Fantastic Fridays!

Alrighty, so now to discuss our last weekly meeting Friday, November 7. Some of the members have said that it is arguably one of the best meetings we have ever had. So it must have been kind of a big deal worthy of mention. Let the truth be told though, God is alive, and He is LEGIT! Too Legit too quit! Praise to the Almighty! Woot!

So anyhoo, this Friday was pretty interesting. Usually our Friday meetings reflect our Wednesday meetings in that our Wednesday group leaders lead the Bible study we studied together. One problem - we had a completely random and spontaneous Wednesday. What does that mean? Well, it means awesome and spontaneous Fridays! Haha, so Zach comes in at 5:30 to meet and pray together. He tells me he's really tired and doesn't want to lead worship this week. Not a problem! We roll with what we've got. In my mind, I had a set idea of what I was expecting to do. It's safe for me to say that nothing I was planning in my head came to pass, and it turned out to be the best meeting ever! What does that mean? Even after weeks and semesters of experience and planning with Epic, I got nothing on Jesus! It's not about the qualifications or the strategies of man, God always knows what's best. It's humbling for me to realize, but it's so awesome to see how God does His thing to perfection.

Since Zach didn't want to lead worship, I suggested we just take some time to draw pictures and write whatever God was putting on our heart during worship time instead of singing songs. So we decided we would pray about it and go with that. So we took some time to pray and did some waiting prayer. As we sat in silence, God gave me a picture of a face of a lion. The lion really reminded of Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia. It specifically reminded me of a scene from Prince Caspian when Lucy looks over this gorge and sees Aslan. Lucy tries to show her brothers and sisters, but they don't see because they didn't believe. I felt like God wanted to use that Friday night to expand our imaginations and creativity that we might see and believe the greatness of God. In my mind, I believed that God would use each person's artwork or writing to be a puzzle piece that when put together would begin to reveal the face of God. So we went for it.

We prayed and lifted everything to God, and we set up the room. Once everyone arrived, we sat around some tables and spent the next hour getting to know each other. I don't know how many people came to the meeting this week. I don't really bother to count anymore. I learned my lesson last year in worrying about numbers. But if I recall now, there was a lot of people there! There must have been if it took like an hour to do introductions! Haha, it was kinda funny for me because I was kind of leading the thing, but I didn't know many of the people because I hadn't come to the Epic Friday meetings for the last 3 weeks due to traveling. So, it was cool to hear from from everyone and hear interesting facts about their lives.

After this, I told them we were going to transition into a time of worship. I told everyone we weren't going to do a traditional way of worship with singing. Instead, we were going to do some drawing. Also, Lydia gave a good explanation of why we worship for any people who didn't understand or who were there for the first time. So we passed out construction paper, lined paper for those who wanted to write, and pens and markers. We had some candles on the table and some worship music playing on speakers while everyone drew and wrote. It was pretty cool.

Actually for me, this time was kind of a frustrating experience. I'm not a very good artist and don't have very good drawing skills. I decided to write instead. I wanted to try to write something that I could share - something profound. But instead, I found myself unable to concentrate. I tried writing, and it wasn't coming out how I expected. I was planning on maybe doing the writing and drawing portion for maybe 15 to 20 minutes. But it definitely went on for about an hour or so. I was surprised by how engaged everyone was. No one acted like it was pointless or boring. Everyone participated!

So after about an hour, it was getting late so we gathered together. I told everyone that normally we would take some time to go through a Bible study and go through the Word. However, we didn't have time to do that this week. Instead, I realized that many of the people who were drawing and writing had been reading through their Bibles for verses. I knew that God had been speaking to the different people as they colored, drew, and wrote. So I asked anyone to share their art and what it meant to them if they were willing to.

It was amazing to see people's artwork and their writings. They were beautiful depictions of their relationships with God and the things God had been revealing to them. Their were eloquent poems and beautiful images. The explanations people gave were even more inspiring and real. No one was forcing things here. The poems talked about raw emotions. The paintings were not the most sophisticated but they reflected a sense of depth of each individuals in a way that words or facial expressions could not themselves describe. I saw the humanity, the pain, the authenticity of people on Friday. I didn't know what to expect and was blindsided with a pleasant surprise.

It was surprising because I had nothing to offer. I had no eloquent poem or magnificent painting to show off. In truth, I was frustrated during the experience. I wanted to offer a sense of hope and inspiration to the group through my art, but I was able to offer nothing. Someone in the group called me to share my art, but I had nothing to offer. Instead, I spoke a message that God put on my heart. I told the group that what happened here was more than anything I could have planned or come up with. I told them that so many times only the pastors, the leaders, the athletes, or the celebrities get attention or are privileged in our society. But what I saw that night was something that money couldn't buy. I got a glimpse of the hurts, the joys, and the hear beats of people. Behind the mask of brimming smiles, I saw a glimpse of the real depth of peoples lives. We saw brief snapshot of people's hearts. It wasn't anything overwhelming, but it was enough to soften the atmosphere and bring a smile to the face of God.

I learned a lot from this meeting. It was something so subtle and simple, yet so profound. Church isn't about the pastor or the leader. It is first and foremost about the people, and then secondly it is about the people. The church must be a participative community if it is going to thrive. I didn't have anything to teach or to speak. It was the artwork and the writing of the people there that taught the lessons and revealed the heart of God. And thus it must be with our churches, we must put an end to our top-down hierarchy and ask God how to empower His people to hear His voice and follow His hear beat.

It breaks my heart to see so many people unrecognized and underprivileged. Our society overlooks the teachers, the workers, and those who work so hard to provide for their families. We cast out the homeless. We ignore the orphans. We privilege the athletes, the celebrities, and the charismatic leaders. We can't keep doing this in the church. The church cannot privilege or give priority to the pastors and the elders. We must lift up and encourage all people no matter who they are. I'm not sure that this looks like exactly as we move forward with Epic. But I pray that God will give us a new sense of direction in how to involve and empower His people to know His heartbeat for those who are oppressed and forgotten.

God, I pray that we may never overlook those you love the most. I pray that you would open up our eyes and hearts to see the needs. Open up our eyes to see our own hypocrisy and pride. Forgive me for seeking my own plans and visions. Your plans and your ways are higher than our own. We want your Lord. Give us a heart that breaks for the things your heart breaks for. Give us a desire to see your name lifted high. Show us how to be the church. Restore the church to what it was meant to be. May we increase in intimacy with you, Lord! You are the desire of our hearts! We love you Lord! In Jesus Name, Amen!