I see faith in the irreverent, miracles in the ordinary, and beauty in the margins. -Cindy Brandt …this is a perfect description of our work in Spiritual Cardiology.

To live in the present is finally what we mean by presence itself! Live in the sacrament (mystery) of the present moment. It is teeming with life.

The other day in counseling I heard a long time devoted follower of the Lord Jesus exclaim with excruciating anguish from years of trial and testing, “I HATE GOD!” It was a hallmark moment in transparent and transcendent prayer therapy. I heard a incongruous cry that surrendered and worshiped in perfect harmony. Let your heart out. The Psalms are safe.

Christian “perfection” is, in fact, our ability to include, forgive, and accept our imperfection.

You were created in the image of God…we were, in Chesterton’s phrase, “statues of God walking about in a Garden.”

In the Chronicles of Narnia the Stone Table is the place where the great Lion is publicly humiliated and shamed to death…and the place of his rise to an indestructible life!

The Stone also becomes the Lion’s Table and the feasting place for the famished, faint-hearted, frenzied, faithless followers of the unseen, always present, untamed, but Good king.

Renew the Church

Once you align with the mind and will of empire and success, your spirituality focuses on perfection, excellence, achievement, performance, numbers, money, attainment, appearances and willpower.

This is what drives the culture of the consumer minded church goer, the marketing pastor, and the best practices business model of the Sunday production…thought of as church.

Part of us would rather return to the Bible, or our small group or Church or serving others —anything that would save us from the unknowns of walking with God.

I want a service that is not sensational, flashy, or particularly ‘relevant.’ I can be entertained anywhere. At church, I do not want to be entertained. I do not want to be the target of anyone’s marketing. I want to be asked to participate in the life of an ancient-future community.

The Church has an incredible capacity to wound and an incredible capacity to heal. –RHE
…both are necessary, one to keep us interdependent, the other from being codependent and both to keep us totally dependent.

A rich society has a way of hiding its sins in a way that is deeply tranquilizing. -Hauerwas

This has been my inner conflict the past two weeks. If I don’t deliver hype (read addiction) then you won’t come. The church that markets religious narcotics cannot sustain you during the week and you demand a lathered, frenzied conference experience on Sunday. When will we simply help people (read cripples and addicts) learn how to walk with God and follow Jesus?

Describing our work and our vision in Colorado…

• We don’t have a church building yet we conduct personal, pastoral, practical ministry in 10 locations around the city.
• We don’t have a pulpit to preach from, but we have hearts to talk to.
• We don’t have sacraments to offer so we present ourselves as living sacrifices.
• We don’t meet only on Sunday’s we meet on any or every night of the week.
• We don’t require the people to believe or behave, we only require ourselves to make them feel like they can belong and become.
• We don’t require that they come to us, we make our way to them.
  In the last three weeks we have traveled over 1000 miles carrying the life of the world to the people of our city.
• We are an apostolic missionary outpost of the kingdom of our Great God and Savior.

We did not come here to pastor a church in the city, but to pastor a city from a church.  We are so grateful to all those around the country who support our missionary efforts.  We could not do it without your vision, trust, love and support!!!!!