During the season of Lent, lasting until Easter, our gatherings and conversations at Kairos Hollywood will be shaped around the theme "he must become greater, I must become less." This was the wilderness cry of John the Baptist as he proclaimed the arrival of Jesus Christ, the King.

Lent began last Wednesday - Ash Wednesday - a day that churches worldwide observe by impressing ashes on our foreheads in the shape of the cross as a reminder of the brokenness of our lives and our world - 'from dust we came, and to dust we will return' - and of our need for redemption and rescue - 'turn from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.'

Ruth Haley Barton uses the image of a messy house to describe the state of our lives as we begin the season of Lent:

Many of us have a hard time admitting that our house is messy. We have many ways of distracting ourselves from knowing truth in the inward being and seeing ourselves and our lives as they truly are. The renewal of our hearts and souls begins with a willingness to be honest about the ways in which we have given ourselves over to distraction, to half-truths, and to sin. It is the willingness to be honest about the ways in which we feel distant from God and to tell as much truth as possible about how we got there. (From Practicing Lent: Cleaning Our Messy House)

We embark on this journey each year and, as Easter approaches, it is a journey towards understanding the need for and the meaning of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. As in past years, it is not a journey we are likely to complete this year. In 40 days, we will not fully understand the mysteries of faith or live a life completely in step with the Gospel. In other words, we will not have "arrived." This is neither the goal nor the purpose of Lent and Easter.

Instead, my prayer for the community of Kairos is that we will grasp a bit more firmly and see a bit more clearly that Easter is the story of God arriving for us and for our world.

Lent is a season of preparation for the beauty of Easter: a season where we, together each year, learn what it means that Christ must become greater and we must become less.

Origen, a third-century theologian, wrote that "when the Gospels or the Apostle or the Psalms are read, another person joyfully receives them, gladly embraces them…But if the book of Numbers is read, that person will judge that there is nothing helpful [and] will constantly spit them out as heavy and burdensome food.” Origen himself did not hold this opinion, but the tendency to ignore or overlook the book of Numbers was as prevalent 1700 years ago as it is today.

This past Sunday we began a nine-week series through the Book of Numbers. On Sunday, I encouraged the Kairos Hollywood community to spend time each week reading through Numbers over the next nine weeks (that's only four chapters a week, read on your own or in community) and gave four reasons why we should read Numbers.

1. Numbers’ wilderness setting mirrors our own journey through life.

When we feel tired, exhausted, worn out, and depressed, unable to satisfy our cravings, unable to find, hear, or experience the voice of God in the midst of the chaos we find ourselves in. The people of God have a long history of journeying through the shadows of this world and we can find hope in the stories of God’s presence through the stories of the past.

2. It is part of the Scriptures – the record of God’s word throughout history.

Numbers was not, primarily, written for scholars or intellectuals or historians or archeologists. It was inspired by God’s spirit for the people of God. For us. Paul writes in 1 Cor 10:11 that “these things happened TO THEM as examples and were written down as warnings FOR US.”

3. Discipleship is not always easy and not simple.

Sometimes the call to discipleship involves not having your hopes, dreams, and prayers answered. Sometimes it means sacrifice. And sometimes it means spending time reading ancient books that can be really difficult to understand and can raise really tough questions for us and our understanding of God.

4. As a church committed to participating in God’s mission here in this time and in this place, we must read Numbers.

The story, the characters, and the trajectory are all highly pertinent - strategic, even - to our work as a community in Hollywood.

On the importance of Numbers, Old Testament scholar Dennis Olson writes this:

We may find it hard to get hooked into a story that seems to have such a mechanical and numerical beginning. But for the ancient readers of the book, such lists and numbers bore crucial insights into the very soul of their identity, their unity, their relationship to God, and their place within the community of God’s people. The lists of names and numbers are the material and tangible signs of God’s blessing, God’s faithfulness to past promises and the surety of God’s future promise keeping.

We started the conversation by talking about how God provides order and structure in the midst of chaos (Numbers 1) and intimate dwelling in the midst of wilderness (Numbers 2). I hope you'll continue the journey with us through Numbers over the next two months!

/dave

This past Sunday, I shared about the depth of meaning in the Book of Ruth. Briefly, here's an overview of the four "layers" we looked at followed by some reflections on one of the central themes in Ruth.

(1) Ruth is a literary narrative involves appreciating that meaning is crafted not only in the words, but in the style and structure – of the text: the characterization, the plot, the conflict, et cetera. The Book of Ruth is beautifully woven together to captivate us, to draw us in. The literary quality and narrative style connect with us because it is a good, well-crafted, story. We live stories so it is only natural that we find meaning embedded in other stories.

(2) Ruth is a historical narrative, hinting that there is something true, based in history, that the author wants us to understand. It is not simply a fable, a parable, or a well-told story. The author shows us that this story is important because God specifically and intentionally worked in the life of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz in order to produce a child who would be the father of Jesse who would be the father of King David. Matthew's Gospel picks up on the historical importance of Ruth as it traces the lineage of Jesus to Boaz and Ruth.

(3) Ruth is a theological narrative. There is something going on deep within the story that has to do with God. Although God does not take physical form or verbally speak, the main characters have opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings about God to each other and to God. We have an insight into the inner life of faith of these characters as they journey in the reality that God is continually present in their everyday life.

(4) Ruth is a scriptural narrative. There is something in the story that is intended to relate very directly to us and to our world. We say that Ruth, as part of the Scriptures, is inspired (literally “god-breathed”). In other words, Ruth is meant to be as meaningful in our time as it was in the time it was written. As Scripture, Ruth allows the Spirit to raise questions in our lives and our realities, nudging us to find God's beauty, truth, and meaning today.

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As I have been reading, praying, and having conversations about Ruth, the theme of Ruth - God's faithfulness - has been running constantly through my mind. While reading and appreciating the many levels of meaning in Ruth is wonderful, it pales in comparison to recognizing and receiving the many way this story tells how God is faithful, loving, kind, and merciful and how God calls forth a people marked by a similar faithfulness, love, kindness, and mercy.

In Ruth, as in the rest of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, the word used to describe this characteristic of God is hesed. This word, if it had to be translated into a single English word, would be translated as loving-and-faithful-kindness-mercy-and-grace-that-never-stops-and-goes-on-and-on-and-on-forever. It is that rich and powerful of a word describing our God!

The beauty of hesed in the Book of Ruth is that it is not only a trait attributed to God, but to the characters in the story as well. Humans are praised as demonstrating a degree of this concern and care for others. This is part of what it means to be created in God's image: to recognize the way that God acts toward us with hesed causing us, in turn, to respond in worship by treating others with hesed.

So, here we are in Los Angeles, reading this ancient story that raises questions for us - questions about what it means to live in the truth that God’s faithfulness, kindness, mercy, and love truly have no end. This upcoming Sunday, we’ll be taking time for our community to share thoughts on this and on the questions that are raised when a beautiful story like Ruth confronts us in the midst of our comfortable lives, demanding that, should we take this story seriously, we simply must see the world differently.

Consider that God has not stopped acting towards creation – towards us – with hesed and that we are called to carry this image with us in this world.

Let’s talk about what hesed in our midst looks like this Sunday.

/dave

This past Sunday, we talked about what it means to know Christ and what it means to value knowing Christ more than we value all other things in life.

It struck me that Kairos is a place where this is a lived reality. In many ways, our community demonstrates and embodies the desire to know Christ (in both belief and action) and the willingness to forsake other things of "value" in surrendering to Christ.

It is a beautiful thing to be a part of a community marked by sacrifice and surrender...a community that finds grace, meaning, and value in the journey.

Here these words inspired by the above passage from Paul to the Philippians church:

For those who weren't at the weekly gathering this past Sunday, Greg talked beforehand on what we mean when we say "Equippers." Instead of talking about Pastors at kairos, which word holds significant meaning in itself, we refer to our Pastors as Equippers, and each of our four Equippers takes on a particular role in leadership. We've derived the word from the sacred text where the Apostle Paul talks about those who equip, or "Equippers."

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love. - Eph 4:11-16

We have four equippers currently serving at kairos hollywood, and we refer to them not with the five words above that seem to have either lost their original meaning, or maybe just sound freaky. Below are the five equippers, their re-translated names, as well as the definition under which each of us equippers function.

Dream Awakener/Apostle [Don Chesworth]: The primary concern of the dream awakener is to help people and communities live out their calling in the church and world. They do this by cultivating a practicing environment, calling people to join God in the renewal of all things. They cultivate the growth of the kingdom by multiplying disciples, ministries and congregations by bringing an overall cohesion and strategic focus to the community. While they can wear any of the equipper’s hats, they seek to build a team of equippers who activate the entire body to fulfill God’s mission in the world through the church.

Heart Revealer/Prophet: The primary concern of the heart revealer is that the congregation is walking with God meaning that they are living in the Spirit as well as standing with the poor and the oppressed. They do this by cultivating a challenging environment that dares people to embody a holistic gospel by forming spirit-imbibed contrast communities who follow in the way of Jesus.

Story Teller/Evangelist [Greg Larson]: The primary concern of story tellers is helping the community to embody the good news in their neighborhood. They help to cultivate a welcoming environment that helps the community practice hospitality as a way of life. They invite the congregation to find concrete ways to bless their neighbors and live as journalists who publish the good news broadly. They help the community to live and share the good news.

Soul Healer/Pastor [Audrey Blumber]: The primary concern of soul healers is helping people to pursue wholeness in the context of community. They do this by cultivating a healing environment where people feel safe to be real and move from their false selves toward authentic community. They create a sense of family and belonging, helping the congregation to love one another, encourage one another, exhort one another, get along with each other, comfort one another as well as play with one another. They help the community live emotional healthy lives, where they learn to give voice to their strengths and attention to their weaknesses.

Light Giver/Teacher [David Kludt]: The primary concern of light givers is that the community is being shaped by the sacred text. They create a learning environment where people immerse themselves in the scriptures in order to be formed by them. They shed light on the text in such a way that people hear the voice of God through the scripture. They encourage people to participate in sacred assemblies so that God’s story re-shapes them. They seek to help people understand God’s narrative so that they may live faithful to the God of the story and become signposts of the New Creation.

If you ever want to know more about the Equippers and our roles, feel free to chat us up about them.

-don chesworth
dream awakener
kairos hollywood