There must be more!

A faith community gathers to search for God because there must be more. They gather to search alongside each other and some are called to play different roles within the scheme of that search. They want to introduce the world around them to that hunger.

shepherds are there to lead them to where neither of them have been, to lead them to where both of them need to go.

The search for more shouldn’t be led by someone who has the more to offer you. Luther has said that "every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying."

No one can give you enough advice or direction for you to have enough of what is actually “more.” What is more can only be offered by our Savior, by our Father. A pastor who gives too many answers doesn’t lead his people to something more but towards something that he’s already arrived at. There is nothing wrong with teaching what one has come to understand but it shouldn’t be the arrival or point of orientation, it should be the place that helps us on our journey to “more”, both as a community and as individuals. Do you want more, then don’t look for it from a man or a woman and don’t trust a man or a woman in order to lead you there primarily, let your hunger lead you there and don’t be satisfied with what the man or woman offers, but at the same time we must not be against what they are able to do that better enables us and our community to be lead to more. If the question is one of hunger or lack of it, then ask yourself, have I been taught or conditioned to have an appetite for something that is not meant to satisfy my real hunger, like a big plate of rice that fills but only leaves one hungering for true substance all over again. Eventually that plate of rice will lead the person to diabetes and a destructive future in regards to their health - though it does provide a filler for the immediacy that we all desire. Many can't eat anything but rice because they have never been taught or offered fruits, vegetables, meat, a balanced diet or they think it impossible and out of their reach. You can tell them to eat more wheat and fruit, but they will do what is easiest and most available, they will eat rice. We should never be satisfied with what is immediate but only find satisfaction in where ourselves and our community is going as long as it leads to “more.” Not more of what we've been "filling" ourselves with but "more" of what we know in our deepest core will really satisfy. We may not know what that actually looks like or what it is, but we should know that it is "more." I really believe that we are born with an appetite for "more", it may just take some time and some wrestling to find it but I don't want to give up and settle. What about you?