The Beginning

12/31/2021

On this New Year’s Eve I wanted to share a thought I woke up with this morning.

I was thinking of things people say when they are overwhelmed. Things like “what the hell?” Or similar but inappropriate things. I heard this thought in my mind while I was thinking of how prone we are to reacting that way in situations that we don’t understand: “peace that passes understanding?”

I suddenly realized that every time I react like that “what the heck?” I have just encountered peace that passes understanding. I don’t recognize it as that obviously otherwise I would not have reacted that way. I think that for a lot of us the problem we have with peace is that we want to control it and order it and fit it to our idea of what it should be. We hold it up as an ideal, a personal truth that we can attain by controlling events and the things that surround us. But in reality it is something living, interacting, and knitting us into something much bigger than who we are if we but allow it to. It, like every living thing, abhors our attempts at control. It becomes diminished in its capacity to bring about real change in our lives when we relegate it to our definition of peace like every friend you’ve ever had who you ignored because you knew better than them what they should do with their lives. You may be close in proximity, but at the level of the soul and the core of being there is no real connection. Every parent who has tried to teach a child what is important in life when that child knows everything knows what I’m talking about.
So, remember the next time you say “what the heck?” Or similar but inappropriate things ( ;) ) that you have an opportunity to connect with something deeper in that situation.
Happy new year! I have a feeling we may need this for 2022. :)

12/24/2021

I know, it’s been a while, but… it seems this should be said right now.

I have a son who is sick, we believe, with neurological complications from a covid-19 infection. Though I am mostly at peace in his situation I still have moments of emotional… irregularities. Today was one such day. In the midst of these feelings of concern, frustration, sadness, etc. came voices of accusation. Voices that challenged my faith. Let me clarify, these voices said things like: if you had faith he would be well. They also accused: if you’d done this or that he wouldn’t have gotten sick to begin with. If you’d not gone he wouldn’t be in this situation. And I can see that, on the bald face of it those things (the last two) are true. If I didn’t bring him anywhere he wouldn’t go and likely would not have have gotten covid and would not be 4 months later still dealing with neurological issues and not talking. Intellectually this is fact. But it ignores context and broader truth.

I kept hearing this as I meditated on this situation: faith is substance and it is evidence. I have heard it twisted into saying faith is evidence and substance of what I want to see. However, that is not what faith is. Faith is not evidence and substance of what I hope for either. The problem many have with faith is they only recognize faith in their own desires, their own interest, their own form of thought. Today I found myself saying I have faith in either sickness or healing. I hope for the best, but I don’t want the arrogance that assumes that I have the first clue what that is.

I believe faith is a bridge that not only brings us to other dimensions of thought, perspective, and living, but that brings things from those other dimensions of life into our experience. The thing is it’s the things that are unseen that become seen, not the things we imagine in our minds eye, because those are seen too. Maybe, just maybe, we need to realize that if we can see it at all, even in our minds eye, that our faith is too small, too self centered, too focused on ourselves.

I don’t know the path my son will walk in all of this. I know I will do my best to be there for him and to help him and to not get in his way. That I will make appointments and meet with doctors and get scans and hear opinions and give him medication as prescribed. I know I did not endanger him knowingly or willfully, that I did everything I knew to do to keep him as safe as I could. I know there is purpose in his journey and in his process even if I don’t know what all of that means right now. I know that faith will bring to me the substance and evidence that I will need for the underpinning reality of who he is on the other side of this. At the end of the day it’s what I have to hold onto when I don’t see anything in either direction. It’s literally just the next voice activating something new, giving it definition, form, substance, establishing evidence that this is all going somewhere I can’t see yet.

What if we walked in that kind of faith all the time in every situation? I can’t even imagine what that would look like ;)

01/10/2021

Fear... I have been contemplating fear a lot lately. It seems it is on a lot of people’s minds these days: Fear of a virus, fear of being controlled, fear of political issues, fear of not having faith, and even fear of fear itself.

I have friends who say wearing a mask is fear not faith. I have seen people boldly ignoring government recommendations about the virus and others doing everything possible to follow the same. I’ve seen social media posts about how God has not given us a spirit of fear, we should not be afraid of this virus. I’ve seen passioned arguments back and forth about these issues. Honestly, I am not writing this to talk about masks, or no masks, faith or fear, or any other highly politicized, polarizing issue. I’m writing this because of the mischaracterization of Yahshua as never being afraid.

At some point we must learn that taking the humanity from Yahshua not only invalidates our human condition it also strips Him of the power that sustained Him while He was here: that being the Christ anointing. It separates us at its conclusion from being sons as He was a son, like scripture says “He came as a son... to bring many sons.”

Before His crucifixion, knowing what was coming, Yahshua was in the garden praying, “Father, let this cup pass from me, but nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.” Scripture tells us he was so disturbed he was sweating drops of blood. He was afraid. Of course He pressed through it, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t afraid. It means he accessed faith in the face of fear and went ahead anyway.

So, yes, fear is there. It will always be there. Everyday we drive safely because we are afraid of crashing, we are careful on ladders due to fear of falling, we don’t touch hot surfaces for fear of getting burned. We don’t generally succumb to these fears because we are practiced at walking through them if not everyday at least very often in our lives. Most of the time we probably don’t even think about them. The point is to pretend we don’t have fear is to oppose the very thing that helps us overcome fear: the Christ in us.

Remember when you are out there on social media you may have already walked through someone else’s situation that has them sweating blood. I recommend we all act accordingly.

12/13/2020

I know growing up in religious Christianity we talked a lot (and prayed a lot) about the Kingdom of God.

Now that I’m older and have read scripture a lot I have to wonder why we are so fixated on a kingdom when it was mankind who asked for a king and the very request angered god? Yahweh built and planted a garden where we could walk and talk in the cool of the day. We rebelled, did our own thing and then asked for a king to lead and take care of us instead of relating to our creator. We pray for the Kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven thinking it is to rule and reign over the things we believe are unrighteous, unholy, or impure. Later in scripture it was explained that The Kingdom is within us. We are not looking for a king, we are not seeking to govern the unholy, unwashed masses, we are tasked to tend to the government of ourselves and recognizing the authority within us that purifies us and justifies us that we may walk past the angel guarding the garden and maybe get back to the place where life has more abundance.

11/21/2020

I have been thinking about perseverance lately.

As I type this I laughed as this question occurred to me: what is the difference between perseverance and stupidity?

In reality I believe there are two things that make the difference.

The first is Purpose. Why do you do what you do? If the cause is not worthy and not born from in your most authentic being then why do it? This isn’t about thinking you’re all that and a bag of chips, or being the “expert” it is about whether or not it lines up with the very nature of who you are. There is a lot of talk lately about viruses and virus transmission in our society right now. The imagery for this is often little cells with “arms” reaching out and grabbing hold of little “receptacles” that fit just right. In many ways I think purpose is like that “arm” reaching out and we are like those “receptacles” that fit just right. It’s hard to say whether we are infected with purpose or purpose is infected with us... but either way I believe that is our goal, to be attached to the purpose that best suits and fits us.

The second is whether or not you quit. Apostle Jim has said many times that “the only thing Yahweh can’t work with is quit.” Imagine being on the edge of a break through in your life. That one thing that drives you crazy about you is just about fixed... and you give up instead. The reality is you’d never know how close you were to relief. I have known several people who I believe were right on the edge of a major change in their life and instead they just gave up. That makes all the persevering they had done previously really rather stupid. I love the Winston Churchill quote, “If you are going through hell, keep going.”

11/16/2020

Apostle F. Nolan Ball once said, “Stress comes from trying to please people.”

This has been on my mind lately. In this time of unprecedented social anxiety and pressure I think it is more important than ever to remember it’s not our fear, not our anxiety, not any soulish reaction to our circumstances that brings about meaningful change in this world. We need to remember that it is authentic actions from who we truly are that brings about lasting change. At the end of the day we need to remember whose we are. Yahweh is not surprised by your circumstance or the measure of your character. He isn’t trying to figure out how you got in this predicament. He’s not trying to figure out how to react. We need to set aside our soulish reactions and pay attention to Him. That will make all the difference.

11/14/2020

I know it’s been a while but I’ve been thinking this thought a lot lately and wanted to share it here:

Sometimes I think we need to be reminded that one does not become religious(in its negative sense) by pursuing religion. One becomes religious by failing to pursue that which is truly spiritual and exchanging that which is whispered from “the other side” for that which is spoken far too loudly and far too often in our natural experience.
If I said to my wife “we spoke days ago, there’s no need to talk today” our relationship would end. In the same way much of what is expressed in churches today is divorced from a true and dynamic relationship. It may be dressed up as what He has to say today, but don’t be fooled. “The Bible says...” is the voice of a long ended relationship, “today if you will hear His voice...” is truly the beginning of everything.

04/09/2019

Vote for Rutland in America’s Main Street Contest, tell your friends to vote too! Also, don’t just vote once vote until the website tells you to come back in 24 hours and then vote some more!!

Downtown Rutland is the heart and soul of a vibrant community that is hard-working, diversified and passionate about their city. Our downtown boasts restaurants, bookstores, unique and eclectic clothing boutiques, is a major center for business, and considered the heart of arts and entertainment in....

03/27/2019

“There will come a time when you believe everything is finished.

That will be the beginning.”
- Louis L’Amour

I came across this quote during the course of this journey here at The Beginning. I have found it to be a great representation of truth. “Church” as it is most commonly represented has a tendency to become route and routine, uniform and conformist. People and the way we live are not like this. We grow, we move and change. We adapt, we evolve, we die and we are born again. Life is constantly about this journey of death to life to death to new life again.
Another quote I came across along this journey is attributed to be an old Mexican proverb: “they tried to bury us. The didn’t know we are seeds.” This is what life is. It is. Everything life needs to grow, to sustain, to exist in it’s fullness is contained within it. Culture and tradition try to put on this life, your life, my life etc. all sorts of things: beliefs, expectations, fears, trials, predeterminations, anxieties, etc. instead of simply allowing it to BE.
We are trained from a young age to look at the world through fearful glasses. Fear of living without, fear of not getting our shot, fear of not having this product or that feeling, or the other joy, or fear of sin, or a different worldview. Fears that rob us of the hope and joy of a generational mindset that looks to embrace change and the cycles of life. We build steeples and buildings around these fears as bastions of thought, theory and religious style dogma trying desperately to keep people in these fearful patterns of thought.
The spirit within us cannot grow and thrive in the planter box of theological or ideological fears, even if that fear is the fear of the unknown.
This next Sunday, March 31st at 11:00a.m. is the end of The Beginning as it has been. It is finished, so that it can begin again as something new. I’m very excited, we will plant this seed so we can see what will grow next. In the next few months we will be holding new meetings at The Beginning. These will not be in a “Church” format, or even in a church building. We are still working out the details, but come celebrate this thing ending as we find ourselves coming yet again to The Beginning.

-Pastor Nathan

02/03/2019

No need to bring food to The Beginning this morning! There is a lot already coming please bring Tupperware and plan on taking some food home with you this afternoon.

01/20/2019

In case you missed it, there will be no service at The Beginning tomorrow. Stay safe out there!

01/19/2019

There will be no service this Sunday morning for The Beginning! Stay safe and enjoy the snow.