Cage of Assumption

What are the assumptions about God, yourself, others and the world that you need to challenge? How do you or how can you go about challenging those assumptions? In what ways have you recognized this week that your assumptions color your world? Inquiring minds want to know!

Randomize Your Routine

Here is the heuristic for this week. Don't forget, you can download this and a mobile version @ www.crosspointe.com

The Cage of Routine

Okay, I'll admit it! I had a ton of fun this Sunday watching folks adapt to the changes in our worship environment. It was especially pleasing to see folks wander about the main space looking for their favorite seat only to be asked during the congregational greeting not to sit back down in the same seat! Maybe I shouldn't be so gleeful but I think it helped get my point across: even good routines become bad routines if we don't change the routine. 

I really like the concept of spiritual formation as a holy conundrum. It's a conundrum because we've recognized that spiritual formation on our soul journey is about establishing holy routines - we call them spiritual disciplines. But as Mark Batterson says in his book The Wild Goose Chase, "even sacred routines become empty ritual when they are done out of left-brain memory instead of right-brain imagination." 

What sacred routines do you need to rupture? Do you ever find yourself moving through holy rituals with a sort of mindlessness? Are you bored with your faith? I'm looking forward to reading and hearing your responses to this week.

Responsible Irresponsibility

The web site Dorthy.com polled more than 2,000 people last November to see how people make promises before the New Year and how they keep them (or not) as the case may be. While women are more likely to make New Year's resolutions (74% versus 58% for men), they are less likely to actually keep them (14% versus 22% of men). Something to cheer about guys! However, before you get too excited, the combined numbers for people keeping their resolutions is 66% of people make them but only 17% keep them! 

Yesterday I wondered out loud what it would be like if each of us in the Crosspointe family made one simple resolution for the new year: to passionately pursue God in a year of adventure. What often holds us back from that kind of passionate pursuit of God are the cages we build or are built around us. Cages whose safety and predictability we've become comfortable with yet don't satisfy us. Many of us are flat out bored with our faith! As caged Christians we long for more but we settle for something far less than the adventure of true followership. 

I left you with several questions as we ended Sunday. I'm hoping that some of you will dive in and share your response to some of these questions or the topic as a whole. Why do we often choose the safety and predictability of the cage over the adventure God has destined for us? Do you ever wonder if you live as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death? Right now, where are you on the spectrum of playing it safe or living dangerously for God? 

Next week, I look forward to hearing your stories of responsible irresponsibility!