A Spiritual Service featuring Finding the Lost
I. The Four Pillars of the New Architecture
The philosophical foundations of the new Ekklesia.
1. Prioritize Authentic Community over Institutional Growth
The goal is not to increase attendance or fund a building. Many modern churches manufacture endless activities, turning the church into an isolated bubble. The ekklesia must be a community where people can share life's actual problems, repair relationships, and find advice without judgment.
2. Re-Center the Encounter with the Divine (The Mystical)
Mainstream services are often highly produced cognitive exercises. They lack space for a felt experience of God. The gathering must incorporate intentional space for the transcendent spiritual, integrating silence, contemplation, and the experiential realization of God's presence.
3. Address the "Meaning Crisis" Directly
In a world of rapid technological change, young adults are overwhelmed. The church often debates theological doctrines nobody is asking about. The gathering must address real questions: Who are we? How do we fit into the universe? How do we forgive?
4. The Law of Love in Action (Praxis)
Fundamentalist models retreat into rigid, literal interpretations of rules, creating an atmosphere of guilt. The new gathering must embody the "Law of Love," driven by hospitality, alleviating guilt through forgiveness, and empowering people to serve.
The Biopic Homily
The Full Spiritual Service
The approximate length of this spiritual service is ~70 minutes.
Step 1 & 2: Fellowship and Honest Sharing
Song Intro: Use the song No One Left Behind to set the spiritual mood for this Ekklesia (gathering). It emphasizes that we are all God's children and not left behind. We are forgiven. It's part of spiritual growth. The Music Video is at No One Left Behind YouTube Music Video to introduce the service.
- 1. Fellowship (15 mins): Start with shared food, coffee, and casual connection. This immediately combats the isolation of the modern world and establishes that this is a family of mutual support.
- 2. Sharing the Good, Bad, and Ugly (15 mins): Dismantle the toxic "purity culture." Allowing people to share their struggles openly demonstrates that grace is real and that chata'ah (missing the mark) is a normal part of learning and spiritual growth. This grounds the meeting in real life. But our mistakes and misfortunes are balanced by the celebration of good things that happen in people’s lives, the God winks, the victories, the forward movement, etc.
To structure this time, ask: What is one thing you are carrying right now that feels too heavy?
Ask: Where did you feel most alive or connected this week?
Step 3: The Divine Encounter
Having recognized God’s presence in daily struggles, the mind is primed for the superconscious (spiritual) space. This is facilitated through:
- The Auditory Transition: A single, resonant sound (like a chime) to mark the end of human conversation and the beginning of listening to the divine.
- The Potential of Silence: Framing 3 minutes of silence not as an absence of talking, but as a "potential space"* waiting to be filled by the Spirit.
- Tactile Release of Burdens: Engaging the sensorimotor connection through physical acts, like dissolving a written burden in water, lighting a candle, or throwing the thought away, to anchor the "felt meaning."
- Posture of Receptivity: Guiding participants to sit with open hands and take deep breaths (pneuma/Spirit) to lower sympathetic nervous system defenses.
- The Diasophic* Prompt: Offering a Socratic question to guide inward listening (e.g., "Where did you feel a lack of peace this week, and what is the quietest voice underneath that anxiety?").
Having recognized God’s presence in daily struggles, the mind is primed for the superconscious (spiritual) space. This is facilitated through the next steps.
Step 4: Communion
Younger generations crave tangible spirituality. Communion serves as the physical symbol of the New Covenant. It is a tactile, physiological anchor that takes the abstract concept of forgiveness and turns it into felt meaning, reminding participants they are fully accepted without the need for legalistic sacrifice.
For a service that focuses strongly on a communion as a felt-meaning experience, see A Seder-Style Communion: A Lived Experience. Exploring what communion could be by revisiting its Passover roots.
Step 5: The Praxis Homily - Narrative Preaching in story format
Today's "positive" sermons often offer grand visions of responsibility without the tools to achieve them, generating guilt. The Praxis Homily changes this via four steps:
- The Anchor (The Verse): Presenting scripture as a lens or compass for the day's topic.
- The Shared Reality (Personal Story): The leader shares a vulnerable story of when they failed to live up to that verse, lowering psychological defenses and normalizing the struggle.
- A story as the theme for the entire service: Using a narrative story format of people or events from the Bible, who learned something on their faith journey.
- The Mechanics of Change (Tools): Breaking the desired behavior down into actionable, micro-steps based on social psychology (e.g., giving 3 to 4 practical steps to achieve forgiveness, rather than just commanding people to forgive).
An Unfiltered Faith Journey: The Apostle John Reflects Jesus' Parable About Seeking the Lost
Overview
Irenaeus trained to lead the Ekklesia under Polycarp, who sat at the feet of the Apostle John.
Ireaneaus has a childhood friend who is thinking of leaving the ministry to be with the Romans. His heartache at his friend's misdirection leads him to tell this story about John to his own student, Ponticus. All of these people are real. Irenaeus and Ponticus later died for their fath under Roman persecution of Christians.
One individual can perform the Ireneaus, Ponticus, and narrator parts, or two individuals can do the parts. Irenaeus can sit in a chair. Here are three ways to stage this script effectively:
- In limbo: where there is no set at all, and one actor simply shifts to right or left to deliver each character's lines.
- The "Two-Chair" Monologue (Single Actor): If one person delivers this, put one wooden chair on stage and a foot stool for Ponticus to sit at Iranaeus feet and holding a parchment (rolled paper for writing).
- The Audio-Visual Backdrop: While the actors speak, project a simple, ambient image behind them of a young man in a robe leading a band of thieves along a mountain road. It pulls a modern audience directly into the spaces.
A narrator can also be used to read the not so personal parts. The presenter should feel free to use their own words. Reading aloud the parts is acceptable, especially if you can give a theatrical delivery.
In any of the three, the instrumental music from the song Peters Humility can be played quietly as a background, and then the full song played and sung at the end. The instrumentals and lyrics can be found at No One Left Behind Music and Video Link.
The Crucible of Life: A Quest for the Lost
Irenaeus: “I’m Iranaeus, bishop of a small Ekklesia in Lugdunum, in the province of Gaul in the year 190.”
Narrator: “Lugdunum is modern day Lyon, France.”
Irenaeus: “Bishop isn’t a pompous title. I’m a pastor of this congregation who meets secretly in the early morning hours in this house provided to us by a wealthy merchant. The previous bishop was taken by the Roman soldiers to the local amphitheater and slaughtered. Thus, the secrecy. We have meetings in other homes as well.”
“Ah, Ponticus, you would do well not to sneak up on me when I’m musing over my letter with thoughts that go far and wide.”
Ponticus: “I hate the Romans. They are always determined to do evil.”
Irenaeus: “Let us not hate our brothers, but pray for them. You know the Romans built the roads to get here to the glory of Ceasar, and started this town. Without them we would have no opportunity for God’s work. God works in mysterious ways.”
Ponticus: “It’s very hard not to hate those who try to kill you. I wonder if it would be safer to become a philosopher and debate philosophers in the forum like the scholars in Rome. I want to defend the faith with brilliant arguments that silence our enemies, instead of an acolyte fearing for my safety day and night.”
Irenaeus: “And wouldn’t that put you on a pillar for all to see for eternity. But, my boy, God doesn’t ask many of us to become pillars of stone to be admired for all eternity.”
Narrator: Ponticus bowed his head and backed away.”
Irenaeus: “Instruction doesn’t mean criticism. Did you need something?”
Ponticus: “I saw you sitting in your cathedra, and hoped to learn from you.”
Irenaeus: “Well, it’s a simple wooden chair, not a grand throne, for someone who does the simple work of inviting others to God and a better life. The moment it becomes grand is the moment it loses its power to relate to others. So please don’t bow your head when you approach. Expect me to be gracious.”
Narrator: Ponticus face brightened. He loved Irenaeus and wanted a wonderful future as a leader in the church.
Ponticus: “When I saw you sitting here, you looked troubled, and there is nothing written on your papyrus. What troubles you?”
Irenaeus: “I received word that my friend since childhood, Florinus, who was a student of Polycarp, like me, sitting as his feet and vowing to bring the word of God to others. He has strayed from the path. He wants to chase intellectual status in Rome, compromising our core message to fit in with elite, high-society philosophies. He breaks my heart.”
Ponticus: “Isn’t fitting in with the elite in Rome a way to make our message acceptable so they quit killing us? Here we are two generations removed from Jesus, and the Romans are picking off our leaders one by one to end this movement or suppress people like me from even beginning. Maybe Florinus has a point.”
Irenaeus: “Perhaps if I tell you the stories you will understand that it’s not the leaders we seek to influence but the lost. Oh, my, I can still smell the Aegean Sea with Florinus. I remember the exact shape of the stool where old Polycarp sat. When the winter wind hits Lyon, I close my eyes and I can still hear his voice. He used to mimic the way the Apostle John laughed. He told us how John’s hands shook when he described the crucifixion. You sat right next to me, Florinus. We wept together when Polycarp told us those stories. How did you forget the dirt on the Apostle's sandals? How did you let the polished, elite classrooms of Rome make you rewrite a story that was paid for in blood?"
Ponticus: “Your words are very real. I wish I had known Polycarp and John.”
Irenaeus: “If you had known them, you would never want to know anyone better. Polycarp was John’s student and sat at his feet. He knew him well. Did you know that John brought together some of the remaining apostles and the put their recollections of Jesus down on papyri? The copy we have and use everyday is from them-all those apostles who could make the long journey to see John. John said if they could remember everything Jesus did it would take all the papyri in the world to write it all down.”
Ponticus: “I had no idea.”
Irenaeus: “Jesus said he came for the lost. He hardly spoke to the leaders. He went to those who were poor, broken, and straying away from God. He healed them and gave them hope and a more genuine way to live. And John was just like him.”
Ponticus: “I’m seeing a different picture of Jesus and John.”
Irenaeus: “I want to tell you a story about John. He brought an orphan boy to an elder bishop of one of the area meetings and put him in his charge. But when the boy got older, he fell in with a bad group of people who robbed people in the countryside. It was an easier way to wealth, or getting by. When John returned to see the priest, he was deeply grieved by this turn. Instead of deciding he was lost or even telling others to go after him, John rode into the mountains himself to see this young man with this group of thieves. The young man had become captain of the group and could have had John killed. Not even taking his knife, he offered to exchange his own life for the shame-filled criminal to bring the young man back. John did what Jesus would have done. Jesus often talked about going after the lost sheep, and about people who took a wrong turn coming back to great rejoicing.”
Ponticus: “So is Florinus your bandit captain?”
Irenaeus: “That’s a good way to put it. And hopefully not you. We go after the lost, and not become the lost. The world is full of temptation to make us feel honored and better than we are. But Jesus didn’t want people who sought honor. He wanted people who were broken, lowly, and genuine who can relate to other.”
Ponticus: “That’s a perspective I hadn’t considered.”
Irenaeus: “I can see you reeling from the shock. I hope I haven't ruined your ambition.”
Ponticus: “Ambition? I just worry about staying alive for now. Who knows where the future may lead.”
Irenaeus: “Ah. Aren’t we all, but God has us in his hands. John spoke of our becoming enlightened by following the message Jesus brought and through living in this world. Experience is a great teacher, you know. Adam and Eve left the safety of the Garden to learn good and evil. This is our workshop. So as you sit at my feet, be sure and ask me what I’ve learned.”
.Ponticus: “I’m eager to learn. I want to be just like you.”
Irenaeus: “What have you learned today?”
Ponticus: “Being God’s messenger isn’t the task of the high leaders. It’s a task for the humble who aren’t fooled by the lure of high stature, but are willing to go after those who lose their way, wherever they may go.”
Irenaeus: “I knew there was a reason I chose you. Now, hand me that papyrus. I will begin my letter with the final words old John left us: ‘Little children, love each other.’”
Three practical steps to reconciling with God and others
It seems like our mistakes define us. But instead our mistakes help us understand what not to do and make us more capable of helping others. Good comes from mistakes if we let it. We often feel that our mistakes push us permanently away from God and others. But healing those wounds begins with accepting God's forgiveness and then restoring our relationships with those we've hurt by apologizing and making everything right. You can use this process to become whole again:
Step 1: Cognitive Defusion & De-Identification (Separating Worth from Failure)
When we stumble, our instinct is often to turn guilt over an action into toxic shame over our very existence. We are not a collection of our mistakes. We're children who make mistakes and are still loved by our parents. In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the son believed his catastrophic choices erased his status as son, and said as much to his father when the father ran out to meet him way up the road. The father immediately interrupted that self-condemnation, restoring his standing. In cognitive and social psychology, separating your core human identity from mistakes (missing the mark of perfection which we all do) creates the psychological safety net necessary to face your flaws honestly without spiraling into shame or defensiveness. Forgiveness is there to stop the spiral.
Step 2: The Radical Pursuit & Relational Co-Regulation (Accepting the Reaching Hand)
Deep shame causes us to run away and hide, but reconciliation requires receiving rather than running. Just as Jesus taught of the shepherd leaving the ninety-nine to pursue the single lost sheep, early church history records the elderly Apostle John riding directly into dangerous mountain territory to pursue a lost youth who had become a bandit captain. When the young man fled in humiliation, John embraced him, wept, and assured him of Christ's unending mercy. The lesson: Experiencing safe, unconditional acceptance moderates this fight or flight instinct and other internal defense mechanisms, reminding us that we do not have to clean ourselves up before returning home.
Step 3: Self-Compassion & Purposeful Re-Integration (Turning the Wound into learning)
Forgiveness is not a probationary period; it is full restoration into community, purpose, and spiritual growth. In positive psychology and the study of post-traumatic growth, processing deep failure with mindfulness, common humanity, and self-kindness allows individuals to transform their personal suffering into profound empathy for others. Wow! The returned son was brought straight to the banquet table, and the restored young man was brought back into the fellowship. Your past failures do not disqualify your future—they become the exact well of understanding and compassion you draw from to help heal and guide others who are losing their way and suffering.
Notes & Definitions of terms I often use
*Potential Space: A potential space is a new space created by pushing the limits of what we know, believe, and how we behave into entirely new areas. For example, AI creativity and much of human creativity has its roots in what already exists. A potential space is a place to develop new insight and entirely new things.
Probability Space
*Probability Space: A probability space is where all the elements necessary for something to happen are present and it’s almost inevitable. All it takes is intention.
Diasophic
*Diasophic Definition:
diasophic: adjective.
1. Characteristic of an open system of thought that cuts across available ideas. <Their diasophic thought let the sunshine through.>
2. Characteristic of thinking that is informed, incisive, perceptive, discerning, luminary, and resulting from sound judgment. <A diasophic idea.>
3. Relating to an idea that would productively expand the framework of sectional theory. <A diasophic approach to the problem.>
4. Characteristic of a system with people who are open to fresh thinking, and opposed to rigid ideologies. <A diasophic system.>
5. Characteristic of thinking in a system that is constantly improving. <A system in diasophic evolution, finding new effective solutions.>
6. Characteristic of a system that evolves, becoming fresh and relevant. <Hope emanating from diasophic discussions.> <Diasophic fertility.>
Etymology:
dia: across, through.
soph: from the Ancient Greek, sophia (skilled in handicraft and art; sound judgment, intelligence, practical wisdom; wisdom, philosophy) and sophos (skilled in the sciences, learned, profound, wise).
ic: relating to, or characteristic of; having the character or form of.
- in, crat, and ic etymology © Merriam Webster | Ancient Greek -sophia, sophos - Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon.