During 2011 a frequent theme for this blog was the idea that I needed to rediscover and become reacquainted with Jesus.

It’s the feeling you have when you’ve known someone for your entire life, and then you begin to wonder whether you really know them. Your relationship was formerly built on the impressions of other mutual friends/relatives and maybe your own assumptions. Now, you have the opportunity to know this family friend or coworker personally and intimately, and you finally obtain a genuine relationship with them. You discover that they have two siblings, that their face twitches when they laugh, that they love watching documentaries and that they give their time to the local food shelter. No longer is your relationship the product of broad brush strokes, but instead this person has become real to you. It blows you away, because you never really knew that this real person existed and now you are calling them “friend.”

It almost feels as if this was my process in approaching Jesus these past few years. I’ve been on a journey of rediscovery and renewal.

During 2011 one of the things which gave me pleasure and illumination in my relationship with Jesus was Mondays with Jesus. When I read scripture as a young man, I often read it through the lens of my own biases and assumptions. Jesus was this figure who was  present to support my own self-righteousness and legalism. Just point me to the red letters and the pithy one-liners.

Jesus was all about calling me onto a narrow road. He was the man who called me by name and demanded my instant and total obedience. He was the Jesus who called me to take up my cross and follow Him. He was the Jesus who told me that nothing in my life was more important than Him. He was the Jesus for whom the most important thing was the gospel message. For sure, these things are mostly true, and yet an image of Jesus that focuses exclusively on the sayings of Jesus, without looking at context–at who he was talking to and what he was doing at the time, or what he might have doing beforehand or afterwards–falls in danger of ignoring some pretty important aspects of his character, including but not limited to his patience, kindness and compassion.

Mondays with Jesus were an important devotional exercise for me to reconsider the person of Jesus and to maybe have a better understanding of who Jesus should be to me.

An important book for me in my own pursuit of Jesus was Carl Medearis’ book Speaking Of Jesus. The book nearly brought me to tears, because I found myself wondering whether Christian life could be this simple. For a significant portion of my life, being a Christian wasn’t necessarily as much about me trying to be like Jesus, as it was about me trying to be a good Christian.  Could it be possible to live a faith and life that is truly just about Jesus? It was a question that I wanted to press into. . .

This past December I wrote at the entry point to the New Year:

It is my dearest hope that this Christmas and that 2012 may be an opportunity for us to experience more of Jesus. This is certainly a theme that I wish to further explore with you in this blog.

To aid me on my quest, I chose some books about Jesus and I decided to read the gospel accounts.  I wasn’t interested as much in having an academic understanding of Jesus, but rather I wanted to know the real Jesus. If it was even possible, for someone like me, I wanted to start on Jesus from square one.  

One of the things that my church the Greater Boston Vineyard does every year is something called the Leap of Faith, which tracks with the Lenten season and the forty days up to Easter. During this season we will often fast and pray as a congregation for God to work in our lives. Last year, as I shared in an earlier post, one of our family Leap of Faith prayers was about our oldest daughter, who was experiencing some significant anger issues at the time. 

Each Leap of Faith usually has a different theme which will usually be accompanied by readings from different passages of scripture. Last year, we read and learned from the life of King David. This year the Leap of Faith is about The Jesus Project, which is largely about experiencing Jesus in a fresh and powerful way. As part of this journey we will be following the life of Jesus through the Gospel of John.

Unlike my old church, where everything was mandatory, the Boston Vineyard takes a much more relaxed stance, encouraging us to participate only in those portions of the Leap of Faith that we want to take part in.  

Yes I know that it shouldn’t really be a revelation to me that my church wants to focus on Jesus during the Lenten season, and yet I nonetheless choose to find it remarkable that our Jesus Project, comes at this time for me. At a moment in my own history, when there seems to be no greater and more important question than understanding Jesus, I am being asked to participate in a community exercise or experiment which focuses on Jesus. As Mel Allen used to say on the show This Week in Baseball, “How about that!”

Mel Allen says, "How About That!"

As part of this Jesus Project, the people in my church are being encouraged to try projects aimed at connecting with Jesus.

You shouldn’t be too surprised about my Jesus Project. You’re reading it.

During the Lenten Season and our Leap of Faith, I will focus on Jesus in the hopes of experiencing more of Him.  I also hope to resume my Mondays with Jesus during this season [although I may switch days, since Mondays are difficult for me. Tuesdays with Jesus (!?)] Although, I may not be writing about other topics as much during this season, I hope that you will nonetheless tune in. One of the points which I hope to explore on these pages is how Jesus intersects with so many areas of life, including parenthood, work and calling.

Later this week I will share a little about one of my Leap of Faith prayers, which touches on my own journey to find my calling. Stay Tuned.