[jesus, the middle eastern storyteller] chapter 6: finding the lost

by Jesse Giglio (check out the artsy version of this contribution)
Luke 15

This chapter addresses those who are were lost but also separated. People socially pushed to the margins due to race or practice or mistakes.  Jesus embraces these people of separation in such a way that he himself is marginalized.  He himself is separated.

Burge notes the opinion of the religious leaders toward Jesus – “Jesus is at fault because he fully accepts people who have failed by every religious and social standard…”

The culture values separation. Jesus inclusion.

Jesus makes his statement on inclusion by telling 3 stories of loss. 100 Sheep.  10 Coins.  2 Sons.

The first in this narrowing progression introduces us to a shepherd; admired in biblical literature but not so in real life. “Suppose one of you has a 100 sheep” Jesus says-evoking discomfort from the religious leaders as a shepherd’s work was hard, dangerous and kept them from keeping the law-”if you were to lose one would you not leave the 99 to go look for it?”

Burge insights- 1. The flock were likely the collective animals of the community  2. Shepherds didn’t work alone.  The remaining 99 would’ve still been cared for.  3. The village celebrated the return.

Next we go from likening God to a shepherd to that of a woman (gasp!) losing a single coin.  Squirm Pharisees, squirm.

The woman loses, seeks and finds resulting in again a communal celebration.  Things that find themselves separated are meant to be sought, restored and celebrated.

The 3rd story develops in complexity but retains congruency.  Emphasis remains on community and separation.  The father’s affairs with his sons would not have been private nor quiet.  The village would be involved and offended and angry at the departing son and the giving father.  And then upon his return the village would celebrate together.  All but one.

The one who remained.  The older son, who had considerable rights to this estate, was seemingly left out. Questioning the father for welcoming this son who separated while at the same time shaming the father by not being present at this community celebration.

The chapter ends by drawing some modern day parallels and ultimately questions…

Do you welcome those on the outside? And celebrate their inclusion?

Jesus lived in the margins.

 

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About the author: 

Jesse Giglio loves stories, at least good stories but then again thatʻs why we have bad ones…so we can tell. He thinks life is meaningful. Sometimes the way we live it is not. He’s a teaching pastor and mission architect in Southern California. But prefers activist and raconteur. His church isnʻt too big and isnʻt too small but itʻs not just right either. Itʻs probably a lot like yours.

Jesse Giglio Blogs

Jessie Giglio on Twitter

[jesus, the middle eastern storyteller] chapter 6: finding the lost (artsy version)

by Jesse Giglio (check out the straight-up version of this contribution)
Luke 15

YouTube Video :: Dustin Kensrue: Please Come Home (acoustic)

Please Come Home by Dustin Kensrue

Well I woke one morning,
found you staring down at me,
you said “I’ll take my share now, father please”,
and you took your money,
and you took your leave,
you drilled my heart and turned your back on me…

And you hit the town,
and you hit the bottle hard,
you race ’round in your fancy cars and you blow all your money,
on brothels, beds, and bars,
before you know your broken times get hard…

I still stand here waiting,
with my eyes fixed on the road,
and I fight back tears and I wonder,
if you’re ever coming home,
don’t you know son that I love you,
and I don’t care where you’ve been,
so please come home.

And now you’ve hit bottom,
all those open doors have shut,
and you’re hungry stomach’s tied in knots,
but I know what you’re thinking,
that you troubled me enough,
nothing could ever separate you from my love…

I still stand here waiting,
with my eyes fixed on the road,
and I fight back tears and I wonder,
if you’re ever coming home,
don’t you know son that I love you,
and I don’t care where you’ve been,
yes and i’ll be right here waiting,
’til you come around the bend,
and I run to you and hold you close,
won’t let go again,
so please come home,
please come home…

Don’t you know son that I love you?
And I don’t care where you’ve been,
so please come home.

 

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About the contributor: 

Jesse Giglio loves stories, at least good stories but then again thatʻs why we have bad ones…so we can tell. He thinks life is meaningful. Sometimes the way we live it is not. He’s a teaching pastor and mission architect in Southern California. But prefers activist and raconteur. His church isnʻt too big and isnʻt too small but itʻs not just right either. Itʻs probably a lot like yours.

Jesse Giglio Blogs

Jessie Giglio on Twitter

[my picture testimony] by jesse giglio

 

 

Check out more photos and details about this series at [picture testimony] challenge.

[the monkey and the fish] chapter 6: cWoWs: everyone plays

by Jesse Giglio

This chapter repeatedly gave me goosebumps in the way only an encounter with complete resonance can.  Every other page had me thinking “yes, yes, yeah, right” almost to a fault as was difficult at times to actually slow down and read!

Dave Gibbons takes us the around the world and to the past, present and future addressing the need for church leaders to acknowledge the resource and necessity of its forgotten and neglected.  Its people.  Would be practitioners kept on the sidelines.  Weʻre taken on a story that begins in the 1500’s with the (r)evolution known as Martin Luther to the present reality of Los Angelesʻ “Skid Row”.  We hit the pubs of London and a party in Bangkok.  There’s voices being shared from Wall Street and JFK to Malcolm X and Rob Bell.  There’s Shakira, Kimera and Sequoyah…  all adding up to just the beginning.

Dave takes us through Third-Culture, providing examples that are more suggestive than prescriptive, customized with the ebbs and flows of the particular culture or subculture.  The stories serve less as new ideas but more as reminders of who we already are…or should be.

The chapter opens with the conflict and asks the question of,  “what is it about the church the prohibits liquid movement and open participation?”  Not a new question but not one that has been answered either.  Sometimes we need to keep asking the right questions until we get to the right answers.  The church is seemingly built on a system that prohibits liquid growth and prevents collaboration as well as, ready for this…community.  Yet we expect the behavior of the people to work contrary to the system we operate under.  Dave is asking us to move into systems without walls, places where “everyone plays”.  Spiritual work is not reserved for pastors.

We’re then shown, not told, a series of Third-Cultures initiatives flourishing here and abroad.  Each unique, each flowing with its respective culture.  Third-Culture expressions don’t come in a box and they canʻt be ordered online.

The chapter finishes having gone from big picture problem and big picture answer to calling out the artists necessary to create new life on the canvas known as the world.  These artisans are the new ABCʻs.

Artists: Prophets, Innovators, and Conversationalists

Businesspersons: Access, Networks, Fuel

Community-Development Specialists: The Builders

Pastors should be providing a platform for these personalities to create and flourish.  To allow the lines of critical disciplines to blur and for the history of humanity to be shaped by the work of Jesus therein.

Now itʻs time to go find the flow.

 

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About the author:

Jesse Giglio loves stories, at least good stories but then again thatʻs why we have bad ones…so we can tell. He thinks life is meaningful. Sometimes the way we live it is not. He’s a teaching pastor and mission architect in Southern California. But prefers activist and raconteur. His church isnʻt too big and isnʻt too small but itʻs not just right either. Itʻs probably a lot like yours.

Jesse Giglio Blogs

Jessie Giglio on Twitter