A few nights ago I hosted an If:Table and it was glorious. Women who were unfamiliar became familial, and faces in the crowd became friends. There is no greater joy for me than being among women who are finding deeper community.

There was maybe a 40 year spread between us, which is perfect because we had women who’d gone before us to help us make sense of where we are and why we are. We had women coming up behind us as reminders of where we were and who we were. Our roads are different, and for a night, they intersected for three hours over wine around my kitchen table.

Kathy told us about the time she worked on the suicide hotline. Her job was to show compassion to the severely distressed. “Ego wants to be understood,” she said. “But our soul wants to understand.”

It was a perfect three hours, a very welcome interruption to my month. When I look back at May, there will be the time before If:Table and the time after If:Table. I’m more myself and feel so much more known. I’m more grounded and happier. This was a beautiful and holy interruption to a routine few weeks.

There was absolutely no agenda, except to know and be known.

I want to be a friend who welcomes interruption.

May we be interruptible. This is what makes our Savior so irresistible.

The previous posts in this series put light on how to be a disciple, finding value in others and bringing the Kingdom to your community, and how we can be the best community member possible.

Interruptible and Irresistible

18 While Jesus was teaching, a synagogue leader named Jairus came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.

Even though He was in the middle of teaching, we get a glimpse of a Savior who allows Himself to be interrupted.

Let’s follow the model Jesus set before us. The Creator of the universe left His throne to be Savior of the world. Yet His agenda wasn’t too full that he couldn’t go to Jairus’s daughter. He could have healed her from where He was standing, but Jairus asked Him to come, so He did.

20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”

22 Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.

And maybe He went to Jairus’s daughter because He knew he’d run into His own. Take heart, daughter. My healing is for you, too. He heals her body and claims her as His own. No, you’re not bothering me. You are whom I’ve come for.

Friend, He claims you as His own, too. His poem, His masterpiece, His beloved. If His torture on the cross would bring only you to heaven, He’d still heave it over his shoulder and stumble up Calvary. You are that beloved.

23 When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, 24 he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. 25 After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26 News of this spread through all that region.

Friend, our Savior is interruptible, and that’s part of what makes Him irresistible.

Interruptions and Divine Appointments

The issue is that I’m not someone who seeks out interruption. We are programmed to avoid interruption. I have enough going on. I wrote the email invite for If:Table and had it sitting on my desktop for a week before I sent it. Did I really want to give up a Sunday night? Unscheduled Sunday nights are freaking unicorns around here. Freaking unicorns, people.

Had I never interrupted my month, I would have severely missed out.

I wonder: how much of what I see as an inconvenient interruption is actually a divine appointment? Put in my path so that I can help resurrect and restore? So I can experience my own resurrection and restoration?

We won’t experience it if we are unwilling to inconvenience ourselves for the sake of the Kingdom.

Inconvenience. What a great reminder for Western Christians. I think we spend a lot of time counting and recounting the cost, and then recounting again. Searching out the path of least resistance. May we count the cost and see that it is worth it. Any time we bring Kingdom value to someone’s life, it is so worth it.

I don’t want to stand in the presence of God one day and realize I chased all the wrong stuff. I want to live a life so inconvenient and interruptible that I will have unmistakable Kingdom impact. I don’t want to chase comfort and convenience. If God is real, I want to make this one life count. I am destined for holy impact.

So how do we get there?

Here are some game-changers that work for me. Disclaimer: this isn’t a one-and-done kind of thing, but a constant choice every day. When I’m not intentional about it, it doesn’t happen because I’m wired to strive for convenience. You hunt, I gather. That sort of thing.

Game-changer 1: The more in awe we are of God, the more likely we are to notice and keep these divine appointments.

Maybe life really is one inconvenience after another. But the greatest inconvenience this world has ever known belongs to God. It is this: He loved us while we were still sinners. He left heaven because He wanted a relationship with me and with you. We crucified Him. He knew we would, but He came anyway.

I knew it with my head, and was like, “that’s cool.” But then I began to experience it with my heart. If you’re looking for a place to start growing your awe of God, click here.

Let’s be in awe of God, and in doing so, we will change our perspective of our circumstances, life’s interruptions, and those whom He puts in front of us.

Jeremiah 5:22 ‘Do you not fear Me?’ declares the LORD ‘Do you not tremble in My presence? For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, An eternal decree, so it cannot cross over it. Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it.

Game-changer 2: Restore others to their original identity: Imago Dei

God created each person in our midst. He created you and put you in my midst. And I think to myself, so very lucky me, because of all the eras and years and generations, I get to be with you.

When we see each other, we need to see the imago Dei. The image of God. In a flash of light you were created by the One who created Yosemite and the ocean floor and the constellations and the plants in my terrarium that won’t die.

He created you to be a vessel of His spirit and called you forth for good works. May we see all people like this, even if it’s not yet how they see themselves. As we usher each other in to our community, we usher in the imago Dei.

No one can be left outside the city gates when we have this perspective. Can anyone be too awkward or weird or intimidating or frustrating? Heavens, no.

The If:Table was so great because we interrupted our routine few weeks to see the imago Dei in each other. And when we see it in each other, we begin to get a more complete understanding of God.