Howdy, pard'ner!

It's how we say, "Partner," in Texas. It's also what God says to us when we are created. The breath of God animates us into life, and the word of God welcomes us into a partnership.

I'm teaching four weeks of being a partner with God in our adult education classes while we run a capital campaign to reduce a lot of debt that we have at church. It's not the most exciting aspect of being the church -- the reduction of debt -- but getting out from under this mound of debt will free up constricted money for other ministries, like building wells for safe water in Africa, ushering a new family into the faith, and lifting our voices in praise to God in ever-diverse ways.

Here's some thoughts that I've sketched out as I approach week 3. I must admit that I'm heavily influenced by two books, Free of Charge, by Miroslav Volf, and Giving to God, by Mark A. Powell (bible critic by day, rock critic by night). If you have the chance to get into them, do it!

1) God designs humans to be partners in creation. (see Genesis 1, 2)

2) As design(er) partners, we are created to reflect the image of God in the world. (cf. Gen 1,2)

3) The God who creates us is the God who gives -- everything. Without God's word ushering forth creation, there is nothing...absolutely nothing. Without God's giving of life to creation, we are not. (cf John 1:3)

4) As God's partners, we are solely receivers. We have nothing to give of our own. The idea that we can is an attack at God's position as God. What can we give to God? Nothing. We bring nothing to the table of partnership with God. (And that's ok!)

5) God, instead, positions us as partners with good gifts. For example, my "earning potential" is actually God's gift to me of the ability to work in the world. I could "earn" nothing without that primary gift of being able to work to receive. God owns, I owe.

6) God does this because God wants us to participate in his kingdom(= where God reigns).

7) These gifts are more than material things, although we enslave ourselves to these "things" and to our getting more of them. The giving that God positions us to reflect is God's good grace. We are grace-givers in this world.

8) The presence of sin in our lives makes us discontent with our position as givers. We'd rather own it all, not God.

9) We confuse our position as partners when we think what we give is truly our gift. It is first, and always, God's gift given through us to others for the sake of the kingdom. (For example, the forgiveness I give is a reflection of the forgiveness I receive from God first. The same for love, hope, joy, and good tunes).

10) We also confuse our position when we think that God has stopped creating and stopped giving in this world. As if God says, "here's everything you get to tinker around with, I'll be back later to check in on you." That's deism and not the God whom the Scriptures describe as being active in this world, and upon which we depend for every thing.

11) If you don't believe that, ask yourself, "where does the next five seconds come from?" The answer is that it doesn't come from us. God must speak them forth, and they are given to us as a gift.

12) The goodness of God is that God gives to everyone indiscriminately and gracefully. The drug lord smuggling drugs and people through Haitian boundary waters receives the same five seconds that the Catholic brother who is rescuing boys from a life on Haitian streets does.

12a) This giving by God may seem rather stupid when you put a drug lord next to a Catholic brother, but the reality is, who among us really deserves what God gives to us? God gives based not on how we give, but on who God is. Good partners reflect God's grace. Bad partners, obviously, don't. The question we must always be asking ourselves, "what am I reflecting now?"

13) Our envy of God's position as giver tricks us into absolving our role in life as partners.

14) But, God won't have that, so Jesus is sent. Jesus shows us true partnership, and his continued presence among us through the Spirit moves us further into the partners we're created to be.

15) This happens immediately when we repent and believe as Jesus provides us opportunity to.

16) We repent of our agenda to own it all, or to squander it all away. We repent really of our need to be KINGS and QUEENS, and our need to be God.

17) We believe when God's Holy Spirit moves us in such away that we adopt the identity of being God's partners and live in the grace-giving life.

It's been an exciting few weeks, and there's one more left. More thoughts to come when I actually create that session. Just thought I'd share what I've been wrestling with for 2.5 weeks now. Peace y'all!