Last night, we wrapped up our Mind the Gap series with the final week of our conversation called, The Death of “They”. It was a fun night. Carol Loveless did a great job with Hosanna by Hillsong. Rob and the band did a great cover of “Us and Them” by Pink Floyd. I mocked Maxie for his insistence that the fog machine makes his voice crack like a 12 year old in puberty. Cider was a big hit in the lobby again. All in all, a great night.

For those of you who missed it or were there and want to review what we discussed, my Scott-isms follow this section. (We are currently having some major challenges with our podcast. We realize this and are doing what we can to remedy the situation. You can try to download via iTunes or our website – the ability to download is frankly inconsistent at best right now. We will let you know when we have been able to remedy the situation).

-”Where’s the bag with our clothes?” (the question Dani asked me when we got to the cabin for our personal retreat. let’s just say I had to drive 4 hours round-trip to make sure we had what we needed for our weekend).
-I can connect so many choices and commitments to certain values to experiences I have had, stories that I have lived. I cannot say the same for principles that I have been taught or pithy quotes I have been given.
-Big Idea: One by one, we can follow Jesus by touching, healing, and eating. (Luke 5:12-39)
-“Jesus reaches out His hand and touches the man, something no one would normally do for fear of being infected or of becoming ritually unclean.”
-Are we afraid to “touch” people who don’t know Jesus out of fear that we will get infected with sin like we can get infected with H1N1?
-Does your theology drive you to spend time with those that Jesus touched? If not, your theology needs to be undermined, shattered, and remade.
-Jesus eats whatever is put in front of him. There is nothing here about him giving evil looks to the guys who are pouring themselves a third glass of wine.
-Then they respond, “why do you party so much? We fast and all you do is party.”
(The following line was in my notes but I glossed over it, much to the chagrin of Maxie who thought it was the best piece in my whole talk)
-If nothing else, the last three Sunday nights should be making a fairly clear point for all of us. We need to be eating and partying with people who we wouldn’t normally. Not so we can join them in drunkenness and then go find all the pictures of our night on Facebook and untag ourselves…
-…But, loving and thinking and serving like Jesus means that we do what he did. And that looks like touching people no one else would. That means making it easy for those who are turning to God – being a conduit of healing in their lives. That looks like eating and partying with notorious sinners and reminding those who would judge and condemn that this is who Jesus came to save.
-It’s easy to be a critic; it’s difficult to actually do something.
-Guilt is a crappy motivator; it’s about as effective at creating lasting change and commitment as drinking a Rock Star is at creating long-term energy.
-The way to bring a death to this idea of “they” is to decide “who” – who is it that you know that you need to touch, heal or eat with? That person is a he, a she, a you. They are not a nameless, faceless person. Decide who and do something.