Road Party (Part III): Same Name Mountain

This is Part III of the Taylor clan's Spring Break 2014 mad-dash to New Mexico, twenty-six Chevy Traverse hours logged one way. Our destination? Grants, NM to see friends, to celebrate victories over cancer, and to see the mountain! Part III is about the mountain, the same name mountain!

One of my spiritual mentors taught me the phrase:

Thin Spaces

...places where God's presence is thick.
...places where translucence is all that separates heaven and earth.
...places where you sense God's Kingdom blooming in wintered Creation.
...places where bushes catch fire but do not burn.
...places where God whispers in your ear.

Thin spaces are often moments in time: weddings, funerals, meaningful conversations, pivotal moments, but sometimes they are an actual latitude and longitude, a geographical pinpoint on the global map to which you can return time and time again.

Although I always feel God's presence in nature's sanctuary: hiking a trail, kayaking a river, running through trees, or staring into infinite midnight around a campfire...Mt Taylor is a geographical thin space. It's not the most beautiful of mountains, not the tallest, or the most dangerous, but I have a connection to it. You might even say I have a relationship with it.

• Perhaps it's because I first discovered my love for the outdoors under it's golden-leafed aspen
• Or logged hundreds of miles running up and down its high desert single-tracks
• Or took my oldest son, then a toddler, on a Sunday afternoon hike to a mountain spring only to have him fall asleep on my shoulders
• Or stood speechless as a cow elk broke from the trees a few feet in front of me, turned and then galloped up the snow-covered trail
• Or the days I spent nestled under pine trees practicing lectio divina
• Or the the dozens of times I stood on its summit
• Or because it taught me to cross-country ski through blisters, cold and frustration
• Or the nights eating and laughing around the fire with family and friends  
• Or the way it welcomed me after my prodigal return with open arms, as if I had never left

I cried on this mountain. I laughed on this mountain. I healed on this mountain. I discovered more of God on this mountain. It is a thin space.

I hope you find a Mt. Taylor!

Road Party (Part II): Kingdom in Small Packages

Read Road Party part I HERE.

Jesus never said, "The kingdom of God is like Chuck Norris, a quick roundhouse to the temple of a broken world."

or

"The kingdom of God is like Wrestlemania with bulging neck-vein laden threats."

or

"The kingdom of God is like a Sly movie of fanfare explosions."

Jesus says:

God's kingdom is like yeast that a woman works into the dough for dozens of loaves of barley bread - and waits while the dough rises. (Matthew 13:33)

Most of God's reign breaks into the world without headlines: subtly, covertly, humbly.

North Point, Willow Creek, Saddleback, Life Church, New Spring...We all know these churches, churches for which I'm thankful and pastors who have greatly shaped my ministry. I call Andy Stanley my digital mentor. He speaks into my life without knowing I exist, and I'm not going to lie, sometimes I wish I could be the next Andy Stanley. Most pastors I know wish their church were next in the line of superstars (whether we admit it or not).

But for every North Point, 100 churches exist who will never hold a conference, whose pastors the White House will never invite to the National Prayer Breakfast, whose music ranges between fair and "eww," and believe it or not, who might not have a website (gasp). Yet here, in these kingdom harbors, heaven touches earth:

• The gospel is preached.
• The gospel is lived.
• The hungry are fed.
• The wounded are healed.
• The lost are found.
• Grace is extended.
• Communities are improved.
• People are loved.
• Teens are mentored.
• Elderly are nurtured.
• Disciples are made.
• The resurrection is practiced.
• Jesus is Lord.

Grants Church of Christ is one such community: a diverse church, a theologically rich church, a loving church, a progressive church. I first preached at Grants C of C. It raised me as a preacher: offered me grace, gave to me sacrificially, and most importantly loved me. I'm forever indebted to this wonderful community of Christians. 

After a 5-year absence, my family returned to visit our dear friends at the Grants C of C this Spring Break. One of my best friends Matt Clark serves alongside the Grants C of C Jesus-followers and is doing a phenomenal job. He is a legit pastor, in the truest sense of the word...not just to the church but to the community. 

I'm thankful for Grants C of C and the thousand other Churches leavening all the nooks and crannies of God's creation. The video below highlights a bit of our time in Grants, NM.

Road Party: Spring Break 2014, Day 1 & 2

It's been 5 years since the Taylor Clan visited Grants, NM: the place of Pierson's birth, my first preaching position, some of the greatest people on earth, and the sacred mountain, Mt. Taylor (a thin space for me where I first discovered a passion for the outdoors). So we decided to pack the Traverse and head to the the High Desert to preach, encourage friends and be encouraged by friends. This is our Road Party story!