The Room of Grace

«Resolving sin is only the starting point of life in The Room of Grace. God's final objective for us is not resolving sin or "getting well". God's ultimate goal is maturing us into who he says we are, and then releasing us into the dreams he designed for us before the world began. That's where all of this is going. That's what has awakened your hope When we swim in the ocean of God's grace, we can't help but respond with playful abandon. We will grin, laugh, and splash around. We will burst into song at inappropriate times, dance, play, serve, fall on our knees in worship, give our lives away, and embrace each other. We'll sin less. We'll love more. We are free. And, we'll naturally think about others. We'll sacrifice to reach to the lonely, the lost, the helpless, the forgotten. Everything, everything seems fresh, vibrant - alive. We find ourselves pausing in the middle of a busy day, shaking our heads and whispering, "Go figure... me.".»

Excerto de um livro chamado Truefaced, de Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol e John Lynch.

É uma Apologia da Graça. Tão radical que até custa acreditar e, às vezes, até parece perigoso aceitá-la.

Não sei se vivo in The Room of Grace, nem sei se alguma vez lá estive... Desconfio que pelo menos já andei lá a espreitar à porta. É atraente não é? Viver sem que tenhamos que esconder a nossa verdadeira cara, livres das nossas máscaras, sem medo de expor os nossos defeitos e as nossas necessidades... E, ao mesmo tempo, sermos suportados por um ambiente de Graça que nos permite dar a Deus e aos outros o tempo e espaço necessários para eles nos ajudarem a sarar as nossas feridas e as nossas lutas contra o pecado. E, a julgar pelo que os autores do livro dizem, o processo não fica por aí. O objectivo final é o amadurecimento que nos leva a uma vida fascinante. A vida abundante da qual Jesus falou...

Não era fixe se cada igreja fosse um Room of Grace?

They may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.

Insónia

É demasiada confusão acumulada numa cabeça que gira a mil à hora à procura de respostas, mas o melhor que consegue é somar dúvidas, perguntas, dilemas, encruzilhadas...

Holydays reflections #3 Party

"Queremos tambores e guitarras
Voando nas ruas
Com a alegria da vida
Que não devia ter fim"

Joaquim de Almeida (poema completo aqui, letra de uma bonita música do Luís Represas - versão com fraca qualidade aqui)

It was 1 a.m. and we had just enjoyed ice creams and waffles at a very nice ice cream shop in the center of Armação de Pêra. We were walking through its central avenue when we noticed how remarkably beautiful was the effect that the moonlight created on the sea. We couldn't resist to walk towards the sea, take off our shoes and step into the seaside. We imagined how it would be if the reflection of the moonlight in the sea were a path leading to another world... At this point I recalled that movie called Truman Show, one of the weirdest movies I have seen. Funny and full of philosophical meaning. Many of us live trapped in some kind of Truman Show. At least temporarily or in some areas of our lives. May we find a way out of it! May we find the courage to travel to the horizon, to the unknown world...

There was a fancy bar at the beach, near the place where we were standing. We could listen to the music that came from that bar. So we started dancing. I don't know how to dance. But I danced that night. We were just jumping around, moving our bodies and laughing like crazy. Letting ourselves be invaded by this wild joy that we are often unable to feel in our daily lives.

I think that human life was designed to be a party. If this world were perfect, if we were perfect, then we should rejoice through life just like happy children with no worries or fears. However, our broken nature originates pain and chaos in our lifes and we are fools and negligents if we continually ignore it. So life can still be a party, but it's a different kind of party. A party where we will drink from the cup of sadness and pain but we may also drink from the source of grace and hope. Sometimes with tears in our eyes and other times with a smile in our face...

And, as we live this strange party, there is, perhaps, a growing longing for another kind of party. The kind of party for which we were designed, the kind of party that is described in the final part of the book of Revelation.

«And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."» Revelation 21:3-4

The deep desire that we feel for something better, for another kind of world and another kind of life is, perhaps, just this loud voice echoing in our souls... And although we can't celebrate all the time we should allow ourselves some moments of wild joy and crazy celebration.

Perhaps the joy that four young friends experience as they dance and laugh at the seaside under a magnificent moonlight at 1 a.m. is just a glimpse of the Perfect Celebration that we shall attend someday.

P.S. I don't know why I am writing this reflections in english. Perhaps its because they are based on my holidays thoughts and I spent those holidays in Algarve, a land whose natives speak mostly english :P

Holidays reflections #2 Truth

Now I realize that there are a lot of things that people taught me while I was growing up that aren't true. And that makes me question every little bit of the teachings I was given. Sometimes I even wonder if there is any truth at all in those teachings. And the famous Pilate's question soars in my mind: "What is truth?". Let's be honest about this: there is a lot of stuff that people consider to be the truth or part of the truth that are relative. We must be careful when we generalize propositions about life, about God, about people. If we don't understand that human truths are often boxed in our cultural heritages and social contexts, we will never enjoy the gift of diversity, we will continue to create wars on subjects that don't deserve so much attention... and we will continue to lose what should be our focus as christians.

From the above paragraph one can conclude that I am quite open-minded when it comes to assuming some post-modern relativist ideas. Even so, the question remains: is there any absolute truth? Can we find an absolute basis for our moral values and our ethic choices? I do believe that there is an absolute truth. However, I don't think that truth can ever be perfectly expressed through some kind of dogmatic propositions. Instead, the Truth is expressed by a man - not a common man, but the human expression of God: Jesus Christ. And how can Jesus help us to distinguish between the real truth that we need for living in integrity and the lies and misunderstandings we are told by influential people and influential media? This is something that comes through a relationship with Him, a relationship that must be lived both as individuals and as a community, a relationship that requires faith, that is based on love and hope and whose goal is the transformation of character to become more like Him.

Therefore, as a christian my main focus should be to know Jesus Christ, rather than score points on debates such as evolution vs creationism, protestants vs catholics, liberals vs conservatives and so on...

What I really need is to know the Truth! I recognize that my made up human-truths are not enough (perhaps are not even true) and that I need to drink from the source of Perfect Truth.

And I am so thirsty... I need You desperately!

"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:32

Holidays reflections #1 Love and pain

Everybody wants to love and to be loved.
Everybody wants to avoid pain like the plague.
What we don't realize is that, in practice, love and pain are often one and the same thing.

And Jesus is the best example!