Monday 21 April 2008

A few thoughts...

A few of you have watched the Starving Jesus documentary. I think there are mixed responses. I like the controversy! First of all I think it's a great documentary to get us thinking. The film seems to shift about half-way through and focus more on the struggles of the 40 day fast that these 2 guys are on. It also gives us a deeper look into some of the relational aspects of the friendship of these two guys and how they work out conflict, I found this rather intriguing. The essential message is to get off the pew and start reaching your community. I believe that this is at the core of Jesus' teaching......not so much the pew part but reaching the community, loving people, serving them. These guys are saying that the American church is lazy, maybe they are, but I live in Canada so really I can't speak about America. I think that there are lots of people who are lazy and who would rather be served than serve. I guess we all have our moments living in that mentality. However, I have had a bit of experience trying to recruit volunteers for church stuff and there are those people that serve and serve and serve and then there are those people that take and take and take and never give. I strongly believe that people need to serve. It makes them feel better about themselves and it promotes this feeling of unity, of community, of 'we're all in this together' and I think that's what the church is all about. I think it's easy to get caught up in our 'church' worlds and forget about the needs of people. This seems to be a constant challenge for me especially since I have grown up in the church and in a ministry family. We don't have to go across the world to serve. We can serve right where we are. I am blessed. I don't want that blessing to be wasted.

So do I think that the documentary is worth watching, yes, do I agree with everything in it, no, but watch it and draw your own conclusions.

I had more thoughts to share tonight but I really need to go study for my exam tomorrow.....I will write more later.

Yours Truly,
The Kindred Spirit

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