Holistic Restoration: Following Jesus as a Church in Portland Oregon
Have you ever had a wheel on a bike get its spokes messed up? My grandpa gave me his little yellow Honda moped, and that kept happening. I could never fix it completely. The wheel needed perfect balance between all the spokes.
If not, then torque and pressure would be disproportionately put on just a few spokes. Eventually, they would break, the wheel would wobble, and I would need to try to fix it.
Again and again.
This dynamic is something of what can happen in the church and in our own spiritual growth. The hub of the wheel, as it were, is the love of God. God is love, and the greatest command is to love Him with abandon and love our neighbors wildly.
Stemming from that hub are many good and beautiful expressions of God’s love.
Evangelism
Justice
Art
Celebration
Solitude
Sacraments
And so many more.
What happens, though, when we try to put a spoke as a hub? Or when we put too much responsibility on one of the spokes and not enough on the other?
All kinds of things get out of whack. At best. Wheels wobble, and the thing doesn’t work like it’s supposed to. You feel it, but you’re not sure what to do.
On the other hand, what happens when the wheels are properly tuned and balanced? The bike can carry you so much further than you can go on your own.
I believe this is a part of how God wants to bless Portland through Restoration Church. He invites us into a much bigger story than we would settle for on our own. You see, the gospel doesn’t only let us get into heaven when we die.
It gets heaven into us while we live. The Holy Spirit empowers us to partner with the work Jesus is continuing to do to bring holistic restoration to this earth – that His Kingdom would come and will be done.
What Does Holistic Restoration Mean?
After Jesus rose from the grave, He had a chat with His disciples. It went like this:
“The eleven disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but some doubted.
Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.
And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Kind of a big charge, don’t you think? Take note of all the extreme/universal language.
All authority
Heaven and earth
All nations
Baptize in the Name of the Father, Son, and Spirit
Obey ALL the commands
Jesus is ALWAYS with us
Not a lot of wiggle room is there?
Clearly, this is a task no human, no group of humans, can accomplish. Something more is needed. In our limitations, we can prioritize some aspects of this great commission over others.
Some people will naturally prioritize evangelism, while others will favor caring for the poor. Some will value prayer, others will assign corporate worship the highest priority.
We can’t do it all. That’s part of the plan. Things get wobbly when we ascribe our values onto others or believe that other people – or churches – aren’t as “right” as we are because of what they value.
From there, it’s just a small step to create false dichotomies:
Word VS Spirit
Prayer VS Action
Worship VS Solitude
Liturgy VS Spontaneity
Fasting VS Feasting
And from there, it’s just a small step on a slippery slope to accusations, dissension, and the whole mess.
Holistic Restoration is God’s Heart for Portland
Portland is so, so beautiful. And hurting. It is an absolutely wild juxtaposition. I believe that Jesus wants every nook and cranny of this place to encounter and display His beauty.
It seems to me that this is God’s plan for all of creation. And He will bring this to fruition. Before Jesus told the disciples to make disciples of all nations, God told Adam and Eve to do something that sounds very similar.
“God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”
Right?!!??!
Have dominion over the earth – make disciples of all nations. God’s design and desire for us are something fully….human in the best sense of the word.
Jesus succeeded where Adam and Eve failed. They (and we) let creation have dominion over us. Adam and Eve didn’t just break a rule. Though that certainly did happen.
They broke the entire order of creation. They expected creation to do something for them that God had already freely given them to enjoy – being like God. They were created in the image of God already.
Being disconnected from God’s heart for them and their purpose in life, every aspect of their lives and the cosmos got twisted.
We live in this altered reality.
We’re tempted to think that our value is tied to who accepts us. Or that the government has sovereign power. We may think that money will solve our problems, so we sacrifice our children’s health to make money.
The list goes on.
We expect creation to do for us what only the Creator can do. So we worship – we put weight on creation – including each other, and it eventually breaks under the pressure. Nothing in creation can bear the eternal value of your soul.
So Jesus came to this earth to live. Not only die. He demonstrated what it looks like for a human being to worship God without hesitation or compromise.
It’s beautiful.
And because Jesus is fully God and fully human, His life also demonstrates what happens when God's love touches creation.
Sickness is healed
Hunger is satisfied
Storms cease
Demons flee
Death is extinguished
The proud are humbled
The humble are welcomed
Every broken and twisted aspect of creation is put back into its proper place in Jesus’ Name. He has full authority in heaven and on earth.
In heaven, because He’s the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
On earth, because He is the Son of David who didn’t compromise when tempted and didn’t blink when threatened.
Instead, He let the full extent of created disorder do its worst to Him. The creation put the Creator to death. And by His death, He absorbed every dark, twisted, unhealthy, unholy, broken fiber of creation and strand of history.
Jesus made a public mockery of it all – having it crucified with Him – so that God could put death to death and put everything back into its rightful place.
The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead in a physical, glorified human body. So this full human – Jesus – now sits on the throne of God as God, ruling and reigning over every aspect of creation and every minute of history.
In love.
How You Can Partner with God’s Holistic Restoration
When we love Jesus and obey His commands, we stand in the authority He won and can liberate creation to function as intended.
Romans 8:19 says that all of creation is eagerly waiting, crying out for us to take our place as the sons and daughters of God. Cultivating creation for God’s glory and making disciples of all nations for the joy of all.
God isn’t only waiting for a grand finale to bring heaven to earth. But that’s happening! In the meantime, He invites us to hand out the appetizers for that great feast.
We get to pray for the sick, invite people to trust Jesus for the first time, show up to work with hope, go to school with integrity, care for the poor, pray, sing, give – all of it!
God doesn’t just want heaven to be packed later. He wants your neighborhood to be packed with the joy of heaven – today.
Since we’re limited, we can’t do it all. So we will lean into the aspects of holistic restoration the Holy Spirit invites us to.
And we will cheer on those whom God is inviting to do what we cannot.
What might this look like practically? Isaiah 61 gives a pretty good picture. And check out this less familiar passage in Zechariah.
“The Lord of Armies says this: “Old men and women will again sit along the streets of Jerusalem, each with a staff in hand because of advanced age. 5 The streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in them.”
Let’s trust God for this. Safe streets. Valued generations. Play. Joy. Community. Hope for the future. Every good and perfect gift comes from our heavenly Father. Since He is infinite, He doesn’t have to assign more or less value to how or who we serve.
Anything and everything done in Jesus’ Name carries infinite value.
So we can work with all the strength that Jesus provides – and enter the rest Jesus won.
We can pray like the heavens are open – and study like God will speak in and through His Word.
We can feast, laugh, and party at a wedding – and grieve quietly at a funeral.
We can engage public policy – and counsel individuals.
We can be weak. Tired. Hopeful. Tentative. Doubting. Excited. Bored.
You and I? We get to be fully human, filled with the Spirit of God, and embrace lives of inestimable value.
You’re Invited to Enjoy God’s Holistic Restoration in Portland
St. Francis prayed it well:
"Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is discord, union;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.”
The Holy Spirit has invited Restoration Church to be one part of His great desire to see Portland holistically restored.
