Faith is the evidence of things unseen and love is the greatest of these, but what is hope a sign of? St. Paul wrote that character creates hope, but he stops there. Tell me Paul, what is the product of hope?

You can read the rest of the post here. Lore is a fantastic writer, so please check out her archive. She also wrote a profound piece on human trafficking for GENERATE Magazine: “The Gospel of the Red Light District.”

Basically, I will be championing IJM’s use of research to identify potential donors. This represents a huge shift for our family, as we will be leaving the apartment we have lived in since I married Sarah seven years ago, leaving the church plant we helped start almost four years ago and the only real job I have ever had to move to a new city and start a new career on the eve of having our second child.

I have been truly humbled by this experience. We have been searching as a family for over three years for some direction. We have been asking and praying for God to give us the chance to build his kingdom in a dramatic and all-encompassing way during the next stage of our lives.

More importantly, in hindsight I see the great and dramatic irony that God has orchestrated out of my life. After so much wondering about why I was continuing to work at KPMG for all these years it was solely to prepare me for this role. There is no more comforting thought than that.

And the timing is crucial. The numbers have never seemed so dire:

Trafficking in humans generates profits in excess of 32 billion dollars a year for those who, by force and deception, sell human lives into slavery and sexual bondage. Nearly 2 million children are exploited in the commercial sex industry, and an estimated 27 million men, women and children are held in slavery today. (International Justice Mission, “Record-breaking fundraiser held in Los Angeles“)

The only way to combat this is with the power of the kingdom and the gospel. In 15 years IJM has been able to make radical inroads toward changing the justice systems of this world, and I am proud to say that I am joining with IJM to participate in seeing God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

You sent your Son to conquer sin and death.
Through his death and resurrection
he sits at your right hand
and has claimed all authority in heaven and on earth.

May we live our lives as citizens of Christ’s kingdom
spreading the mercy and grace of Christ to all
and building his kingdom on this earth.

Amen

The warmth of the earth
does not compare to the warmth of your love.

You indwell the heavens.
The whole world is invigorated
by your power.

The grass grows and the birds sing
because of your grace.

Amen

Rain was slowly dropping, not yet decided whether it would be a proper rain or a drizzle.

Only a few birds stirred.

My mind began to race.

I had a very busy day at work ahead and a busy weekend.

I laid there, barely any light coming through the window, and thoughts continued to barrage my mind. I couldn’t get back to sleep.

I got up.

I was out the door by 5:40, tennis shoes on, heading for the park with a hoodie on and my Dodgers hat.

There was one jogger on the whole circuit. He passed me from different directions each time. He was using the figure 8 course, and so he would run by me then a few minutes later come up from behind. He wore 80s style shorts that looked like the swimming trunks I wore when I was 5 and an old school Nike headband. I waved hello. He nodded.

I clutched my Nalgene in one hand and my prayer beads in another. I had not been outside this early in several weeks, and my pre-caffeinated mind struggled to put the words together.

I thumbed the beads. People I hadn’t prayed for in several months came to mind, and I used each bead to pray for them.

I prayed over all the thoughts running through my head.

Then I walked home to face the day.

So off we went.

The service was at the same time, but there were no drums, guitars, speakers, monitors, projector screens, video cameras, stages or folding chairs.

Instead, there was an organ, a choir, robes & vestments, pews, stained glass windows, hymnals and a piano.

So much was different—the whole look and feel, how people spoke to you, how they greeted you, how they smiled—yet there is so much that is the same.

There was a lot that was different. But why look at the differences when we should look at the similarities?

There was so much that was similar. The order of service had much in common, communion was served. People were blessed and prayed over. Lives were shared. Food was eaten. It was a calm and beautiful and simple.

Christians are all part of a wonderful world of worship. There is so much that is new and exciting and different, so much that is tantalizing and easy to run off and join, only to latch on to the next best thing. Worship can be turned into a flavor of the week.

Being part of a wonderful world of worship is not about choosing which part of the world we like to live in. We all should do that. The real critical decision is the one that comes after: once we have chosen we should decide to stay put. There is so much energy wasted in the endless chase for “worship” when there is a whole world of worship most will never be able to explore.

There is a wonderful world of worship out there, but none is as important as the world of worship that happens every week with your own faith community. As this next Sunday approaches take a few moments to take in the worship that is happening all around you, then join in, knowing you are part of something that is just as deep, profound and exciting as anything the world has to offer.

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You have sown resurrection in the world as many seeds.
Through us may your Church grow.
Through our words and actions may the kingdom come.

As the flower blooms and the fruit grows,
may your Spirit grow our faith, hope and love,
that in all we do you may be glorified.

Amen

Nothing bad happened per se, it’s just everything went wrong. It was a comedy of errors. I was a mistake magnet, and by 6 o’clock at night I had grown really tired and pissed off at the tumbleweeds that were blowing through my life and messing with everything.

Most people who know me think I am a very calm person, but I have my limits and my potential to snap. I think I said I wanted to punch a wall three times yesterday, and the first time was before 9:30 AM. Yet, unlike Amar’e Stoudemire, I can control the angry thoughts before acting on them (that poor fire extinguisher!). The fruit of the Spirit have wonderful effects, one of them is serious patience. So I calmed down, eventually.

We are reading through James as a family at night and we read this admonishment last night:

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

My ears perked up a bit as I read this. I got the message. I am constantly learning to be slow to anger, only to find out that once I have mastered a certain level of slowness that it can always be improved upon.

My prayer in my journal this morning was this:

Gracious God,
I humbly ask
that you honor
my petitions,
that I may do
your will
and be a participant
in true religion,
to see the orphan
and the widow supported.

Amen

We will all have bad days. Let our anger always be slow, and may we remember that there are far more important things than bad days and petty anger: the orphans and widows who deal with incomprehensible oppression each day. May we slow ourselves down long enough to be the Kingdom.

Thom: In a world that values superficial connection over intimate connections or presence, how does St. Francis teach the church to value real, authentic community?

Jamie: Because St. Francis saw the image of God—even Christ Himself—in every person he met. This approach meant that no person he encountered was incidental—each needed to be treated with the love and respect that he held for Christ.  Francis believed that when Scripture called the community of faith the Body of Christ that it was not simply being allegorical, but instead describing the mystical reality that we experience in Jesus. Again, Francis took Jesus’ teaching very literally.  He especially felt called to live out the teachings in the Sermon on the Mount.  So much of that message speaks to how we relate to others. It is not surprise then that being in an intimate and authentic community was central to Franciscan spirituality (as it should be for all Christianity).

To read the rest of the interview head on over to http://www.generatemagazine.com/interview-jamie-arpin-ricci-on-the-cost-of-community.