Three Houses

Mom Enns & I have been having an interesting exchange the last couple weeks about an article she sent me from the June 8th edition of the magazine “Canadian Mennonite” (accessible online by clicking on “past issues” & then on to that date).  It was called “What will emerge from the great emergence?” & the editorial also centered on this feature article’s theme of housecleaning in the church.

I was really excited to see God’s refoundation & reformational activity reaching into this sphere too!  The article predominantly features the ‘Emergent’ stream of the much larger re-foundation/re-formation currently taking place, being a smaller part of the even larger whole (’emergent’ that is).  While I am well aware of this stream, have friends in it & appreciate it, I also see way beyond it & therefore don’t identify myself with it (except in the sense of its’ being a part of the global body).

The emergent stream seems largely focused on the ‘deconstructive’ aspect of re-foundation/re-formation but seems weak so far in envisioning/incarnating the ‘constructive’ aspect.  Each part has its’ place & role to play tho.  So while I value its’ role I simulataneously also inwardly groan for greater fulness of revelation for that stream, as I groan like crazy for incarnation of the revelation of the constructive aspects I’ve been for myself & those in my sphere!!!  Deconstruction really is so unspeakably important though.  There can be no solid (re)construction without it on the same old faulty foundations.

The article asks a very pertinent question, “How might Christians respond to these changes?”!  That question is probably better put ”How might Christians respond to what the Spirit is saying to the churches?”, because that’s who’s behind these changes…in other words it’s a matter of how we’re responding to Him & that’s a much bigger deal.  Wolfgang Simson’s “Apostolic Migration” diagram is extremely insightful in depicting how God brings His people through the deconstruction –> reconstruction process (ie: coming out of Egypt/Babylon, to put it in other terms).  

What willl the church look like in 10-20 years as a result of the Lord’s intense re-foundation & re-formation activty in these days?  Good question!  It seems that picture comes clearer as His people pass through deconstruction/desert – as they leave behind the old & space is made in them for a new view to be conceived…

Andi has written 2 excellent posts lately called ‘Back To Church 1‘ & ‘Back To Church 2′. 

The Lord has been leading me in a very similar way at exactly the same time  - to be connected & involved with a local denomination through various friendships He’s been establishing in that part of the body in Tabor.  He has described the nature of his relationship with the church he is connected with in exactly the same way as I am experiencing, so I will not write further about it here…it’s all there in his posts. 

The only thing I’d put differently is the title ‘Back To Church’.  I don’t believe I’ve not been in church these last 5 years of being outside the institutionally & hierarchically-structured church, so I can’t be ‘back to church’.  But I am ‘back’ in these days in the sense of being back in a denominational church – in it but not of it, if I can put it that way. 

It’s interesting that this is the same pattern of both Christ & Paul in their ministries – first to & among the institutional Judaism of their day & then…  Hmm.

It feels like my life is set on fast-forward these days.  Alesek has learned to stand up next to furniture & pretty much nothing else is as interesting as trying to make his way around it.  I’m on pertual crash control.  Of course there’s always the swing to contain him in, thank God for the swing, but I’d rather let him have at ‘er most of the time than koop him up.  For one, movement just seems to be his thing (we never experienced this wtih Michelka!) so I’d rather learn early on to work with who he is than against it.  I also figure the sooner he gets the hang of this the sooner he’ll be walking, which of course means less crash control, at least of this variety;)  Then we’d probably be on to climbing & crashing from chandeliers if we had any, hahahaha, but we do have chairs…

I’m very thankful to Mom & Dad Wiensz these days for these two gifts that are just-right-for-just-now – one keeps the wobbly non-stop mover safely contained at times, the other is great entertainment for the unbelievably enthusiastic stander.  Sitting’s no longer where the action is…nothing stays the same for long with a baby:)

It’s been on my heart for some time now to post a bit about what Aleš’s birth & first few months of life have meant to me. 

I might have suspected something was up with the quite intense but also not intense period of waiting for his birth.  I learned a great deal during that time about prayer of a different kind than I had ever known before - as the labour of tribulation in which one ceases, waits on & for the Lord & allows the life of the Son of God to be brought forth out of the death of the waiting.  It is the tribulation of labouring to enter His rest (to cease to act of oneself), waiting for Him & His life being brought forth out of that active faith. 

Then the first 3-4 months of his life was one of the most (very probably the most!) intense seasons I’ve experienced with God yet.  I can’t describe it in any other terms than trial, testing, and again tribulation.  It’s as if all the wonderful theory I’d been learning about this life of prayer was put through the wringer and royally…the tribulation/labour of this Word being incarnated.  As a part of that testing He was also very intensively exposing deeply rooted strongholds, areas in which I’ve lived in bondage as a prisoner & servant of the spirit of the beast, the spirit of the antichrist – namely strongholds like fear, pride, spiritual lust… 

The now-and-not-yet heart message of Revelation has begun opening up to me & finding a home in my heart during this time – the need to repent in these stronghold areas, to overcome & to allow the life of the Son of God, His kingdom to be brought forth in me in the midst of the tribulation.

The previous very intense months have given way to a much sweeter, gentler time but the ‘beautiful hard’ of learning to overcome in the midst of the tribulation of the everyday remains.  I’m beginning to sense that tribulation & our overcoming in it is actually supposed to be normative for Christians, just in varying degrees of intensity in varying seasons.  I suspect that the true life of God is never birthed without it. 

On this cold, rainy morning I have just the perfect little window of time to post these pictures from our sunny Saturday at the Mlyn.  What a magical place to be a kid – and an adult:)  Alesek is sitting pretty in front of the brand new outhouse.  It’s a good day when the only time spent inside is for a nap…and it’s a good day when we’re inside looking at the grey sky & baking chicken at 11.00 am, still in pyjamas:)

My old high school friend emailed this poem written by a girl in a New York hospital.  This young girl has 6 months left to live and as her dying wish she wanted to send a letter telling everyone to live their life to the fullest, since she never will. 

It was the kind of email I’d usually delete right away but this time the Holy Spirit wouldn’t let me:)  This is the message He’s been trying to get through to me for quite some time now.  I can’t hear the music of His voice as I need to on a moment-by-moment basis when I’m racing through my days inattentively!  And so, accordingly, some days it seems important to post something here & sometimes it’s not.  I’m asking for ears to hear & a heart to love, obey…
 
SLOW DANCE 

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down..Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.

Do you run through each day on the fly?
When you ask “How are you?” do you hear the reply?
When the day is done do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores 
Running through your head?

You’d better slow down…Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.

Ever told your child we’ll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch, let a good friendship die 
Cause you never had time to call and say,’Hi’?

You’d better slow down…Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift….thrown away.

Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

Oooh, it’s good to be in the countryside at the farm with friends…

This is where it’s at these days…  Did you know just sitting could be so much fun?!

I love this picture because one of the biggest things God is teaching me these days is the importance of being real & that I don’t need to (and can’t!) conjure up & front a perfect life.  I do believe a perfect life (God’s kingdom) is always just a prayer away but more often than not it becomes reality through the biggest messes & stresses (in other words - trials, testing, tribulation), & only when I finally take my grubby hands off & quit with the conjuring & the facade. 

Glad He’s opening my eyes to how this works!  This is actually the heart of the message of The Revelation.  I’m learning to hear its’ simplicity in the nitty grittty, veeeeeeeeeeeery slowly, but surely…:)

My sister asked me the other day if I still like Easter & I had to confess I do not & am even surprised at a new ire in me towards this holiday this year. 

I have been greatly impressed by the realization of the body of Christ’s incalcuable loss over the centuries through the replacement of the Lord’s feasts, in this case Passover & Unleavened Bread, with Easter.  It mirrors & explains the very same loss in the gospel, which also explains the absence of its’ holy power. 

In other words, to lose the Lord’s feasts & for them to be replaced by a substitute is to lose the full gospel & that means the loss of the fullness & reality of His life & that means that He is hardly glorified in the earth but is rather defamed & His name made a mockery. 

Yes, I do have a thing about this that just won’t go away & I suspect it won’t until the reality of these feasts is restored in my own life & in the life of the body at large, including the Jews!

Today Alesek had his first bottle of rice cereal & this week he’s been having first little tastes of corn puffies. 

It was a strange feeling to give him his first full non-breastfed feeding.  It only dawned on me now that that strange feeling was the recognition that this tiniest exciting beginning does also culminate in the end of the very special nursing relationship that eventually ends. 

How I need to enjoy every precious little moment, to be ever mindful of many such treasures & not take them for granted – to stand on that holy ground instead of the grumbling & frustration & x & x & x that tempt me so strongly & incessantly!

These days find us in the thick of potty-training & Alesek having learned to roll around on the floor. 

I’d been waiting for the advent of warm weather to do potty-training in earnest & as of Tuesday the diapers are gonzo except for sleeping & a large stash of Smarties praises every last little wee.  Alesek first figured out how to roll onto his stomach on Monday but got really frustrated when he couldn’t go back so Tuesday was all about figuring out how to roll every which way with a mere toss of the head. 

Nary a dull moment…!

Hibernation was the watchword all winter since Alesek was born in October.  Spring has been bursting out all around us now though & so we are similarly breaking out of the den these days & enjoying its’ beautiful warmth – though this picture is still from inside the den – ahem;)

Well I have surely been posting infrequently since before Aleš’s birth! For a l’il snapshot of life at the Enns’ house… These days find me:

- continuing to love learning from the Lord about living in His daily rythmn, especially with our beautiful little addition

-walking on the frozen-over Jordan dam with the kids while Keith took his skates out for a spin (New Year’s day morning, not everyday;)

- helping Aleš learn to self-settle going to sleep &, interestingly, learning a lot about prayer as I’ve never seen it before at the same time

- obsessed with the fear of the Lord & learning to fear Him — probably THE biggie these days!!!

- fascinated by the (supposedly inept?) Euro-skeptic Czechs taking over the EU presidency at such an interesting time

- wondering at the Euro-skepticism in my own gut

Well, I toddle on now to welcome & enjoy the onset of this new day…

Aleš was born exactly 6 weeks ago today marking the end of Šeštíneděle, literally ”6 weeks” in Czech.  We’ve been in the thick fog of babyland these last weeks & I have purposely been resisting the temptation to hurry to ‘do’ anything, though it’s been mighty strong.  It’s been very good to take the necessary time so our little family can adjust to the change & get used to our new normal, at least for a little while - I actually do hope life never gets  ’normal’ enough to ever get used to (ie: boring, stale, predictable), though that’d definitely be easier!  We’ve all definitely had our moments these last weeks, lots of good meltdowns, but mostly it’s been a whole lot of falling in love with the beautiful little life God has given us to steward for a time.

When every day is chock full of all the goodness & intensity God fills it with, like 2 little children & the daily whirl, I am so impressed that ultimately life is very simple.  My daily bottom line: I am in training as a disciple of the Messiah in the nitty gritty & I am a discipler in that same nitty gritty.  This simplicity of life with Him is so very beautiful whether it’s during a walk in the cool of the evening or in the middle of a crazy kitchen.

Little Alešek (pronounced A-lesh) was born on his Grandma Enns’ birthday, October 29, at 11.39 after I was induced at 8.00 that morning.

We’ve enjoyed a sweet week of enjoying him & adjusting to being a family of 4 together with Mom & Dad Enns.  No words can possibly express my gratitude to Mom & Dad for all their immense love & help these last weeks. 

Thank you, with deep gratitude.

Mom & Dad Enns have been here almost a week already & the next little Enns has kept snuggly nestled away out of sight.  It’s been good he didn’t make his appearance last week…we’ve been enjoying each other & Michelka’s been having fun getting to know Grandma & Grandpa & all the things they brought:)  I’ve been learning alot during the wait for the birthing pains that has been very precious so I’m not in the hurry I was in a week ago…

Well, I was at the doctor again today.  I’ve already been quite dilated (5/6) for a couple weeks now so I’m making sure I’m ready for the next little Enns’ arrival if he happens to show up before the first due date, next Wednesday.  A big part of being ready is having our options in place for Michelka to be taken care of during the delivery & hospital stay.  I’ve been planning to deliver the night of the 14th so that Keith can be at the delivery & then he & Michelka can head to Prague the next morning to pick Mom & Dad Enns up at the airport:)  

It looks like this baby will be born during this present season of the Lord’s fall feasts (beginning with Trumpets on Sept.30) & there’s alot in that that I’m relishing as we anticipate this birth too.

Hmmm…  For all the previous lengthiness of the last couple posts, I think I will finish the meditations on the relationship between worshipping/fearing God as the foundation of our walks in Christ & the evening meal as a daily celebration & partaking of the Lord’s supper among believers with a few brief thoughts.

If His life & truth were breathed into it again & it was brought back into our homes & onto the dinner table, I actually think that the Catholic eucharist as every mass celebrates it would be closest to what the first century believers probably experienced together:)  We are what we eat and we are not what we are not eating (ie: His holy, sacrificial body, 1 Cor. 10:16-17).  It’s this I sense Him leading us into again corporately…a real live covenant body!

In the previous post I mentioned beginning to see God’s initial intention for our everyday evening meals as the sacrament of communion or the Lord’s Supper, by which the whole church is able to be reconstituated daily on worship of God as its’ foundational element.  There continues to be so much He is unfolding about this & my heart has become so full with a sense of the import of our discipleship being reformed in this one thing.  

I will likely post further with some insights that have been coming on this but would be amiss to not attach the article by David Servant that first initially prompted the flood of passion for the restoration of this sacrament, called The Snack We Call Supper.  The full article is at this link.  Admittedly it is a lot to digest but ooooooh so worth it!  A few introductory paragraphs below…

“In the last church where I ministered, I required that our servers wear a coat and tie on those once-a-month Sundays when we celebrated the Lord’s Supper. It seemed to me that those who distributed the bread and wine should demonstrate at least that much respect in performing their sacred duty.
 
On one of those Communion Sundays one of these servants was driving his family to the church when his five-year-old son noticed that he was wearing a coat and tie. He innocently asked, “Dad, is this the Sunday that we all eat God’s holy snack?”
 
When his father told that story to me later it was a moment of revelation. I had stood in front of congregations hundreds of times and said, “Let us prepare our hearts to receive the Lord’s Supper,” and then proceeded to pass out a little cracker and a little grape juice. And nobody ever questioned it! What we were doing had been done in millions of churches for hundreds of years! A five-year-old boy had exposed centuries of blind tradition—the snack we call supper.
 
The Way Things Were
 
Of course, just about everyone knows that the original Lord’s Supper was a full meal, a Passover meal, shared by intimate friends who believed in Jesus. And anyone who reads the relevant passages from the New Testament can discover in minutes that in the early church, the Lord’s Supper was indeed a supper—a full meal—shared by people who loved each other like family…”

The biggest thing I’m coming out of this summer with is the fear of the Lord & worshipping Him as the matter of first & foundational importance in any individual life & in the corporate life of God’s people.  I’m seeing it as a bottom-line reality & posture that must be established in us, by which we are simultaneously established in Him, before there is any true sending, praying, preaching, gathering of saints or teaching (the core composite components of how the whole of His life is expressed).  Without this all ministry to Him or to others must by nature be tainted with human uncleanness because the heart of worship is simultaneously the denial & emptying of self.   

It’s the first building block in the ekklesia.  Peter’s Matthew 16 encounter with Christ teaches this huge truth in such a very few delightful words…  The Father gives Peter the revelation of Christ by which He can confess “You are the Christ” (I’m seeing more & more how this simple confession embodies the heart of worship) & Christ tells Him he is blessed, that on that rock He will build His church.

I am deeply impressed by the realization that this bottom-line posture of fearing & worshipping Him is also something only He can establish & work in us through the revelation of the Father’s love in Christ (1 John 4:19) – it is entirely out of the reach of being a work of man.  To realize this is to see the true extent of all of humanity’s dependence on the mercy & love of God – it is utterly ultimate! 

In relation to all this I’m also seeing the ingenuity of God’s initial intention for the daily evening meal - that it be the sacrament of ”the Lord’s supper”, by which the life of the whole church is re-founded on this truth daily as a part of the very ordinary rhythm of our lives…but that’s another post:)

Yesterday we were out for a walk with Michelka & found a great little basket for pennies.  She started to fill it up with the apples on the ground at the park we went to & we ended up with just the right amount for an apple pie.  The scent of baking it lingered in the air this morning as I came out into the living room & with the cool air from the open window it felt so heading into fall-ish.  I so delight in the turning of seasons!! 

Summer has coincided this year with a very definite season spiritually.  It has been the most intense & wonderful time I’ve experienced yet with the Lord, such a phenomenal experience of Him as both Messiah & Rabbi – of His cleansing/delivering & very living discipling, most especially with my precious sisters in Christ & not alone.  On the tails of this there is some sense of a turning season again.  I don’t know just yet what it will all entail but wonder if it won’t also be a time to post more again here after being quieter…