Regardless of what you do for a living there are weeks that are better than others. Most weeks are mundane. Most weeks you wonder if you have any value or if you’re making any impact. Then you have a week where you realize that you are doing what you were born to do.
This past week was one of those weeks. It was absolutely amazing.
This past week, I felt like we were finally living out the purpose for which we were called to launch the Antioch Movement. I was reminded through practical living that we were not called to start a church. A church is not something we as people can start. The church is a people that has been made by God for God to God. He is at work making and launching the church. We have been called to mobilize the church into action and into the world.
It’s interesting, I have been talking about the Antioch Movement as a church planting movement (because that’s the language that is out there) but it really isn’t that. It is a church mobilization movement. The Antioch Movement exists to mobilize the church into the world for God’s glory.
This week we did that.
We were able to spend time with out neighbors through a neighborhood party. Amy, Ethan, Libby, and I hosted a party at our home this past Sunday too. Nearly 30 people came and spent time together.
Here’s the thing though, as I have reflected on our last week, I realize that this is something that we have been doing everyday since we have started following Jesus. We just never realized it. I think about a party that our friends Steve and Nicole hosted, the church mobilized. I think about dinners that our friends Todd and Bianca have been a part of, the church mobilized. I think about our friend Polly every day in the school system, the church mobilized. Our friend Zak in the warehouse moving auto parts, the church mobilized. The list can go on and on and on…
The most beautiful thing about all that is happening with the Antioch Movement is that it is organic. It’s not programs or great vision casting. These are things that people are not doing to “grow” the Antioch Movement but they are simply responding out of the overflow of their relationship with God. They are looking at their lives and seeing that there is purpose beyond what they see.
This week I finally understood this poem by Derek Webb and I hope maybe now you will too,
and it’s four in the morning
And I’m pressing out my clothes beside my bed
Fourteen years been on the job and with many miles behind
Still I’m up at three thirty to make sure I’m there on timeMy car gets me along just fine to and from the station
But my castle is this Houston Metro Bus
My first stop is Ashbury.
And the sign’s been gone for years
but all the same the people wait cause they know that I’ll be there.What would you say if I told you that I won’t be by today?
Would you say that I’m just a bus driver
and what do I know,
just a bus driver
and what do I know,
just a bus driver
and what do I know?Well, I’m always there by five fifteen
and lately I’ve been early
’cause Judith likes to be in early to the bank.
And she gives me conversation and a token good for riding.
And she’s happy all alone
And then there’s Charles in retail sales;
and I hope they pay him well
for the work that young man does
Cause I’ve never seen the inside
of a custom refrigerator
but I know he’s the first and last one there
I wonder what they do all day,
and their respective works.
Suppose they give money and take money away.
Still, I’m just orbiting this town
with the post office my sun.
And I’m circling again.
And I wonder how this world would be
if I was never here to drive this bus around from Ashbury to Main.
Suppose this town would be the same
but with one bus’ less exhaust.
But that bank and retail stores,
they just wouldn’t be the same.
But what can I see from the limited confines of my bus driving seat
Only me