Resurgence Conference in Seattle

I recently went to a conference in Seattle at Mars Hill Church. It was a bunch of guys with cool shirts and crazy hair that came together to talk about doing church in a time of changing philosophies of thought. Other than the speakers needing more direction in their topics it was a good conference. But the obvious highlight was Tim Keller from Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan.

God has given this man an ability to communicate ideas that have been floating around in my head without clarity for some time. The main idea that I came away with was that we all are working towards is the return of shalom. Shalom is the way that it is supposed to be. As a result of the fall of man in sin there are aspects to this world that are not the way it's supposed to be. There is not supposed to be sickness. There is not supposed to be natural disasters. There is not supposed to be depression. There is not supposed to be death. Shalom is when all of those are taken away and we return to the way it was always meant to be.

I appreciated it when he said that when Jesus performed miracles it was not supernatural, but rather the absolute natural. In other words, it is not natural (the way it is supposed to be) to be blind, so when Jesus takes away the blindness he is returning it to the natural (shalom). This opens up so many ideas of what mercy ministry to the poor is all about. Or our responsibility to care for the environment. It is not "natural" for their to be people in need. It is not "natural" for the earth to be polluted. Caring for people in need and caring for the environment is being a part of a return of shalom.

How exciting it could be to be part of the earth's return to shalom, even if it is in a small way.