small group study of Francis Chan, Crazy Love (week 1)

Title, Crazy Love. I wonder if the emphasis is on Crazy -it defies human reasoning that God should focus on individual lives and know all the hairs on one's head; a veritable carpet of souls occupying his spaces and generations. Or maybe the emphasis is on Love -that we mortals during our allotted days need to be crazy with our LOVE and rise above the routines and expectations of Society as we advance God's will on earth as it is in heaven.

Majesty and vast universe of creation. We may begin with a notion that God adheres to sanctuaries and altar areas. Then we may one day go to the opposite position and look for God in the infinite cosmos. And finally we may hold these contrasting positions in our minds simultaneously: God is past and present and future all at once. God is at the tip of my nose, eyeball to eyeball with all around me but also God is so vast: and that is OK, even though it boggles my mind and escapes my puny logic. 

“Like dew in the morning” our lives are brief. In the time we have in our hands many opportunities and obstacles present themselves for response or for actions to initiate. We view the merit of a given action in terms of credit or blame that comes to us, to others, or for the glory of God. In other words we are results oriented, rather than concerned primarily about the process and the relationships that are formed and exercised along the way. And yet, perhaps in the mind of God what matters most is not the result, as such, but instead the consequences of an undertaking in terms of our hearts (toward a heart of agape love and toward growing relationships and responsiveness to God; and to one’s neighbors, including strangers, foreigners and those in need). So next time a project attracts large sums of money, time and talent, perhaps the result --however worthy-- is only secondary in importance to the changes in the hearts of those connected in some way (as planner, maker, functionary, or recipient of the project results and services).

Chapter 1 video [prayer; God's face]: freshly worship, freshly pray so that it is constituted from scratch, always fresh, not foreclosed or mere habit.

Chapter 1 video: Much like "live" vs. "canned," studio polished music - the engagement and relationship with God and One's Neighbor is in the doing, not the printed or memorized text. Just as choirs aspire to "sing it like you mean it" (not just produce tuneful notes as a group),  so, too: pray it like you mean it (not just say the formula).

Chapter 1 video: visualizing your approach of GOD's presence in all sorts of facet of Creation - a bug, a bird, a raindrop, a person both interior and exterior, defined and infinite.