This is an article I wrote for the Spring
Issue of Community magazine put out
by Big Valley Grace Community Church:
It is evident throughout Scripture that God is in the business of restoration. Our God is a God who redeems the worthless, heals the broken and calls the unrighteous to join Him in His work. As workers in the Kingdom of God, it is easy to get into routines where we focus only on the work we have to do rather than the one who gave us the work. In these moments our work becomes old, stale, dry and tiresome. We find ourselves living mundane lives as we experience these “spiritual slumps.” But God doesn’t invite us into a static ordinary life. He invites us into an exciting extraordinary life–a life abundant. Remember the words of the Psalmist in chapter 51 when he says, “restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.” This joy, this life abundant is one that we are trying to spread in the xrds community. But how do we do it? How do we make the transition from ordinary to extraordinary? How do we renew our faith, and what is this mysterious process of transformation? This has been a challenge for us, but we’ve done some creative brainstorming and here’s what we’ve come up with.
We’ve begun the process of creating a video series called (re)new. It works like this: We’ve asked ten people to work on a specific spiritual discipline for a week and talk about it on video. Some of the disciplines we’ll explore include prayer, silence, solitude and fasting. Through the help of a website, each person has a detailed description of what to do each day, what to talk about, and how to film themselves. Each day XRDers spend a significant amount of time practicing their discipline. At the end of the day they record their thoughts. On the video, participants share their experiences while practicing the discipline and ways in which they are being stretched. They talk about ways in which the exercise was difficult or uncomfortable and the ways they are growing in Christ. At the end of the week their video undergoes a two week process of post production, including editing, scoring and other final touches. The finished videos are put on the website and will eventually be released on DVD. During xrds, the finished video is shown along with a personal interview highlighting how the experience changed the participant’s walk with God. One person, one week, one goal: renewal. Our hope is that these videos will be a valuable tool for the Big Valley Grace family, encouraging the joy of Christ’s renewal. Join us as we learn to hear God and practice His presence. Perhaps you, too, will undergo the mysterious process of transformation.
