The ashes spread on our heads remind us of our frailty, mortality, and sin.  We are utterly hopeless and messed up.  But it’s in this place of confession and repentance that we press deeper into Jesus, our only hope.  And somehow – in this confession of embracing our frailty something beautiful happens.  We begin to experience Christ’s grace, mercy, and love for us – the undeserving ones.  And it’s through this that he begins to make us new – taking what was once the most shameful and hidden and turning that into the very hallmark of our lives where we see his work the most.

I love this song by Gungor that we sang last night.  It really captures the movement of finding beauty in the ashes.  Hoping that you take the time to be quiet and listen to the mystery of these words.

Months ago I came across a blog post – The 50 Fruits of Pride.  Wanted to share this here as a way to help us see what we might be blind to.  Be prepared to get kicked in the teeth a bit on this.  But know -  we cannot be free from what we do not know grips us.

This past fall Emile made her 2nd trip with Cornerstone Church over to Uganda and was able to share her prototype with locals near our partner church, Buloba Community Church.  It was a tremendous success and her work is making a great contribution to dealing with the overall unclean water issue that so many face around the world.  The story got picked up by Auburn University and you can read more about it here.

Aside from all of this, Emile’s also working on another salt and light project – leading our Cafe Team for our first multi-site venture – Cornerstone Church at Lee-Scott.

So grateful for you Emile! Keep it going – we’re all cheering for you!

Well, in a way that’s how I’m feeling about my blog right now.  Although joshagerton.com is not a life-long friend, it has been a long time.  So now I’m making that awkward entrance back in.

I love to write and tell stories that are worth being told.  I enjoy crafting words, pictures, stories and videos – some short, some long.  It’s my way of being a poet, or a musician, or an artist – without really being any these.

Whenever I have called those life-long friends where too much time has passed – we always accept each other back and in about 2 minutes as if we never missed a beat.  Expecting it will be the same here.

More to come…

¹ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” ⁵ He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

In the end, Jesus will return again and make all things new.  And in the new world there will be no more sin, tears, pain, sorrow or death.  All that was broken when sin entered the world will not be merely repaired, but replaced.  As followers of Jesus in this life we experience freedom from the penalty of sin.  In the world to come, we will experience salvation from the very presence of sin.

So now once again humanity is face to face with God, just as it all began in the garden.  We have been fully redeemed back into the fullness of relationship with God.  Our natural response will be to join the creatures around the throne of God who day and night never stop saying…”Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”

To go a little further…

God’s Love Endures Forever – Psalm 136

Prediction of Eternity:  Isaiah 65:17-25

Inheriting Eternal Life – Mark 10:17-31

Triumph Over Death – 1 Corinthians 15:35-58

Our Future Hope  – 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

The New Heaven and Earth – Revelation 21-22

This Holy Spirit living in us is something much more powerful than my words can explain here.  But I begin to see the power and wonder when I look back at Scene 4 – The Law.  In this scene God chooses a band of slaves to become his holy, set apart people.  They are in bondage, and in great need of instruction of how to order life as a society. He rescues them from Pharaoh in Egypt and begins to instruct them through Moses on how to live and care for eachother in the way he designed.

But he also instructs them to build a tabernacle with a special tent where his presence will be with them again – but in a limited way.  Only the high priest can enter into the most holy place of the tent and that was only once a year to offer a sacrifice for the sin of the people.  While God’s presence was with his people they had to keep their distance.  It’s was dangerous for broken, messed up, sinful people to be in the presence of a perfect and holy God (Think of the end of Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark.) So God was there with the people but still a great separation because of sin.  This picture really captures the essence of God’s presence in relation to his people in that time…The Old Covenant.

Now compare that picture to this one below…the new tabernacle of the New Covenant made not by the blood of bulls, lambs or doves – but by the blood of Jesus, Son of God and perfect sacrifice for such great sin.  This is the dwelling place now of the Spirit of God…his people cleansed by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.  (This is my dear friend Brandon Frenzel and his daughter Ava who live in Texas…could just as well be your picture too.)

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”  1 Corinthians 6:19-20

To hear more on this, listen our Cornerstone Church podcast, The Story, Scene 7: Spirit.  And here’s more to chew on…

God’s ever-present Spirit – Psalm 139:1-16

Life found in the Spirit – Romans 8

The gifts of the Holy Spirit – 1 Corinthians 12

The fruit of the Holy Spirit – Galatians 5:22-23

The Spirit marks us as God’s people – Ephesians 1:11-14

Now most folks would probably say that it’s here – 2123 Hamilton Road, Auburn, AL 36830.

But in reality, this next map is a much more accurate picture of where Cornerstone Church is.

This is actually a map of our Auburn/Opelika community showing all the home locations for those who identify themselves as a part of Cornerstone Church.   (This comes from a tool that our Executive Team is using as we evaluate potential sites for other worship gathering locations.  The blue dots with numbers represent the concentrations of where people live. You can click to enlarge – I know you want to.) But I would say that an even more accurate picture would be one that also shows all of the places where we work, shop, eat, go to school and just hang out.  In fact it would show every place that we go in life – probably totally covering up the map -  because the reality is that the church is not a place – but it is a people.  And if you count yourself as one who is a follower of Jesus – then you are the church…the body of Christ right here in East Alabama.

Amazing thought huh.  Hope this challenges some of us to get out of the “Church is where I go on Sunday mornings” and into “I am the church.”  And there are so many implications for this.  But it is getting late and there are many more future posts for that.

Jesus – “who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!”  Philippians 2:6-8

Yes, Jesus – the one back there in “Scene 1” at the foundations of the earth – in the most amazing act of humility intentionally enters into the world as a man and puts himself under the penalty of death – that penalty that has destroyed every living thing on the earth since the disobedience of Adam and Eve.

In doing so he serves as the perfect sacrifice…a lamb unlike the ones the people had been sacrificing year after year in the temple.  This was a lamb provided by God, one final sacrifice that would atone for the sins of the world.

But it doesn’t end there with Jesus’ perfect death for us.  He actually comes back to life again and thus defeats death.  “Where O’ death is your victory? Where, O death is your sting?…But thanks be to God!  He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  1 Corinthians 15:54, 57

More words for us to journey through as we continue living in grace…

The Lord is Gracious:  Psalm 145

God’s grace to a wayward Israel:  Nehemiah 9:1-31

Messiah’s birth and death prophesied:  Isaiah 9:1-7, 52:13-53:12

The Coming of Jesus:  John 1:1-14

The lost son:  Luke 15

The death and resurrection of Jesus:  Luke 22-24

God’s grace in the midst of suffering:  1 Peter 1:3-12