s'more community

Well, my hard drive died on me. I got a new one and upgraded at that. But for about the last week and a half I haven't had access to the internet. Wow, I didn't realize how dependent I was on things like email and search engines. But I am back in business now as my dad helped fix the configurations on my wireless network card. I still have some work ahead of me. I am now in the process of putting things back onto my computer.

I leave in a few days to lead a family ski retreat. It started out that I was going to the be the main speaker for a youth ski retreat. But as the people signed up they signed up as families. So now I am speaking four times to a group of about 50 adults, youth and some kids. Should be fun.

Much of my material is jumping off some ideas from the sermon series that we are doing at Horizon and some ideas from "Searching For God Knows What" by Donald Miller. The retreat will explore where we find our identity, value and worth post "Eden-exile."

If its true that humanity was designed to find our worth and identity outside of ourselves (in God) then what happens when we get kicked out of the Garden?
Separation from God has caused us to search elsewhere for value and meaning for our lives.

I am attempting to use the ingredients of a s'more to illustrate our human tendencies. Some of us tend to be marshmallows, some tend to be graham crackers and others chocolate bars. Now the real truth is that we all probably fluctuate back and forth between these three tendencies. But certain people for the most part take on these three characteristics as they search for identity and worth.

The Marshmallows stretch and bend to fit the people around them. They are sweet and soft at first, but they usually allow everyone around them to dictate to them their value. They are people pleasers. They want other people to like them because this is their main source of worth. They end up a mess, inside and out.

Others are Graham crackers. These people rebel against the idea of finding their identity in other people. They have bought into the western idea of individualism. They don't care what others think. They try to prove themselves to themselves. Their worth and identity are solely found within themselves. They seem hard and firm like the cracker. But like the cracker, they crumble easily.

And then there are the chocolate bars. These don't crumble. They do break, but they don't shatter. They are easily reshaped into a new form after melting. As God breaks them and melts them they are reformed into the image of Christ. These chocolate bars find their worth outside of themselves yet not in other people. Primarily, their worth and identity are from God. This balances their ability to have a strong sense of community as well as a strong sense of self.

So my four days of content will consist of one day for an intro and then three days for the three incredients of a s'more. In scripture, Paul mentions that the whole church functions as the temple of God. He also mentions that each person's body is a temple of God. I guess we could same the same of s'mores. It seems like each of us has these three tendencies at war within us. It also seems that individuals within the church community can play these three roles from time to time.