Faith in community.
I’m Justin. I serve as a discipleship pastor at a mainline megachurch. Perhaps like you, I’ve come to believe that finding and forming real community is harder than ever. However elusive it may be, though, community is what we need to thrive.
This Outpost page contains my reflections on the changing landscape of community life and how it impacts faith. In today’s world, navigating the journey of faith can feel like walking in the dark. Where should you go? What should you believe? Who should you befriend? Why is finding companions so challenging? I’ll dialogue with biblical studies, psychology, sociology, theology, stories from my professional setting, and television (to which I gave a special page), to name a few in search for answers.
However, my real hope is to inspire you to look at your own story and what God is doing in it as a roadmap leading to an abundant, relational life. For thousands of years faith leaders have been saying the same thing… it’s when you look at yourself first that new pathways open before you.
Your story is the compass.
The Burning Desire of Saul: Part Three
Saul is looking for a witch. He is old now, not only in age, but in spirit. Madness wrought by isolation has weathered and wrinkled him. In the camp behind him his army gathers at Gilboa in response to the mounting Philistine forces set out to plague Israel once again.
The Burning Desire of Saul: Part Two
History has referred to him as a madman. Instead, I will attempt to persuade you that Saul had a low window of tolerance, perhaps shaped in him by Samuel, who also had a low window of tolerance. The ability to discern the difference between madness and a human response to the lack of being seen, soothed, and safe, is critical for us. Because as I said, this is all a story about desire. And desire is all about beauty, and beauty is all about God.
The Burning Desire of Saul: Part One
Imagine with me, if you will, a teenager with a nation upon his shoulders. This teenager is tall and handsome, a foot taller than any other boy or man. He is chosen to forge a destiny of kingship impressed upon him by the will of a lost people. And on the day of his glorious coronation, he is missing.