Ed on Harvest Show from Ed Underwood on Vimeo.

There are a few places Judy and I go to that inspire, comfort, encourage, and heal our souls when life is hard. This is one of our favorites: Cannon Beach, Oregon.

We’ve walked that beach during some of life’s darkest days. Hand in hand we’ve cried, rejoiced, begged God for relief as we processed my diagnosis with this chronic disease, some of our children’s worst challenges and hurts, our son’s two tours in the war zone, and the many, many tests and trials of ministry.

The breathtaking landscape of that beautiful place helps in ways that I can’t really explain.

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So Great Salvation! from Ed Underwood on Vimeo.

It’s 64 AD. Paul’s death under the cruel persecution of the wicked Emperor Nero staggers Christianity. The infant church questions God’s goodness and power, especially on the frontiers of faith—the fledgling assemblies scattered throughout the five provinces of Asia Minor. Today that area is northern Turkey.

The deeply discouraging news of Paul’s death served as undeniable evidence of the status of Christians in this messed up and hurtful world: We don’t fit! As aliens in a hostile land we are a people not quite at home living in places where we will never belong.  Following his introduction, Peter encourages his readers by reminding them of who they are as the people of God in 1:3-2:10. Believers have received a radically precious salvation (1:3-12); believers have received a radically new way of life (1:13-25), and believers have received a new community—a chosen priesthood (2:1-10).

Peter’s words in 1:3-12 turn our attention from all that we suffer here on earth to all that we will enjoy in heaven:

When life on earth hurts, think about this: The joy your faithfulness brings to the heart of the God who you!

Peter has already promised the greatest measure of faith and peace to faithful pilgrims. Now he tells us why we can be faithful pilgrims—God’s great redemptive work through Christ means that we are not the same and live with a radical hope.

Pilgrims in a hostile land? from Ed Underwood on Vimeo.

It’s 64 AD. Paul’s death under the cruel persecution of the wicked Emperor Nero staggers Christianity. The infant church questions God’s goodness and power, especially on the frontiers of faith—the fledgling assemblies scattered throughout the five provinces of Asia Minor. Today that area is northern Turkey.The deeply discouraging news of Paul’s death served as undeniable evidence of the status of Christians in this messed up and hurtful world: We don’t fit! As aliens in a hostile land we are a people not quite at home living in places where we will never belong.

1 Peter is a tender reminder of this reality and a powerful prompter to rely on the only resources we have as we serve our coming King in kingdoms that are not His yet: Our status as pilgrims isn’t a mistake that surprises our God. He always planned it this way. We are not alone because we gather in pilgrim communities.

The carefully crafted letters of the First Century followed a definite form. Like the colors of the rainbow captured in a raindrop, Peter’s first two sentences condense the hopeful themes of his letter to Christian pilgrims living in a hostile land.

I’ve been on the road for almost three weeks—teaching at a Bible School, visiting with my daughter’s family near the school, writing this next book, and discipling leaders of churches in Central Oregon.

Preaching and mentoring in churches that share my passion for community, disciplemaking, careful interpretation of the Scriptures, and radical Christianity is an important part of my ministry. I enjoy it immensely, but there’s always that strange time before I preach when I’m joining in their worship. It’s not that the worship is technically bad or that the people around me aren’t truly relating to God deeply. It’s simply not my community.

I find that it’s during their worship that I miss my community the most—Church of the Open Door.

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This is the second half of last week’s Tipping Point—the raw truth about Church of the Open Door. I read this during our Easter services.

We’re Here to Tell You

We’re here to encourage you by telling you over and over again that the life you’ve been living is not the life Jesus wants you to have. To help you believe that you are worth far more than what the voices of this world tell you you’re worth.

We’re here to tell you that life is more than the weekly lineup of reality shows, the vacations you go on, the restaurants you eat in, the fine wine you drink, the golf courses you play on or the sports teams you follow.

We’re here to tell you that your worth is not limited or even defined by the car you drive, the home you live in, your fitness factor, your significant career, your education in a prestigious university, your political party, or your status in some sick codependent performance-based religious tradition.

We’re here to tell you that you do not need to medicate the pain of life with booze, drugs, exercise, materialism, portfolios, education, career, control, or even theology.

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The Choice

Leaders of churches have a choice. We can try to impress people by describing their church in glowing nuanced terms that present a picture of what they think people want to hear or what they secretly wish were true about their church. Or we can just tell the truth and trust God for the results.

I’m at the stage in life where I’d rather tell the truth. The truth is that a “perfect” church is not a healthy church because we all suspect what the leaders and God know—there’s a lot of stuff they’re not telling us. Spiritual health, by its very definition, insists on truth. Healthy churches admit that we’re struggling toward spiritual maturity together—that it’s a messy but wondrously redemptive process.

So, you want to know what’s really going on in the healthy community of faith we call Church of the Open Door? Here’s the raw truth—in all its messy glory!

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