Walking in reality
Charlotte Featherby, 24th June 2007
We've come to the end of the Job series, and are looking ahead to the summer.
When we have a teaching series, bits of it drop into our lives like drops of colour into a watercolour painting. It mixes with the colours which are already there, our life circumstances, what God's doing with us.
It's like the person of Job is looking at us across the centuries, vulnerable, wondering if we felt his pain, willing to walk his story for us, was it worth it. Do we relate to his story as we walk through painful times in our stories.
When we drop our pebble in the pond it does really ripple out. Like we think about our carbon footprint, things we throw away which don't degrade for millennia, so we write our physical and spiritual lives into the fabric of the world. We are part of the fabric of reality of the world today and in the future.
How much are we willing to reach out and share our little unique bit of understanding of what God's dropped into our lives. This means moving out of our comfort zone. How aware are we of our comfort zones and boundaries? When we do something we're not used to, we get blisters or aching muscles, which is often worse the next day, but if we persist we grow.
We are asked to talk to each other in psalms, which are in reality, they are about real feelings, so are we willing to be real with our friends. It's God connecting with our humanity, he becomes incarnate. He made himself incredibly vulnerable and he asks us to be vulnerable as we walk in reality and talk to each other in reality.
Sometimes we feel we're right on the edge, and we are asked to give of ourselves. Job gave of himself to us when he continued to walk with God. He came through to a place of blessing, as will we.
To live the truth of the gospel in our society is to be quite confrontational, we are tempted to water down the gospel to make it easier for people. But Charlotte feels challenged by Job not to water down or compromise the gospel. Uncompromisingly challenging but speaking the truth in love, in the name of the God who describes himself as love.
We are encouraged by others in the church, share our stories with each other, speak to someone you don't know very well, ask them a question about their lives.
Remember how unique we are and how unique our messages from God are, be willing to share with each other so the church gets a picture of the whole. Stand together, walk alongside, deliberately grow, speak in reality, be in place of vulnerability which is where God is. | 
