Mac And Cheese
Sarah and I used to work with college students. One day Sarah was talking to one of the students and they said they had never made macaroni and cheese. Sarah asked, “how was that even possible?”
This student said, “I’ve always had someone do it for me, so I’ve never learned.”
We went home and taught our 4 and 5 year olds to make Mac and Cheese.
Around that same time, we read the book, How To Raise An Adult by Julie Lythcott-Haims and Sarah and I had this realization, we want to raise fully functioning adult contributors to this world…not helpless well behaved adult children.
Years and years of working with young adults and college students taught us to raise kids that are confident and independent. That can take care of themselves…
But I’ll be honest…when my kids ask for my help making Mac and Cheese, I will gladly do it. I want to help. I want to be asked to help. And they love when I do.
We were never meant to do life and faith alone. We aren’t supposed to be followers of Jesus disconnected from community. We are called to work with, do life with, care for, and help one another. This is at a foundational level of our faith.
If you were at worship on Sunday we looked at Jesus’ teaching on Ask, Seek, Knock, the Golden Rule, and the Narrow Gate.
Though it may not be obvious at first, those teachings all lead us towards and call us to live humble sacrificial lives. Lives where we admit our needs, confess our shortcomings, and sacrificially give generously for others.
We are called to do this life with one another as a part of the body of Christ. We are the hands and feet of Jesus living out our faith in every day moments.
Dallas Willard writes in his book, Divine Conspiracy,
“We should note that the ask-seek-knock teaching first applies to our approach to others, not to prayer to God. We respect and never forget that the latch of the heart is within. We are glad for that fact and would not override it. We can gently but persistently keep our hopeful expectation before them and at the same time before God. Asking is indeed the great law of the spiritual world through which things are accomplished in cooperation with God and yet in harmony with the freedom and worth of every individual.”
In relationship, in community, when we ask, seek, and knock, God may answer by stirring the hearts of people within community to care for one another, to respond to the needs of one another. This takes humility on the part of the asker and sacrifice on the act of the giver.
I wish I could tell you how many people I’ve seen over the course of my time in ministry who refuse to ask for help out of a sense of pride or stoicism. This disconnects them from community and from God.
On the other hand, I’ve seen people over and over again, that knew the needs of others and had the ability to respond to those needs themselves and yet chose not to make the sacrifice to help.
What would happen if we cared for others deeply, if we prayed faithfully, if we lived humbly, if we gave generously, if we blessed others sacrificially, if we pursued the narrow path daily, if we loved recklessly and embodied the way of Jesus relentlessly?
We would be living out the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in Heaven.
This week, I want to challenge you to try three things.
1. Pray every single day for something preposterous, or something laughable to happen. When we pray for things over and over again, it continues to draw us close to God. When we stop, we believe God doesn’t care or can’t help.
2. Humbly confess your own needs or shortcomings, lift them in prayer and share them with others. The early church was based on everyone caring for everyone else. Sharing everything with one another. When we confess what we don’t have, or the struggles we have, we invite others into our journey.
3. Be on the lookout to bless someone, to meet someone else’s needs with what you have or can do by giving sacrificially. We are called to be radically hospitable, to have generosity be what we are known for. We are blessed to be a blessing…are we living that way?
That is the way of Jesus and the body of Christ. Since the beginning, we’ve been praying audacious prayers, sharing life together meeting the needs of one another, and laying down our lives for one another.
Also, if someone needs help making Mac and cheese, help ‘em out.
-Our Noon Prayer Hour continues each Tuesday from noon-1pm. Very simple and guided prayer time you will be blessed by.
-Bible Study on Wednesday, July 17th at 9am for our Men’s and Women’s Co-ed Bible Study Event in James.
-Bible Study on Thursday, July 18th at 8am for our 20’s and 30’s Bible Study in Exodus.
We have just two weeks left in the Sermon on the Mount. If you’ve missed some of it, I invite you to check out the podcast wherever you stream podcasts. This Sunday we’ll continue with Jesus’ teaching on False Prophets and I Never Knew You…so…super fun stuff…
I look forward to being with you.
I did want to thank so many of you for helping out with water for everyone outside and so many of you opting to sit out there. Thank you for sacrificially giving and making space for others. If you can still help out, below are a few ways to help out when it is so hot.
- We are providing water bottles for people sitting outside on Sunday. If you are willing to help with this, click this link and sign up for a Sunday or two to help out.
- To sit inside, you really need to be at The Chapel by about 9:40. It usually fills up by 9:45am.
- We stream our services, so if it is too hot or you want to make space for others, you can worship online from our church website, thechapelatseaside.com and from our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/TheChapelAtSeaside/.
- Our sermons are usually available the same day on our website and likely wherever you stream podcasts.
Let us know if you need anything, having any prayer requests or want to connect with us. I look forward to seeing you this week at noon prayer and/or at Bible Study and/or at worship on Sunday.
Blessings.
Andrew