new and unmoved

this sunday marked the beginning of a new chapter in the life of The Vine, we moved into our new facility and held our first services at a new address. everything was new! okay, not everything...it was the same worship band and pastors and sound board and offering baskets and etc. etc....

pastor david made some incredible observations about progress and moving forward and you can go listen to his first sermon in the new facility here.

lately i've been reading a lot of the old testament, and have been taking in all the times the temple and city of jerusalem was destroyed and rebuilt and destroyed and rebuilt...or built in the first place for that matter.

God has always been clear about one thing, from the days of a moving tent (the israelites were the first mobile church) to the days of solomon's great temple...God's home is not in a tent or a building and cannot be restrained to a location or contained in one place.

neither is God a destination. we are on and in a journey "toward" God, but God is not "somewhere". God is here. God is there. God is everywhere. so we may move, but God remains unmoved. God was just as much in the last location as in the new location.

we are continually beginning and entering newness, but nothing is new to God. God is not new; God is not old...God is.

so what we are doing now, is new, but God is unmoved.

what we know for sure is God is seeking those that will worship Him in spirit and in truth...and without getting into what that means, because i've heard 10 differing interpretations on that, what is clear is that spirit and truth has nothing to do with location and everything to do with state of being.

bigger and newer things can make you think you have arrived or that you can relax and sit back... but i know this about myself; i don't need a big new building or anything else that would give the sense of 'arriving' to lull me into complacency...i will do that all on my own.

and then is when i choose... be present with God or be present in a place. be aware of the movement of Jesus and the Spirit all around me, or think about the next thing i have to do.

though God is unmoved, we are being called to be moved. though the world continually pushes and prods for the new and improved, i want to see the new and unmoved.