Mike King

Tom Ryan and Frederick Buechner

Yesterday was Tom Ryan's last Sunday as the primary interim speaker during our year long transition at Jacob's Well after the departure of Tim Keel our founding pastor.  I had the privilege to honor Tom at the end of the 11:00 am service.  The congregation graciously gave him a standing ovation.  Tom shared this quote in his message today and I think it is quite profound.

“Despair has been called the unforgivable sin—not presumably because God refuses to forgive it but because it despairs of the possibility of being forgiven." Frederick Buechner

Significant day for Jacob's Well Community...

Yesterday Founding Pastor Tim Keel announced that he is ending his role as Sr. Pastor of Jacob's Well.  The day was a challenging but beautiful day in so many ways.  Tim Keel is one of my closest friends and partners in ministry and life.  This is shocking for the Jacob's Well Community but not surprising.  Tim's gifts are very Apostolic.  I've received several calls today from people outside of the Jacob's Well Community who acknowledge that Tim's departure is not only a huge loss for Jacob's Well but a huge loss for Kansas City.  It is also a big loss nationally because Tim is accepting a position as a Lecturer at Laidlaw College in New Zealand.  He will also begin the process of earning a PhD. 

So many of us are extremely excited for the Keel family as they embark on this adventurous journey together but we are also deeply saddened by their departure from our community.  We shared the news with the Elders on Thursday (early morning) followed by the staff.  I had the privilege of speaking after Tim's announcement and message on "Holy Spirit as provocateur" (we are in a series on the Holy Spirit).  I spoke about the blessing Tim and Mimi have been to our community and the story we find ourselves in.  Click here to listen to the service.

Please Pray for Tim, Mimi and family AND please pray for the Jacob's Well Community during this transition.

Baptisms at the Pilgrimage

I love when we do baptisms at Jacob's Well.  In addition to all the baptisms, we also had several dedications and annointings.  We pray this prayer over each person baptized, dedicated or annointed. 

Together, we pray that ___________’s minds will know Your wisdom.
Their eyes will see Your glory.
Their ears will hear Your words.
Their mouths will speak Your truth.
Their hearts will be Jesus’ home.
Their hands will do Your work.
That their knees would bow only before You, the Lord Our God.
And that ________'s feet would follow You in the way of Jesus all the days of their life.
Amen.

To conclude our time of Baptism and Dedications I invited everyone gathered to Remember their Baptism.  Martin Luther, the Father of the Reformation, consistently spoke of the importance of "Remembering our Baptism."  This remembering is a deep remembering which invites us to recommit, repent, worship, celebrate and much more.  We remember in a Kairos way instead of a Chronos way.  Baptism is a Sacrament.  This means that Baptism is multi-dimensional and layered with significance.  We Remember our Baptism not only as individuals but as a community.  Water has deep implications for life, creation, restoration, and resurrection.  We truly are a community of people called to be defined by our relationship with God.  We are identified with Christ, who died, was buried and arose to new life.  Remembering our Baptism reminds us that we have life and our destined to be resurrection people. 

I closed the service by instructing everyone gathered to scoop up a handful of water and pour it over their head or make the sign of the cross on their forehead, letting the water run down their face.  In this way we Remembered our Baptism as a community of  pilgrims.

"As often as we fall away, we ought to recall the memory of our baptism and fortify our minds with it, that we may always be sure and  confident of the forgiveness of sins." John Calvin, (Institutes, 4, xv, 3)

Sunday morning at the Pilgrimage

After morning prayer, breakfast and an hour break, the bells sounded for all to come to church.  I love bells.  It doesn't get much better than to walk to church when the bells call.  Mike Crawford and gang led some great music and Deth led us on a look at Psalm 24.

The earth is the LORD'S and all it holds, the world and those who live there.  For God founded it on the seas, established it over the rivers.  Who may go up the mountain of the LORD? Who can stand in his holy place?  "The clean of hand and pure of heart, who are not devoted to idols, who have not sworn falsely.  They will receive blessings from the LORD, and justice from their saving God.  Such are the people that love the LORD, that seek the face of the God of Jacob." Selah.  Lift up your heads, O gates; rise up, you ancient portals, that the king of glory may enter.  Who is this king of glory?  The LORD, a mighty warrior, the LORD, mighty in battle.   Lift up your heads, O gates; rise up, you ancient portals, that the king of glory may enter.  Who is this king of glory? The LORD of hosts is the king of glory. Selah.  Psalm 24

Wanderings at the Pilgrimage

 
On Saturday night all of us pilgrims on the Jacob's Well Pilgrimage leaned into and re-enacted aspects of the wanderings of Israel in the wilderness and walked through a replica of the Tabernacle God instructed the Israelites to build.  This worship and learning experience turned into an amazing worship and transformational time for all of us.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect for this night.  The stars came out and the full moon slowly emerged over the trees in the Eastern sky.  This was a time for our community to imagine what it means to be the people of God.  God's instructions to Moses and the Israelites concerning the Tabernacle was for the purpose of reconstituting for the Hebrew people what it meant to be the people of a Holy God.  The Hebrews who had spent centuries in Egypt and had forgotten who they were and who they belonged to.  One of the prayer exercises that we engaged in was to use clay to shape a representation of what our idols are.  After sharing what the idols were in our lives we destroyed them together.  We truly want to be the people of God who are following faithfully in the way of Jesus.

Random Pilgrimage Moments

Pilgrimage Tent Villages

While most of us prefer to pilgrimage in cabins, many have chosen to take advantage of this wonderful fall like weather by joining a tent village.

Pilgrimage Pool Party

Pilrimage Day One

After some last minute set-up and preparation at Youthfront South for the Pilgrimage, our staff of Jacob's Well enjoyed an afternoon of beautiful weather and fun in the pool.   Several staff kids pleaded for me to go down the waterslide with them.  I couldn't turn them down until I realized that I might die if I had to walk back up the hill one more time.  I caught my breath in time to engage in an intense 4 on 4 water basketball game.  I still want to play like a 25 year old.  Today I'm really sore and I can't imagine what I will feel like tomorrow.  Around 5:00 the Pilgrims started arriving.  It is beautiful here.  The August brown down never happened this summer and the property is green and lush. 

As pilgrims arrived at the entrance they were greeted by a team who prayed with them in their vehicles.

O God, our heavenly Father, whose glory fills the whole creation: May this Pilgrimage be a time of refreshment and peace.  By your Holy Spirit, restore our bodies, renew our minds, and open our hearts to the goodness of your creation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

I shared about the concept of Pilgrimage at dinner...

The practice of pilgrimage in some form is nearly universal.  There seems to be something naturally in the hearts of human beings that encourages the desire to pursue pilgrimage.  We see some manner of pilgrimage in every culture and religion throughout the world.  We take a pilgrimage not because it helps us arrive at a new destination of spiritual enlightenment.  We embrace the concept of pilgrimage to lean into the reality that we are on a life-long journey with the Holy Spirit as our guide who teaches us how to discover full life with God in the way of Jesus Christ.  Pilgrimage helps us synthesize our inward journey with our outward journey. 

After dinner we celebrated with a square dance on the outdoor basketball court and a pool party.

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.  Psalm 84:5

This girl is falling for her church

This is a cool post from Danielle who is falling in love with her church.  Read