the Spirit came upon them, people falling, people being healed.

I even toppled to floor a couple of times myself (I thought I’d grown out of such things...)

Yet, as we were reminded by our two main leaders towards the end of the weekend, the ultimate purpose of the Holy Spirit manifesting His presence in such ways is not that we fall over, or display emotion – but that we are refreshed and empowered to give our all to build the Church.

“It’s not how you fall down, it’s how you get up that counts”.

But I have to say, I feel very refreshed, a whole lot more human, less stressed, more confidant – so the fruit is good.

As Scrappy Doo would say, “Lemme at ’em”...

These men are not drunk, as you suppose. (Acts 2:15)

Disgusting

Apparently a good way to get rid of people we don’t want in our country is to treat them as animals so they don’t want to stay anymore...

Check out the news story. Here’s an extract:

The JCHR highlighted one case of a destitute Rwandan asylum-seeker who suffered bowel cancer and had a colostomy bag, but was refused treatment by a hospital and could not register with a doctor.

Meanwhile, a woman had been forced to live rough for three months - sitting at crowded bus stops all night because she was terrified of being alone - but on winning her asylum appeal had been ruled entitled to immediate support.

The committee also reported how the parents of a three-week-old baby had been housed in a "filthy, bug-infested room" in Leicester.

I hate this kind of display of all that’s worst about the disgusting pride and callous disregard for fellow human beings that “privileged” Western nations such as ours often exhibit.

As the Church of Jesus we love all, welcome all – because we belong to a people drawn from “every nation, tribe, people and language” (Revelation 7:9). “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1) – we all live on God’s Earth because of His grace, none of us deserving, none having more or less “rights” than any other. How dare we turn our backs on the destitute and the refugee – no, worse than that – how dare we treat them as less than us, less than human.

It makes my blood boil and provokes me to live for God’s kingdom of the poor with all my heart.

But by the grace of God...

So I wrote this poem about sin (see There but for the grace of God).

And a dear friend wrote a poem in response which transforms my parched prayer into an overflowing cup. Here it is:

I will see my dreams come true.
After I am dead and gone- I will make it through.
I will wake in the likeness of Him who
makes a beggar His all, his joy, his pride.
I will be a diamond on the forehead
of an immortal bride.

I will cry these scales from my eyes.
At the end of the tragic tale I will start to laugh;
My inner darkness will be cleansed
and my fractured feet will mend
as I dance among stars.

I will speak in love's language that I don't know
and could not learn.
I will walk barefoot through scorching coals
and never burn.
My heart will be fused with the living sun
as I look through pain towards our perfect union.

My thoughts will join with the deepest ever unknown-
I AM in complete knowledge of all that is I AM.
Participate in the self awareness of the foundation stone
who ever lives, and live increasingly as I become
power and wisdom and love in clear reflection
of power, wisdom and love in full perfection.

At the invitation given to share Your throne
I'll walk where none can ever hope to go.
In utter isolation I will never be alone
for You name me, call me, draw me - take me for Your own.

I had a dream

Just before I woke up this morning I had a dream. Like many dreams it was slightly surreal and odd – but it left me with the most powerful feeling. Let me tell you about it.

I was at my Mum’s church up in Liverpool, the church I went along to when I was a kid. (It’s a Methodist Church with some lovely people, but not a great deal of spiritual oomph – the only thing increasing there seems to be the average age of the congregation.) Anyway, on the site of this church, there’s the main church building and also a tumbledown hall (more corrugated iron than bricks and mortar) which the scouts and others use – the “top hall” it’s generally called.

Okay, so much for the background, now for what happened. There I was (don’t we often find ourselves in scenes from the past in our dreams?) and somehow found out that a very rich multi-millionaire had promised to turn the top hall into a purpose-built, state-of-the-art Christian youth centre. No limits – we could plan whatever we wanted and he would pay. I found myself on the committee that were planning what would happen.

As the dream went on, the whole thing grew more and more expansive (and expensive!) It was a multi-storey, huge place with big conference style rooms for worship, music suite, action rooms – even a swimming pool with water chutes! The point was that it became increasingly evident that there really were no limits – this geezer was going to pay for whatever we asked for! We dreamed on and the building started and we were thinking bigger and bigger and bigger.

What’s more, the Methodist Church started to have a new lease of (spiritual) life. An old worthy who I remember from my childhood (in fact, he’s still at that church now) got involved and became passionate for the vision of young people finding faith. The whole thing galvanised the church into action. They started to plan a huge underground car-park for all the people who were going to be coming from miles around. This little church had become a honey pot that young people swarmed to.

I woke up totally excited. Vision! The sky’s the limit! We needn’t stint!

Immediately, I thought, “God’s our benefactor; and He is generous.” I don’t know what this dream might mean for the Methodist Church up north-west, but I found myself filled with a new faith in God’s generosity for us in the Jesus Army - and for the Church as a whole in the UK.

“Ask and it will be given” – that was what this dream was all about! And there’s so many things we dream of: Jesus Centres across the country, full-on Christian communities that are vibrant and compellingly attractive, young people being awakened to God in droves...

I suppose I’d got rather into the humdrum daily grind of “living for Christ” (yawn) and “being a leader” (snore). But God has reminded me – the sky’s the limit! He’s generous and wants to give more "than all that we ask or think”. He's calling us to faith.

What do you want? Ask the benefactor. Dream your dreams. See them come to pass.

(I've already shared this dream with a few friends this morning - here's one friend's reflections on it: God's generous expansive heart.)