Habitation
Steps along the road to reconstruction
The empty filled, the wounded healed The broken back together The poor are blessed, the weary rest We will dance forever The blinded see, the chained are free The doubtful now believer The outcast known, the orphan home You are my Redeemer. from the song "Behold" Mission House 2020
Ever notice that one of the times Jesus arrived after He rose from the dead, He did so by a campfire? He had cooked food waiting for them as he invited them to the fire. It’s a warm picture, a friendly picture.
Have you ever sat around a campfire late into the night? Cold fingers wrapped around a cup for warmth and comfort, unwilling to go to bed because you never wanted the combined environment of friends, starlight, and firelight to end? “Just another cup from the pot over the fire,” you think. Wondering if staying up late into the night will be worth it all in the morning. Ignoring the voice of older wisdom, you embrace that child-like defiance you knew so long ago and stay up “just a little longer.”
Unfortunately, the realities of Deconstruction away from the corporate religious system have, at times, forced a necessary and hopefully temporary separation from each other. It’s not a fun road to travel, especially since you already know the arguments in other people’s minds. But the death of other people's voices in your head is what you need to keep you moving forward. If you don’t, then the growth of the new reconstruction within you will have a weak foundation. “Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” John 12:24
Dragging the old with you is an unnecessary burden, and you will never fully comprehend some of the things the Holy Spirit will whisper to you if you are still evaluating according to the old mindset.
Case in point, too many people see “Christian fellowship” as a point of community influence to push ideas, concepts, and pet doctrine. To them, it is not about spiritual growth but who you know and what they can do for you. This is not Kingdom; this is human, and it seeks to build connections and influence outside the wisdom of God.
True Fellowship?
The fellowship that the Lord intended for us was to be ongoing, changing, and adapting to every need or environment. And at some point, when our life here on Earth is no more, it will be Eternal. Sadly, too many of us have settled for less while living in hell on Earth.
Disconnected from a daily interactive fellowship with the rest of the Body. We retreat from the world at the end of our workday to our apartment or house, hoping for a bit of silence, warmth, and maybe a pleasant conversation before the day’s end. In spiritual poverty, we repeat each day's actions over and over again until we gather in the ‘church’ with our best smiles. We listen to messages from a pastor who often feels alone in his efforts, secretly wishing that more of the congregation would get his ‘vision’.
The thoughts play out in our mind that everyone else’s life is most likely better than ours, not realizing that the common boat we all inhabit is leaking just as much in their lives… as it is in ours.
Divisions come from both within and without, lurking around the corner, waiting for an invitation. Friends separate over issues, congregations split, and staunch “Bible-believing” congregations build doctrines to justify staying away from the “spirit-filled” for fear of being contaminated with the unpredictable, all the while whispering to their isolated followers that it’s actually demonic.
Where is the fire? Remember the fire, the zeal, the passion to do the things of wonder we all secretly hoped we could do? Have the embers of Pentecost grown cold?
“...I have come to a settled persuasion is at home in you also; for which cause I am reminding you to keep constantly blazing the gift of God which is in you through the imposition of my hands, for God did not give us a spirit of fearfulness but of power and of a divine and self-sacrificial love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:6 WET). When we read Paul's words to Timothy, I think we often read this with the orphan's eyes... alone.
Because that is how we have been trained to think. But we were never meant to be alone. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to us after He died and rose again to be our helper and guide. Not only that, He intended us to be in community with the rest of the body. And if you can hear it, we, with Him, were meant to be a symbol of the Trinity to the world. Friends remind each other, and friends challenge each other. We cry, we celebrate, we give each other the ‘look’ when we do something dumb, and our noses and eyes run when we laugh too hard.
In previous substacks, like “Is There A Better Pattern to Follow,” I have mentioned the deep integration of the Trinity into the Celtic world. The most ancient of these communities built the villages into three rings.
Senior leadership lived in the center.
Those interning and in the process of leadership and their teachers lived in the next ring.
Support lived in the outer ring.
This was their way of representing to the world the concept of three in one. In this, they understood this was also symbolic of Eden, and they EXPECTED that God would walk with man in fellowship in their daily lives. They believed that in this common unity (community), God desired to be a part of everything from milking the cow to handwriting poems for worship. God was very real to them in ways we have yet to learn in our modern world.
Is this the Abundant Life Jesus said we could have?
Sad as it may sound, I’ve got well over thirty years into this. I’ve seen the smiling hollow eyes of husbands and wives ‘playing the game’ as their children grow up to watch it all unfold. Secretly, those kids make hidden vows to themselves to have something better. And the percentage rate of kids growing up in the ‘church’ and following the ways of the Lord into adulthood continually drops to lower and lower levels as time passes by.
Here are some facts from a 2014 Barna church study to ponder:
59 percent of millennials raised in a church have dropped out.
35 percent of millennials have a very anti-church stance, believing the church does more harm than good.
• Millennials are now the least likely age group of anyone to attend church, and that study was over ten years ago.
Many would like to blame the shift on the assumption that the millennials are weak and just not as committed and strong. Perhaps, I mean, I have seen some evidence of that. But perhaps it’s something else; perhaps the Lord has imparted a degree of wisdom that older generations do not have. Wisdom with a low tolerance towards fakery, manipulation, and Christian Witchcraft. In this, they have failed, failed to learn to wear the mask that previous generations assumed was needed for social attendance.
“By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he left, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as a stranger in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” Hebrew 10: 8-10
Abraham lived for a long time under his father's roof, which was historically filled with Babylonian occultism. An extended search of the non-scriptural book of Jubilees implies that Abram learned about the Lord from Seth, son of Noah. Thus, Abram learned to always be looking for a habitation, a home of his own.
Is this not what we are looking for? We who have gone through or are going through the process of deconstruction away from the system? Can we truly be satisfied with the lesser things of this world?
To cohabitate with the Lord requires truth, the truth of who Jesus is as well (and this is a big one), the truth of who you are. Some of these things about you can only be discovered as you interact in the large fellowship of believers. It is at that point we have the opportunity to adapt and change more into the image Jesus sees of us. I know what I just said may have flowed over some people's heads.
But don’t worry; I will slowly unpack this in future substacks.
Until then, let’s learn to stop pretending, take the mask off, and learn to become who the Lord meant you to be. Please consider the following song to be a prophetic promise of the future ahead for you and me.
Loved the True Fellowship part, spot on.