I experienced a moment of sheer terror last week, and it
made me realize something profound.
You may know that I’m in the planning stages for a proposed series
of meetings that would provide
an opportunity for non-Christians to come and
learn more about who Jesus was, and what he taught, and why he’s still relevant
today, but without all the typical baggage – politics, religion, etc. – that seems
to follow him around.
Part of the inspiration came after writing the fourteen part
blog series, “Jesus Untangled”, which makes a strong case for separating our
faith in Jesus from our politics. But that’s not the only thing that spurred me
to take this next step. It was also the excitement I felt after reading a book
by Carl Medearis called “Muslims, Christians and Jesus”, which of course is
focused primarily on sharing Jesus with Muslims, but still makes a strong case
for giving people Jesus apart from doctrines, denominationalism, Western
culture, or political dogma.
So, I’ve been spending a lot of my free time lately trying
to design the curriculum for this class, which I’m calling “Jesus Without
Religion (Or Politics)”. I’ve worked out a nice place to host the sessions, and
I’ve picked out a tentative date for when we’ll start, and I even know where
and how I’m going to recruit the people who are most likely to resonate with
the subject matter and approach.
Everything really seems to be coming together so far, but a
few days ago, as I was sort of imagining what those meetings would look like,
something wonderful happened – I had a mild panic attack.
My heart started racing. I began to breathe faster. My
nerves were on edge. Everything I had put together so carefully for these
meetings suddenly began to appear weak and foolish and totally worthless. “What
if I screw this up?” I thought. “What if no one shows up? What if they do show
up and I don’t measure up to their expectations?”
That’s when I did the best thing possible – I abandoned my
self-sufficiency and I went down on my knees to pray. “Lord Jesus,” I said, “please,
show up and take control of this. You know I don’t know what I’m doing. Help
me, Jesus, to just point everyone to you. Give everyone eyes to see you and
open their ears to hear your voice. Help me to get out of your way – and to
stay out of the way – so they can do that.”
Amen.
That’s my prayer. I know that the best I can do is hardly
enough, but I do trust that if I listen carefully to Jesus and allow Him to
take control, everything will be alright.
Jesus Without Religion (Or Politics) will start on Wednesday
evening, July 15th, at 6:30 pm here in Orange County, at a business
park in Irvine, CA.
I appreciate your prayers for me as I listen for God’s voice
and wait on Him to lead me one step at a time into the great unknown.
Please also pray especially for the people who need this
meeting the most. Pray that they will hear about it, and that they will have
the courage to show up with their questions, and pray that the teacher will
have the good sense to get out of the way so that Jesus can introduce himself
to each and every one of them.
Thanks.
-kg
1 comment:
That prayer you prayed was the perfect request--Now stay on that course and everything will work out fine.
Post a Comment