We have been talking about this whole story thing for a while now. We started discussing God’s story back in June as seven of us prepared for NYC 2011: A World Unbroken. But God’s story and a world unbroken aren’t just limited to the week we spent in Louisville at NYC. That’s why we have continued talking about how we all can engage in God’s story. That’s why we focused our time at Summer Retreat a couple weeks ago on what it means to place our stories, our lives, into God’s story.
One of the things that we started talking about at retreat, though, is that we can desire to live in this grand story every day but not really know how to do that. So starting last night and for the next two weeks of youth group, we are looking at how we can live in God’s story in every moment of our life, whether that’s at school, work, home, or wherever we are.
The how question is more tricky than we make it out to be sometimes. Sometimes we make faith out to be easy. You just believe the right things and try to do the right things and everything will be good. But reality is that it’s not that simple. It’s not easy to place every moment of our lives before God and say I’m living this moment for you. So as we talk about how we can live in God’s story, we realize that it’s a journey that we all do together, not something we can do by ourselves and get it perfect all the time.
We are looking at a specific verse during these three weeks as we discuss how we can live in God’s story.
God has already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, and don’t take yourself too seriously - take God seriously. Micah 6:8, The Message
Again, “it’s quite simple” does not mean actually living this out is simple. It’s simple as to what we are to do to live in God’s story. Actually doing that requires God’s love and presence in our own lives.
We kicked off the series last night talking about seeking justice for our neighbors. We talked about some of the horrible injustices around our schools, cities, and world and how we can work with God to seek justice for the oppressed, for our neighbor (everyone). If you want to live in God’s story, live with big, open eyes to be able to see the neighbors around you who need to be loved, cared for, and relieved from injustice.
It was a great night last night, and we are excited for the next couple weeks of journeying together. May we all find our place in God’s story today.
You are loved.
