Conversation with One Another and with God

Spiritual maturity should manifest (Translate, reflect) in ones day-to-day Social life. This opening line by Lucas Come sets the tone for the pages ahead. It sets the tone for the journey you are about to embark on. It may sound as if the book is about an inward journey in which we are to absorb and yet the book is about sharing and giving as we receive. The life of the disciples is exactly about this. Jesus took time to have conversations with his disciples and with the people he encountered. In this book Lucas seeks to take us to the basics and the basis of life. We are people who are created to be in community and to be a community. This is a concept that has been lost in the 21st Century. Even though our faith calls us to be a people, we have instead chosen to be influenced by the world. The virtue today is to be the best at the expense of others. It is an isolating and lonely way of doing life. Conversations with one another and with God is carefully designed to call us out of our shell to share our stories and maybe only then will we have meaningful connections. This is the first thing that I want to bring forth as you begin to read this enriching bookbeing called out. The book itself is realistic as it tackles some of the issues that we deal with in life as ordinary believers who seek to be faithful disciples. Have you ever pondered the question of focusing on God? Is this not something we struggle to do most of the time? Richard J. Foster knows this truth as he reminds us that the world is always screaming trying to draw our attention. He says, In a culture where the landscape is dotted with shrines to the Golden Arches and an assortment of Pizza Temples, fasting seems out of place, out of step with the times. (Foster R.J.: 1978: Celebration of Discipline: The path to spiritual growth: 41) And yet on the other hand Jesus is this gentle voice that does not nag; this voice that is often drowned by consumerism, selfish promises, momentary success and many other things that offer us false hope. 14 Foreword Lucas invites us to focus on positive things. Those things that enable life not just for us, but others as well. This is another profound lesson for us especially in the Southern Africa today. For us to grow deeper in love with God we need to grow deeper in love for others as well. This way of doing life helps us to wipe our tear off and begin to see other peoples tears. We often focus on ourselves and end up drowning in our own sorrow and misery without any sense of being aware of what we can still do; not only for ourselves, but equally motivated to see our potential in journeying with others. The life of Jesus is marked by a journey that takes him to the people to be with the people. It is marked with people being drawn to Jesus. Jesus is receptive, embracing and loving. I enjoy Lucas perspective of Jesus as a better place. Do we ever get to a place of taking Jesus seriously such that our lives are founded on him? What would our lives look like if we were to put Jesus at the centre of how we do life? Could it be that we would begin to treat one another graciously? Could it mean that we would allow justice to flourish and inhumane habits shrink to almost non-existent? We often say, We are made in the image of God. Do we really understand the depth and the breadth of this phrase? It means God first and God last. It means living within the presence of God. It means living not as we please, but as God would be honoured. It means taking God seriously than wanting to see how much God takes us seriously. We live in a culture that seeks recognition as if God sometimes forgets about us. And yet the reality of Gods holiness comes from God not thinking God, but you and I. Therefore God will not promise to love us and then the next minute hurt us. God never plays games with us. God takes us seriously all the time. God takes us seriously even at times when we ta