| | "Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, (Matt 13:32) with its top touching the sky, visible to the whole earth, with beautiful leaves and abundant fruit, providing food for all, giving shelter to the beasts of the field, and having nesting places in its branches for the birds of the air (Dan 4:20-21)."
The combination of these 2 verses provides an image of what I vision for the house next year. To give some background, for next year, I have managed to find a place that fits 12 people, and I've been planning for it ever since. The 12 ppl I have found to occupy this place (including myself) are all CCFers, though I will refrain from calling it a CCF house since it may give the impression that it's exclusive. So...onto the vision...
One day last week, while doing my devos, I was given the image of a tree, and typically when you picture a tree, you picture what can typically be seen, which is what is above ground. But the image I was given included the roots, growing far beneath the soil. This idea of a tree is the basis of my vision for next year.
The first part of the 2 verse vision statement: Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree (Matt 13:32).
The seeds are like the people at the house, full of potential, but not yet grown and nurtured. From these seeds, the roots of the tree will form. These roots are where nutrients are pulled up, and the idea of roots is what I see for us in the house next year. It is where we can inreach and grow together as a community, and as a family, worshipping together, learning together, magnifying and focusing on God day in day out, being accountable to each other...etc. In this way, each person will be spiritually fed and build up a personal relationship with Christ, as well as a corporate one with the other brothers and sisters. To grow together, I hope to encourage spiritual disciplines, which would include (but is not limited to) devotionals, prayer, musical worship,accountability/sharing, Bible reading/study, as well as other not so formal activities like forming cooking teams, cleaning teams...etc. The other key about the roots is that it is typically not seen because it is under the ground, but it is vital. So this growth and inreaching will be something I hope to emphasize at the house, but something I would actually not suggest outside of the house (i.e. on campus) so that we do not seem like a clique and seem unwelcoming to others.
The second part of the 2 verse vision statement: "with its top touching the sky, visible to the whole earth, with beautiful leaves and abundant fruit, providing food for all, giving shelter to the beasts of the field, and having nesting places in its branches for the birds of the air (Dan 4:20-21)."
This 2 verse motif is akin to the vision for CCF last year, which was "move in, move out". In the same way, as the first verse was the focus on building ourselves/each other up and equipping ourselves, the second verse is about outreach and moving out. This is the part where we are outside of the house community, be that in class, at CCF, at Kowloon, or anywhere, we are "visible to the whole earth" and so we must reflect out God's glory. Also, this is describing the part of the tree that is above ground, and in order for the tree to bear "abundant fruit" and "beautiful leaves", it means we must branch out. So one thing I will encourage next year is that when outside of the house, we actually try not to focus on hanging around our housemates all the time, and actually use our outside-the-house time to build up relationships with the others in our community, whoever they may be, believers or nonbelievers, friends or strangers. Also, since we have a house to ourselves, as I discussed with one of the others at the house next year, we were thinking of doing maybe a big dinner once a month or something, just another form of outreach and building community by providing hospitality, kind of like it says in the verse, by giving shelter and providing food (both literally, physical food, as well as being spiritual food for others by pouring ourselves out).
This is what I vision for the residents at the house next year, that we can really bless each other, and also by growing together w/ each other, w/ ourselves, and w/ God, we can also thereby really go out and bless those in our community. |
| | Posted 3/27/2007 1:53 AM - 25 Views - 12 eProps - 8 comments
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