Every Square Inch

You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan...Leviticus 25:8-10, ESV

I want to live inside this conference, I thought to myself.

Sunday morning I sat surrounded by 2,000 college students, campus ministers, and professionals, worshipping together in the convention center in downtown Pittsburgh (for those not local to Pittsburgh, that would be pronounced dahn-tahn Pittsburgh).  A multi-ethnic team comprised of ridiculously talented Asian, African-American, Hispanic, and Nigerian musicians led worship music.  When one young man opened up a harmonica riff to the glory of God I thought, I want to stand next to that young man in heaven.

And, as I often remind my readers, I'm Presbyterian.  So that's saying something.

The worship service represented the apex of this year's Jubilee Conference, an event sponsored annually by The Coalition for Christian Outreach (CCO).  The purpose of Jubilee is to challenge college students to faithful living in every area of life.  Throughout the weekend there were workshops, interviews, and lectures presented by doctors, lawyers, business people, artists, musicians, academicians--even a Pittsburgh Steeler football player and a male model for Giorgio Armani--discussing what it looks like to pursue faithfulness in their vocations.

One speaker challenged us to fill in the blank and consider the following two questions regarding our life and work:

• What does it mean to be a ________________________ ?
• Why does it matter for the kingdom of God?

What does it mean to be an architect?  A musician?  A professional football player?  A stay-at-home mom?  A blogger?  Why does it matter?

These things, this work, these callings matter because Jesus proclaimed:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.  Luke 4:18, 19 ESV.

Jesus came to redeem, repair, and restore everything in creation that was broken by sin.  He came to reclaim every square inch of creation for His kingdom.  He came to inaugurate the eternal celebration of the year of Jubilee.  As followers of Jesus we are invited, through our work, to participate in this work of proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor.

It's all-too-common, I know, to attend a retreat or participate in a conference that gets folks excited about Jesus and the gospel and the things God is doing in the world.  Every time I attend an event like this, I walk away hopeful that the experience will last.  But the Jubilee Conference isn't about manufacturing an emotional experience or sustaining a spiritual high.  It's about learning to live Jubilee.

So I return to my computer and type out my words and proclaim that this blog, this square inch of creation, belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ.  I get to live inside the conference.  I get to live Jubilee.

Join me?

Linking with Graceful in her Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday community:

Much happened over the past few days, during the conference, and I will be reflecting, processing and, hopefully, writing about some of those things in the day ahead.  Much also happened throughout the past week for which I am grateful, so I continue to count:



796.  Triumphant return of rock-star diva girlfriend to sing with her band!
797.  The community that was there to support her.
798.  Getting to attend the event with teenage son and my brother.
799.  Friends placed in my life at just the right time.
800.  Seeing the thermometer reach sixty degrees.
801.  Melting snow giving way to patches of green.
802.  Daffodils pushing their way through the ground and, even though I'm sure I counted this last year, it's a gift each time it happens, isn't it?
803.  Young men getting together for a hike.
804.  The man who put the white lines on the highway.
805.  Cheese curls = the ultimate road trip food.
806.  Spending the night with Mom.
807.  The privilege of blow-drying and curling her hair for her, offering the gift of touch.
808.  Getting to meet blog-friends from The High Calling in real life.
809.  Worship among 2,000 of God's image bearers from all different denominations, tribes, races, and tongues = a foretaste of heaven.
810.  Sitting with my campus minister/friend and his wife, looking down the row filled with their children and their children's friends, bearing witness to the next generation learning to live Jubilee.
811.  Returning to Pittsburgh, returning to my clan.
812.  Harmonicas
813.  Faithful men and women willing to share their stories of living faithfully in every area of life.
814.  Visiting newly-married baby girl and husband, getting to be the mother-in-law sleeping on the sofa.