Part II - Love is Neither Controlling nor Controllable

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Glad to be with you today. This is such a big concept that we had to do at least two weeks on it. (BW, Don't miss the song at the end!)

Some Resources...
-trippfuller.com/2017/04/13/open-and-relational-qa-with-thomas-jay-oord/
-masonmennenga.com/podcasts
-The Hope and Melvin of Humanity, Jonathan Foster

Some comments/questions...
1)All spirituality is about letting go (btw, this sounds very much like something someone like Richard Rohr would say). Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not? What are you having trouble letting go of? Where are you progressing in your ability to let go?

2)I mentioned that one of the questions I ask myself a lot is, “What are you afraid of?” As you reflect upon your life right now… and you dial in some of the anxiety you are feeling… what happens when you ask yourself that question? What is it that you are actually afraid of? What does the answer to that question say about you, or the situation, or the circumstance?

3)I’ve heard it said that maturation is about moving from being thin-skinned and soft-hearted to thick-skinned and soft-hearted. And I like that. What does that mean for you? And how’s the maturation process going for you?

4)Most of the time when I write (for missio or a book) it isn’t very interesting. I mean, I really enjoy it, but it’s a lot about sentence structure, and words, and re-writing, and thinking, and sitting for long periods of time. Every once in a while, I’ll land on something that’s just so interesting that it takes my breath away. I had one of those moments when preparing for this week’s message. It affected me in a strange and kinda holy way when I wrote the following…

“I think what it means is that the weakest thing is actually the strongest thing. If love cannot be controlled then there’s nothing anyone can do to it. What you gonna do? Kill it. We all know what happens when you kill love. It resurrects. The irony is, most Christians I’ve known don’t really believe in resurrection. Because they can’t let anything go.”

And it makes me wonder how that affects you? How ironic is it that the very thing they would say is the crux of their life, is the very thing they deny? Because when you say you believe in resurrection, but you can’t let something die (e.g., an old thought, an old idea, an old way of living, etc…), then that is what they are doing. Then again, it’s what I do as well. So, I’m not trying to point my finger. What do you think this all means? For you or for the Christian culture at large?

5)If you’re meeting in a small group, maybe end with the way we started… 1Corinthians 13…

1Cor 13 (The Message paraphrase)
Love is patient.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end

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