Shakespeare was Right about the Question of Being

S - Luke 24:44-53 (NLT): "Then he said, "When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me by Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must all come true." Then he opened their minds to understand these many Scriptures. And he said, "Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah must suffer and die and rise again from the dead on the third day. With my authority, take this message of repentance to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: `There is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to me.' You are witnesses of all these things.  "And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven." Then Jesus led them to Bethany, and lifting his hands to heaven, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up to heaven. They worshiped him and then returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy. And they spent all of their time in the Temple, praising God.""

O - No one goes to the tomb thinking resurrection … everyone goes thinking corpse, thinking dead, thinking tragedy, thinking how do we go forward from here?  All of this is interrupted by Jesus suddenly appearing, coming along side and opening up the minds of those who have been with him for over three years.  Shouldn't their minds already be opened?  Shouldn't at least one of them been thinking resurrection?  And then … amidst the unbridled joy of Jesus appearing, of resurrection reality and a worldwide assignment they are told to wait.  And so they do and while they wait they spend all of their time in the Temple praising God.  Shouldn't they have gone into planning mode?  Why didn't they begin the process of "agreeing" on what the message of repentance would include?  After all, will waiting and praising get anything done?  This unique start to the Great Commission and real church life underscores the priorities of the Kingdom and our 21st century problems with them.  We are all about doing and the kingdom is always about being first.  So, the disciples will be … waiting and praising for days and days and then the doing will begin. We assume the "being" as an intellectual conclusion rather than a spiritual state and direct connection relationally to the person of the Lord.  The power the disciples will wait for would first deepen, enhance and intensify their being (praising God) rather than a mere equipping for doing.  We are called to witnesses of Jesus the person not promoters of information.  The great joy of the kingdom is always about being not doing … the doing flows from the being.  Doing without being ultimately disables the person and disables the message reducing it to mere information rather than a living being.

A - I live in a culture and among a people which are all about doing.  I am called to a person and a kingdom which are all about being unto a doing which is a partnership WITH not a function FOR someone.  Jesus did not work for his Father but with him. He has not called me/us to work FOR him but WITH him. This requires being unto doing rather than doing in place of being.  It is the difference between living and dying, between light which stays light and that which becomes a great darkness … it is the difference between the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of the Kingdom.  My assignment in this day and in every day, regardless of circumstance, is to be with him and then work with him.

P - Lord who is, who works and who calls me to come near,
Thank you for your life, your kingdom, your will and your ways upon the earth.  I admit that you and your ways are holy … not like me, not like this earth.  I run to you and ask that today I will be with you and then work with you.  I re-present all the details, pressures, hopes, fears, history and dynamics which swirl in and around me.  I lay my head on your chest and ask for your life to come into me and for your life to flow out of me.  Help me see YOU first and then the wealth of your kingdom and righteousness unto all the rest being added.  I remember that my asking is ultimately about you doing it (and maybe asking me to do something with you) rather than me doing it "for" you all on my own.  Lord, I seek, knock and ask for new wineskins, mulberry trees in the ocean and for that which is too wonderful for me.
Grateful to BE with you,
Steve