An awesome illustration from our friend Kyle Steed from TX.
Atlas Church in Greeley, CO – 709 16th St. 10 am Sunday
" "What happens when people open their hearts?
They get better." "Haruki Murakami
Aaron Wooten (staff director) Welcome, Hello & agenda
Megan Martinez (Volunteer elder): Atlas Outside
- the elders feel we are doing a great job on Sunday and inside the Atlas walls, and it is time to be Jesus to our outside community
- this summer we will begin community service projects to help improve the neighborhood.
an article by Jeff Cook, published by Relevant Magazine, May 2013
Leaving a downtown bar on New Year’s Eve, I was affronted by the voice of a man across the street with a large loudspeaker and even a larger cross hoisted high over his shoulder. This man had a lot to say about repentance, the wickedness of those on the street and Jesus, but no one wanted to listen. Walking away, I was most concerned that my unchurched friends would assume that this man was speaking for me—since I am a pastor and, by all outward accounts, both this man and I are Christians.
Unfortunately, “Bullhorn Guy” has become a caricature, but this doesn’t cancel out the reality that Christians do frequently speak out in bold, cringe-worthy ways.
Atlas Spring 2013 – http://eepurl.com/yO-jr
I look in the mirror for too long some times. Even for a woman who isn’t very fancy or particularly vain, I look in the mirror. I notice bumps and wrinkles and gray hair… I critique it.
I am fat here, or strange there.
I see all the physical flaws, and sometimes I think about those so long they become personal flaws. I am phony, I am rude, I am too loud, I am a bad friend.
I know that sometimes these personality flaws are true. They are true, but they are not condemning me and they are not the core of who I am. I can be bossy, I can be fake, but those atributes are not me – they do not own me. I am not my flaws.
Scars and pores and arrogance, this not how Christ sees me.
When we are alone and looking in the mirror, it is very easy to get into a doom loop of what is wrong with us and how it won’t be solved. We keep our eyes on the ugly bits and fail to see the big picture. Our own image beacons us to fall into a puddle of self like Narcissus did.
But Christ sets us in community. He brings others around us to remind us of the daughter he is calling us to be. He uses their voices to speak of our sonship and our value. He bids us to put our eyes somewhere else, so we can enjoy the real us through the love of those around us.
<3 Kel
" For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body,
whether we be Jews or Gentiles,
whether we be bond or free;
and have been all given the one Spirit to drink.
"1 Corinthians 12:13
