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(Insert shout out to all Cubs fans everywhere here, and a special shout out to Ryan Frisvold, my old roommate and a diehard Cubs fan.)

I’ll spare you one story and share with you the other. It’s on the Omaha news right now: a youth pastor, manipulating boys (and men) into sexual relationships under the guise of counseling, just sentenced. The story hit the news about a year ago, with several victims coming forward. His sentencing happened yesterday, which is why its on the news again. And here’s the kicker: I know him.

I know this man. I knew him growing up in Iowa. He wasn’t my youth pastor, but was a youth pastor down the street. Now he’s a sexual predator with a lot of terribly true things scattered all over the internet about him. And he’s serving a life-time of probation (which has many upset, because the sentencing seems more like a slap on the hand).

Disturbing. Utterly disturbing. And terribly sad.

At Jacob’s Well, we often talk about the way of confession – confessing our own shortfalls and struggles – as the way to life. And the way to death is the opposite – to keep our shortfalls and struggles quiet, bottled up, and to try and deal with them on our own. When we do not allow others in on even the most embarrassing parts of who we are (I’m saying allow the whole world, but we must allow some), this leads to death.

Truth is, we’re all screwed up. And we all need the message of Jesus. We all struggle with different things. As the church (the community of God’s people being put together through Jesus), God has put us together to lovingly support one another. We’re meant for one another.

Carry one anthers burdens, for in doing so, you fulfill the law of Christ. -Galatians 6:2

The other day in a LifeGroup leader meeting, David Tan, Jacob’s Well‘s LifeGroup Leader Coach said, “Yes, God’s grace is enough. God gives us grace to do all things, but God’s grace often comes through believers in community.”

Usually when we talk about the importance of confession, and how its opposite will lead to death, we tend to think of examples like this former youth pastor as extreme. But it’s not extreme. Its a very vivid picture of what happens when we try and hide the most embarrassing parts of who we are, and struggle through them on our own. It can’t end well.

I know this guy. I knew him. He’s not some rando I saw on the news with whom I have no personal connection. I KNOW him. When I knew him, he seemed like a pretty ordinary person to me. And yet an unconfessed struggle grabbed its hold of him and has left permanant scars on many many people. People are hurt, innocents have been defiled, lives changed forever.

Our sin and our struggle is much bigger than we could imagine. We may trick ourselves into believing we can handle it on our own, without allowing others in on it, but the reality is that’s a big fat lie.

We weren’t meant to do life alone, and we weren’t meant to struggle through the most embarrassing, difficult, painful realities about ourselves alone either.

Living a unconfessional life can take you places you never imagined going. Dark places. Places where it’s not just you that’s hurting, but you’ve deeply hurt others around you.

Our church, Jacob’s Well, is a community that strives to center ourselves on the realities of the crucifixion and the resurrection. The crucifixion says our sin demands justice, justice has been paid, and Jesus’ death was necessary for the sin all of humanity – every person. Forgiveness of sin is now available to those who confess their need for it. And the resurrection speaks of the new life made possible for all who share this confession.

If all of us need Jesus’ atoning death on the cross, and it was our sin that put Him on the cross, what keeps us from confessing? We’re all in the same boat. In fact, entrance into the family of God is based on confessing the need for Jesus’ death, and the reality of His resurrection.

My prayer is that we would all lead transparent, honest, open lives, where we air out our dirty laundry in community. And my prayer is that as we do, and as we share one another’s burdens, may we find life in continuing to confess our need for Jesus in community.

Meet my friend Dan. He’s cool. He’s an actor, a barista (in training), and an overall good man. He’s in an upcoming play called Kingdom Undone, which is making its premiere at the Southern Theatre in Minneapolis (click the link for more info), and you bet my my LifeGroup is going to try and find a time to go see Dan and his mad acting skills and support him, because he’s in our LifeGroup.

Today, I was near his coffee shop, and just dropped in to say hello. I figure anytime I’m near his coffee shop, I might as well go in. Sure, eventually I may be known as the guy who only comes in to see if Dan’s working, but who cares. Dan’s in my LifeGroup, and if I’m near him, I’m going to see him, because we share a commitment to share life.

Many of us long for and desire community. But at the same time, many of us must realize  if we don’t have the community we desire now, we can’t continue doing the same thing we’ve been doing, expecting different results. For results to change, our routine  must change.

If our desire is community, than pursuing that intentionally with other people is absolutely necessary. And dropping in to their workplace, or their homes (if you’re in their neighborhood) is a perfect way to stay connected. We’ve been so “destination programed” it hardly crosses our mind to drop in on our friends if we’re near them (or expect our friends to drop in on us!). So let’s make a change.

How about dropping in on a friend? …

This Sunday we won’t gather together for worship as a church. But remember:

We are the church.

We may not gather corporately this Sunday for worship, but we can worship. We can always worship.

Worship is much more than singing; much more than a Sunday Gathering. Worship is remembering the extravagant love shown to us through Jesus and living all of life in light of this reality. That is worship.

We can always worship.

So remember and celebrate this as we gather with our families, friends, and loved ones. We can worship as the church while we scatter and when we gather.

May you all have a blessing and hope filled Christmas, and may we all root ourselves again in the story of Christmas, which points us towards the story of the death and resurrection of our God – forgiveness of sin and new life offered to all and given to all who follow Jesus!

I see some news article, read it, and it triggers a thought about something else, so I it, and then I see a link in that blog to another article, and I read it, and then I decide I’m curious about the author, so I read that, and by the end of it all, I’m reading about a dead dog that woke up right before it was supposed to be buried.

Or I’m on facebook, and I notice an old friend, or someone who hasn’t posted in some time, and then I notice a friend who’s not my facebook friend, so I friend them, and as I’m looking through their profile, I find out the name of their favorite book, and I google that, or I find out they’ve converted to some weird religion, and I google that, and by the end of it all, I’m reading some very interesting, albeit, useless information.

How do I get tricked into thinking, “I really need to read this” or “I really need to learn about this?” How do we get lured in?

Perhaps I’m a knowledge addict? Perhaps we’re knowledge addicts? Just wanting to know more and more and more, but most of the time, at the end of these rabbit trails, I realize my time would have been better spent doing something else. Something purposeful. Something (at least) somewhat worthwhile.

So today, I’m going to try and not follow the rabbit trails. We’ll see how it goes…