Brotherhood

I feel like I talk about this a lot, but it is the most poignant revelation I've had in a long time. Brotherhood is the lost sacrament. It seems like this essential part of life just got forgotten over time, which is hard to believe seeing that it is such a necessary thing! There's a reason Jesus picked several men to band together and invest in each others' lives. It wasn't just for them. Almost everything Jesus did was to be an example. So why have we disregarded this one? In my opinion, its because no one knows how to bring it about anymore.

The only people I can think that still gain brotherhood today are military men. Those men train side by side, seeing each other at their very weakest and their very strongest. They go out into dangerous situations completely willing to die for the man next to them. Its sad that we have to subject our guys to something so fierce to experience this, when its available right here, right now.

Ever since the Emmaus Walk in September, I have been learning of this lost sacrament. It came in the most unlikely package, which I am very grateful for. It had a very subtle beginning with a simple invitation. From the first time I met with the guys I knew this was different, this was something I had been looking for and didn't know it. These men laid face down on the ground, crying out to God to help us grow closer to Him. I couldn't really take it in at the time.

But the more amazing thing has come from months of being with them. Brotherhood is not a moment, it is a lifetime. You will know when you have attained a brotherhood when you look back on your past and see how difficult life was before you met them. How you struggled to follow God, but couldn't quite keep it up. How your wife, your pastor, your friends were always there for you, but for some reason things never got past 'good'. But then it changed. A group of men, dying to know the intimate secrets of God, His deepest desires, came into your life. They came, you didn't make them or find them, because God wanted to give them to you. And because these men loved God so much, they were able to pass that Love on to others. They pray fiercely for each other, not just for protection and prosperity, but for God's will. If you needed broken they would pray for strength as God broke you. These men who care about your struggles and victories, who never flinch or shy away as you bare your scarred soul to them. In fact, they respect you more when you open yourselves to them, and they return the act of trust to show just how human they are too. These men, who take joy in your friendship, who get frustrated with spiritual apathy when God is so abundant, who cry openly at the saddest and happiest moments in their life, and never... ever forget how much God has done for them.

When you look back on your life and see those men there, you will know that you have discovered the Lost Sacrament. And how blessed you are because of it. Men NEED Men. The biggest problem with our lives and country and Church is that men are still boys, wandering around lost. There is a reason Jesus brought several men together. He intended for us to band together. I have never felt so supported, so able to grow in Christ, so encouraged to do so! They speak words into my heart, inspire me, convict me, listen to me, and most importantly, love me... no matter what, forever showing me what the Love of God is like.

I have always wanted friends like them. And I would gladly lay my life down for them, in a heartbeat.

This weekend seems appropriate to write about this. I have a good friend visiting from Kansas, one who once told me that he didn't think of me as one of the guys... but more like a brother. That was the first person to ever tell me that. And it changed things. He is bringing his new son to show off and I'm very excited to meet him. At the same time, a friend I have known for a very short time is driving away to follow God's will at the bottom of the country. I will miss him, but am grateful that I even got to meet him. The next day a new brother and very dear friend is preaching at his church, the place he was 'birthed'. It is his first time and I am pumped to hear what God has been whispering to him these past couple weeks.

I love that God created this wonderful sacrament for men. And because it is so forgotten in our culture and Church, I feel I need to spread the word about it.