I live in Kentucky – the bourbon capital of the world. This state is known for other things as well – horses, bluegrass, and depending on who you talk to the home of either the Wildcats or the Cardinals. Kentucky has experienced a huge shift in the last several years. At one point, it was an economy built around the ability to produce tobacco. Now it’s finding its way in new forms of economic development and it’s doing this across a wide geographical and socially diverse topography. I have a couple friends who are making it there life’s goal to understand city development and how to help places like KY grow in a wildly different and constantly changing world.
All that being said, the royalty of Kentucky is still Bourbon and thoroughbreds. The process of making bourbon is really interesting. The “father” of bourbon was a Baptist preacher, the Rev. Elijah Craig, who took a corn whiskey and aged it in a charred cask or barrel. The product that emerged from the barrel had become flavored and colored by the charred wood. Bourbon is a type of whiskey, but it’s an officially American drink (countries that import bourbon have to mark that it’s from the US on the bottle and if it doesn’t have that mark it’s treated as a weaker drink and not bourbon).
Now if you’re wondering what I’m doing writing about bourbon this morning it all has to do with “proof”. In a drink like bourbon, proof refers to the amount of actual alcohol that is in the drink being consumed. Bourbon must be at a minimum of 80 proof (or 40% alcohol) or it’s not considered bourbon. It can be stronger but that doesn’t give it it’s complexity or make it more valuable. What makes bourbon so valuable is the maturity that it gets from being in the barrel and the time it takes to develop.
At Christ Church we have just “finished” a process that has launched us into a clearer vision and focus for what we believe God has called us to do and be. The Mission that we claim is that we are committed to “becoming living proof of God’s love, one person at a time.” I was blessed and privileged to assist the team that uncovered this identity within our church. What made this more than a phrase was that the team let it mature in it’s own type of barrel. We let it soak into us and become a huge part of who we were, or maybe we let the mission soak into us and change us?
One of the most often repeated comments about this mission is a question – “what will it look like to be living proof?” How will we know what it means to be living proof or what do we need to do in order to get there? The team wrestled with this and we believe that there are daily/weekly checkpoints that we can engage in to keep us on this mission (I’ll write about those questions at another time). I love the questions as much as I love the idea of being this living proof – it’s so beautifully tangible and yet aspirational and lofty. But what does “living proof” mean? What does it look like?
I often wonder if the questions alone give us a task that can be done that will be a part of some mountaintop that we must climb. That’s funny to me – like if we do answer this question alone we’ll make “it”. That’s not how this journey works. Ultimately, becoming living proof of God’s love one person at a time involves a daily dying to our self and a daily (moment by moment at times) intentional and purposeful desire to be like Jesus. In his letter to the church at Colossee, the apostle Paul wrote that “in Jesus, the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” You want to know what living proof of God’s love looks like? Look at Jesus. Look at his life and hear his words and let his very being invade our way of being. Living proof of God’s love is responding and loving like Jesus loves/loved.
Sound impossible? Well, unless you let the process take place, it can’t. Like bourbon, the life and journey of a follower of Jesus takes time. We need the pressure and the process to take place so that we can emerge mature and ready to make that difference. I know a lot of folks who started following Jesus but after a while, they got diluted and they stepped away and they chose a lot of other options. But, I also know some folks, sadly not as many as the first group, who have stuck with it. They endured trials and growing parts. They’ve matured and they’ve stayed connected to something that will push and deepen their faith and journey. These folks emerge deeper, wiser, fuller and richer for their experience. They make a difference daily by not letting life be about them. They have adopted the very likeness of Jesus – they’ve become Living Proof of their God’s love.
I hope you and I will choose this process of refinement for our own lives. I pray that we’ll make a choice to let our faith mature and deepen in our lives. I pray that we’ll let the complexities of life and the mystery Jesus’ being soak into ours. I pray that we’ll let the Holy Spirit prompt and guide us to communities that will help us experience the receiving and giving of God’s love.
Grace and Peace…