Corey Paxton

 Much has been made about the shift in our culture from modernity to postmodernity.   In a book I read recently, the author gives a great analysis of ways in which the culture of “modernity” has influenced our worldview, values, and practices as people.   I found this quote particularly helpful to understand our “consumer culture’s” influence on our lives and understanding of spirituality.

 “Further, in the modern story, reality is that which is observable, measurable, and repeatable—the kinds of phenomena available, accessible, and verifiable to the five sense.  Thus, reality comes to equal the scientific method.  It should come as no surprise that in such a  world the life of the spirit is ignored or marginalized.  This view of life subsequently birthed in human beings a ravenous materialism as matters of the soul were ignored or reinterpreted within this tightly controlled version of reality.  When the life of the spirit is ignored, people will seek to feed the hunger of a neglected soul with the only nourishment available: in our context, the consumptive acquisition of material goods.  If spirituality is engaged, it is often reduced and turned into one more commodity to be packaged, sold, and consumed like so many other aspects of modern life: in a radically individualistic way.  As a result, to be human in the world of modernity means to understand oneself as a consumer who progresses by working to acquire the things and symbols of a material world that are chosen on the basis of personal preference.  Churches existing within this framework for reality are often no different. “Church shopping” has become the defining metaphor for deciding which community of faith satisfed one’s needs—it is the new mantra.  Churches rarely possess a corporate understanding of themselves as a people but rather as one more collection of individuals choosing to be together based on similar preference (music, preaching, programs, etc)……”

Friday morning, I went to meet with a Vice President of an Engineering firm that I have known for a long time. I was excited to share with him our vision with CRM, and we had a great conversation. However, he ended up sharing with me his passion longer than I shared with him! Lee really encouraged me with what has been happening in his life.

Some time ago, he had a revitalizing experience through the Emmaus Walk, and learned about a new ministry that took the Emmaus ministry into maximum security prisons. He immediately knew that he wanted to be apart of that work, and he has found an amazing adventure ministering in one of the most unlikely places for him to go.

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The day after meeting with Mike, I got to catch up with a couple of my old friends from high school that I haven’t seen in a long time. We had such a good time talking that we spent a couple hours at lunch. God has opened them up to some new experiences over the last year.

Over a year ago, they both sensed that something was missing in the relationship with Christ. They read the gospels again and realized that what happened in Jesus life and the disciples of the early church was very different than their experience. They yearned for something to change, and they asked the Lord to do something different in their lives.

They didn’t expect to receive the gift of exorcism. I can see the Lord’s sense of humor, and delight in this— Okay, you want something different, how about this?

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Tuesday, I got to catch up with one of my volunteer high school Young Life leaders. Mike has always been a entrepreneur. He started his own law firm in Roanoke, and has always been heavily involved with ministry since I’ve known him. We had one of those conversations that we had to cut off because it could have kept going the rest of the day.

I’ll share a few highlights from the conversation-

• Over the past few years, God has been giving Mike a hunger for a deeper experience with Christ than what he had previously known. God has opened up his heart to finding freedom and deeper intimacy in Christ and helping others to experience the healing of the Holy Spirit to break cycles of bondage, depression, and addictions.
• Since being opened up to this healing ministry, he sees much of the church as offering a powerless message of the gospel that keeps people stuck in cycles of guilt-grace-try harder-guilt-self loathing-grace-try harder- self-loathing-grace–the gospel we preach often just centers on forgiveness from the consequences of our sin, and not freedom from the power and bondage of our sin.

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During this past week of travel, I was genuinely encouraged and inspired by hearing stories of what is happening in many of my friends lives. I have been given the gift of friends doing really incredible stuff in different places all over the world, and I want to share of few of the stories that encouraged me.

In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells His followers to pray that His Kingdom would come on earth as it is heaven. Here are a few of the ways I’ve seen heaven crashing into earth this last week. I hope they may be an encouragement to others so we can have eyes to see and join with what God is doing around us-

I’ll share five encounters this week…. (but break them up so they are easier to read)

Encounter 1—-

I got to reconnect with my old friend and mentor, Ben. While he is finishing his Phd at Princeton, he has been developing a ministry with Young Life called Capernaum that touches the lives of disabled students.

They don’t usually don’t give talks at these meetings, but serve the students and create a loving and embracing atmosphere. At the one of the meetings, Ben got to respond to student’s heart by giving him the chance to share a family crisis and then inviting the other students in the class to surround him with love and prayers. Then, another one of the girls in the class started to share about a family issue she never got to talk about, and then they all had a chance to love her too. These students participated in and expressed the love of Christ in a way Ben could have never done by himself.

I think this is gets at the heart of living out the gospel- to draw out what is really going on in the lives of those around us, responding with the heart of Christ, and inviting others to participate in that love. Too often, we never create space to respond to what is really going on in people’s lives because we are too preoccupied with our religious agendas and structures that we think we need to uphold.

Proverbs 20:7- “The concerns of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of wisdom draws them out.”

Matthew 16- “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Saducees……how is it that you do not understand that I was not talking to you about bread.” (Matthew 16:6, 11)

This was one of the most full weeks I’ve had in a while. We went to Williamsburg and had a great time together and catching up with old friends, then got back on the road to share in a leadership development night with Visio Dei. Then, we jumped back on the road to Roanoke the next morning and had a really encouraging time reconnecting with family and friends. In the downtime, I’ve been getting to finish my school work (only 1 wk and then 2 classes left!).

We got back yesterday in time to see my neighbor’s band perform downtown in Raleigh. I really enjoyed the experience. I love listening to new kinds of music when I have a personal connection to it. There is something profound about seeing people perform music that comes out of who they are.

It was a good week.