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When Jesus launched his one-man invasion of planet earth, he began by gathering a band of disciples to advance his kingdom-movement. He ended by entrusting his movement and his dreams to his inner circle with these words: "As the father sent me into the world, likewise I am sending you!" The mantle of the Jesus movement was not only taken up by the 12, but by the next generation (Stephen and Philip) and the next generation (Paul, Silas, Barnabas, Apollos) and the next generation (Timothy, John Mark, Titus) and beyond. Movement leaders gather people around tables and bread and wine and vision. Meals make movements. We are in the cafes and clubs and campuses of Romania to mobilize the next generation of Jesus' movement to overthrow injustice and exploitation and indifference. Table to table. Jesus style.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

"Spiritual" is a Lame Understatement

This week I took a little pilgrimage to visit the Cristos Pentru Romania "bible school" in Cluj-Napoca. The object was to make some new friends and to connect our young people with a fascinating and unique gathering of young Jesus people I had heard of.  I had hoped to take Alex and Nadia both, but Alex had job interviews and so she was left behind. I simply called and said we would like to visit, and they opened the door and gave us beds with the "students". I am glad we went.

To say these kids are "spiritual" is kind of a lame understatement. When their daily 6:00 pm worship began, at first they seemed to be a tardy and typically unruly group of 20-somethings. But gradually the kids began to worship. A spontaneous song with no words sprang up among them, here and there. Soon they were a fascinating, unscripted, vocal-but-not-verbal orchestra of sounds. THEN the music started. A funny little guy was leading everybody, but whether or not he was a "leader" I couldn't tell. It was like he could see a huge invisible musical score in heaven, and he was conductor. It was beautiful! Wow.

The 100+ kids appeared to be ages 20-24. About a third were typical european-looking kids, about a third were clean-scrubbed church-kids, and about a third were Bohemians with tattoos or dredlocked hair (more Bohemians than you will find in a typical sample of Euro-kids.)

I put the words "bible college" in quotes because the place seems more like a commune than a college. Yes, they have classes and teachers. But it is foremost a community of people with a shared mission and a shared commitment to Jesus and his kingdom.

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