Why "Epic?"
The sand felt oddly cool as it slipped between his fingers and fell quietly to the ground; the same sand that only hours before quickly seared the bottoms of unprotected feet. The sounds of the other travelers encamped a hundred yards away had fallen still as the night once again wrapped the world in stillness. With the last grains of sands dropping from his hands, the boy turned his gaze upward toward the canopy of a hundred-billion stars stretched above him. His eyes and his mind began to see formations in the stars that reminded him of the stories so often told by his father as the family would gather around the fire - just as they were doing on this night on the backside of the sand dune.The boy stood, pulled his cloak snugly around his shoulders, and began to make his way back toward the one campfire among many around which he would find his father, mother, brothers and sisters warming themselves before retiring to the tent for another night. Pushing the youngest sibling out of the way, he sat near his father and with his face softly illuminated by the light of the fire and an enthusiasm that betrayed no hint of sleepiness asked, "Papa, would you tell me the story again about the stars and the the sand?"Though the father had already taken staff in hand and was preparing to lead the family to the tent for the night, he smiled and settled himself back into a comfortable position and after clearing his voice and wrapping his arm around the young boy's shoulders, began with the words, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters..."As I have thought about the forms and expressions through which I believe God is preparing to use Lynn and me to reach the people of this city with the words and the way of Jesus Christ, the word "Epic" has captured my thoughts. The Merriam-Webster dictionary gives the following definitions for the word "epic:"
1. a long narrative poem in elevated style recounting the deeds of a legendary or historical hero
For the past year or so God has been moving me to see and understand that humanity and all of creation exists within the context of an eternal epic that has been unfolding from the infinite past and will continue to unfold into the infinite future. The epic is a story about one kingdom; the Kingdom of God that was and is and is to come. The epic is a story about one hero; Jesus Christ who personified the way of the Kingdom and sacrificed himself so that all of creation could be one with the Kingdom. And the story is about me, and you, and the other 6.5 billion people alive on this planet today as well as the 15 billion who have already lived and died since the beginning of time until now. It is a story about my children, my grandchildren, and my great-grandchildren for as many generations that remain before the last chapter of this age is written.
God has been moving me to see that from the Garden of Eden to today, He is obsessed with inviting all who will hear His voice to look up from the busyness of our own little constricted stories and not only find ourselves within the pages of this greater epic, but to even take pen in hand and begin writing the epic together with the One who is both the Beginning and the End, the Alpha, and the Omega.
God has been moving me to see that the work of evangelism is to awaken the hearts and minds of people to the reality that a greater story is unfolding, and there is a place in that story for them. The work of discipleship is to more intimately acquaint people with the Hero of the story and to explore the dimensions of the role we were created to play. And the work of ministry is to help one another to take the pen, and with hearts and minds that flow in rythmn with the Author who is Himself the Beginning and the End, write the pages of tomorrow.
As we begin the process of creating with God a disciple-making movement here, I don't want to give myself to pioneering another local franchise of the religious system. I don't want to build an organization that will spend it's days and nights wrestling through the drama of budgets and buildings and programs denominational politics and committees and reports. I want to be a voice echoing through this city inviting people to look up from their small stories of great pain and lonliness to find themselves in the pages of this Epic story of love and forgiveness and redemption and wholeness and purpose and abundant life that will never end.
"...and as the aroma of the sacrificed ram rose to heaven, the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time and said, 'This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed me and have not witheld even your beloved son, I swear by my own self that I will bless you richly. I will multiply your descendants into countless millions, like the stars of the sky and the sand of the seashore. They will conquer their enemies, and through your descendents all the nations of the earth will be blessed.""Papa, that's us right? That's you and me, and mother, and all of us right?"With a smile and silent nod both he and the boy lifted their eyes and looked across the desert in front of them. For as far as they could see, the land was dotted with a galaxy of tens-of-thousands of campfires around which the families of Abraham were gathered, telling the stories of Adam, Seth, Enoch, Lamech, Methuselah, Noah, the Tower of Babel, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and their glorious deliverance from Egypt just weeks ago.